Convention Scheduling

[NW Mailing List]

There has been a lot of discussion about moving N&WHS conventions to the fall. Numerous Society members who normally attend conventions are also members of other railway historical organizations who run excursion trips in the fall, and would not be able to attend fall conventions. I am a member of the Old Dominion Chapter, NRHS. We run fall foliage excursion trips three weekends in the fall. The weekends preceding the trips are committed to ticket sales and maintenance of the equipment to prepare for the excursions. These excursions serve several purposes. First, they are a major source of revenue for the Chapter's historical preservation and restoration efforts. Second, they provide an opportunity for people to experience a trip on vintage passenger equipment. Third, they provide an opportunity for many children to experience their first train ride. This is very important as we have a generation growing up who might never experience a train ride otherwise.

Expanding on that line of thought, I saw a comment posted recently that the conventions are for rail historians, not for children. Let me clarify that I am an old bachelor with no children, so it doesn't affect me directly, but if the purpose of these conventions is only for a bunch of gray haired and bald men to gather and talk about the good old days of railroading, there will be no conventions, or even railway historical societies a few years down the road. The only way the historical societies can survive is by attracting younger members. That certainly will not be accomplished by keeping children, the potential future members, and their parents, who are the current younger members, away from the conventions. The more exposure the children get to railroads and railroading, the better the chance that the railway historical organizations will survive.

Nelson Burks
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