PRCo Book -- Three Volumes.

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:

> Kevin may have the great McKeesport book at $40.00 probably plus postage, and
> I have bought a lot from Kevin, but you can buy the same book from the Penna.
> Trolley Museum for a nickel less at $39.95 plus about $3.50 or so postage and
> help the museum preserve our PRy Co history.

	The  b-i-g-g-e-s-t  r-e-a-s-o-n  I did not mention the museum bookstore
is that the museum will be first to say that they do this strictly as a
service for members and visitors - they don't make any money off of it. 
In fact, the store is more of a burden than an asset.  The president,
Bob Jordan, in his latest column in *Trolley Fare* states that they are
having such a difficult time getting volunteers to staff the store that
they may have to resort to paid staff.  Besides, those living in PA will
also have to pay sales tax - something that is avoided by ordering out
of state.
	Additionally, the price you quote may be a Members price which reflects
a discount - non-members would pay more.

	Looking at the *1997 Annual Report - PTM* - page-6 - :::::::

	Revenue from Museum Store	$46,115.00
	Museum Store Expenses		$47,087.00

	That is a loss of almost $1,000.00.

	On the same page, total assets are listed as $1,459,208.00.

	Other interesting figures:

	Contributions:		$444,999.00
	Membership Dues:	$ 20,415.00
	Admissions:		$ 64,786.00
	Contributed Services:	$309,710.00

	On top of all this, PTM is the recipient of various grants for specific
building projects.  But overall, any amount from the bookstore is
miniscule compared to the overall picture.

James B. Holland
------- -- ---------
        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
    To e-mail *privately,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/