How bad is the volunteer crisis?

There is a correct tool available (certainly on the Big Railway) for lifting a drop-head buckeye. The coupler heads are damned heavy, so the use of a bit more leverage is sensible. Buckeye couplers suffer a fairly major problem which is that they contain hidden failure modes; if the locks have not dropped correctly, then they can part at unexpected moments. There has been (I understand) a bit of a spate of such events on heritage railways - I think a note was in a recent HRA circular? It's vital that staff coupling vehicles understand the importance of checking that locks have operated correctly - step 5 in threelinkdave's posting above.

By the way, Buckeye is a trade name (like Hoover for vacuum cleaners); the correct generic name is Knuckle coupler.

 

Alternatively you can use your finger instead of the pin. I know a chap who now has one less finger.

Buckeyes are evil things. Yet another reason to avoid people-wagons.

 

John. I'm self-employed and I will never be able to afford to retire. I accepted that years ago. I am at my desk 7am-6pm most days, occasional weekends, have no paid holiday or sick leave, a house and garden to singlehandedly maintain (since Mrs DB decided to buy a single fare), several animals to look after (they come first), my girlfriend lives over an hour away and (with her employment commitments) it's unlikely that we will be able to move in together (and share the load) for several years yet. So any spare time I have is at an absolute premium.

The point to this snivelling sob story is that, despite it all, it doesn't stop me from pitching in with voluntary activities. If you are really, genuinely passionate about something, then it's amazing how you can make the time to indulge it. With retirement being pushed further and further into the distance (for those who will be able to afford it) being a simple fact of life, I suggest a change of mindset is necessary. Not 'I can't find the time', but 'how do I arrange my existing commitments to make the time?'

Trust me, if you really want to do it, it can be done.

 

Absolutely true. But from my experience of finding volunteers in a non railway environment, the challenge of finding sufficient suitable volunteers with enough time is made still harder when you have to persuade them not just to want to volunteer, but to prioritise that over other important activities.

 

I'd like to point out that the title of this article presents a very loaded question, rather like "how frequently do you beat your wife?". It should have read "Is there a volunteer crisis?" and in my opinion the answer is no. There maybe one looming, but at present I don't see any railways going out of business for want of volunteers and on the lines I support or know well volunteer numbers if anything are rising. The group I'm most closely associated with has certainly attracted a number of new recruits over the past few years, as has the one we share a shed with. It is the operating department that struggles, mainly because of the sheer number of turns there are to cover, but the loco dept continues to attract large numbers of volunteers although the percentage of dropouts is very high. I think the dropout rate in such areas is more a reflection of the nature of the work, and the challenge really is to find the dropouts alternative niches rather than lose them altogether.

 

If there is a crisis, which dept. will it hit first? Can the effects be minimised by moving staff around or sharing staff between depts.? Can full time staff be appointed to cover critical roles with a volunteer shortage?

I would have thought committed volunteers like loco staff etc would not be affected. Is it recruiting yongsters that is the problem?

 

Catering, unlikely, only if you can afford it, probably, no.

 

Remember we are talking about volunteers here, so moving staff is not just a matter of telling people to do something. Some people will do A as it provides funds to do B, others say I came to do B, and B is what I will do, in extreme cases they would rather leave than do A. How you treat this situation varies from tough to tolerance depending on circumstances I would suggest. The main problem is you end up with the same people doing job A, they might get fed up with this and turn up less or leave.

 

I am, to be frank, probably one of these people. I volunteer in a specific operational role partly because it fits in with the rest of my life (job, young family etc) but largely because that's one of the roles I have always wanted to do, from primary school age if not before. When I was younger, when I first volunteered (on a different line) I largely did more maintenance work and I went out without fail every Saturday; now, I don't have the time for that, so I do my dream job instead.

Similarly, I worked out the other day (as a result of this thread) that there are about 8-10 other railways that are either closer to me or broadly similar, in terms of travel time. I volunteer at mine because, to put it simply, it's better (and there are plenty of staff in my department who live further from the line than me so presumably have similar feelings!) If my line were to be destroyed in an asteroid strike or volcanic eruption, I wouldn't just move to a different railway.

 

Totally agree with your comments about one railway being "better". I looked forward to my longer drive to the railway where I volunteered, rather than the closer railway where I felt like an anonymous member of staff. The size of the railway, how it is run, and the other volunteers are key factors in deciding which railway someone "likes".

Management of volunteers is degrees harder than managing employees. Herding cats comes to mind ...

 

Girlfriend living an hour away is probably a clue as to why you do find the time! If she does manage to move in with you I sure it will be very nice but you might find you volunteering time curtailed.