So you want to volunteer at your local Railroad Museum Organization, Huh?
So you decided on being a volunteer at your local Railroad Museum or Short Line Railroad. Well done! You’ve chosen a field which involves teamwork, precision, and safety, while having wonderful fun! But what can you expect from volunteering on a railroad?
What to expect when considering volunteering on your local Railroad Museum or Organization
1. Legal Information and Paperwork
2. Extra Studying in Addition to your Regular Work or School Routine
3. It’s a Long Way to the Top
You chose your field and are eager to expand your horizons right way. Not so fast! There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of training involved in becoming a railroad operations crew member. Firstly, depending on your age, state or province, or country’s jurisdiction, you may need working papers. For example, if you are a legal United States citizen under the age of 18, by law, you must file working papers with both the railroad museum and your township. This practice may vary in other countries, but basically these procedures are in place to comply with different child labor laws. If you are over the age of 18, you do not need to file working papers. From an under 18 perspective, volunteering on a railroad is not an after-school activity, nor a family gathering where you can just hang out and play games. This is WORK, COMMITMENT, and most of all, YOUR DECISION TO JOIN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SAFETY FIRST! Railroads cannot stress this enough. Expect this, but also expect a lot of studying and memorization involved in volunteering or working on a railroad. Expect a rigorous rulebook test to qualify as a train crew member in addition to your high school or college studies. Depending on how safety sensitive your position is, you must pass your rulebook exams with a minimum grade of 85% to 90%. You must either be a little crazy, or just extremely knowledgeable about trains if you want to get involved in railroading. Once you’ve passed, you’re eligible to access railroad or museum property to work whenever you want to. In addition, you are now ready to train and join the ranks of volunteer railroaders who are committed to keeping your country’s history and heritage alive.
When you first sign up or qualify on a railroad, you must work your way up the ranks, as is the case with all jobs. Most railroad museums offer a training outline for the different positions associated with railroad operations. It takes TIME AND EFFORT to move up the ranks, and how willing you are to MOVE UP. These railroad museums and organizations often have more members than there are people to train them, so don’t get discouraged if you’re not moving up right away. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and move up quick. Sometimes you won’t move up for years. If you’re not lucky, then there’s always Engineer-for-an-Hour programs at other railroad museums across the country. But your safety and willingness to move up still depends on YOU.
Ok! Now that you’ve gotten past the rude awakening and doom and gloom, you’re qualified, in training and ready to work on the railroad!
What to Expect from Railroad Operations
1. SAFETY FIRST.
2. You’re subjected to the outside elements.
3. It’s physically demanding.
4. Cleanliness before usefulness.
5. Be on time, and contribute to your railroad’s on time mission.
6. You have to take what you get from operating trains.
7. Distance factors.
8. Only do what you’re able to do.
Did I say safety first twice? Yes I did, because you need to think twice about your safety, as well as the safety of others, BEFORE you get on or near the property. You are under a lot of scrutiny from the Federal Railroad Administration, Departments of Transportation, and/or appropriate jurisdictions in other countries.
When you do volunteer work on the railroad, you can expect to work in all types of weather. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, or sun. Check the weather forecast before you leave the house and prepare yourself. You will need you own rain gear or snow coat. In the summer months, when most tourist railroads operate, always stay hydrated. If the weather stops you or the everyone who runs the trains from leaving the house, then the train doesn’t leave the rail yard, and no donation money or progress is made.
Working in Railroad Operations is a physically demanding and labor intensive affair. But the work can be rewarding if done safely and in the right circumstances. For instance, as a brakeman or conductor, you must be in decent physical condition to perform your duties. Inspecting the train, and changing out coupler knuckles involves back breaking grit. You will bend, kneel, stoop, and check each nook and cranny of your train, depending on how many cars or wagons you have. If a coupler breaks, you get to fix it, which means lifting up to 80 pounds, or in metric units, 36 kilograms of solid steel. If you are a locomotive engineer, you must be highly alert and in the same decent physical condition. Your inspection duties are the same. Even though your conductor or dispatcher/trainmaster is in charge of your train, you must maintain control of, and TAKE CARE OF YOUR TRAIN. Those who work in Maintenance of Way and work on tracks, often deal with much more intense physical labor than those in train service. So it is important to keep your back in good shape.
