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 Post subject: Big-Ticket Events, Professionalism, and a Great Outcome
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:20 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
One of the big problems with either becoming a "professional" operation or temporarily hosting a major event like Thomas, Polar Express, a UP Big Boy visit, etc. is that the crowds are not only larger, but more diverse. The challenges that arise--from medical emergencies to parking and crowd control--can be far beyond the abilities of typical volunteer staffs to address appropriately.

This story has making the rounds of Facebook in the past couple days. It recounts the steps taken by one of the "professional" excursion lines to handle the "meltdown" of an autistic son when the parents took him to visit a Polar Express event.

https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.swartout ... 2650873583

(It's "public," you don't need to register for FB to see it, etc. I feel respectful not to republish her exact words to another forum even if she'd be OK with that.)

Now, of course, the positive PR in the wake of this post (supposedly shared 95,000 times in just a couple days, and 12,000+ comments) is a fortunate bit of luck for the company in question, probably far more than worth the costs of their offer to the family.

But my real point is, how many of "us" are prepared to handle such a situation appropriately? Most of us (if not all but one or two operations, not counting Disney) don't have a hotel and restaurant to "comp" a family in, of course. Admission and train tickets are easily comped. But I've also seen volunteer staff over the years I wouldn't put anywhere near a situation, the kind that would tell the parents in this case to "control your child or leave!"

Is your ride long enough, or your special events big enough, that there should be an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) on board/site with someone who is trained how to use it? Do local emergency responders know how to get to your trains or site, or are they even on call for a big event (at modest cost)?


Last edited by Alexander D. Mitchell IV on Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Big-Ticket Events, Professionalism, and a Great Outcome
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:32 pm 

Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:54 am
Posts: 1184
Location: Tucson, Arizona
The thing that everyone involved with a museum or railroad operation has to consider is that with the prevalence of social media today, everyone is an ambassador for your organization. As a conductor, I have had to make the decision to refund a fare and comp drinks to passengers and defend the decision to management later. I have also had to deal with medical emergencies on the train as well.

The refund was for a passenger who was confined to a wheelchair who the tour guide loaded into the vestibule directly behind the steam locomotive. When we passed through the tunnel, he was severely gassed and rightfully upset that our tour guide had not considered his comfort or safety. His ticket was refunded-at the next station I went into the ticket office and informed the agent of the issue. The comp drinks were on our downtown train when the air conditioning in the coach broke down. It had sealed windows and we didn't have enough space to accommodate everyone in the dining car. The commissary car was on the train and so I instructed the crew to comp drinks only on that leg of the trip-we picked up another car with working air conditioning and set the bad order out upon arrival at the terminal. We probably gave out 40 or 50 drinks and the passengers accepted the excuse that vintage railroad cars occasionally have equipment problems. Management challenged that decision and I put it to them this way-would you rather I not comp the drinks and deal with angry passengers demanding a refund of a $13.00 fare or would you prefer I comp them a $0.30 cent soda and keep the passengers content? You have to look at the big picture.

The case of the disabled passenger led to a change in our boarding practices. Instructions were published prohibiting trainmen and tour guides from boarding disabled passengers without instructions from the Conductor. This assured that the passengers would be placed in an appropriate location. Conductors were also trained to assess the passenger's mobility-specifically because of the smoke in the tunnel. If I were boarding a person using a wheelchair, I would talk with the passenger and their attendant and determine whether they could walk the short distance from the vestibule to the seat. My experience was that most of them could walk that short distance and did not complain once it was explained to them that this was for their comfort and safety.

Any organization that operates trains for the public must have a first aid kit on board. Ideally, this would include an AED. In a cardiac arrest situation, minutes literally make the difference between life and death. Each station should also have an AED located where staff and the public can access it. Staff should be required to attend a CPR and First Aid course and volunteers should be encouraged to attend the same. Personally, I've been certified in CPR (with and without rescue breathing) and First Aid since I was in college. Most AEDs are very simple to use-placing the electrodes is the most complicated part of the use of an AED. Having an AED might have saved one of our members, had the technology existed at the time. He was sitting on the steps of Georgia Railroad No. 1026 when he died of a heart attack. A couple of staff members found him and performed CPR until EMS arrived but that wasn't enough to save him.

_________________
"When a man runs on railroads over half of his lifetime he is fit for nothing else-and at times he don't know that."- Conductor Nimrod Bell, 1896


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