A question for active volunteers.

No need to be nasty. There are plenty of others who share my thoughts.

PH

 

I certainly do, having been at the heart of such an organisation for many years. Everyone has a common purpose and I am speaking as a former head of department.

 

There's the nub. Good management will be the key to any successful railway no matter what loco ownership scenario has to be worked through.

 

Wasn't that what happened with a lot of stuff at the GWSR like Elegant Excursions?

 

The EE stock was slightly different but otherwise yes, sort of. It shows the importance of drawing up proper agreements which should avoid those problems.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

Not a lot I'll wager. Enthusiasts being what they are will want to work on whichever project interests them and not necessarily what the railway wishes to prioritise. Some may say that this is dilution of effort but the heritage movement seems to be doing quite well in spite of this.

 

Going back to the original question...
I live within walking distance of the SVR. My interests cover just about anything that could be described as "Industrial archaeology" or "Heritage engineering", not just railways, so if I wasn't repairing goods wagons on the SVR, I'd probably go for something else local and be doing rope making demonstrations at Bewdley Museum or working in the foundry at Ironbridge.

 

Nail hit head, Good management is essential people must be made to feel welcome, that their work is valued, nothing will lose any railway needed volunteers quicker than feeling not wanted, not trusted, and if they are ignored they will find something else to do
So if my local line closed, it would have to be either the Spar valley, but if i could afford it i would return to the MHR , because, i know i would be assured ( i hope) of a friendly responce.

 

I volunteer at Fawley Hill, which is Sir Bill McAlpine's "private" Garden railway. Slightly unusual as its about 2 miles of standard gauge including 2 signalboxes, a 1 in 13 Gradient and 3 stations. We're never open to the public in the normal sense, but have steam days 5 or 6 times a year, when assorted clubs and societies are invited. We've 100-150 or so volunteers in total although the number of active volunteers is somewhat less. Coincidently Fawley is my nearest preserved railway. I guess if it was to close I would look towards the Mid Hants as the next nearest "proper" preserved railway as although Didcot is interesting, it's a bit more limited on the operations side.

 

Having just the one overall railway does seem to work quite well at Havenstreet, we have no problems at all with staff and volunteers working on whatever the current project is. I am not saying that everyone else is wrong , simply that in our case it works .

 

I think the answer for at least 50% on here will be Geographically influenced.

I volunteer at Churnet Valley and North Norfolk. The former because it was close to where I lived before and the latter because it is close to where I live now.

If CVR shut down then I would cut it loose and stay local at NNR, I make a point of travelling and staying over at CVR purely because I have a lot of history and very fond memories of the place.

If NNR closed down, it would have to be Mid Norfolk, because I volunteer on DMU vehicles and the MNR is the only place within a sensible radius to me that operates and restores such vehicles.

We are all creatures of habit, so I don't really like the idea of moving at all!!

Sent from my HTC Desire 620 using Tapatalk

 

Reading through the comments on this thread, it's very obvious that the reasons why we volunteer at our respective heritage railway(s) and our criteria for deciding where we would go if they ceased to exist follow no set pattern and depend on a number of different factors.

I would say that in my experience, this is true, particularly of those volunteers who aren't hard core enthusiasts like most of us who post on this forum. I've met a few people who have retired on a reasonable income and wanted something to do. There happened to be a heritage railway locally and so that is where they ended up. They could equally have found themselves, say, volunteering as a guide at a National Trust property. Such people are unlikely to want to travel huge distances.

The factors that cause people to travel quite some distance to volunteer are varied:-
- They used to live near railway A and have friends there, so even though they have moved, they continue to support that line in spite of Line B being nearer
- They got to know the line and the area while on holiday and just fell in love with it.
- Volunteering can be turned into a holiday in a different part of the country
- They have a soft spot for a particular Big Four/Pre-grouping company but don't happen to live within the area it served
- They have had a bad experience at their local line but enjoy volunteering at a heritage line so tried somewhere further afield
- They have a very specialised interest which no local railway near them caters for

Conclusion: it's not wise to be dogmatic. The main thing is that we enjoy ourselves and - as far as the title of this thread is concerned - believe that we could continue to do so if we had to relocate our volunteering efforts elsewhere.

 

I know somewhere that could do well to bear that in mind. I've often felt the divide of management / volunteers; the former wanting the volunteers to do everything but not actually telling them anything. For me, that's part of why I've stopped doing so much and gone onto my own projects for the time being - I can do what I want to my vehicle when I want to do it (or at least will be able to when it finally arrives and I stop being fobbed off with excuses...)

Not to say I'm not involved with the Railway's own teams at all - I still enjoy working in the Steam Department, it's what I've always wanted to do.

 

If not the MHR, then L&B or WSR, possibly both. I like the idea of laying some more track, and narrow gauge is much lighter, and in spite of some silly politics these last few years the WSR is a lovely operation, with friendly people. Failing those two, I suppose anyone who'd have me....which narrows it down a bit.

To comment on the rest of the thread (the drifty bits). There is no doubt in my mind that a unified ownership for the majority of the line, locos and revenue earning rolling stock is by far the better model. However, I also recognise that this isnt the world we live in. Pragmatically we have to work with what we have. I think over time whenever there is an opportunity to move towards a unified model, take it. In the meantime be a really good partner to your owners and make sure that there are good clear contracts in place, and put them in place if there are not.

 

The only thing I would change in the second paragraph is to substitute "seize" for "take" at the end of the fifth sentence.

Paul H

 

I currently commute about 20 miles each way from Dunfermline to Leven for the Fife Heritage Railway. Joined just over two years ago even though Bo'ness is nearer, this is due to FHR being a place only in it's primal form and I wish to be part of it's journey into the preservation world. If it was to cease then Bo'ness would be next, plenty of steam for me to play with. Shed 47 not being an option even though it's almost in my back garden as they are very pigeonholed by the bus museum who they share the site with.

 

I'm not sure where I'd go. If it was local, I'd say Tanfield, but at 3 hours up the M1/A1, it's not a viable option for someone who contributes around a day a week either doing engineering work or as loco crew.

Possibly I'd go back to my roots a little and get involved in Llangollen - for some time in the early 1990s I believe I was their youngest member (I sent 20p of my pocket money to one of the fundraising appeals, and got invited on the footplate of Scotsman as a thank-you for my efforts).
My interest being primarily in industrials, Ribble could be an option, but it is rather painfully flat, and both it and Llan would be approaching the limits of sensible commuting (both about 1 3/4 hours drive each way) to do a day on a footplate and get home again still alive...