I volunteer at a museum/tourist railway in California. Our Operations Supt. just resigned and I've volunteered to take over. I'm not sure what we're supposed to have in our crew records, but I'm pretty sure ours is a big mess. Also, our group has not had any kind of training ever since I can remember (which is at least 4 years). It's my understanding that our crew's are required to have licenses, but I'm not sure how to know if it's been done right. We are inspected by the FRA, but they haven't been here in a long time.

Are there any professionals who can be hired to help us? I don't want some Class-1 guy to come here and try to make us the Union Pacific. I'm hoping to find somebody who is not afraid of railfans and who will not upset our volunteers.

As far as training goes, if you don't have any street crossings and don't run on someone else's rail, you are considered `Insular' by the FRA, just like a large factory. If that is the case then training is your own responsibility. Best start is to get a copy of the NORAC rule book or as close to a modern major railroad rulebook as you can find, and train your crew per the established rules, no need to reinvent the wheel, as they say. If you don't use line side signals or radios 80% of the time, train per `Dark Territory' rules (hand, Flag and whistle signals). At the museum, I am involved with, we train per Dark Territory rules, but augment with handhelds during events when clearer communication is needed. Most of the old railroads had question books for rules training and you can find them at shows, or you can create your own questions from the rule book. Your crew should be able to reiterate and understand what was written, `close enough' and `generally means' doesn't work with the answers. Keep copies of the tests and manuals, just in case there is an issue so you can prove what your crews were trained with and who was trained.

If you are not insular, someone else will have to help you with the answers. Best bet would be to talk to the local railroad you will be interacting with as they would want you to be on the same page as they are.

Wish I could help you more,
Rich C.

AFAIK all you really need to do is file the monthly crew hours/injury report and keep your crossing inventory current, and all bridges must be inspected. IF you have a steam engine it will have to be fully FRA compliant. You CAN have a connection to the railway system, you're not expect to slice off rail access entirely. You do need to keep your track and equipment safe for your circumstances, the FRA can stop anything on rails if you scare them bad enough. I was working on a similar project and pretty much just called the FRA on each item.

If you are really completely insular (no shared rail use and anyone who can access your track is an employee, customer, or trespasser, but never a member of the public) then you're free of the FRA (as said, they can come get you if you do something dumb enough).

Shoot me an email at Hirail1@yahoo.com and we can discuss what you have and where to start

I PM'd you the other day on training. You can e-mail me at fheilich@msn.com to discuss also.

Fred Heilich