[PRCo] Re: Return from the Valley of the Dead

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Conestoga Traction Company bought 41 double-door Birneys between 1920
and 1926 and retired them as routes were abandoned between 1939 and
1947.  Car 236 was purchased from Miller Junk and Waste Co., to whom CTC
sold it in 1947, by the Lancaster Chapter, National Railway Historical
Society.  The car was placed on a 30 foot section of t-rail at the
Landis Valley Museum on Sept. 26, 1947.  The Lancaster Chapter members
showed little interest in maintaining the exhibit ... one of the two
poles fell off during trucking to the museum site and it was never
replaced as long as the NRHS had charge of the car.  I think the roof
got one coat of paint.  Eventually the Landis Brothers, who owned the
museum, became superannuated and they sold their museum to the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ... today it is operated as the
Pwennsylvania Farm Museum at Landis Valley (4 miles northeast of
Lancaster on PA 272).  At some point in the 1950s, the NRHS deeded the
car either to the Landis brothers (which would have meant automatic
transfer to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission when the
museum was sold), or it was a separate sale.

During the warmer months of 1958 the Metropolitan Philadelphia Railway
Association leased the car from PHMC and moved it first to the Red Arrow
shops at Llanerch, and later to the DVSL/MPRA property at Tansboro, New
Jersey.  Condition went from bad to worse.  The state cancelled the
lease, and then released it to Railways to Yesterday.  It was moved to
Louis Buehler's furniture factory in Allentown.  At least it was under
roof but still absolutely nothing was done.  And many of the parts never
returned with the car, the MPRA's attitude being you didn't pay us for
the work we did therefore you don't deserve to get the whole car back. 
(What work?)  Frustrated, the state eventually moved the car back to
Landis Valley.  Of course it didn't fit into their theme of a farm
museum, and it continued to rest derelict in a warehouse.

Sometime around 1990 the Manheim Historical Society (Manheim is a town
on route 72 some 10 miles north northwest of Lancaster and about 8 miles
south of the 20 of the turnpike) leased it from the state.  This time
work was done.  The car is operable.  I've run it many times.  Some
parts are still missing but many that are crucial have been found
elsewhere or manufactured.

Last summer Ben Hershey, who was the prime mover of three men who
restored it, asked me if I would be willing to run the car for the
school kids because he was sick.  Because of cancer they had removed
Ben's voice box, which made it difficult for him to communicate with a
car full of children. I consented ... told him when I came back from
Switzerland in September we would set something up. We never did.  Ben
died in October from the spread of the cancer.   Seems they need people
who can run a streetcar and there aren't too many in Lancaster who know
how to run a Birney!

Clear now?  More questions?  

Greg King wrote:
> 
> Hi Fred,
> 
> Glad to see you are on the mend, hope it is a speedy recovery.
> 
> You mentioned running the Conestoga Birney at Manhheim, please correct my
> ignorance if I'm wrong, but was'nt the only Birney saved a Double door car
> and I thought that was stuffed and mounted, does it run now? And, if so,
> what's Manheim?
> 
> Cheers
> Greg in Orstralya
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Fred W. Schneider III <fschnei at supernet.com>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 2:01 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Return from the Valley of the Dead
> 
> >
> > No I won't be tap dancing for a while.  Then I never did tap dance.  But
> > the doctor has given me the high sign to get John Deere out of its shed
> > and cut the lawn just as soon as I want to.  It's been raining for 30
> > hours and that exacerbates the pain.  I've been asked if I can attend
> > training on May 1st to run the Conestoga Birney in Manheim and I didn't
> > refuse them ... maybe yes, maybe no.
> >
> > John Swindler wrote:
> > >
> > > >From: Derrick J Brashear <shadow at dementia.org>
> > > >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> > > >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> > > >Subject: [PRCo] Return from the Valley of the Dead
> > > >Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2001 15:23:50 -0400
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Fred Schneider asked that I forward this to "yinz". He is again reading
> the
> > > >list.
> > > >---
> > > >From Fred Schneider:
> > > >
> > > >Either read, or if you choose, you know where the delete key is.
> > > >
> > > >Surgery successful and painful ... it is supposed to be somewhere up
> > > >there with childbirth.  Both knees are now titanium instead of human
> > > >bone.  Came home yesterday ... tenth day after surgery.  Norm for one
> > > >knee is supposed to be 10 to 15 days.  I think they got rid of me
> > > >because I was starting to question why I was receiving certain
> > > >medications and treatments.  Or maybe if you're well enough to ask
> > > >questions, you're well enough to be home.
> > > >
> > > >I'm not sure whether I'm the brightest person on earth (because I had
> > > >them both done at the same time) or the dumbest (because I had them
> both
> > > >done at the same time).
> > >
> > > Either way, you won't be tap dancing for awhile.  However, you seemed
> much
> > > better Sunday evening and ready to take on the hospital staff.
> > >
> > > >But thanks to the grace of God, walkers, and
> > > >stair rails, I can get around the the house as well as up and down
> > > >steps.
> > > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
> >
> >