How to get younger people interested in volunteering on Railways

The most important thing is that youngsters need to feel part of the railway and valued as well.
They need to see a light at the end of the tunnel when they can be let loose as a volunteer (tbh that's the same for any volunteer).
I speak from experience with the youth group at Swanage..... We actually have a waiting list to join.

 

We've always been lucky at the Spa Valley Railway (SpVR) to have had a young volunteer base. From asking around we attract people due to the quick progression you can have due to the small volunteer workforce.

What I find most important with it is to make them feel valued and part of it, if you can give them some responsibility they know they're wanted/needed. Our Ops Admin team is a 17yr old and 19yr old for example, both more than capable of managing WONs, Rosters & Communicating with anyone.

Our board is a diverse age range, I'm the youngest at 24, our chairman is 49 and the eldest is in his 60s but most are aged late 20s to late 40s.

Speaking from personal experience now. I originally started volunteering at SpVR when I was 13 as a TTI, when old enough I became a Guard, Fireman and at 21 became a Driver, a lot of our other youngsters follow a similar path. I stuck at it because there was progression and I felt wanted in these roles. The social side and friendliness of people became very much a big part of my life and as you build these large friendship bases you just keep going and can't stop! My interest in railways had been from visiting the SpVR from a young age (so the parents are to blame for that!) but when you're 13 and allowed to get involved and furthermore made to feel wanted you naturally just stick at it.

I then hit an age where I wanted to do something to help the railway grow and knew that I could give and action the ideas to do this. I became a director of the Wealden Railway Co.Ltd who operate the SpVR at 18. This naturally came with a lot of responsibilities, commercial, financial and operation. I was then at 18 appointed the role of Operations Assistant but being a young face dealing with the Ops team it encouraged a lot of other youngsters to come along as we're all of a similar age.

I however found myself undertaking more and more commercially related things and started to spread myself over the two depts (Ops & Commercial), certain events I took on, namely Santa's and Diesel Gala. As a result that these events were being headed by a youngster it attracted more of our young volunteers to show their willingness to get involved in the planning and management of them. I took the discussion to let them lose with different parts of these events (and it was as simple as managing the presents over Xmas) and they did it without intervention, this keeps them interested as they're responsible for their own areas and take pride in theif work.

I took on the post of Commercial Manager when I was 21 alongside the Ops Assistant role, this was a personal decision following my predecessor moving on. After a year in that role in which I gained a much greater understanding on our finances I was promoted in January to General Manager, something at my age (24) I'm very proud to have achieved. It was never something I'd actually set out to do as the attraction of being able to just do things and have my own responsibilities (as little as waving a green flag) is why I started at the SpVR in the first place, it did just happen though and the GMs role was vacant so I bit the bullet and went for it!

The benefit I have now is with prospective new volunteers is I can tell them my story and it encourages them knowing that 'it can be done by someone young' (one of our slogans) and that you don't need to be on a railway forever to get somewhere.

Of course not every individual wants to follow that path and most are happy just doing the odd firing turn or 2nd man turn, however when you can reach those grades without having to do it for years on end in a training capacity you become much more attractive to people.

Being open with your volunteers all year round is always helpful too, if you arrive as a prospective volunteer to be told you could be joining an organisation which has visitor numbers at a 16% increase on last year and dining trains up by 78% it makes you think "blimey this is positive, when can I start?" Well now is the answer to that one, we can find something for someone to do as soon as they've paid their membership fee.

Any of our volunteers are always made to feel part of it furthermore we get them involved with our social side as soon as we can.

My advice to anyone (and this is first hand experience) is to give the youngsters responsibilities, don't rule over them all the time thinking because of their age they can't do it, tell them your story, don't ever hold them back and just remember that they one day could be in your shoes if shown the right way.

It is in my case the younger generation who will hopefully follow a similar route to what I've done and keep the SpVR alive for years to come.

