Yea, hand tamping is not much fun, and neither is shoveling stone off a flat car. Volunteers love building track, and that is one thing I personally do not want to take away from anyone. And since I have both years of professional experience, and dedicated time at the railroad, my opinion is taken extremely seriously because I make sure to talk to the guys and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and listening to their perspective. Never have I ever heard someone mention anything about not wanting to spike by hand, except the ones not swinging a hammer.
It is about the bigger picture, and sometimes being from away it is hard to appreciate or fully know the big picture. Especially when pictures do not capture the laughter, stories, and jokes everyone shares during the day. On Friday many people were discouraged with the crane and not being able to lay the rail down by hand any more. But their spirits were quickly reversed and decided not handling the rail was not a bad thing. Especially when building 40 sticks of rail per day.