Museum site for members and fans.

[trolleyboy]

Hello folks just another museum update.

We have shelved for the time being the insatllation of seats into grinder W30. In it's stead we are preparing CTA 48 our ex Chicago "El" car for regular service this season. It will tkae over the role in the operating lineup of Interurban car 107 which is a MS&C vehicle. At 94 years old 107 is needing some major vestibule work and a nagging crack in one truck side frame needs to be addressed as well. budget $ pending. so she will likely be a static display for a couple of seasons. The car has given wonderfull service the last two summers with interurban running mate L&PS #8 out of service. 8 should be back in top form for this year with the influx of spares we recieved for her this past fall.

Beyond that it's been business as usual with all the winter repair and refurbishment projects still ongoing.

Rob

[trolleyboy]

Hi Mike nice to see you drop by again.[tup] We don't run during electrical storms. The riders are safe,as all the track poles etc are grounded. We don't have alot of lighteneing rods on or about the property so if heavy thunderstorm with lighteneing starts we shut down till it blows through. We don't chance a hit taking out our substation or a contorller on one of the cars. So if the storm starts up the poles come of the wire and the subsation gets switched off.

We get some heavy rain espeacially after prolonged days of 90+ the hulidity in the area can brew up some doozies. They usually move through quickley though. The escarpment and the lake tend to deflect alot of the worst weather away from us.

Interesting stuff on that url as well. thanks for sharing it.

Rob

[wanswheel]

Rob, I have a question about the weather. How's the weather up there?
Actually I mean in the summertime when lightning is apt to occur.
Are trolley riders safe during an electrical storm?

Speaking of riders' safety, check out the photo at this link: http://www.brooksidemuseum.org/vewebsite/exhibit1/e11792b.htm

[trolleyboy]

A very happy New year right back "atcha" Dave and to everyone else here. This will be my last post here till January.[:)]

Now as to new happenings at the HCRY

Track plow TP-11 We have recieved back the final rewound motor armature( thanks to our friends at the TTC ) We can now begin the truck reassembly process, and then start to put the car back together. Getting us closer to the end of this so far three year project to refubi***he "beast". If all goe extremly well painting and final electrical work may be done for some fall runs with this fan favourite.

Interurban 416 One side of the car's new windows have now been finished with the other side 50% complete. We have also recieved the new vestibule carlines( curved main roof supports ) So we can fini***he new roof in the vestibules,once the carlines are in place ( solid ash wood ) the rest of the vestibule tongue and groove boards can be installed.With the roof and windows complete the major wood part of the project is done,then the metal and electrical work on the body and control systems can be started.In another couple of years (realistically) test runs and regular service can begin with this car. Not bad considering it was used as a dwelling from 1949-1983!

Finally[ we have recieved the pantagraph parts and a whole host of gauges and brake parts from two ex Inco steeple cabs that we were allowed to canabilize by the scappers. These parts will ensure that we have spares for L&PS car #8 so that she can return to regular service. And they also give us the ability to start the long term restorations of locomotives L2 ( L&PS ) and 335 ( LE&N )

Have a wonderfull new year everyone Rob

[daveklepper]

Just a Happy New Year to all my fellow Branfordites. And everyone on this thread also. And everyone on this Forum also. And all railfans and railroad people everywhere.

[trolleyboy]

Cthetrains Glad to have you here, I would love to see some info on the goings on at the Union Station. A couple members that frequent the "Our Place thread" had recently visited KC Union,and had a wonderfull time. [tup]

athelney Keep us posted,live steam is where it's at. I tip my hat to you folks,not an easy thing to own and restore and operate,but the final product will be well worth the efforts. [tup][tup]

If I don't pop back in before ,everyone enjoy the Holiday's and have a safe and happy New year.

BTW if anyone has late xmas shopping to do[;)],yours-truly has been appointed as gift shop manager at the Museum,let me know if there is any speacial requests! [:D]

Rob

[athelney]

trollyboy - thanks for the interest , we hope to be able to steam in April/May - 2006 , the ultimate goal is to be able to get involved in the Olympics in some form .. Time will tell , first objective get 2860 back up & running.

[Cthetrains]

I am hopefully going to become a volunteer at Union Station in KC, Mo..if I do, I'll post what I can

[trolleyboy]

Hey thank's for the update on 2860.It will be nice to have a second Roral Hudson up and running again. Any idea as to how soon full live steam tests will occur. Hopefully you guys will be up and running regularly for the Olympics.

