Join the discussion on the following article:
One month after taking office, new NRHS president outlines upcoming changes
It should be noted that the 2015 NRHS convention, scheduled for Rutland (VT) in June, is already selling tickets and has its contracts signed and in place. The last several conventions have provided funding to the NRHS and to its efforts such as RailCamp and the Preservation Fund. Your attendance is encouraged.
According to the NRHS Website, Al Weber got 58.5 percent of the vote, and Greg Molloy 41.5, a difference of 17 points, hardly a close election. In any election, including Presidential ones and the national one which will be held Nov 4., any time an incumbent candidate is defeated it typicallly means the people who voted for the other candidate are disastified with the incumbent’s performance and want changes made, usually for justifable reasons…
Also, there is a misconception that all NRHS chapters are ‘social clubs’. Each NRHS chapter is a separate corporate entity and the only requirement the NRHS National imposes on its chapters is to operate under bylaws which are consistent with the ones for the National Society. Anyone who has been involved with chapters such as the Harriburg chapter whose warped GG1 was the subject of a Trains News Wire story a few years ago, or chapters such as the Washington DC chapter that restored the Dover Harbor and owns a passenger car that is being restored and also was the subject of a Trains News Wire Story, or the Bluewater Michigan Chapter which restored and owns two cars which were used in some of the NS 21st Century Steam trips, knows the difference.
Other such examples, of such chapters, include the Heart of Dixie Chapter, the Southern Conn one, the Eastern Conn one and Inland Empire (in Spokane, Washington) and many others.
Approval of the new business plan was a separate issue from the election and the deadline for voting occurred on August 1, weeks before the final version of the new plan was announced. Had the NRHS BOD approved the new plan (and it of course didn’t), a vote by the members to radify the changes to the NRHS bylaws would have been required and the possibility exists that they could have defeated it.
It would appear that the declining membership could mostly be attributed to the generation that is interested in this group is dying off or just becoming uninterested - saying they don’t need or want to be a part of an organization that can’t seem to “get it together”. (what is the average age of an NRHS member?) It also seems that the focus should be on how to attract subsequent generations into the organization and keeping them. That doesn’t seem to be a subject that gets much attention despite the fact that these are the people that would carry the organization forward. Railcamp is a great idea/start, but only for the few dozen or so that participate. Somehow, a wider means of attracting young people needs to be considered. But with all of the current focus on keeping the group alive …
“The model would have turned the NRHS into a donor-based foundation to support rail preservation, rather than a social group…” This is nonsense. The restoration and operating of vintage rail equipment is very much a social activity. Those chapters engaged in operating such equipment are social clubs indeed. The NRHS was founded by groups of people who enjoyed riding and photographing rail vehicles ranging from streetcars and interurbans to long steam and even diesel powered excursions. Things fell apart when special trains could not be run at prices teenagers and families could afford. Aside from a pair of Amtrak excursions out of Philadelphia, excursion tickets costing $200 and up pretty much kills the ability to take your kid on a mainline train ride. Railfans are made when kids get to experience riding trains. This can only be done in major metropolitan areas with rapid transit, light rail and commuter rail. As far as excursions with open safety barred baggage car doors available to take in steam or even diesels working a “track speed”, forget about it! The things that turned us geezers into railfans are gone. So yeah, it’s hard to maintain the interest of little kids fascinated by trains when all they experience is a painfully slow trot on a museum line. I see them while working a museum line streetcar. I’m frustrated that I cannot run at a speed achieved in regular revenue service.
It’s time for the NRHS to find a way to run excursions at prices the “daisy pickers” can afford. From among those “daisy pickers” railfans grow.
Russ Isbrandt
White Bear Lake, MN
Oh please…the future of the NRHS has been “uncertain” for at least the last decade, all of which was in the period the NRHS was controlled by the recently-deposed President. It is not good form to run the organization into the ground, then demean the efforts of others to get the ship back on course!
I wish Trains Magazine would explain WHY they thought it necessary to feature Mr. Molloy’s sour grapes comments so prominently in this News Article. He lost the election by a landslide for a reason. It would have been more appropriate to focus on the future and what Mr. Weber has to say.