As always, I spent Veterans Day volunteering at Orange Empire Railway Museum. Two observations:
- Something I hadn’t seen before. Walking to my station as car attendant on the “A” car on the Thomas Train, I suddenly notice a bunch of liquid running out of the corner of the UP chair car, “B”. Going inside, my suspicions were confirmed. One of our visitors ignored the closed sign on the car restroom and the fact everything was covered with dust, and took care of his child’s (luckily liquid) potty emergency.
- As we got dinner, I was discussing with my wife how things have changed in our over 20 years of volunteering there. Whereas there was lots of member community in the early days: both at town hall after each day (with chips and dip) and at either Sizzler or Amigos Tres afterwards, that aspect is gone. Town Hall is overrun with the youth volunteers, and there is less interaction and camraderie between the members at the end of each day. Perhaps this is inevitable with the aging member base; perhaps it is a side-effect of how Thomas is run. I do, however, miss getting to know my fellow members as well.
