J Mann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Philosopher Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What
> > about the guy who volunteered time and hard
> work
> > to resurrect a dead steam engine, but then
> > "freeloads" a fan trip with the engine he
> helped
> > restore.
>
> It sounds to me that he earned the right to be on
> the fan trip. A person who has spent time, hard
> work and in many cases donated their own money to
> the project does not deserve the title of
> "freeloader". They have earned their place on
> that train. It's usually one of the few perks of
> working on a restoration. Organizations that do
> not recognize their volunteers with this one perk
> are ones that soon find themselves without
> volunteers.

I totally agree, that is my point. But this is where it gets complicated. In this day and age when steam charters are so expensive, organizers struggle to keep group size manageable, and the price affordable. In most cases organizers struggle to breakeven much less make a profit. So anyone other than crew riding for free either inflates the group size or forces a price increase. For small organizations with only a few volunteers that probably is manageable, but what about the Friends of the C&TS that has literally hundreds of folks volunteering to work on the equipment used in charters.