On a slightly more unhappy note our museum's Christmas shows were failry poorly attended this year. Mother Nature was not kind. On the upside though. The hearty riders that braved the sub zero temps, got to see S37 doing the thing she was built to do . Sweep snow, the car absolutly disapears in a cloud of white when she heads down the line. The kids truly enjoyed it. They are planning on posting some pictures of her clearing the line on the musuem site in the next few weeks.Remembering also that this car only six months ago had most of the west end wood removed to the frame posts formrestoration ( my railimages account which you can access off my signature shows several shots interior and exterior of this restoration)



We have begun some winter pole replacing along the east and west end of the property,and of coarse the shop boys are continuing to bang away on the project barn,with TP-11's and interurban 416 getting the lions share of the work.

Work safe everybody

Rob

[athelney]

Just another update on Hudson #2860 up here in Squamish BC . The ultrasonic tests have been done on the boiler - only minor repairs required , a patch was inserted in the r/h side sheet of the firebox - metal a little thin - best to repair now . General cleaning of components now being done , reviews done by safety authority on work so far are satisfactory . Retubing will start in January when all retubing parts are recieved . Then its reinstallation time for all parts & testing .

[daveklepper]

I strongly recommend a visit to the Baltimore streetcar museum. If you use the NE corridor between Baltimore and Washington and keep a sharp eye out on the right side of the train just as you are leaving the Baltimore station, you can see the in-town loop and visitor's buidling of the museum. It has a representative group of Baltimore equipment, all Baltimore wide-gauge, from early stuff to one or PCC's, including a Peter Witt and a Brill semi-convertable deck roofer, and most are in excellent condition, and operation is friendly and professional. Even though it is close to the PRR station, the walk there is not perfectly obvious, but just exit north and west of the station and keep as close to the railroad as the street system permits, and you will find it. It is also has excellent opportunities to photograph the NE Corridor.

I speak as a Branford/Shore Line member, which of course is still my favorite.

[trolleyboy]

Mike The museum is in Milton so about 45 minutes to an hour from Toronto's downtown. No direct public transit. The Go Milton line gets you close but you would have to cab it the rest of the way. That or a trip down the 401 by car,we are in the rural part Milton. Email me if you wish I can give you more specific instructions to our sight.It would be nice if we could run a line to Toronto and use #8 but that is not in our finacial cards. We are a non-profit so the restorations are done by love,sweat and donations. There is quite a nice streetcar museum in Baltimore as well, not far from the B&O museum, they are worth a check out as well. The anual ARM convention was there last year. This year its a Rockhill trolley museum in PA. Feb 17,18,19.

Rob

[wanswheel]

Rob, how far is your museum from downtown Toronto? Is there transportation conventient for tourists? Ideally that #8 Interurban would do. The museum I've seen is the B&O in Baltimore. Someday I hope to see Steamtown. It's great that all that mobile machinery is being saved, thanks to piles of money, I guess, and time and labor from folks such as yourself.

[trolleyboy]

Thank's for stopping in P . It's nice to see the big carriers getting involved and reaching out to the general public with museum's small and large. Along with the must see Pennsylvania and B&O railroad museum's this ones sure to be a hit. Hopefully CN / CP and others follow suit as well.

Rob

[red p]

Highlighting 175 Years of Railroading, Norfolk Southern Museum Will Open December 5



NORFOLK, Va., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Early rail, clothing, tools, locomotive parts, signage, photographs and advertisements are a few of the artifacts that will be on display when the Norfolk Southern Museum opens Dec. 5.

The opening marks Norfolk Southern Corporation's (NSC) 175th anniversary and reflects the company's partnership with Norfolk and communities across the rail system.

"Norfolk Southern has a great story to tell," said Chairman David R. Goode. "Our 175-year history parallels the economic and social growth of America, and now we are playing a growing role in the global movement of 21st century goods. We've been around a long time, but our history is just beginning.

"The museum illustrates the contributions of our company in the growth of this area and the nation. We hope it will be a resource for educators and students as well as an interesting attraction for visitors," Goode said.


Norfolk Southern traces its origin to 1830. Since those earliest days of American railroading, hundreds of smaller roads combined, reorganized and consolidated to form the Norfolk and Western and Southern railways, which joined in 1982 to create Norfolk Southern. A portion of Conrail was added in 1999, resulting in today's system covering the eastern United States.


