[PRCo] Re: West Penn Cars at PTM

[Kenneth Josephson]

Case in point.......East Troy plans to restore NSL 761 to its 1950s-'60s
"Silverliner" configuration. Milwaukee Electric locomotive L-8  currently wears an
authentic TM interurban color scheme and appears authentic. Sheboygan interurban
car is being restored authentically.

On the flip side of the coin..........Former general manager Paul Averdung scratch
built a single truck open car with what appears to be European running gear. Two
SSL coaches have been rebuilt as rolling dinner trains None of these latter cars
are authentic to Wisconsin traction history, nor to the home rails they originated
on. Guess what? The dinner trains are always sold out and the open car is wildly
successful.

The Twin Cities car operates as a double ender, but is a charming and nostalgic
piece, ever if the compressor sounds a bit too modern. John Q. Public loves that
car, too.

The museum is currently redoing a P&W Strafford car as a streetcar of sorts. These
cars were modified extensively by P&W, Red Arrow and SEPTA. Putting it back
original will not necessarily appear to serious Wisconsin railfans nor to the
uninformed public. But judging the appeal of the four latter examples listed above
and the recognizing equipment modification was both a Milwaukee Electric (and
industry wide) practice, who cares?  If this latest creation draws the public and
their financial support, great. Ditto for the plans to replicate a NSL steeplecab
"pup" from an Ohio power company locomotive.

East Troy currently has a mixture of "fantasy" cars and authentic equipment.
Tourist steam lines have a history of back dating equipment to an "Old West" look
and a number of oragnizations around the country (including NRHS chapters) are
taking Canadian F-units and FA units and painting them in U.S. diesel color
schemes, giving them what would have been the next vacant numbers in the authentic
locomotives' series and having fun with them.

If we shun the general public, we don't get their green stuff! :-)  Ken J.

"Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:

> No, Gregg,
>
>              its not better than stuffed and mounted.  Economically it
> makes sense to keep as few cars as possible in operating condition ...
> same as the transit industry ... keep the spare ratio as small as you
> can.  Only the railfans care about specific cars.   The railfans,
> however, don't support the museum to the tune of more than about one
> percent.  Therefore management really has no reason to listen to them.
> The only thing that talks is money.  Large quantities of money.  Fares
> and sales of $5,000 on weekends gets attention.  Grants from foundations
> and government up around $25,000 or more gets attention.  People who
> work free for 1,000 hours a year get a lot of attention at the awards
> banquet each year.  Railfans who think it would be nice?   They don't
> get attention. Nice try anyway.