The acting board of directors at the Wilmington & Western continues to show the world how not to treat members and volunteers. They have recently sent out an email to a select few people to come back and volunteer starting at the end of October. Most all of the seasoned veterans who have given hundreds of hours of volunteer time were not invited.

What it boils down to is the people who run the board have hand picked only a few people to be involved.

How do you get picked?
You do not complain when you are expected to operate equipment that has been poorly maintained and lacking proper operational and safety inspections.

Here is a good example. The CMO refused to allow anyone to inspect the cylinders on #98. When a new employee decided to check them anyway, he found everything so worn that the rings were gone, the piston was digging into the bottom of the cylinder, and there was a 1/2 gap at the top between the piston and cylinder. The employee was forced out. The board said he started unnescessary repairs on the operating locomotive and now they are faced with a six figure repair. They said the locomotive was fine operating the way it was.

If you nod your head and agree with them, you get to be in the club and operate trains. If you call them out, you are out and not invited to run the trains.

When you see the trains running later this year, you will have an understanding of the kind of people who are operating the trains. People who just don't care or people who just don't know any better.

WW

The RR has started promoting its "revival" on Facebook, in its first "official" post to FB in about six and a half months, advertising fall and winter trips:

https://www.facebook.com/WilmingtonWest ... YTzW6wuPJl

Notably,

And a couple posts before and since.

There are many reasons why I stopped volunteering at Wilmington and Western. I will say that I was constantly in disagreement with the CMO over the condition of the equipment. I was the lead for the Thursday night volunteer shop crew and saw many talented people leave because of the poor maintenance and the way volunteers were treated. I have been mostly quiet since leaving as I knew there were some in the organization who were still working to make changes for the better. Those people have been forced out.

Tom Gears

Also, if you shared a post of theirs and spoke negatively of them, you get blocked from their page.

So their relaunched Faceboo page's "about us" had a real professional footnote, until it was removed shortly after it was updated. It said "Unkind posts about the WWRR -WILL NOT be tolerated. Red Clay Valley is a fun experience. If you're unhappy- go ride a train elsewhere."

The volunteers who held positions pertaining to operating the railroad have been told their services are no longer needed. The acting board has kicked out dozens of people with centuries of combined experience. It remains to be seen who is going to run the trains and with two weeks until train time. Keep in mind no passenger trains have operated in 2025, and the amount of training for whomever is running the trains is going to be little to none. Safety is going to be a real concern.

The latest allegations reported to me:

*Allegedly the railroad or their contractors/volunteers had installed on the order of 1,000 new ties, with another 2,000 awaiting installation, but the railroad's "spiker" (unsure if they mean a rail-riding machine or just a jackhammer-like pneumatic spiker behind an air compressor) allegedly broke, leaving them to attempt to drive spikes in those ties the hard way--allegedly, even drilling out holes for the spikes first with a battery drill to make them easier to drive....... I've been sent photos of unspiked ties that need serious tamping as well as spiking.

*Again, allegedly (I can't personally check from 2,300 miles away), the railroad undertook efforts to repair/replace two small culverts on the line, but were halted by either state environmental officials or the Army Corps of Engineers (I heard two different versions) for not having proper permits or approval for the projects. Supposedly the materials for the projects are still lying in the parking lots at Greenbank Station............

If true, these snafus would explain the truncated rides currently being marketed on the website/ticketing page, turning around about halfway through their normal excursion route without a change in fare, after initially promoting "pumpkin" rides to Ashland (beyond their normal Mt. Cuba picnic grove turnaround point) while reminding passengers "trains will not stop at Mt. Cuba these trips"............

Now, it's to be expected that special event trains on excursion lines will operate and be priced differently than normal operations, if the railroad is marketing itself and its offerings properly. The Grand Canyon Railway does a land-office business doing shortened shuttle runs to a temporary "North Pole Village" for its "Polar Express®" operations, for example. But it appears that this "bait and switch" would be arousing some negative commentary among potential riders....... that is, of course, IF the current W&W management allowed open commentary on its Facebook page.........

Looks like they have cleaned up the facebook - which is good.

Who is running the railroad? Like is it the same management but a large group of volunteers quite / were kicked out?

Or was this new management they came in and took over?

