Okay, I thought I had answered questions, but I guess not enough. My internet was down this weekend so I couldn't follow this.

Topper: most of our Board and most of our volunteers don't live anywhere near Reno. I myself live in Santa Clara. Our Treasurer is from Pasadena. Our Vice-President lives in Spring Garden. Our Director of Operations lives in Belmont. Most of our crews come from Sacramento, Stockton and the Bay Area. If you don't like something that is going on, I invite you to contact me. My email is eugene.vicknair@gmail.com. I may be a little slow at answering as I also am the co-owner of a growing design business and typically work about 50-60 hours a week in addition to working for the FRRS.

As for "running people off". I know of one person who was removed from the membership for trying to cheat the organization. I know one person who thought this was an unfair action and has loudly proclaimed that we were unfair to this individual. Legal reasons prevent me from naming them, but ask around. The one removed is fairly well known in museum and railroad circles and his reputation speaks for itself.

As with any organization, there are those who don't agree with directions that are taken. I don't consider that grounds for running people off, instead I want to hear their point of view. Amazes me, however, how often I hear someone sniping and no one has ever talked to me, a manager or another director. If anyone has a complaint or comment or question, again, my email is eugene.vicknair@gmail.com. Just be polite, please. Cussing me out just gives me a headache.

We have had, over 25 years, three incidents resulting in injuries.

One was a runaway prime mover that resulted in a flash fire that burned a volunteer. Someone has closed the air box oil drains on the exhaust and the oil heated and flashed over. We never found out who did that and we changed our rules to ensure it would not happen again. It has not.

We had two RAL locomotives collide due to a error in planning and no communication. There was also a violation of operating rules. We performed an investigation, contacted the FRA and made changes to our rules and training.

The most recent was basically a hard joint with the 917. I have not seen the full investigation report yet, but it appears that a single person violated an operating rule. Again, our training and rules are being reviewed and the appropriate agencies were contacted. Note that the 917 has body rust that is common to F-units. As mentioned, she has not been painted since 1983. Steps have been taken to arrest this, but it means that the shock of the joint made some wrinkles as the metal is weakened. She is in operation and nothing structural was noted in the post-incident inspection.

According to our own insurance carrier, we have a good safety record. Our operating crews are regularly complimented for their skill and professional conduct and other organizations have invited us to operate on their lines. If there are deficiencies in our operational performance that others have noticed, I and our operations manager want to hear about them.

Several of our operating and management personnel are professional or retired professional railroaders and they keep a close eye on us "fans".

As for F-units in the RAL. Yes, they present special issues, but they are also the most popular engines in the program. We constantly weigh the benefits of sharing them with the public versus their issues. We now have a spotter at the back of every F-unit RAL for added safety.

On the Zephyr litigation. I answer questions about that all the time, so if someone wants a more detailed answer, email me directly. Short version: we purchased a California Zephyr car and were cheated on the deal. Leting the individual get away with what they did would have cost us a lot of money, so we sued for damages to protect the investment our members made. We have won every judgement and ruling, collecting has been difficult. We are NOT in financial straits because of this and anyone who wants to look at the numbers is welcome to. Like most other museums, we have seen a drop-off in visitors and income due to the economy. We are in a fairly remote location and do not enjoy the visitor levels of other museums.

You will have to pardon my tone. A lot of us work very hard to try and run a good operation AND be open. It burns when we get sniped at or disparaged as in some of the comments above. Are we perfect? No. We are volunteers trying to do our best. Helpful suggestions and assistance are always welcome. If you have a question or comment, feel free to contact me or anyone else (or contact info is on the website).