[PRCo] Re: West Penn Cars at PTM

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Perhaps it should be.  But you've lost track of the message about money.

Can we settle for a cosmetically restored Harmony body?  No trucks.  But
a body that looks somewhat presentabled.  Look at Richard Orr's book on
Omaha.  There is a picture in it (page 183) of an Omaha body sitting on
the floor of the Western Heritage Museum.  Will that satisfy both the
railfans and the public?  They know it satisfy's the public. 

And please understand that I am separating my personal interests from
the needs of the museum community.  I would love to ride in a Harmony
car.  I just recognize that "it ain't a gonna happen."  And maybe, in
that respect, I'm out front of Doc Fronzcek who moved it there.  And
maybe he'll win and I'll loose.

The point is still one of mental overload.  Let me explain.  There is a
fabulous aircraft museum outside of Cambridge, England ... mostly
military and some civilian craft ... a whole airport worth of stuff ...
so large that after three hours I just simply burnt out.  If I was an
aircraft type instead of someone who just looks at other museums to see
what they have, I might have gone longer because I might have known what
I was looking at.  I came home with a few memories.  One:  I'd never
seen a World War II US fighter flying overhead before.  Two: They had a
huge collection of US 8th Air Force memorabilia.  Three: The curried
vegetables in the snack canteen at noon were so hot it took me almost an
hour to get on the outside of them.  If that fails to get the point
across -- come and look at the Clock and Watch Museum in Columbia PA --
can you look at thousands of clocks and watches and come away with any
understanding?  

So how do we handle mental overload?  Recognize up front that you have
the guest at your museum for one hour.  No more.  They're not going to
stay any longer without being antsy.  Now what is it that you want to
show them in one hour?  A streetcar ride?  OK.  Now you've used up 30
minutes.  The candy and coke machines?  There's another fifteen
minutes.  Now you're down to fifteen minutes to educate them about the
100 cars in the barn ... and after five minutes, I guarantee you, the
eyes will glaze over.  And you still have not gotten them in the gift
store, where you want them to spend another $5 per person.  

MAYBE, AND JUST MAYBE, THE SOLUTION IS TO FINANCIALLY SEGREGATE THE CAR
RESTORATION FUNCTION FROM THE MUSEUM OPERATION BUDGET... TOTALLY
SEPARATE.  MAY I CONTINUE WITH THAT THEME?

The National Tramway Museum in Crich, England has just such a
philosophy.  The museum is operated by the Tramway Museum Society, a
membership organization.  But any paid employees are part of the museum
staff, not TMS staff.  They have a second membership body ... initials
are TSO ... I cannot remember what they stand for.  It doesn't matter. 
TSO members pledge monies to restore equipment ... when the money is
there (other grants or TSO members' pledges), then and only then is a
derelict body pulled out of storage (storage is in an old railroad
building many miles away where the public isn't forced to see it), and
restored.  I was there in September when the most recent TSO project was
dedicated ... a DT Brill semi-convertible from Porto (or Oporto, if you
like that spelling), Portugal.  I very vividly recall a complaint
published early this year in the TMS members' news magazine from an
individual who protested STRONGLY that he did not wish his money going
to restore a car from the other side of the English Channel when there
were still British cars to restore. He suggested that he would drop his
TMS membership if that practice didn't cease.  The published answer was,
"TMS didn't restore it.  Grant money paid for it fully."  They simply
didn't tell the members that TSO money was used, and that the TSO
members had voted what to do with their money.  The next vote by TSO is
to restore a Leeds car. I guess I may have to ante up some money. At
least that way I'll be called again for the roll out.  

Maybe, then places like Seashore and PTM could have a second membership
organization to fund car restoration?  It's something to think about. 
But, while it makes everything look presentable, it still results in a
huge spare ratio that then costs the museum itself money to keep in
operation.  

Gee its fun to aggitate. 

AProchek at aol.com wrote:
> 
> <So Seashore finally put in the loop at the end of the line and put
> in a little park.  The nicest cars run.  The operators talk nicely and have
> good manners.  The cars are put in storage barns.  Only display barns are
> open.  The rare trucks are pulled out of the mud and weeds and put in a
> warehouse or storage container.  The weeds are cleaned up, lawn mowed and
> flowers planted.  Nice bathrooms, reasonable food.>
> 
> Yes, all that pays the bills, which is probably the most important thing, but a museum is supposed to be different than a Disney theme park, thus the museum should be educating a visitor and hopefully over time  (s)he would want to look at even the rusted, derelict hulks.  I get a bigger kick out of looking at the harmoney car remains than the operating brilliner. Maybe I am in the minority, but there should be a place for us minorities.