[PRCo] Re: [Fwd: Pittsburgh Rwy Cars]

[Fredbruhn at aol.com]

Hi Roger -

Boy I agree things have changed at the museum.  I spent most of my working 
days there in the period of 1959 - 1964 and saw slow improvements.  It is 
fantastic  that 
the second generation of museum volunteers have carried on and made it one 
great piece of history.  

I hope they can someday schedule 832 for rebuilding.  It was unfortunate that 
the
main force (at the time) died unexpectedly after disassembling the car to 
begin work on it.   John was quite young and died after a back operation.

The only other Cinn. curved side car saved for restoration (to my knowledge) 
is Co-Op 39 from Wheeling, a one time West Penn property.  After 25 years 
work is underway on it to restore it as it was delivered, not as it ended 
service.  I guess that is not normal for museums today but 39 was so bad it 
is almost like building it back from scratch.  There will be a page devoted 
to the current state of 39 in my last Wheeling Co-Op article in the next 
Traction and Trolley magazine.   The Seashore 
people interested in 39 have a manuscript started on the system which I am 
going to 
try and add my input and maybe we will get something published.  

Your input to our chat group is welcome.  After all the years I have been 
involved off and on with PTM, I finally got to meet Ed Lybarger and Fred 
Schneider III and Derrick
Bradshar and spend two days with them retracing my (and Ed's) all time 
favorite 
system, the West Penn (Coke Region only) to see what is left and fill in 
blanks from my previous trips to the region in recent years.  The coal patch 
doesn't change a great deal over time.  It was as pleasant a two days as I 
can ever remember spending, even though we had snow and rain on day two.  If 
you ever plan an excursion like that, drop me an email and my notes on roads, 
etc. can save you a lot of time getting around and maximize what you see.

Fred