West Penn 832

[Kenneth and Tracie Josephson]

Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:

>
> As museums go, I will give PTM a thumbs up for the decisions the founders and
> directors have  taken on car acquisitions.  Remember in the beginning many of
> the cars came via private sourcing, e.x. Dick Boker 1138, Brown's 3756, and I
> am sure personal preference played a role.

The choice of 1138 over other cars was spelled out in an early edition of "Arden
Trolley Musem and Its Cars" (sorry if I mangled the title.) The car was a good
balance between originality and better condition than most of its peers. I've
heard talk about some wanting to save 1111 instead because of it being the "Four
Aces" and the famous snowscape photo, etc.

I will maintain that car 100 (M-11) was a car in a class by itself and I'm
surprised a "general collection" museum such as Seashore or the Museum of
Transport or even Smithsonian didn't save it for being the first revenue PCC to
hit the streets. And yes, I know Seashore leans heavily towards Boston. Can you
blame them? :-)

>
>
> If you want to see the no focus, shotgun approach to museum management, check
> out ORM in Columbus or NORM in Cleveland.  Everything from dead steam engines
> to CTA 4000's, mostly stored outside.  Get everything you can, we'll worry
> about
> storing and restoring some time in the future.

This last sentence is a sticking point these days. I believe that "grabbing what
you can when you can" is for the benefit of the entire traction preservation
community ***IF*** a group is willing to swap, sell or donate what they don't
need or want after developing a focus or theme.

Ask Charlie Brown about OERM's collection. I'm glad they saved a BCER interurban,
a NOPSI car, a Japanese single trucker and a group of unique trackless trolleys.
But if these vehicles don't fit their Southern California theme (though they
maintain the Japanese car represents a lost class of L.A. city cars) then perhaps
they should sell or swap these cars and coaches.

The old East Troy group had an ex-Muni (nee St. Louis) PCC. It moved on to
another collection and I don't know if it has survived. It could be tied to
Milwaukee Electric in that St. Louis Public Service and TMER&L Co. were corporate
"sisters" under the same holding company. This is an extreme stretch. But what
about the Key System articulated car they acquired, but never obtained? (It wound
up as a parts car for OERM.)  The current East Troy group also grabs what they
can when they can, yet their emphasis remains Southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago
area traction.

>   The founders at NORM are all
> dedicated people, but looking at TTC (ex Cleveland) PCC's, Shaker (I presume
> ex
> St. Louis) PCC's, a TTC small Witt, a PRCo. 1600, Airporter's from the
> original CTS'
> rapid, a NOT&L shell, and others all outside with minimal protection, did
> they need
> 4000's just because they were available.   The vandals have been terrible,
> and mother nature does here work too.

Weren't some cars (including a Pittsburgh sweeper) lost to a fire about six years
ago?

We could all tell horror stories about cars lost due to politics,
misunderstandings, poor timing or just plain old bad luck.  Ken J.