The History Factory, of Chantilly, Va., designed and built the 1,600- square-foot museum, which includes artifacts contributed by employees, customers and suppliers, as well as by historical associations and museums. The railroad's effect on American culture, and the diversity of the people who built it, are highlighted. Exhibits bring visitors up to the present, explaining the railroad's role in modern-day logistics.


The museum is located on the ground floor of the company's office building at Three Commercial Place in Norfolk. Beginning Dec. 5, hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The museum will be open to the public free of charge.


A visit to the museum by the life-size Best Friend of Charleston replica locomotive, on loan from the city of Charleston, S.C., is scheduled for Dec. 15-16. The original Best Friend pulled the first regularly scheduled steam passenger train in America, on Christmas Day 1830, on the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Co., Norfolk Southern's earliest predecessor.


The Best Friend replica is scheduled for display on Wall Street on Dec. 12, when Norfolk Southern representatives will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in observance of the 175th anniversary.


Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,300 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of automotive parts and finished vehicles.


SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation

[trolleyboy]

Espee Thanks for poping in. what do you do at the museums? runner rebuilder or moral support guy ? I know that several of our guys aare heading down to the Orange county museum next spring for a long overdue visit.

Rob

[espeefoamer]

Here are websites for two museums I belong to.
I have been a member here for 30 years,now! www.oerm.org
and www.wplives.org
And I am a member here of course www.sphts.org enjoy!

[trolleyboy]

Some bad news. i had reported several pages ago about another rail museum here in Ontario. The Elgin County Museum in St Thomas On. The old MCRR shop building they are in has a bad roof support beam ( one of the main ones ) As of sept. the building was condemned and the general public could not go in. Now as of dec 1st the members are now not allowed in. CN still owns the building and to this point the museum ahs not got any confirmed support for fixing or assuming the building from them. Looks more and more likely that they will have to relocate. Not an easy task as they have a fairly extensive collection of vehicles. CNR Hudson 5700 and the one and only MLW RSD 17 locomotive are two of their more notables. Perhaps everyone can do a web search and find their site ( haven't got it handy ) see if some moral support can be sent out.

Rob

[trolleyboy]

hey dan thank's for popping by and giving us your museum site. Looks good I haven't had a chance to completely read through it yet but it's good stuff. [tup] I encourage all who check into this thread to take a look at that site.

As always i encourage all who stop here on this thread that aren't museum members, to feel free to ask questions of the museum guys here. Better yet if you are able to join a local museum. It is nice to get ones hands dirty once in a while.

Rob

[Anonymous]

Hello Rob and fellow recreational railroaders everywhere! Our local rail museum recently started its own website. Thought you might want to see what goes on down here in the heart of former Frisco country.
www.rrhistoricalmuseum.zoomshare.com
Those of you from Our Place know that I am heavily involved with a tourist railroad in Kansas. The webmaster there received a job transfer so I'm not even sure if we still have a website.
Rob, keep up the good work and I feel this thread keeps those of us who try to recreate the past enthused and in touch.

[trolleyboy]

So what's new today. 48 had a couple of test runs and the sweeper S-37 east end sweep motor has been tested oiled and the broom bristles treated. With our three xmas shows comming up in early december we may have need of S-37's services.

Even though the work equipment is retired from the real world does not mean it can't serve the museum in it's original purposes!

In case anyone was wondering the sweep brooms are bamboo,and they get treated with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine to keep them pliable. If they dry out they snap and send bamboo shrapnel everywhere.

All the pan parts arrived safely so we have more flexibility again with #8 and the pan equiped locomotives we have on site ( we can go ahead with their restorations to operation as time and money permitts )


Rob

[trolleyboy]

Another update on interurban car 416. formerly of the North Yonge railway system.

The restoration crew on this car are starting to make some real headway,the new carlines for the vestibules are on their way. They are longer and are exposed on the inside of the car so we farmed them out to a carpentry shop in Guelph. This way they will have that fine furnature look when returned.

We are starting to insatll the wondows again. Originally aas built both the upper and lower sashes were moveable. When the TTC took over this class of car they made the upper sash inoperable and removed the sliders. We are going to leave it this way as the amount of extra work , is felt won't dramatically deter from the finished car so lower sashes moving only which is the way the car spent the bulk of it's service life anyway.

