In the December T&T, we shared that open Railroads would be scheduled in a new way this year, following a successful trial of the new way last fall. This topic will be cov-ered at the Annual Meeting but here is some advance info
Open railroads will no longer be scheduled by district on a single day in a single month. This gave railroad owners only one date to be open and gave members wish-ing to visit railroad limited options. To enable more railroads to be open every month, and to give members more opportunities to visit open railroads, our new approach is:
1. We will share 2 weekends a month when railroads could be open.
2. Members all across BAGRS will be invited to tell us on what weekends they could be open (and encouraged to provide multiple dates).
3. We will then identity sets of railroads not too far from each other that can open on the same weekends.
4. The open railroad schedule will be set and published.
We will do this twice a year. The first time will be for May, June & July and dates in those months will be shared at the Annual Meeting and via email after the meeting. The second time will be done later in the year for August, September and October.
This new approach will give railroad owners more flexibility about when to be open which we hope will result in – More open railroads – More opportunities for railroad owners to show off their railroads – More opportunities for members to visit open rail-roads.
We realize that there will be teething problems as we transition to this new ap-proach. We are also aware that change is not always welcome.
However, the trial last fall was successful and the goals are worth striving for because open railroads are one of the ‘crown jewels- of BAGRS.