Railroad Historical Societies. Join? Why or why not?

[zugmann]

danmerkel

So kindly share your thoughts on joining or not joining the historical society of your favorite railroad, past or present.

I don't model, so I don't have much interest in most historical societies that are mostly model-based.  

[danmerkel]

I posted this on the MODEL RAILROADER forum and it was suggested that I post it here as well for a wider range of opinions & feedback. -- dlm

Up front, let me point out that I'm a member of the BoD of the Nickel Plate Historical & Technical Society. We are in the midst of trying to find out what brings new members onboard as well as what causes current members to allow their memberships to lapse. So I'm asking each of you who read this to share why you are or why you aren't a member of your favorite railroad's historical society.

The board of the NKPHTS feels that the future of most "fallen flag" historical society will be modeling so this forum seems like a great place to get some answers regarding membership. We obviously see that employees of a railroad that exissted sixty years ago are becoming more and more scarse. Even sons and daughters of those folks aren't really all that plentiful any more. So the connection to the NKP is through modeling that road. Many manufacturers have helped along those lines and today, there are more and more models being produced of smaller, older lines instead of just those larger ones. The NKPHTS tries very hard to cater to the needs of modelers as does other historical societies and, while model railroading still seems to be a popular pasttime, potential members for ANY historical society seem to be fewer and fewer.

So kindly share your thoughts on joining or not joining the historical society of your favorite railroad, past or present.

Thanks!

Dan Merkel, NKPHTS Special Projects Director.