Thank you for starting the thread this week, Jdevleerjr. I always like your posts.
I'll continue with some of my photos of RailCamp 2019, day 2. 
Don't they all look like they want to be in a classroom? 
24 teenage boys at the Amtrak training facility in Wilmington, DE. We got some good explanation of what is involved in the work to keep a railroad running.
Two of my favorites at Amtrak. Harold in the striped shirt, and Freddy in the solid blue. They both told their stories of keeping the electric locomotives running in top form.
One of the early RailCampers was Adam Otsuka, who was in the 1999 camp at Steamtown, and the 2000 Advance Camp. He now works in planning for Amtrak. We are impressed in how this program gives a lot of young people the nudge they need to become real railroaders.
Some rail fanning takes place in Wilmington, such as when this northeast regional train whizzes past.
The young men get a chance to go into a real locomotive, and VP of Operations, Chris Jagodzinski walks them through different scenarios that they might encounter as engineers.
Chris walks them through the inspection of the locomotive, too. At each step of the way, he quizzes the boys on their knowledge, and helps them along to understand the need for so many different parts of a passenger locomotive.
All aboard!
At the training center, the boys also get to try their hands running locomotives along the line. The video monitor shows them trying to navigate the Acela train set through the route at track speeds.
This team is learning how to dispatch trains.
Another type of train simulator is this one, which allows them to navigate different weather conditions. The controls match the types of locomotives Amtrak uses.
More dispatching information from Tim (left) and Dimitri (right)
After dinner, the focus shifts to freight trains. Engineer Tony Verbyla from the Reading & Northern tells stories of life on the rails. The two hours allotted to him were not enough once the conversation started rolling.
My pics are a bit light on train photos, but I hope that you find the RailCamp idea to be helpful. If you know of a teen boy or girl who might be interested in 2020's program, check out www.railcamp.com