Jonnie

 

That's a very positive "story" Jonnie, thanks for sharing it. I cannot help but think that the Spa Valley is perhaps in the minority in that area? I am also 24 but have had to wade through treacle on occasion to atchieve the simplest of tasks on a preserved railway. Too many volunteers below, say, 25 sadly get tarred with a brush of immaturity and lack of focus. Perhaps a higher ratio of time wasters versus true potential in the under 30's partially justifies this view?

There seem to be many, older and more established volunteers who have no interest in allowing the "youth" to participate in the planning aspect of things, as they believe that one must earn the right to sit on, say, a gala committee. As the young volunteers have not been working members of the Example Valley Railway for 60 years, did not carry 5 concrete sleepers on their backs laying the extention in 1975, and only have 20 years of life experience, then they are considered unworthy to be involved in such important matters. It is quite nice to hear of some lines not following this traditional structure in recent years.

The "closed shop" approach to influencing a railway's future/development/policy in my view raises a big problem for the modest number of young volunteers (in which I would include myself) who have a great deal of interest in project planning, task management etc. It is hard to stretch or develop those muscles if making an approach to do so is sadly all too often misinterpreted as arrogance by older volunteers. Again, this may be partially justified, and I would be interested to find out if a "youth team" has ever been given a major project or gala to organise at a large railway them proceeded to make a real mess of it and caused serious damage, financial or otherwise.

Personally, I have been shouted out of an office by a paid manager for offering to assist with errors within a timetable, rather than sitting in the messroom complaining about it like everybody else was. It was very unprofessional and very hurtful to me at the time (i think I was 16). The situation was eventually sorted out, as I was (luckily!) in the right on that occasion, but I never truly recovered from it and have never since made any suggestions or highlighted any errors I've spotted as I simply don't want the hasstle. Their loss or mine?

Sent from my HTC Desire 620 using Tapatalk

 

Both of your loss. And at some point, things will come unstuck if that's the attitude taken.

I don't volunteer in preservation, but am heavily involved in my church. We get far more by letting, indeed encouraging, people to get involved and take responsibility appropriate to their capabilities than by making people serve their time.

 

Age discrimination (which of course works both ways) is nothing new in many organisations but I always find it sad that older people often dismiss suggestions from youngsters with comments like "we tried that 30 years ago and it didn't work then" and completely ignore societal changes over the intervening period. In reality as the "spotter" generation dies out it is the ideas of youngsters about how to deliver an attractive product which will be critical to the survival of heritage railways .

Definitely the railway's loss - successful organisations invariably encourage positive criticism from within as a means of reducing the waste and embarrassment from preventable mistakes. It doesn't of course follow that this is simply an age issue there are plenty of incompetent staff in most organisations who will shout and argue rather than respond to positive criticism in a professional way. We have in recent weeks heard much about the need in sport for teams to work positively together and seen the results (Iceland and Wales) advice which might be well heeded in other sectors.

Sadly many older volunteers may also feel grudges towards youngsters having perhaps previously been age discriminated (retired) out of their paid roles. Sadly not all older people age gracefully and whilst some will readily pass on skills, experience and roles and work brilliantly to ensure succession and progress for a new generation others will see youngsters as a threat to their own positions, resist their progress and forget that without them the organisation will die out.

To all young volunteers reading this please keep up the good work and don't be discouraged it may still be a few years before the old "children should be seen and not heard" and "respect your elders and betters" dies out in no small measure because those who grew up suffering such attitudes having reached older ages now feel it is their turn to benefit.

 

I put it this way : An organization needs a balance of both the young and enthusiastic, and the old and experienced, to work properly.
As a youngster I learnt a lot from people sometimes 50 years older than me by recognising their knowledge and asking polite questions. Now I'm in the "elderly" bracket I'm only too pleased to pass on what I know when asked.
Mike

 

As far as I know we're one of the only railways to have such young people in a management roles, especially the position I hold.

Anyone who feels the need to shout at youngsters because they lack experience needs to reflect on whether they want the railway to continue once they can't for whatever reason continue to do it. Most of the younger generation are very good with technology which is why we have a brilliant website, Twitter & Facebook pages that are updated regularly, they all do it on their smartphones!

