Re: Engineer for a Day on the Sumpter Valley

While our fairly remote location and lack of widespread knowledge of the Sumpter Valley Ry can be an impediment to attracting a large ridership and volunteer base, the flip side is that those who come to visit find the lack of crowds and unharried crews refreshing. We usually have time to visit with, show people around, and offer a more personal experience than many of the more popular historical railroads.

That is also an advantage to those who cannot afford the Engineer for a Day, but have time to volunteer on the crews. It is possible to move up through the training program fairly fast in comparison to other railroads and become one of the regular locomotive crews within a few years.

Our annual Safety Training Weekend is May 3 & 4 and is an excellent way to get started volunteering on the train crew. If you think you live too far away, consider that some of our members drive 8 hours or more and stay the weekend in personal campers, our own lodging in a standard gauge caboose, or local motels. They consider it a small price to pay for the privilege to operate our two steam locomotives in regular service. Either way, hope you will make this the year you come visit for a day or volunteer your time in exchange for many years of unique train crew service.