I happened to be visiting the Smithsonian Museum of American History yesterday. Every display was amazing, of course, but I was particularly blown away by the railroad exbibits, because of the difference between those displays and the average display at a volunteer-run railroad museum.

Needless to say, everything there was immaculately restored. What impressed me the most was the interpretive value of the exhibits. In front of Southern 1401, there was a sign giving information on the Spencer, NC shops, with many original shop tools on display. Up a ramp and next to the cab, was a sign about the history of the locomotive, with an original fireman's shovel on display. Speakers around the locomotive gave out locomotive sounds that were quite realistic, giving you the impression that the locomotive was under steam. The John Bull locomotive was displayed on a portion on what was apparently the first iron bridge in the U.S. The D.C. streetcar was displayed on a recreated portion of streets from the turn of the century, complete with a conduit slot. The CTA 6000 was open to walk through, with a recreated platform and station facade next to it.

My point is that the Smithsonian has done everything right to make their displays truly interpretive. Instead of a decrepit hunk of steel with little information on what this locomotive is, or why it's important, you were left with the understanding of how this locomotive or car played an important role in American history.

Of course, railroad museums across the nation do not, by far, have the resources of the Smithsonian. And, I would think indoor storage would be the first priority of many museums. But if we want to move past nostalgia and onto interpretation, I think a little could go a long way. More interesting signage, or combining multiple displays into one, like the john bull and the bridge, could really help people understand how railroads are so important to the history of America, as opposed to looking at another rusty artifact and saying " wow, that's a cool train, I wonder what the story is."

[quote="lmckay175"]
Of course, railroad museums across the nation do not, by far, have the resources of the Smithsonian. /quote]

California State Railroad Museum, Railroad Museum of PA, Steamtown, B&O Railroad Museum, Duluth MN, and Spencer NC are all excellent examples of museums that meet, or come close to meeting Smithsonian level displays.

But I don't want every museum to be like that... each museum can shine by being unique as well. Nevada State in Carson City, and Illinois Railway Museum are 2 operations of VERY different size that have both focused on restoring equipment to operating condition.

I think it's also important to let the members / volunteers help in deciding what projects to work on. For a museum to have long term success, you don't only need customers, you also need members to donate money long term and to volunteer regularly.

IRM is a great example. If they are running IRM as a for-profit business you only need a few pieces of equipment in operation, no need to restore and maintain the large fleet they have. But getting to restore new and unique equipment keeps the members and volunteers active and excited. That excitement is evident when visiting and speaking with IRM volunteers.
"Did you go inside that barn and check out the work being done on the Electroliner? We are restoring it and in a few years you'll be able to ride it" - That read a whole lot better than "oh yeah, we'll never have the money to restore that" or "I wish that could run, but the management doesn't think it a worthwhile investment."

I certainly agree with the state/nps funded museums coming close to Smithsonian standards. In my original post, I was more referencing volunteer-run, donation funded museums (although I did not clarify this, so my bad.)

You make a good point about letting volunteers decide what to work on, and not being driven by curatorial decisions. At IRM, for example, it doesn't make economical sense to have 2 steam locomotives operational (soon, with the shay,) or have an operational 4 car interurban train of CA&E wooden cars. Yet, that massive scale of operation is what makes IRM so worth visiting. Similar things could be said for other museums.

That said, I still think professional displays/signage/etc. Could go a long way to enhance the effect and experience of a museum.

Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton of Honeymooners fame belonged to the Bensonhurst, Brooklyn chapter of the International Order of Friendly Sons of the Raccoons. It was also referred to on the show as the International Order of Loyal Raccoons, or at times, the Royal Order of Raccoons.

Fred Flintstone and his friend Barney Rubble were members of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo Lodge No. 26.

The tie in to rail preservation? The official greeting of the Raccoons was a ceremonial handshake accompanied by a "woo - oo" sound. I always wondered what the sound of a steam whistle had to do with a raccoon.

OMG! You're right! Thanks for the correction. That splat sound you just heard was my last memory cell biting the dust :-(

It certainly helped during a recent visit to Snoqualmie, WA - these signs converted a line of what some visitors might call "junk" into an interesting exhibit. Besides the specifications and history of the car in question, there was a description of how that car type was used and an in-service photo.

