Ogaugeguy: "working a PV" means being on the staff of the car. On this trip, Dover Harbor and NYC 43 combined had a staff of 7: Crew chief, chef, 4 stewards (2 per car) , and a mechanical rider. I was the mechanical rider. That person is listed with Amtrak as being in charge of the car and is the contact person for meeting with the conductor, giving him/her the manifest and discussing passenger boardings/destinations, assuring car is watered, dumped, and gets ice as specified, boards and detrains passengers, does any minor mechanical things that can be done on the road. That may includes tightening screws, changing light bulbs, working with toilet issues, managing heating and AC, and assisting the rest of the crew as necessary. On this trip, that included stowing luggage, making some warning signals for minor irregularities in footing, checking generator oil after a shutdown for "low oil level." (It wasn't low, we must have been on a curve because never shut down again) and helping with trash and general clean-up. Because our original train for the return to DC was annulled (#91) Amtrak contacted me to advise of new routing on #19 from NY to Washington, and I then went to Yard office at Sunnyside to be sure all new paperwork in order. (It was)
All crew on this trip (except chef) were members of Washington DC Chapter NRHS and are volunteers. A training program is held by the chapter each spring for members who want to be trained to become crew. Sometimes chef is volunteer as well, other times one is hired.
Usually there are work activities each Saturday at the siding where cars are kept.
It is great fun, but hours can be long, since lots of the servicing is done at night. So, the mechanical rider often sleeps as much as possible during the day.
Not all members of the DC NRHS live in the Washington, DC area. There are qualified crew members who live in PA, NJ, and NC.
This year has seen a LOT of trips for the Dover Harbor and the two coaches owned by the chapter, Franklin Inn and Collinsville Inn. All three cars were on the road all summer with lots of volunteer staffing required. Dover Harbor will soon go down to Huntington, WV for service on the New River Train. The coaches are on their way to NC. Dead head trips require an assigned mechanical rider as well. All the 765 deadhead trips had a DCNRHS mechanical rider aboard to watch over the chapter's cars.
More volunteers welcomed. See information about joining the chapter at the website.
