Norfolk Southern

[NW Mailing List]

I have strong feelings about the need for preservation of the Norfolk and
Western material. It is our mission and our strength. But this question of
taking on NS history does not have to be an either/or situation for us, it
can be a "both." What I mean is that our core strengths have put us in a
great position (for now) in relation to the other historical societies. We
own a building, we have a strong technology base; we have a transactional
database and merchandising platform; we have over 200,000 publicly
accessible documents; and we have unpublished content that will take us
another 20 years (at least) to unpack and bring to the surface. We have
money in savings as well as operational reserves. We have a strong
tradition of quality publications, and so much more.

What we don't have is new members. What we don't have is a lot of success
stories in our adjacent rail history societies. We are existing among, if
you will, a bunch of other dinosaurs with no foreseeable business model
emerging to save us. If we do not innovate immediately, we will watch our
precious assets dwindle before us, as we are already beginning to observe.
The cost of our publication exceeds the revenue brought in by membership.
We're seeing a decline in modeling of the steam era. We will eventually see
a decline in orders for scanned documents if we continue to rely solely on
the N&W era.

I have often wondered what we can offer to the rest of the history world
which capitalizes on our strengths and puts money in our coffers. Could we
offer an IT service to other societies that can't afford to run their own
online storefront? Could we branch out and scan drawings for others on a
contract basis? The list of ideas goes on, ad nauseum. There are just no
easy answers, but that should not stop us from looking for ways to take on
a profitable (for lack of a better word) side hustle.

N&W and NS under one roof? Why not? We can do both. We should do both. No
other society with our position of strength has stepped into this "sector
of the market," but there will someday be an entity doing just that. Why
not us?

Stephen Warren
Board member and past Vice President

On Sun, Oct 27, 2024 at 3:46 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> As a charter member of the society, and one whose experience with the N&W
> began in the 1940's, I welcome the idea of including NS material in the
> Arrow. While I prefer steam, I realize that N&W had diesels longer than my
> experience with steam. And they were N&W locomotives. Today's NS diesels
> run on lines that used to be N&W, so I keep up with them, as I consider
> them to be the present generation of "N&W power." Thanks Stephen and
> Michael for your comments. N&W history did not end when it became part of
> Norfolk Southern.
>
> Jim Nichols
>
> On Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 12:18:45 PM CDT, NW Mailing List <
> nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>
>
> Whoever wrote this – well said.  In recent conversations with one of the
> well-known leads of another historical society –  a west coast railroad –
> the fellow said that folks become involved with organizations with some
> “current” content out of interest in what preceded the present situation.
> The same may hold true for our society.
>
>
>
> The editorial content of the most recent Arrow got me to thinking – but I
> do not have any magic answers.  I actively recruit in my area for the NMRA
> and encounter the same issues of declining interest among younger folks in
> railroads in general and building things (vs. gaming on one’s phone).
>
>
>
> I for one will continue to be a member of the society even if the Arrow
> begins to include NS content.
>
>
>
> Michael Ross MMR
>
> Ft Worth, TX
>
> Where the VGN Railway is being rebuilt though the Appalachians in O scale
>
>
>
>
>
> [Norfolk Southern today is the window for younger folks to see  and learn
> about the Norfolk and Western.  We must look for ways to interest younger
> folks that never saw the N&W.   We must have younger members to keep the
> Society alive and well as  those of us who are older die off.  Other
> Societies such as the L&N do this.  We need to also do this.]
>
>
>
>
>
>
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