Pat, et. al.,
I was told there was an interesting exchange taking place in this forum and I see I was not misled. I appreciate your comments and I am sure you are not the only one with similar questions, I will do my best to clear up some of the points you bring up.
First of all the Erie Lackawanna mailing list never was and still is not affiliated with the ELHS. In fact more people on that list are not ELHS members than are. Many people seem to have this misconception so you are hardly alone. The EL Mailing List is open to anyone; ELHS members, ELH&TS members, members of both or none of the above. This is how it has always been and how it remains. The list member contact information page has always been there, it has always been public and that remains unchanged as well. No one has hijacked information, no one is using it to contact individuals to try and recruit them to join the ELH&TS, we prefer to do that by offering value and letting people make their own decision.
Now about the web site, yes the designs are similar since I created both of them. They are similar to thousands of other web sites and do share a similar color scheme. That is difficult to avoid since we cannot change history to alter the corporate colors of the DL&W, EL and Erie. I admit being primarily a DL&W fan I am mighty partial to GMY although black and yellow has its attraction too, but copyright infringement? That covers content, not design. It’s my design and even there the ELHS site is a derivative work of other sites I have done. I like clean, easy to navigate sites and people seem to find a simple layout such as this beneficial. There are significant, although probably not readily apparent differences between the two site designs though. The ELHS does not possess the EL, DL&W or Erie heralds or color schemes any more than any other web site or say a Morning Sun or some other book which includes them.
Why did we form the ELH&TS? Rather than go into lengthy explanations here, I refer you to the ELH&TS web site “About” page easily accessible from the main menu (
www.elhts.org). In a nutshell though, the ELH&TS’ goal is threefold; reach out to a younger generation of fan and potential fan, encourage more active member involvement and sharing of information and develop an on line resource through a digital archive valuable to members for research and accessible from anywhere in the world.
Something else, we are enthusiastic about and willing to devote much greater space to modeling the railroads. Most of us are modelers to one degree or another, and many of us are prototype modelers. Researching a model makes for an unwitting historian. Why not share the research with others through a modeling article? We are not constrained by a fixed number of pages per issue and members aren’t going to complain about our wasting precious print space. Being web based, we can devote as much or as little space as would be appropriate without such consideration.
Non prototype modelers are equally welcome. If you have modeled an SD70MAC in EL, Erie or DL&W or are a tinplate modeler, hey we’d be happy to have you submit an article about that too. Just because we are a “Historical Society” doesn’t mean we cannot explore fun “what ifs”. Many people actually give a great deal of thought into projecting these railroads into the future; it can be a fun exercise. Heck, IHC does it all the time without much thought! One of my favorites has to be the C-415 in EL colors.
So wasn’t the ELHS already doing all of this? The ELHS is a fine, long established, mature organization, but longevity can have its pluses and minuses. Sometimes enthusiasm and embracing new ideas can become increasingly difficult. Even large portions of the membership become entrenched in their relationship with the society itself. Many of us felt we were not effectively reaching out to the people who will have to carry the history of the railroads forward after us. As fine a publication as the Diamond is, the new generation is not tied to a printed publication the way we were. The web opens up a new means of reaching people on a scale not possible with a printed magazine.
Another aspect we perceived is an increasing dependency on a few to provide content to the rest of the members. In the first month of the ELH&TS’ existence, I have had more offers for contributed material; articles, pictures, slides, etc., than all of my appeals over a two year period for material for the ELHS web site ever generated by a large margin. I cannot tell you how gratifying that is. Information shouldn’t be horded, it should be shared. It benefits us all. One of our cornerstones is to encourage an active, participatory membership. Participation can take many forms not only articles, images and materials, but also running the society and whether they choose to exercise it or not, a right to vote for who runs the society.
Pat, there are no wounds to open, we believe we have an idea for a new way to approach the future of a rail historical society and did not see that approach being attempted in a timely manner within the current organization. Are we competing against the ELHS? I don’t believe any of us involved feel that way. We have many members (including myself of course) who are also ELHS members and will remain so. Our membership also includes people who are former members and left for whatever reason and still others who have never been ELHS members. Our dues are less than many people spend for lunch at MacDonald’s so if they want to join and be a member of both organizations, it won’t need to be an either/or decision. The low dues is another advantage of being web based, most of your ELHS dues goes to providing you with a printed publication. Printed magazines are a significant expense.
I apologize to all for the length of the reply. I could go on believe me. Some people have obviously already formed an opinion about the ELH&TS. To those I say keep an open mind and we will see if we cannot change your perception. To others who are interested in joining us in this undertaking, you will be warmly welcomed. Ultimately the success or failure of the ELH&TS will depend on its members and their participating in the Society. I believe the current members of the ELH&TS are dedicated to doing whatever they can to make it a success. The level of enthusiasm among our members has been very gratifying and refreshing.
Regards,
Will Shultz