Gettinng younger people involved

Hi there,

I was just wondering if anybody had any suggestions for getting younger people involved with the heritage movement? Our railway is struggling for the under-30s and needs to top them up otherwise face problems with drivers and things in years to come. I'm sure many other railways face similar issues.

At the moment we have three excellent 14/15 year olds and three or four in their 20's but I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions for drumming up more? I know one railway started like a club for young people. I don't think our railway is quite at that level yet, but it would be nice to drum up a few more from the local area. What are the fundamental reasons why the don't volunteer? Is it time, working for free or lack of information?

Leigh

P.S sorry about the typo in the title!

 

Speaking personally, the main drawbacks were being told I would have to go through a mountain of paperwork and several other pointless chores to become part of a railway.

(These are no longer personal views)Also, a lot of young people have an impression that it is full of grumpy old men, who are not pleasant.

Also, one major thing you have to accept, is that steam trains are really not 'cool', you dont want to be seen to like them. Young people do like steam trains deep down, but are afraid to admit it and want to 'fit in' with everyone, and voluntering has little or no material rewards.

 

I agree with the fact that it is seen as uncool to many and therefore they would rather just fit in. I would however, say that volunteering has changed my life! When I first started I look back and consider myself to be quite shy etc but now I am not - plus it really really helped at a significant job interview that I went to! That is all they wanted to talk about! I suppose the teenagers though won't see that.

 

As I am only 15, I am not able to commute easily to my nearest railway - SVR, therefore I cannot volunteer. If I did live nearer to a railway I would most certainly spend some of my free time there volunteering, as would many of my mates. As a teenager, I think railways need to make themselves more appealing for youngsters, for me that is easy because I am an enthusiast, but for others unlike myself, I think they need much more persuasion.

 

Young people

It is difficult. I am 18 and my friends are really interested in what I do. I think that if you don't have a link with a railway (my grandad is a fireman on the NNR) people don't know that you can start working so easily. I know with cleaning as soon as you have done your PTS you are working on a loco and it seems a similar case with other departments. I also think young people are unaware that you can actually do it. Those who live near a railway may see the trains running up and down everyday and be unaware that they are almost certainly operated by volunteers and a lot of other jobs in the railway are done by volunteers. I think it is less a case of young people not being interested it is just that they aren't aware of the wide range of jobs.

Perhaps railways should run open days for the community to see behind the scenes of the railways.

I don't know the full facts behind this story but from what I can gather a lad smashed some windows in sheringham signal box a year or so back. He was somehow found out and his dad made him work his debt off at the railway. From what I can gather he became really interested and stayed on as a volunteer.

 

Some railways it is even easier because they don't even run PTS etc

 

Please tell me I didn't read that. Operating around a potential dangerous piece kit, training is essential to learn of the hazards involved and how to work in a safe manner.

Getting back to your question though, the main problem is lack of older volunteers. We cannot just let a group of teenagers turn up off the street and let them play trains. Firstly its just insane to let someone with no prior knowledge go out and do what is a complicated job when not in the know, and secondly legally mminors have to be supervised at all times. They need to learn about the environment and be taught about the various aspects of what a working railway realy is. However with CRB checks and all the other pieces of paper that are rerquired to work with children, many are put off and so do not get themselves passed to be allowed to work with youngsters. This then means there is no-one available to supervise any working parties for youngsters and so the young person misses out.

Another few points have been touched on. Railways are not cool and so Peer pressure will kill off any small levels of interest. Only those who have a real ambition will go through the mickey taking and become a volunteer.

The other thing is transport. You can't drive a car until you are 17, and not everyone lives on the doorstep of a railway. Unless parents taxi comes into force, if the public transport isn't great then there's one less potential volunteer able to get there.

Having said all this there are young volunteers in preservation. I started volunteering at 13 at my local miniature railway before moving on to Llangollen 3 years ago, and now at 22 I am coming upto Passed Cleaner at Llangollen, I wrote the entire working timetable for Steel, Steam & Stars 2, I am part of the team that is building 6880, I have helped support 5199 on her travels and I am also a cleaner at North Yorkshire Moors. And this is just me. There are a few more young volunteers at Llan, and NYMR there are an awful lot of young people getting involved there. So we are coming through. Yes it would be nice to have more but that goes with everything in life.

 

This thread is more about the under 30's than the really young volunteers. I don't think Leigh is on about attracting 13 year olds or anything. We just need to keep young blood flowing through the ranks to replace those whose age means they can no longer volunteer. I also don't think he means letting kids loose with any equipment. You start from the bottom. When I said work with the loco I didn't mean driving I meant cleaning it, coupling up, some firing etc.

 

Yep spot on. Nor did I mean that some railways don't do any safety systems. PTS is one way but there are plenty of others too!

It is important to get people through at any age too. But I think people in their 20s are the most important at the moment. There seems to be gap between the teenagers who want to do it and the older people.

 

Apologies. But you need to remember one thing. Mid-twenties is when people will be starting relationships and families etc, and be around the time they finish training prgrammes such as apprenticeships, and so will be working to earn money for new car, a house etc. Not a lot of free time when all this is taken into account. Getting people interested at this age is not too big a problem, it is more them finding time to help.

 

From experience as membership secretary for a small preservation group, lil Bear has summed it up really well. Quite a few junior member stay on as adult members but their active involvement declines with other interests/responsibilities.

Cheers, Neil

 

So perhaps getting them interested and involved from the teenage years means that they are more likely to carry on volunteering during their 20s, even if it is on a less frequent basis, rather than trying to get people in at that age.

