Checklist for Chairmen of train trips using Bluewater equipment:

For the passengers (and for the people processing orders for the trip):

1. Prepare a handout to be mailed with the tickets. These handouts must have:

1. A map of the boarding site

2. Directions to the boarding site from nearby cities

3. Trip schedule

4. Bluewater’s policies on bringing food and alcohol on the train

5. Bluewater’s policies on handicapped access

6. Details on any special food service offered.

A separate handout should be prepared for each boarding site. This handout must be prepared at least several months in advance and given to the people processing orders for the trip. This sheet can be photocopied.

2. Prepare an on-board Sentinel handout. This should contain:

1. Bluewater’s safety rules

2. A milepost-by-milepost guide to the trip

3. Historical information on the train consist

4. Information on food and souvenir sales on the train

5. Information on any special food service offered

6. Information on joining Bluewater and/or getting more information about Bluewater.

This sheet needs to be printed by Lloyd Waters.

Samples of both the sheets above can be obtained from Chris Jacks or Dave Williamson.

3. Get side trip tickets made up. This can be done by Lloyd Waters using older tickets as a template. These tickets then need to be counted out per car so the cars cannot be oversold.

4. Get for ticketing agents the maximum capacity for the trip. They will then stamp the proper number of tickets for the trip.

Other Things trip chairmen need to do:

(This list is not all-inclusive, but pretty much covers things.)

1. Find good boarding and unloading locations. These sites should have:

1. Adequate parking at any boarding site Get permission of owner of boarding site to use it. Tell

site owner that we carry liability insurance.

2. Smooth, level ground next to the cars where unloading will be done

2. Get the RR’s permission to run trip, negotiate operating and financial terms, then get contract signed by Chapter President.

3. Make up car consist with total number of usable seats per car. Leave two seats per car for car hosts. Note any bad windows or bad seats that cannot be sold. If sales warrant, lease additional outside cars. Frank Corley is Chapter’s Car Lease Manager. Note that most cars are $500.00 a day plus about $1000 deadhead each way, so revenue from seats may not make it worth leasing cars.

4. Do publicity. This includes:

1. Write up a press release. Then get this press release out to local media, especially local newspaper editors. Call newspaper editors and ask if they can run story about trip.

2. Make up an advertisement. Some advertising in local papers can help. The local papers can do much of the typesetting on an ad.

3. Make up a trip flyer. This can be done by Lloyd Waters, who has a person to do typesetting.

4. Distribute trip flyers to excursion area.

5. Assign boarding passes for main trip passengers. Trip chairman needs to count out and stamp boarding passes for each car, and make up a diagram per car of all the seats. Close to the date of the trip the trip chairman needs to assign a boarding pass to all passengers.

6. Arrange meals for the crew, if applicable.

7. Arrange insurance. Get amount of liability insurance required by railroad (we normally carry $5,000,000). Additional insurance will cost Bluewater more. Anyone who we use for any service should be added as an Additional Insured to our policy. Keith Howard can coordinate this with Geib Associates (our insurance agent).

8. For steam trips, find watering and coaling locations. Note that even the biggest steam engines will need water after about 80-90 miles without an auxiliary tender, and will need coal after about 200 miles. Water is obtained from fire hydrants near the tracks. Getting the local DPW or fire department out with a pumper is a necessity. Without a pumper a hydrant can only do about 100 gallons a minute. Filling up a 20,000 gallon tender would take over three hours without a pumper. A hydrant with a pumper can do about 1000 gallons a minute, so the tender can be filled up during a service stop. Also note that any coal dumped on the ground may have to be tarped for environmental reasons.