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  • Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania - Major Staff Cuts

  • General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.
General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.

Moderators: rob216, Miketherailfan

 #740280  by mxdata
 
You may be aware that the State of Pennsylvania is in the middle of a major budget crisis. It was announced that more than half of the staff at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania are being laid off.

http://www.wgal.com/news/21663848/detail.html

This is just the beginning of the layoffs at museums and other agencies in states that are in financial trouble, and many of them are in very serious trouble right now. This is going to end up in a secondary impact on the economy in the next few months as emergency reductions in state spending have a "trickle down" effect through increased unemployment as well as through cutbacks at companies that do business with the state agencies.

MX
 #744212  by CarterB
 
On top of it all, the Feds plan to foist off a lot of Medicaid and Medicare onto the states as part of the Health care bill.
States, in general, are in financial difficulties anyway....and now a "war tax" to boot.
 #744299  by Milwaukee_F40C
 
Well, I don't think anyone could have predicted that this would be high on the list for things to be cut. I don't see how a government has any business running a railroad museum or any museum in the first place. It is a distraction from the few legitimate things the state government should be doing at taxpayer expense, and it is no way to treat historic railroad equipment. This stuff should be turned over to private groups who have a better chance to take care of it with private money than letting it get caught up in politics.
 #744369  by mxdata
 
What is additionally distressing is that the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has one of the best secure document archival programs in the railroad history field, and I am hearing that they cannot accept additional collections at this time due to the questionable availability of funding to maintain it in the future. The preservation of significant collections and keeping them available for research into the future is becoming a problem for many organizations now, and the record of some of the national historical groups at preserving collections of photography and information has sometimes been poor.

MX
 #744377  by mxdata
 
It is probably too soon to know the full extent of the impact that losing half of the staff will have on the museum. With the end of the year rapidly approaching we will probably see how this will be dealt with by early 2010, as to whether the business hours might be shortened or whether there will be any reduction in the number of days the museum is open. Fortunately they have a large and active "Friends of the Railroad Museum" organization and I am sure some of the members of that group will want to try to help out.

This is a very tough time for museums and preservation organizations. Many groups are seeing significant drops in contributions. Normally this kind of market is a time when you try to introduce new and interesting exhibits to catch the notice of the public, or host events that can draw in a wider audience. But finding the people resources to support a wider appeal can be a problem.

The railroad historical societies are a public face of the hobby, and their members are valued providers of help to the museums, but when you look around the room at most historical society meetings, the place is full of elderly guys with gray hair. To attract a wider audience and participation, use of the internet would be a helpful vehicle, but an unfortunately high percentage of historical groups have out of date or non-functioning websites, or no website at all. If the historical and preservation organizations continue to be stealth operations, hidden from the general public and not attracting younger members, a lot of museums and displays are eventually going to close, and a lot of collections and equipment are going to end up being scrapped.

MX
 #746834  by Mr rt
 
"... one of Susquehanna Valley's most popular tourist destinations ..."
That's mainly because of their being accross the street from the Strasburg RxR !
But special events help ... I was there Veteran's Day where they had a lot of "actors", i.e. young folks dressed as G.I.s and their girlfriends, plus Jeeps, Dodge PowerWagons, H-D Motorcycles, old cars, etc. It was great.

Regarding reduced staff ... don't need a lot of staff to open the doors & punch tickets ....
Yes I know, long term it would be bad for the museum & it's ability to preserve.
Their benifit is the huge covered space they have & all the steam preserved inside.
For now they just need to made do & hope things improve.
 #747465  by 56-57
 
Sorry Otto, but I present a slight derail as pertains to Pennsylvania and the operation of our Commonwealth.

From an uncle who works in PLCB management, the profits of from the sale of liquor go into the Governor's discretionary spending fund because they are unpredictable, and so are not part of the State Budget. Just wonderful knowing Eddie can have that money spent in any way he sees fit, isn't it?

-Micah
 #747525  by Otto Vondrak
 
56-57 wrote:Sorry Otto, but I present a slight derail as pertains to Pennsylvania and the operation of our Commonwealth.
I'm not even part of this conversation :-) Every state in the union is having budget problems these days... so it's no surprise that cutbacks are coming to the railroad museums...