He's an "independent preservationist" who has a point.

For every "plenty of young adults" you see at the places mentioned (many for pay, mind you, and some possibly recruited from the few trade schools left), you'll find many more fitting his description.

I've made plenty of money over the years from people who sit on a couch and telecommute writing stuff on a laptop for high-five-figure salaries who hired me because they quickly discovered the hard way they could burn down/flood the house, electrocute themselves, make the house collapse, etc. from their blithering incompetence just by picking up a screwdriver.

The local aeronautical university, in addition to classes in physics, meteorology, aviation, air traffic control, cybersecurity, and Chinese, also has a large "assembly & fabrication" shop building that has everything from an advanced metal shop and 3D printers to a rocket-testing lab and wind tunnel....... and the engineering lab building has electronics labs....

About 1990, educators became infatuated with the idea of "self-esteem." Somehow, they determined that since children needed self-esteem, it should be bestowed upon them at every possible opportunity. The idea of doing things to earn your own self-esteem was lost. "How can a kid achieve anything great without first having self-esteem?" became their motto. Pretty soon every kid on the soccer team gets player of the week. Every runner gets a ribbon. My wife was told to make sure every kid in her 3rd grade class was honored with student of week! We now have those who expect to get paid for just showing up. The pride of making, fixing or doing has been lost. The schools act as if every student should graduate college. Those that don't are seen as a failure, so no wonder they have to do carpentry for a living... So of course they cannot appreciate what others can actually accomplish with their own two hands.

Another fantastic idea from the generation that gave us participation trophies.

I'm sure it's because they think the person charging MUST be better than what you are offering for free. It's a common paradox. Offering someone something for free vs. a reasonable charge and many, if not most, people will chose the version they have to pay for because they think they must be better. The trick is figuring out the break-point between just right and too much.

I had my last car for over 20 years, a very reliable 20+ years, and I would have had it longer if it hadn't started burning more oil than UP 844 (I was going through a 5 qt. jug of motor oil about every 3-4 weeks by the end). Anyway, after over 20 years the check engine light came on on a Saturday. My trusted independent mechanic was closed, so I took it to the nearest dealer for that brand. Eighty five dollars later they told me it needed nearly $2K worth of work or it might just self-destruct in the middle of nowhere, etc. But hey, we can get you a great deal on a new car... Well, I took it to my mechanic on Monday, and he told me it was a defective sensor, not to worry about it, and didn't charge me for the diagnosis. You think I'm EVER going to give that dealer any of my business again?

If Jay wasn't wealthy, he wouldn't have a shop full of men who work on obsolete equipment and bring it back to like new condition for him so he could appreciate their hard work.

Doubt if any of the men he's got rebuilding his trophy cars and other equipment are there doing it for their health :) .

How many of you drive some old beater and have thought "...forget paying Junior's college tuition to Harvard, I'm going to take the old '79 Chevy Silverado to the guy's Jay Leno employs and have them give it a frame off restoration because I appreciate hard work. It's going to cost the same amount as a 4 year college degree, but I'll have something to show for my money when I'm done"?

Yeah, nobody we know does that.

I struggle to see how this relates to railroad preservation or is worthy of being discussed on RYPN. The point of this site is to advance the preservation industry, not to amalgamate editorials or to provide a forum for like-minded individuals to complain about society today and the "Youth." On behalf of the 40-and-under generation of railroaders, volunteers, and preservationists, this thread is a joke and epitomizes why so few of us bother to take RYPN seriously anymore.

Thankfully, society also did those things back in the 1970s when I was a child.

It is how we learned concepts like consideration for others, teamwork and sportsmanship.

Why do so many people not value hard work?

Because the devaluation of hard work is one of the central forces of our market based economy.

One of the goals in our capitalist system is to extract the most amount of return out of the least amount of input (work). It's how we generate wealth.

Horses are better at pulling carts than people. Steam engines are better than horses. Diesels are better than steam engines. If you make your money hauling carts, you're gonna want that diesel. It also means that you likely regard anyone pulling a cart by hand as backwards.

The same dynamic plays out across out society, generally to our benefit.

We may romanticize hand built craftsmanship and the yeoman farmer, but if our entire society relied on those we actually would be eating Irish babies.

