I know that a lot of folks dream of working on a real railroad. Several factors can make this seem an impossible dream. Many steam restoration lines have all the crew they need and getting in on the action can be very difficult. Also, increasingly, these lines are turning to professional operators which discourage volunteers.
There is a neat 3 foot gauge railroad in Eastern Oregon called the Sumpter Valley. We've re-laid nearly 6 miles of original right of way, operate 2 historically correct steam locomotives and have several diesels as well. We have numerous pieces of restored SVRY rolling stock as well as some D&RG , Westside and EBT rolling stock. This is an active railroad where we get things done.
Despite our size and scope of our operation we are run entirely (save for the station agent during the regular season) by volunteers. That means that all train crew are people just like you who decided that they wanted to help run a real railroad.
We are always looking for new crew members. Whether you can only volunteer for a weekend or two or the whole season you're welcome to come out. You'll start out as a brakeman but keep in mind that all our cab personal started that way. Because we follow an unwritten rule of keeping folks upwardly mobile you could work your way up to fireman and even engineer and enjoy operating our #19 Mikado or our #3 Heisler. (For those that like to run speeders, we can always use fire train personnel.)
A new addition to the roster is our GE 50 tonner. It still has a little restoration work to make it usable on a daily basis. This rare and exciting loco is a virtual twin to the SP's "Little Giant" than ran in the southern California desert many years ago.
The opportunity of crew membership is open to each and every one of you. Give it a serious thought and watch for Safety Weekend which is our training day for new and old crew members - in May.
Hope to see you there -
Lon Wall
Trainmaster SVRY
www.svry.org
