important deadline for contracts to be signed. Web site updates had to be made, and was there any way I could take over some of that? Someone donated a collection of 1000 railroad tie date nails, and needed a letter of receipt they could submit with their tax returns. The railroad wanted to know if our coaches were available for a director’s special next month; were all the inspections current? The Library Committee needed new members to take over in the winter while they spent the season in Florida, and somebody needed to call the ser- vice technician to repair the ancient copier. Should we get a new copier with a better ser- vice plan? And so on... Yes, the board meetings are probably the
most dull part of my own volunteering expe- rience, but they are necessary to ensure the smooth operation of our museum. Any organi- zation can benefit from strong and reasoned leadership that keeps spending under control while planning for future growth and develop- ment. Easier said than done. But it’s an ideal we all strive towards. Implementing a good budgeting process with input from all depart- ments is critical to success. A museum is more than just dragging in a
bunch of artifacts and putting them on dis- play. Maintaining the integrity of a collec- tion is an important job. Every organization should have guiding documents such as a mission statement and a collections man- agement policy. Whether it’s the acquisition of a freight car, the donation of a pile of old magazines, or the sale of a semaphore, every transaction is reviewed carefully. The basic question that should guide every discussion is “How will this further our mission?” Are you a member of a new organization
that is trying to find its way? Make sure you have the tools on hand to get the job done. This includes a clear mission statement fol- lowed by a strong business plan. Your mis- sion will explain to anyone reading it what your group is all about in 100 words or less. Non-profit groups are especially vulnerable to money woes and need to carefully plan how they will raise funds and what they will be spent on. Compliance with state, local, and federal requirements for periodic filings are a must. Not sure where to start? Try to tap your local college, chamber of commerce, or small business association for help. Even more ma- ture, established groups can benefit from an occasional review of policy and procedure. “We’ve always done it this way,” is not an ac- ceptable argument. Of course, the trains we operate are an important part of our visitor experience. Good training is essential for safe opera- tion, whether your railroad is ten feet or ten miles long. Our museum railroad hosts die- sel trains, gasoline-powered track cars, and electric trolleys (operated in cooperation with our partners at the New York Museum of Transportation). While the individual hands- on training for operators varies between each mode, we all follow the same rulebook and timetable. These governing documents must be periodically reviewed and kept up to date. All volunteers need to be tested and certified each year if they are going to be working on a train crew. The qualifications and training are rigorous, but just because we operate on a private track doesn’t mean we lose our healthy respect for the machines we operate. A properly trained tour guide can mean the difference between a good visitor experience and a great one. The person who had been scheduling tour guides for the last few years
had stepped down, and I was asked to take over. I discovered that many members were reluctant to be a guide because they were afraid of saying the wrong thing. Others were not sure where to go or what to do. We de- veloped a training course that not only famil- iarized everyone with our displays, but also gave suggested talking points to educate our visitors about our collection. Taking on a position of responsibility some-
times means thinking on your feet and rolling up your shirt sleeves to solve a problem. One time I was sitting around my apartment won- dering how I would spend the rest of a lazy late-summer afternoon when I got a panicked phone call from one of our tour guides. “You gotta do something, we’re getting overrun with visitors today!” Our attendance usually drops off a bit towards the end of August, and usually the track cars and a skeleton crew at the depot can handle the load. For some rea- son, we were getting four times the normal visitors through the door, and we didn’t have enough seats to carry them all. There was no diesel crew scheduled for that day, either. I told the guide I would see what I could do and to hang tight. I made some quick phone calls to some other trustees, which netted me an en- gineer and a conductor. I volunteered myself as a car host, and I called a couple of friends from the RIT Model Railroad Club to come down and help out as extra tour guides. We all hurried down to the museum and quickly put our diesel train (which at this time con- sisted of a switcher and two cabooses) into service. We only missed one trip cycle, but we soon caught up with everyone who wanted a train ride that day. I joked that we were run- ning our railroad like the Rock Island in its final days of bankruptcy with our “trustee’s train,” but we made a lot of new friends that day and nobody got turned away for a ride. There are days when things don’t go so
well. Sometimes our board gets bogged down in minute details of a project, or dreadfully deadlocked in a discussion of spending. Other times we find ourselves trying to work out a procedural disagreement with a member. These are all part of the job and are not fun. It’s easy to become discouraged, almost to the breaking point. I’m not looking for a slap on the back or a congratulatory medal by describing some of the efforts that take place behind the scenes, but it’s a topic worth shedding some light on. Putting on a show like we do every Sun-
day from May through October takes a strong commitment from our volunteers, who are in turn backed up by the board of trustees. Each weekend, we meet and greet hundreds of new visitors, and our goal is to put a smile on each and every one of their faces by the time they have left us. We hit the mark more often than we don’t, and we learn a little more each time. Your visiting public doesn’t care about charters and trustees and policy and procedure. They came to have fun. Hopefully the next time you visit a museum or tourist railroad, you will consider the work that took place behind the scenes to make your experience as enjoyable as possible. Even though they might not know how you do it, your visitors will know right away if your group is putting its best foot forward.
Associate editor Otto M. Vondrak is a trustee of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Rochester, N.Y., and has been an active volunteer with many historical preservation groups around the Northeast.
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WRP_GrandTrunkHeritage_Jan15_6v_Layout 1 11/30
Grand Trunk Heritage
IN NEW ENGLAND
Journey with the legendary photographer Phil Hastings as he takes us trackside in New England to witness steam’s last holdout on the old Grand Trunk. Though steam had vanished from the rest of the Canadian National system, Hastings captured the end of an era in brilliant black and white photography.
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