[PRCo] Re: Museums

[John Swindler]

Well said, Roger.

It's not just at rail museums.  This attitude can be encountered everywhere. 
In far too many cases, people don't understand what the mission is.  (opps, 
sorry about that; guess that's my military background coming through again.) 
  How many times have any of you been in a restaurant and the waitresses are 
more interested in having a 'chit-chat' session with each other rather then 
taking your order - or even providing a menu??  Or the bus driver in 
Scranton (or maybe it was Wilkes Barre; whatever) who complained that it 
wouldn't be so difficult to run on time if not for all these passengers.

May I suggest that a collection of electric rail cars can continue as a club 
activity as long as it is closed to the public.  It's a private endeavor.  
But as soon as the doors are opened to the general public, it ceases to be a 
club activity.  Once you start accepting the public's money and offering 
public rides, it is no longer a clubhouse, but a museum business, and the 
mission of this business is to serve the public.  The emphasis is serving 
the visitors.

Those railfan clubs that understand that difference will prosper.  Those 
that don't understand that difference, will struggle.

John


>From: ROGERTROLLY at webtv.net (ROGER Jenkins)
>Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Museums
>Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 10:19:27 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Well  thought out response Fred as I have lived it and seen some of the
>occurances of which you speak. A Seashore TM  member since 1949 , the
>club atmosphere pervaded the place but the final goal of operatin was
>reached thru sweat and efforts financed by a trickle of money and the
>rosy preachings of one guy who made it look like heaven was reached when
>we started running cars and getting tourists to stop and pay for a ride
>of about 3000 ft.  We dubbed him with the monicker of "ROSE DAWN" !  We
>all hoped to reach a point where a street scene could be re-created with
>cobblestone streets ,old streetlamps and old bldgs . But that really
>takes gobs of money which most museums don't have . Crich in England is
>one of the few that has accomplished this.
>
>    And yes I have seen what you talk about at Seashore where the
>operators sit out on a bench talking and ignoring the public that just
>came out of the visitors center clutching a ticket in hand wanting to
>know when the next car leaves and nobody answers them !  Or when people
>are actually standing there and the dispatcher lets 3 cars go at once
>and they all roll by these poor souls waiting to board , and he strolls
>down the platform thinking he did a great job !  NOT
>
>


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