Cleanliness comes before usefulness, ALWAYS. A respectable railroad worker always comes to work clean and well groomed. For instance, a steam locomotive fireman/woman and engineer gets very dirty throughout the day. Wash yourself before getting in the cab and tender, as you will get dirty from the coal dust. Your skin and eyes won’t itch. Oil burning locomotives are cleaner, but you must exercise the same routine. For diesel engineers and conductors, you must also wash yourselves up, as you will get sweaty and oily from the dirty environment of the locomotive cab. The public is watching you, and it’s important to present yourself well.
Railroads are expected to run trains right on time and be really reliable to all who use them. The same applies to working on a volunteer railroad. If your train’s first scheduled run is at 10:45 AM, you must be ready within two and a half hours. Depending on your railroad’s rulebook, just show up to your railroad’s site or station at your designated reporting time. You must be present for your safety meetings ten minutes prior to departure.
You’re on this railroad museum organization for a reason. To preserve all rail equipment, and make sure it runs well. Most Chief Mechanical Officers or Trainmasters will decide what engines or coaches to run. Don’t think or tell the top dogs what locomotive should be used and which horn or whistle to use on it. These locomotive horns are warning devices which are very loud and the FRA strictly enforces train horn codes and laws. Most importantly, being able to operate and maintain a variety of railroad equipment is what getting railroad experience is ALL ABOUT. In other words, don’t be a picky foamer, and don’t be online at night after the day’s work mouthing off secrets on discussion forums. Anything your organization says or does is like gold, so keep it secret, and keep it simple.
Plans are useless, but planning is essential. It is important to know the distance where your railroad museum organization of choice is. Ideally, it would be wise to pick the right railroad to volunteer at. One that treats its volunteers well, and is willing to help you move up and gain skills needed for gainful employment in the railroad industry. Unfortunately, places like these are hard to come by, and may be long distances from your home town. For instance, if you were to volunteer on a railroad up in the Catskills, and live four hours away in New Jersey, you must consider expenses, and lodging. It may be expensive, but the important thing is the commitment to traveling afar to volunteer, the commitment to putting the time in, and most of all, making a difference.
On line 3 of this page, I mentioned that the job is physically demanding. But it is also not important to overexert yourself while performing train service duties or track work. For instance, if you’re unable to do track work because of a chronic injury, then it is best not to do maintenance of way work. Train service is easier to deal with, since most of the hard work put into it is studying the line you’re on, and operating the heavy trains from the cab. Should a knuckle coupler break on a train and a spare one needs replacing, do not walk the length of the train with the replacement coupler. Contact the trainmaster and make arrangements to have the train fixed properly.
One last thing...
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, things have changed. A lot of railroad preservation organizations or museums are in dire need of financial support and volunteer labor. By volunteering on a railroad, you are serving your community as well as preserving your country’s heritage. While the railroads are slowly beginning to re-open, there is still limited ability for us to experience it to the best quality and enjoyment. When everything goes back to full capacity again, I encourage everyone to share this guide. Be safe, ride the trains, and stay out of restricted areas. Thank you for taking the time to read this web page. Perhaps you may see me and I may see you sometime.
To read more about my Volunteer Railroad Experiences, I encourage you to read these four articles:
Pine Creek Railroad Stories Volume 1: https://empireofrails.com/index.php/2020/08/06/pine-creek-railroad-stories-volume-1/
Volume 2:https://empireofrails.com/index.php/2020/08/20/pine-creek-railroad-stories-volume-2/
Volume 3:https://empireofrails.com/index.php/2020/09/07/pine-creek-railroad-stories-volume-3/
Black River and Western Stories: https://empireofrails.com/index.php/2020/11/19/black-river-and-western-stories-life-as-a-trainperson/
I hope to inspire you to do the same.
© Empire Of Rails 2023