[PRCo] Re: West Penn Cars at PTM

[Edward H. Lybarger]

The people at Crich know how to do SOME things.  And they do them very well.
But my experience there this past summer is that the railfan/enthusiast is
truly the one for whom most things are done.  Car restoration...superb.
Physical plant...superb.   Atmosphere...superb.  Food service...superb
Exhibits...not so superb for the general public, though superbly executed.
The trade fair would put millions of people to sleep, because they don't
really know what it's all about, and because they probably don't care.  The
fans care about this stuff. This is the single area where I give them low
marks.  But I did hear them discuss continually falling visitor numbers.  Is
it possible the two are somehow related?

The availability of government funding in Britain has been a blessing to the
Tramway Museum, and has permitted it to be where it is today.  It has also
allowed them to be less sensitive than they might about the interests of the
general public.  United States trolley/railroad museums have generally not
enjoyed this kind of support.  Where they have (Altoona, for example), the
money has been squandered, in my opinion, to produce beautiful but
inflexible exhibits that most folks won't come back to look at a second
time.  We need to be continually updating the exhibits so there is a reason
to come back.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of Greg
King
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 6:45 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Penn Cars at PTM



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.
>