An earlier thread mentioned historically based computer games. My 15 year old is into several - best example is War Thunder. The creators of this game have a decent physics package, excellent graphics and insanely historically accurate data on tanks and planes. Detailed charts that show the progression from model to model.

But there is an interesting under current to this. The gaming companies employee historians to do this research. They visit tank and plane museums, make 3-D scans (as we recently saw in a thread here on alignment of locomotive frames) of the tanks and use them to model them in the game. The researchers produce decent quality youtube videos where they explain every bit of detail of the tank, climb inside, discuss the controls for each crew station, show how the crew would escape, put the tank in historical perspective, walk around and discuss gory details like positions of lights, hatches, tow hitches, how the tank was started up, etc.. Often the researcher is a retired tanker or pilot. This provides a complete experience.

The upshot? We now plan vacations around visiting tank museums. We make day trips to see warbirds. After playing virtually, he wants to see, smell, feel, and witness the real thing.

Not sure how this applies to rail museums, but perhaps someone connect some dots.

Bob

It definitely applies to railroads. I've had many conversations with kids through young adults who asked about a specific locomotive because "there is one like it on my train simulator."

Whenever threads like these come up, I get the feeling that some of the people posting haven't worked at a museum or at an operating tourist line in 10 or more years... A lot has changed lately. The Internet allows people to research and learn about history in new ways. When I was a kid, I just had train books and a few vhs tapes. Me, nor my parents, had any idea that the #611 was operating, or that we could ride it. Now, people have new ways of learning about these events, if they are properly marketed.

Same for Musems, the museum website should not just be an online brochure, it should be an extension of the museum.

This thread got me thinking about how I became interested in, among other thing, railroads.

Going back to my growing up years, I lived in Akron, Ohio, the Rubber Capital of the World. I think the Father of just about every other kid I knew worked for one of the rubber companies. At least every other year, we went on a school field trip (remember those?) to one of the rubber companies. They took us on the manufacturing floor, up next to all the big, hot, dirty equipment. I loved it!

Who may have gone to Hershey's when you could walk up next to the bathtubs full of chocolate?

Cannon Mills in North Carolina used to let you walk right up next to the looms.

I know for a lot of reasons you can't do this any more, but it's the up close and personal that got me hooked on, call it, industrial heritage. Looking at pictures, while nice, just isn't the same thing.

I've traveled throughout the US in my career. I've been to a lot of museums/factory tours/etc. Static displays are nice, but they are mostly boring. It seems like a lot of railroad museums are too interested in "rivet counting" instead of telling a story. How many people, even railfans, really care whether this is a Phase 4 or Phase 5 paint job?

My "local" railroad museum is just a train ride thru some not really great scenery. It's a mismashed combo of equipment, none original or even a similar theme. For a 5 or 6 year old who has never been on a train, OK, but what's there to really get them excited?

I think in today's world, you almost have to be a destination. How often do you see a family piling in their vehicle and driving around for 2 weeks? You get one chance to grab someone. A "step back in time" theme isn't going to do it. It's a ride. How's the wifi signal?

Suggestion to Consider - Do any of the public libraries in the region surrounding your museums have guest speaker programs? if so, consider the possibility of putting together a couple of good PowerPoint programs about the museum and about specific preservation projects you have underway, and show them at the library speakers events. Encourage members that have good communication skills to participate in public speaking events on behalf of the museum.

Be reasonably careful about who you send and what they show. Somebody might be a great and helpful volunteer, but if he is going to take his "standard magazine of slides" he shows every time there is a members slide night, with all the faded fungus infected slides that are upside down or sideways every time he shows them, and the ancient slide projector that always jams up, it is not going to do much to impress the public with what is going on at the museum.

I have seen times when a guest speaker talking about an interesting topic at a public library in a relatively small town attracted an audience of nearly 100 people just based on notices posted in the library and an event notice in the local newspaper. Other than the cost of travel to get to the event, it is free publicity for the museum.

PC