How railfan groups treat industry people

[498]

The MBTA forum recently had some comments about the interaction between industry people and railroad enthusiasts in internet discussions. Over the years I have found that some railfan groups ask industry people out to do a program and then are very rude to them. One result of this is that a lot of industry people want nothing at all to do with railfan organizations. Anybody else had similar experiences?

[chuchubob]

The MBTA forum recently had some comments about the interaction between industry people and railroad enthusiasts in internet discussions. Over the years I have found that some railfan groups ask industry people out to do a program and then are very rude to them. One result of this is that a lot of industry people want nothing at all to do with railfan organizations. Anybody else had similar experiences?

My experience is the toal opposite. The two groups to which I belong treat railroaders with utmost respect.

Bob

[JasonA]

I have seen it both ways.

[mxdata]

Sometimes the railfan groups don't intend to be rude, but poor planning does them in. We have mentioned before the example of a group that tried for a long time to get the President of "their" railroad to come to a meeting and talk to them. He finally did, and gave a very nice talk. Then they had him sit through "members slides" and one of the first people who got up showed an entire box of slides of accidents on the railroad. That was of course the last time the President of the railroad came to one of their meetings.

MX

[Otto Vondrak]

We have mentioned before the example of a group that tried for a long time to get the President of "their" railroad to come to a meeting and talk to them. He finally did, and gave a very nice talk. Then they had him sit through "members slides" and one of the first people who got up showed an entire box of slides of accidents on the railroad.

That's CLASSY!! Some people are too ignorant or thoughtless to reconsider something like that...

-otto-

[CassFireman]

As a crew member at a tourist railroad I have seen it go both ways. It seems to lean toward the poor side however.

As an example: A railfan charter that was for 10 hours, with no provision for crew lunches or even bathroom breaks. I guess we were expected to use the shovel between scoops ...

Crews frequently seem to get the short end when it comes to food and bathrooms.

I can remember also being asked to go to the fancy dinner after different run and not being allowed to pay for any of it. Then being recognized by name to the accumulated masses. Classy.


So, some are good and some are a test of constitution, both physical and mental. In the long run I'm glad we get to do charters. There are a lot of TR's struggling to survive.

[GSC]

I've been active in rail museum operations for 40 years, and I've seen it both ways, although the "pushy railfan" groups tend to win here. They want smoke, they want you to park with rods down, make their pictures pretty for them, and they won't buy a ticket to ride or buy souvenirs. I've also given talks on our museum, and afterward got the "why don't you" and "you should" comments. Hey, we're all volunteers, we always have the Help Wanted sign out, c'mon down and pitch in if you think something should be done.

We also had to put up with snide comments about how we are narrow gauge, that we don't run at 60 mph, and other similar "problems", all which seem to be liabilities to some fans, but they still pack the place during our special events . . . and not buy a ticket to ride.

One way to shut some of them up is for me to show them my steam locomotive engineer's license. Got one of these, pal? No? Then I win.

[mxdata]

I can certainly appreciate the comments about the people who show up to take pictures and to argue and find fault with everything, without ever buying a ticket. Unfortunately there seems to be a disproportionate number of caustic "resident expert" types in this hobby. Some of them do not treat knowledge as a gift to be shared or passed along to others, but rather as a means to advertise their superiority to everybody else.

MX

[GSC]

"Resident experts". Plenty of them.

Curious how the armchair folks all know how to do this better then we do, and are willing to tell us about it. And argue about it.

The other side of this is when Dad brings his 5-year-old up to the cab ladder, and I invite them up to see the cab. Little kid's wide eyes (Dad's too), priceless! The "WOW" moment that makes it all worth it.

[CassFireman]

Yeah GSC, I can relate.

There was a young girl probably 7 or 8 who came up in to the cab (Dad stayed on the ground), and looked around for a few minutes and said:

"Ok, so that's the throttle and those are the brakes, and that's the injector, and this is the lubricator, and those are the sight glasses, now tell me something I don't know..."

Ya couldn'ta whacked the smile off my face with the shovel.

She and her semi-reluctant dad rode with us to our first stop. Smiles all around! I gave her a lump of coal with some pyrite (fools gold) in it as a parting gift.


Like I say when people ask me why I work here: "Well, every day you can come down to the depot and see kids look up at this thing and their gears are turning. Its not about the internet, Super Nintendo, or Yu Gi Oh, and that's probably OK."

[Noel Weaver]

Yeah GSC, I can relate.

There was a young girl probably 7 or 8 who came up in to the cab (Dad stayed on the ground), and looked around for a few minutes and said:

"Ok, so that's the throttle and those are the brakes, and that's the injector, and this is the lubricator, and those are the sight glasses, now tell me something I don't know..."

Ya couldn'ta whacked the smile off my face with the shovel.

She and her semi-reluctant dad rode with us to our first stop. Smiles all around! I gave her a lump of coal with some pyrite (fools gold) in it as a parting gift.


Like I say when people ask me why I work here: "Well, every day you can come down to the depot and see kids look up at this thing and their gears are turning. Its not about the internet, Super Nintendo, or Yu Gi Oh, and that's probably OK."

I rode Cass to Bald Knob on a Thursday and Spruce the next day. I was very impressed with both the operation and the people conducting it. Two great days even in August rain.
Noel Weaverf

[Otto Vondrak]

The MBTA forum recently had some comments about the interaction between industry people and railroad enthusiasts in internet discussions. Over the years I have found that some railfan groups ask industry people out to do a program and then are very rude to them. One result of this is that a lot of industry people want nothing at all to do with railfan organizations. Anybody else had similar experiences?

I think we were talking about the interaction of railfans with industry professionals, not railfans with museum or historical groups.

For instance... having a regional VP come to you chapter banquet to give a keynote address to four people in the audience... or having a representative come down from TTX with a detailed PowerPoint and giveaways for everyone and nary a thank you note in return...

[mxdata]

...and also the groups that actually manage to get an industry person who has an interesting program to travel to their location, then they don't bother to write a description of the program for their website, or worse yet, they post that the speaker "for now will remain a mystery" because they didn't have them lined up yet when they wrote the website entry, and then they never go back to the website before the meeting to tell who it is going to be or what the program is going to be about. One NATIONAL meeting of a historical organization did that this year. I am a member of that group and I was amazed that they would do something that absurd. With the cost of gasoline and travel, who wants to have to play guessing games about the events at national conventions? Plus it is an incredibly disrespectful treatment of the guest speaker from the industry to not identify them in advance of the event.

MX

[CassFireman]

I think we were talking about the interaction of railfans with industry professionals...

Oh crap, reduced in rank again.

[GSC]

I think we were talking about the interaction of railfans with industry professionals...

Oh crap, reduced in rank again.

"How Industry People Treat Museum Volunteers"

We don't count, I guess.