Candid.org is a useful, no cost resource for insight into nonprofits. The product of the 2019 merger of Guidestar.org and the Foundation Center, it provides snapshot financial views of nonprofits, and most usefully, copies of IRS Form 990's, where you can see in detail what's been reported. You can find out more about Candid's other services on their About page, as well. I can assure you that for those of us familiar with running nonprofits, the information provided by their thumbnail stats and the Form 990's can be quite interesting...

https://shop.candid.org/ccSiteLogin

In Historic Red Clay Valley's case, you can look them up by name or by IRS EIN 51-6015896

(Usually is a one-year lag in the postings, most recent available is tax year 2023).

For those of you who are not familiar with the not-for-profit IRS returns the due date is May 15th and the six month extension brings it to November 15th, so the 2024 returns are not really due for another two weeks.

Unfortunately, Candid's public search option has gone to a subscription model which is rather costly.

I went to the IRS Exempt Organization webpage https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/search-for-tax-exempt-organizations and I was able to bring up the HRCV 990s from 2015 through 2021. The absence of -22 and -23 does not mean they weren't filed. it only means that for whatever reason the IRS has not posted them.

Nothing I saw jumped out at me but except for riding 4662 with my kids I'm not that familiar with the organization.

I don't know if they have improved, but a couple of years ago the IRS took many months before posting returns. With the exception of a schedule naming donors, the Form 990 tax returns are supposed to made available to the public. Ask the charity for a copy of their most recent filing.

Word on the streets (via multiple sources and on Facebook) is that prior to Saturday night's train rides, the people running the hayride trips forgot their caboose. That's rather amazing, considering it's only a two-car train - the open-air hayride car, and the caboose. So somehow, all of the crew members (however few of them there were) got the train together, left the yard, got nearly to the station, then realized, oh crap, we forgot the caboose (half of the train), and had to go back to the yard to get the caboose. You can't make this stuff up, folks...

The W&W ran their first public trains of 2025. It was so funny seeing the train pull into the station missing its caboose and then leave to go back to the yard and pick up the caboose they accidently left behind.

The board locked out all of the well-trained volunteers and the entire group of managers responsible for training volunteers, train safety, and overall operations. The board of directors and their buddies are now running everything. Just think about what else could be getting overlooked of forgotten. If they can't show up at the station without forgetting half of the train.

Allegedly, of the current volunteer staff running the trains, one of the engineers was previously taken out of service for making undirected movements in the yard, one was suspended for using a cell phone on duty, and others are reportedly given hasty promotions now that the former training and qualifications people were ousted.

WW

Raising the question:
Are their passenger cars out of service, or did they just choose to downsize the train for other reasons, like possibly low ticket sales or numerous very short shuttle rides? As I recall, their cabooses were, before the recent hub-bub, normally "premium" or "private rental" fare, not regular riding stock. (I think most excursion lines now sell caboose seating as a "premium" experience, either as "party cars," "authentic old-time experience," or (in the case of at least the Verde Canyon RR) a gutted "first class car" experience.

Not my decision, not my call, but I for one can't envision sending out even a short shuttle run without a passenger coach equipped with regular seats and a lavatory, no matter the weather forecast or marketing. (I remember a coach being attached to a private "freight train and caboose" charter on one line, simply because the lone toilet on the caboose was still original and in no way suited to handling 30 riders for a day!)

After locking out most of the dedicated volunteers, the W&W's board has decided to use a staffing agency to help staff trains for the upcoming holiday trains. Below is pasted from a Facebook posting. We have already seen how well these folks are doing by forgetting to bring the caboose on opening weekend. One can only imagine the level of safety and service as they run an ambitious holiday schedule with only a few people who are friends of board members and a bunch of temporary workers.



Placers Staffing is thrilled to partner with the Historic Red Clay Valley Inc. (HRCV) and the incredible Wilmington & Western Railroad to help them find passionate people for their team!
Why join the Wilmington & Western Railroad?
HRCV, founded in 1960, is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the natural, cultural, and railroad heritage of northern Delaware's Red Clay Valley. The Wilmington & Western Railroad is where that mission comes to life.
Each year, thousands of families enjoy their unique, year-round events. From festive train rides with Santa to summer craft beer evenings and scenic Sunday afternoon picnics, this is your chance to be a part of the fun and help create memorable experiences for the community!
We are currently looking to fill these roles:
Rail Train Hosts
If you are friendly, enthusiastic, and ready to contribute to a beloved local non-profit and its historic railroad, we want to hear from you!
Check out myplacers.com to apply today and learn more about these exciting positions!
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