Any Boy Scouts here? Railroading Merit Badge

[Otto Vondrak]

Just curious if we have any Scouts in the audience. I have been Assistant Scoutmaster of BSA Troop 1, Katonah NY since I moved back home in 2002. When I turned 18, I had earned the rank of Life and had about 19 merit badges. Now I help organize district-wide events for Westchester-Putnam Council BSA. Anyway, would you believe that the first merit badge I ever got was Railroading? I think that was the only reason I joined Scouts! Okay, maybe not. But now I'm charged with creating events for the district that are fun and challenging. This past spring, I took 150 Scouts to the Railroad Museum of New England and we spent the weekend learning about railroading. Many Scouts were well on their way towards earning the Railroading Merit Badge... check it out:

http://ktny.blogspot.com/2008/05/2008-s ... on-ct.html

Now I'm trying to put together a railroading trip for my troop this winter. Anyone out there do anything with trains and Scouts? Think of any railroad museums nearby that your Troop could visit? Maybe camp out at?

[Otto Vondrak]

No Scouts at all here? None?

[ns3010]

Yuhp, right here. I don't have the RRing badge yet, because I have all the electives I need, at least for now. I'm working on getting all the required badges and thinking of an Eagle project first. But maybe later I'll go for it.

[Otto Vondrak]

Yuhp, right here. I don't have the RRing badge yet, because I have all the electives I need, at least for now. I'm working on getting all the required badges and thinking of an Eagle project first. But maybe later I'll go for it.

Yeah, getting the required badges for Eagle is no joke... takes a lot of time. But if you have an interest in railroads and have two weekends to kill, you can get the badge relatively quickly!

-otto-

[Darien Red Sox]

I am an Assistant Scout Master in Troop 35 in Darien, CT. I think you might know this already from the Metro North forum. That sounds like a good number of scouts you had for that event. I wish back when I was a boy in the program my troop(s) had offered the Railroading MB.

[Darien Red Sox]

Yuhp, right here. I don't have the RRing badge yet, because I have all the electives I need, at least for now. I'm working on getting all the required badges and thinking of an Eagle project first. But maybe later I'll go for it.

How old are you? You want to make sure you get everything finished will before you 18th birthday. The paperwork for Eagle takes a wile so leave plenty of time. Have any ides for what you are going to do for your Eagle project yet? For mine a few years ago I installed Smoke Detectors for senior citizens and did other miscellaneous tasks for them such as changing light bulbs that they were unable to get to. Getting Eagle will look really good when you apply for college too, I got accepted into colleges that even people I know had better grades and higher SAT scores than I did did not get into. Once again I want to stress not leaving stuff to the last minute and getting it done quickly, MBs like Cycling will take a long time so start them early. If you can try and do more than one week of summer camp to get badges done. Many camps offer some form of Eagle Week which is a good way to get these required badges done. I have known many kids who have gone to an additional week of camp with another troop and enjoyed it as well as finishing annoyware from 3 to 5 badges.

[scottychaos]

I was a scout!
Troop 14, Waverly, NY, in the mid 1980's..
im an Eagle Scout!

for my Eagle Scout project, I fixed up and opened the first small "Valley Railroad Museum" in Sayre, PA.
it was then in a tiny, one-room store alongside the Packer Ave bridge, next to the old Evening Times building (now gone)
I painted, sorted inventory, built shelves, stocked shelves, and manned the first few open weekends..basically got the museum up and running.
about a year later the museum moved over to the much larger LV passenger station.

Troop 14 was the only troop from New York state in the General Sullivan Council..the rest were all from
north-central PA..Athens, Towanda, Troy, Mansfield, etc..
we went to Camp Brule in Sullivan County PA..
I still have all my camp patches!
went to summer camp (and the spring, autumn and winter weekends) for 4 or 5 years..
about 1982-1986.

I have been meaning to get back to Camp Brule to see what it looks like today..
I read that the original Pancoast and Crandall halls are now gone.
torn down and replaced by more modern buildings..thats too bad..but they were very old..

In addition to local General Sullivan Council scouts, every summer we also had a big group of scouts from New Jersey at Camp Brule..
I never did find out why they came so far..they were all, as a big group (several troops) called "The Bulls"..
I wonder if that is still going on today?

Scot

[firthorfifth06]

I was a scout too Otto....just when my troop in Keyport (Troop 80) did the badge at the Stroudsburg rail museum and at the time I thought I was too cool for trains....look how wrong I am today

I made Eagle without it I'm afraid

[Otto Vondrak]

Three kids from my troop just got the Railroading Merit Badge. I'm hoping to organize another railroading camping trip for my troop in 2010.

-otto-

[ns3010]

Otto- You said you're an assistant SM of Troop 1. That makes me curious, did your Troop ever go to summer camp at Sabattis? Because we were there 3 times (once on Trek, twice for regular* summer camp) and I remember there being a Troop 1 there at the same time. Hmmm...

Darien Red Sox- I'm 15, so I still have a while. For my project, I'm going to rebuild the stage at my former school. I'm going to rebuild the "stage" part (just a wooden platform) and fix up the backstage and wing areas.

[Darien Red Sox]

On the topic of Boy Scouts you may want to check this out:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 58&t=70823

[Gunsnclapton]

Actually, maybe somebody could help me out here. I'm in a venture crew. Can I be a merit badge councelor? I volunteer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and I have already met a few scouts while there. All of the requirements could be met if I sit down with a kid for an hour. Especially if I'm sitting next to the railroad.

[Otto Vondrak]

Actually, maybe somebody could help me out here. I'm in a venture crew. Can I be a merit badge councelor? I volunteer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and I have already met a few scouts while there. All of the requirements could be met if I sit down with a kid for an hour. Especially if I'm sitting next to the railroad.

You have to register as a Merit Badge counselor with your council. You have to renew every year. Excellent that you want to help out, but the requirements do take a little more than an hour...

Otto Vondrak
ASM Troop 1 Katonah NY

[Gunsnclapton]

well you get the idea anyway