I have heavily relied on those that have done it for years previously and am now in a position to do it with their support rather than the other way round. I followed their guidance since I was 13, our previous Chairman was a huge influence and inspiration to what I've achieved today and is why I've ended up in the position I'm now in. They gave me the chance to do it and so far I seem to be proving them right!

 

Wise words indeed, I would certainly agree that a balanced combination of young & not-so-young working well together stands a good chance of success.

 

This is an interesting topic. Now for my boring 2 Cents - turn away if you wish!! . A railway I used to be involved in (Standard gauge steam railway) was instrumental in my coming into steam preservation. I started there at 15 (2007) and, though the guys involved at the time were encouraging, they made sure that you knew you weren't there just to play trains - quite right. I don't think they were used to youngsters joining up - not for steam anyway. Plus, alot of the time these guys are not teachers as such, they are hobbyists like many of us and need drawing out a bit to get your info. Until I was 16 I was only allowed to clean the frames and wheels of stationary locomotives and found it unusually enjoyable (as some youngsters I experienced later became discouraged by this). There were 3 of us youngsters back then - me being the youngest. I was under 16 and thus not allowed on the footplate to train in what I hoped I could one day do, which made it harder of course, but the spirit of continuing to do what you do to finally earn the goal shone through. I've always loved railway rules and operating by them - to me operating a locomotive on a railway working to railway practise has always been more enjoyable than just operating a locomotive. I passed my rules at 16 and travelled on the footplate as 'Trainee' for the first time on the first day of the steam operating season in 2008. What a day. Loved it - every minute.

Then it starts - "you've had your ride out so will you keep it up?". Thankfully I did, finding myself at the railway all the time, gradually being encouraged by those on the engines I looked up to and keeping at the job, honing your skills as best you could. Not only that we were changing tubes, springs, trimmings, plugs then doing washouts and eventually most things that could be done in our limited workspace. It was great. What a learning curve for a youngster.

I passed as a Fireman on the first day of operating season 2012 and passed as a Steam Driver in December 2014 - mission accomplished. I lost count of the amount of turns I did back then. Sometimes it was every week, sometimes both days of every weekend and don't even mention Bank Holiday's and Gala events. We did alot to be fair (I couldn't cope now!) but I myself am of course only a number in preservation and everyone else does their bit at countless places on countless engines - and thank goodness that they do! I was Driving at 22 and my colleague Firing was 21. A few people looked at us gone out when we turned up at the helm of a Great Western 2884 class 2-8-0 but, we'd been through the system, we'd done the graft and we were there. This isn't to say we knew more about it than anyone else but, with plenty of support and enough points in the directions, we'd got there. I was proud but never forgot how lucky I was to be there!!

Now, at age 24, I drive at Statfold Barn, I drive at Evesham Vale and am now volunteering very happily with Tyseley. The latter is a whole new experience. Fantastic. But if it hadn't have been for the first few years learning the basic's and climbing the ladder as best I could, none of anything I do now would have been possible. I am thankful for every opportunity I've had and thank goodness those guys in the first year of my joining did so well at making me welcome otherwise...well...we'll never know...

 

What sort of things can railways do to achieve this though? I think everyone knows what the aim is, but "how" is it to be reached? I can't see a netted steam driving experience being feasible, so what is?

 

Railways could do worse than see if there's a Pokestop nearby to try to help those youngsters trying to catch them all… though maybe not too close to the operating lines or any steep drops…

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cliff-san-diego-android-ios-app-a7136986.html

Simon

 

Agree 101%. This chimes with my experience as a teenage volunteer back in the day. Also, an important part of feeling valued is knowing that there's some sort of "career structure" (for want of a better phrase) for those who want it. Knowing that there are other things you can progress to - the obvious example is cleaner --> fireman --> driver - and that it's open to all who want it and can prove themselves capable, can be a great motivator. Being told (as I was, back in my teens) things like "don't bother picking up that shovel, there's no way you are getting on the footplate" doesn't exactly inspire.

Oh, and bullying (up to and including physical violence) is a poor volunteer retention stategy too. It certainly didn't work for me....