[PRCo] Re: West Penn Cars at PTM

[Greg King]

Hi Again Fred,

Yes, the guys at Crich know how to do things, they even organise overseas
trips every year, I had them this year when I ran the chartered car for them
here in Melbourne as their Motorman.

As I don't have that book of Richard Orr's, is there a chance you could scan
that picture of the preserved Omaha car please, Dick told me about it years
ago when they were first talking about it. I last heard there was a push to
have a heritage line running in Omaha, at least they will have a car to
start with!

Yeah, it is fun to stir the pot!
> 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.
>