09-02-2012, 08:41 AM
All social organizations are a crap shoot. I've been a member of some very, very good ones -- in the 1980s and 90s there was a Friends of the Pacific Coast group covering the narrow gauge railroad that ran from San Luis Obispo to Los Olivos, CA. No dues, just some dedicated people and a mailing list. They got together as a group once a year but then a good many movers and shakers passed away, and it went inactive. Among the results were the Benchmark book on the PC Ry (when nonbody thought you could do any more than was in the Best book), the restored caboose in Solvang, the new San Luis Obispo railroad museum, etc. Two members of the group did the RMC cover story on the Pacific Coast bridge. So it's possible for a group to do quite a lot, and that's not the only one. But even some long-term clubs get bogged down in politics.
Then there's the technical and historical society covering, shall we say, a major, major Northeastern railroad that merged in 1968. Its longtime president was an "official" of that railroad and its successor. I always thought that if there was ever a museum devoted to the merged railroad (whose initials coincidentally correspond to those of the narrow gauge discussed above), it's too bad they couldn't put this guy in a cage to show something of what went wrong.
So it's a crap shoot!
Then there's the technical and historical society covering, shall we say, a major, major Northeastern railroad that merged in 1968. Its longtime president was an "official" of that railroad and its successor. I always thought that if there was ever a museum devoted to the merged railroad (whose initials coincidentally correspond to those of the narrow gauge discussed above), it's too bad they couldn't put this guy in a cage to show something of what went wrong.
So it's a crap shoot!