 

You've hit the nail on the head there lil Bear! Trouble is be realistic where you volunteer and times/dates you can make and make sure the railway is aware of this! Also make sure when you start of a cleaner that you show you're face around! Get involved in anything - Be it workshop work or cleaning.... Eagerness to learn springs to mind! ;-)

 

Doesn't matter what age you are - You will always be made welcome - Experience no matter will get you to the top alot quicker if you have fired or driven or worked back in the ole age days of steam!

 

Yeah but what I mean is that its easier to get teenagers in than people in their 20s because of the reasons discussed...so maybe we should be trying to get teenagers!

 

I think you're right. Many of the very long established lines recruited volunteers at about 15/16, who were volunteering very intensively for about 10-12 years whilst they were at uni or just starting work until they were in their mid 20's. Then they were on the career ladder and maybe thinking of marriage/partnerships and mortgages and gradually their volunteering dropped off. Many of them do come back later though and introduce their own kids to volunteering.

 

I believe this is actually a very complex subject and is not just about getting them involved but keeping them involved.

I can remember being a young volunteer and I have to admit it is a bit daunting turning up initially. You know nobody and in my case although I had an interest I actually had no idea how a steam engine worked. I remember during a tea break a loco blowing off and too much merriment the fireman shooting off to stop it. I do not think I had heard of an injector then so I had no idea how he was going to do it. I would point out I was not a loco volunteer! What made it easier is that there were plenty of other youngsters about my same age, a fair few of the opposite sex, and I think that is key. If I had been virtually the only youngster I probably would not have continued as the socialising was important. Not every volunteer wants to talk just about trains!

It was also easy to volunteer, no waiting lists and no requirement that you did x or y for a period first before you joined your chosen department. If there had been a waiting list or I had to do something else I might have been put off or gone elsewhere.

Another key thing is that the railway was accommodating and grateful for whatever time I could spend. Again no requirement that you must spend x weeks a year or so many weekends a year volunteering. Again this is important as it helps attract volunteers you might not have quick and easy access to the line but also these days with student loans etc students have more pressures to have part time jobs to see them through college. I think this also has a detriment to the numbers you see now in the summer, Many who would volunteer and busy working to pay off student debts.

To a die hard volunteer/enthusiast these are not going to stop them volunteering but to the vaguely interested like I was they were important points as were supportive parents.

Many of those points also apply to keeping young volunteers. A great social time in the evenings with those of roughly my same age maintained my interest. It was not all sitting in the same pub drinking, real ale, discussing railway minutiae.

It is also important to realise that there are plenty who are happy to do some volunteering but due to family commitments and other interest mean that unlike some they have limited time to commit. I am aware that some railways have very strict rules with regard to the number of days you must volunteer and how they should be split which are more aimed at covering rosters more than ensuring volunteers spend enough time to remain competent. Again such a policy might have discouraged me a youngster and certainly would have stopped me volunteering when I had a young family and I would have been unlikely to have restarted as I had more free time.

 

a few thoughts.....

Hi,

As someone 20 bordering 21 a few thoughts.

Case in point is I'm likely to be back on the Welsh Highland this winter seeing to a curve we were crowing last winter! The reasons one may ask-particually in sub zero Snowdonia weather or liquid sunshine (read torrential rain all day) that I still go there are as follows.
-first of all the people-people bring the railway alive and bring people together. Make the railway friendly and approachable, if people who go are shy talk to them. They might be shy initially as its a completely new environment.
-second is to make it accessible. Although as it has been mentioned you could be driving by the time your 18 many may not have learnt (like me) or can't afford to drive and so need to rely on public transport or a parents 'taxi' service. The latter could possible work with younger volunteers if two friends both want to volunteer on one railway parents could alternate so one takes them and the other brings them back.
-If you achieve the first two distance may become less an issue (for me going to Port constitutes a six hour train journey but I know its worth it for volunteering at the other end)
-The third is to appreciate their efforts and show them how what their involved in fits into the rest of the railway. eg one task when at Blodge was treating timbers for what if memory serves me right was for the gravity train. The fact it was mentioned where it was going to be used showed the end results of ones efforts.
-Make sure as far as possible there are facilities to store things during the day particually if you need to change when you arrive. If staying for a length of time accomodation or recomendations of places nearby.
-above all make sure young people in the area know that they can get involved.

Anyway just a few things I can think of.

Regards

Duncan Hough

 

strange.
i am a member at the guildford MES, and south downs light railway.
GMES is in a big town, yet we have practically no jnr members.
yet outh downs is in no where practically, yet we have plenty of jnrs

 

And so you come back to my original point, that you need a structured course to introduce the teenagers to the railway environment. To do this you need volunteers who are prepared to go through all the paperwork to enable them to work with 'children' and set up such a project. They can't just turn up and have a go as there is so much H&S nowadays. There also the other thing of railways not being 'cool', only those with real ambition of being on a working railway will do so, those with only a casual interest will be put off by peers who see working on a railway as a source of mickey taking.

Having said that there are railways that have achieved the above. Ffestiniog has a lot of young volunteers, and following a recent visit to Swanage I was impressed with the Cygnets Youth Scheme they have running there too. There are other railways that run similar schemes too, Bluebell is one that comes to mind.

Totally agree with michaelh point too. Volunteers who cut back in their 20/30s due to career/family will more than likely return once these parts of the life have eased in intensity, and if they return as parents they may well even introduce their kids to volunteering.