Agreed. RYPN can be a great hub of information but its validity is tarnished when the Facebook-esque drivel begins to take up too much space. Unfortunately, this trend has increased in the past few months. No offense to any of the commenters, not trying to discredit anyone, but that's just my two cents.

Edit - to clarify, I'm referring to the finger-pointing at the youth as it has no substance whatsoever.

It is important to have an experienced hand present as “foreman” to provide guidance and manage the work. Productive work leads to visible progress and the feeling of accomplishment in the worker. Some positive reinforcement also goes a long way.

Yeah, it is a bit of a bitch-fest, but how it may relate:

Around here, trades people I talk to bemoan that fact that they just don’t have enough new blood coming in. That makes fewer trades people available in a potential volunteer pool. While we can currently handle our own electrical, plumbing and mechanical work through past experience, we have not been able to glom onto a good welder. Two of us can kinda weld when we absolutely have to but a real welder would be awfully nice.

And this feeds into why I posted this essay:

If we as a nation continue to pursue the "throwaway society" instead of even partially taking pride in doing things with skill and craft, it's not just our avocation/pastime that is doomed beyond redemption.

There are machine shops I know of similar to Strasburg--everything from archery components to farm machinery to bridge beams--that are bribing what vo-tech schools are left to send them their best students, or even anyone competent that can think for themselves and pass drug screening. I'm sure the major RR shops have the same problems. I've spoken with the shop guys at the aeronautical university nearby; they say that even their highly-selective student pool, many coming from the Air Force or Army, sometimes lack even basic shop or tool skills--not good when you may be working on jet or rocket engines.

Leno, as a one-man major auto/machinery museum, is ostensibly concerned about restoring cars the RIGHT way, not just throwing some parts together until it runs like many vintage vehicle owners are reduced to. That takes a now-rare combination of skills, will, access to materials, and passion. We are increasingly replacing the skills with computer-driven machines and ever-cheaper technology. And, I would argue with the evidence above by others, we are even doing away with the desire and passion to "do it right."

I'm currently in the midst of repairing a leaking/noisy GE washing machine. I could possibly buy a replacement at one of the thrift stores or used-appliance brokers for $150-300 (or new for $600+), but I've seen firsthand what little most of the latter do to "refurbish" washers (take a hose to them, maybe a soapy scrub pad, nothing more). Parts (bearing, washers, seals) and tools (big spanner, blowtorch) have run me about $65, plus the opportunity to all but soak the entire tub and interior in CLR/Lime-Away to eliminate scum you could carve your initials into (which the re-sellers don't do). I even tried to get used appliance guys down the street to try fixing it; they couldn't be bothered (primarily because it might expose their lack of actual expertise, it seems). And apparently this symptom is so common that big-box hardware stores sell a tray to put under leaking washing machines for $25-30, which kicks the problem down the road until the leak does in the motor/transmission. (The grocery store down the street is selling a kiddie pool the right size for $9.............)

Am I stupid? Cheap?? Or do I just care?

Of all the volunteer based museums I've been involved with I can only think of two or three people that work full time in a relevant trade (welders, machinists, carpenters ect.) and donate their time and skills free of charge.

You'll be hard pressed to find -any- tradesmen, especially young ones, who will donate their hard earned and very valuable skills to a cause they don't have more than an inkling of interest in. Why should I do something for free that I get paid good money for?

I am on the younger side and work in the industry professionally (Welder and Boilermaker) and I'm more than happy to help someone out, but if I'm traveling hundreds of miles for someone I don't know would return the favor, I at least expect the courtesy of travel costs and a meal or two. That's nothing in comparison to getting my time and skills free that would otherwise cost thousands.

While there is young blood in the trades, there isn't much of it that can pass a drug screening, interview well, and are good at what they do. And those that can do those things are just not going out of the way to do their jobs for someone else free of charge. They know what they're worth, call that business-savy.

-Sam

I see what you're implying, and honestly I have no idea how you determined that person's life experience is in any way close to mine.


You went to a different school/state/whatever than I did.


Such concepts can be learned without eliminating the possibility of negative consequences, and while still risking the possibility of "hurt feelings."