The big window task now is to reinsatll the glass. During the mid eighties we had lent the car to Go Transit for a transportaion disply , so a quick lets make it externally presentable restoration was done. So non-saftey glass was quickley mounted in the window frames. Now that the car will see revenue service again saftey glass is being indstalled. We are hoping that in a year the car will make it's first tentitive runs on the museum's mainline.

[trolleyboy]

Hi David, thank-you for stopping by again. You are correct about the door modifications on those PCC's. I seem to remember reading that they are a permanently joined set as well so walk through doors similar to regular subway cars were also added to them. From what I understand they are still in existance today and are still used on the Yonge and Bloor lines.

That railfans supisition may be correct,I can't think of many other work equipment conversions of PCC cars anywhere. They are essentially a Uni-body design so major surgery on the bodies could lead to structural problems.

Of interest our work forces are rebuilding W30 as a passenger car. Seats from another ex Cleveland car 4436 which we scrapped are being prpared for installation in W30. This will alow us a bit more flexability and give 4600 a bit of a break.Next year will also see MS&C 107 out of service for a fair bit of restoration so the Chicago L car 48 is being brought up to operational status.

L&PS 8 should be up and running under her own power as well. Our shop forces are heading up to Sudbury this weekend to help scrap the ex Inco steeple cabs stored by CPR there. This will give us a wealth of Pan parts and air brake equipment suitable for use on #8 and our GRR freight motor 335.

Rob

[BR60103]

A few more comments about Toronto MOW equipment.
There was another set of PCCs rebuilt as a rail grinder for the subway. They chose a pair of 4400 MU cars without any roof vents. Interesting modification on one was door raised for high platform access. (I think this is right)
Traction and Models magazine about 1970 published a series of (fanciful) drawings of PCC cars converted to work equipment. Another railfan of the time said they wouldn't work because they would destroy the body integrity.

[trolleyboy]

Dave. Thanks for popping by again. They may not have ever been green. The Movie did take place in the late teens early thirties so that may shed some light. Our museum had two Witt's involved in the shoot. The large Witt got the green paint our small Witt essentially kept it's TTC paint but was overpainted to the Third ave red and cream. The green was apparently researched by the movie company. Of coarse neither system had actual witt cars but the movie company wanted cars from the period and thus sought out our help. So our two Witt's and the TTc's small witt were used on set in the streets of Toronto

Rob

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rob - think I might be taking a look at some photos I've seen of Blackpool MOW equipment (apparently they had some cars that were close to the Brills in overall appearance). Might also consider building one of the little trailer contraptions they use to carry cable reels or similar things - would be an interesting challenge!

[daveklepper]

When were New Jersey streetcars painted green? I remember them yellow and white with red trim and lettering. I rode the Newark system 4-1/2 lines, and the Jersey City Hoboken - Unnion City - Weehawken system (6 lines) as it existed in 1946-47.

[trolleyboy]

Matt before I forget . Morning sun Books has a book that they published in the last couple of years called Great Lakes Trolley's . It covers many US and Canadian street railways and has quite a few interesting shots of odd work equipment some purpose built others kitbashed from former service cars. We may still have a copy of two of it in stock as well of Morning sun sells direct as well.

Rob

[trolleyboy]

Most likely. I have seen shots of Chicago Pullmans and Brill deck roof crs converted to other uses. Sand cars ,snow scrappers,line cars. You name it, Remembering that street railways had much tighter budgets than regular railways. They tended to build ther own work cars etc,just because a car was old and not economical to convert to more modern passenger handling systems, didn't mean that the street railways couldn't wrinfg a few more years of usefull service out of them. If you can find it there is a good book called On A Streak of Lightening by J Edward Martin. We sell it at the musuem you can see if we have it in stock on the museum website. We can and do ship books all over the world if you are interested. Also if you want more streetcar info and rail info in general pop by our place. You will see that on Tom's Monday summeries he will note my "Classic Juice" series punch up the appropriate page numbers and I ahve done a couple pieces on PCC cars Witt cars nearside cars etc etc.

Rob

[Anonymous]

Interesting window layout on that one - I see what you mean about the roof vents now, they'd take a while to build in HO I think. Ok, plan B - did anyone operate Brill Trolleys in MOW service?