[PRCo] [Fwd: PRCo. and WP film tips]

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:
> 
> pulled out monopods to mount to the camera to take shots of a
> genuine two hole outhouse along side the WP right of way north of town.  No
> better way to steady a camera.

Tripods are best ... the heavier the better ... but who the hell wants
to tote one  of those to Europe and back.  A monopod will work well at
1/15th of a second and, by using one and bracing myself against a wall
and taking two or three exposures I actually managed to work as slow as
a full second with a monopod. Some museums will allow them even when
they prohibit tripods ... the Academia in Florence, Italy, for example
(but you have to go through a long harrangue with management first).  My
dad tried another trick ... a brass chain to which he soldered a 1/4 x
20 screw; you screw it into the tripod socket of the camera, then stand
on the chain and pull up instead of push down.  Dad claimed it worked. 
My mind just didn't like the idea.  Maybe some of you do. 

> 
> Fred - is the 35 to 80 Nikor lens you mentioned the one that is supplied
> currently on the N65 outfit?

I wasn't aware that Nikon supplied any lens.  It was my understanding
that they sell a camera body with whatever lens you want.  But most
people are buying the cheap 35-80 zoom instead of the old reliable fixed
focus 50 mm lens.  
> 
> Fred had some really good points on trolley museums.  We need to get him
> wound up more often because he has the future of our museums correctly
> stated.  (After a long days trip in a car he can also get very mellow with a
> decent glass of wine, good company and a decent menu to look over.)  Roger,
> you mentioned two museums
> that I would suspect might go high on Fred's list.  We may take for granted
> what success the PTM has had, and continues to have, and the vision for the
> future.  Its not luck and not the old railfans.  Becker and the museum know
> how to find money, and it is out there for the asking but you need to have
> your ducks in line.  They have found a key in education in the schools, at
> the museum, and in the media to attract
> people.  Very few other museums have the organization, business management,
> archive development and tools to achieve what PTM is doing.  Roger you
> mentioned that Seashore has tried "the grant route."  I would question how
> successful they have been.
> 
>   And remember what Fred said, the current guys running things are not the
> first generation.  We are all 60 +, except for Ed who is ageless.

Spend two weeks with him in a car and ageless isn't the word for it.  

  I don't
> know much about the other museums today, but ORM has accomplished almost
> nothing in 30 years, (my opinion) except bicker.  And what is so unfortunate
> is they had some rare and interesting cars.  Roger mentions NORM.  A bunch of
> gun-ho guys who have stored a bunch of ragged cars in a field for 20 years.
> A for effort, F for results.
> Trolleyville as I remember was mostly financed by one man, the owner of the
> park.
> I was at Seashore 25 years ago, sounds like they are about the same today as
> then.
> I've only seen video tape of Orange Empire, but I like what I see of PTM
> better.  I have not been to IRM but don't hear anything bad about them.  When
> you look back at PTM and realize what has been done in 45 years, it is
> constant improvement.
> I worked there a lot from 1959 to about 1963.  All the original PERC founders
> were involved so you would expect a lot of progress.  We spent one summer
> adding a turnout lead to the barn and raising the barn leads about 18" where
> the new industrial park road would go.  That was the sum total of our
> progress.  John Wilkens added the overhead one summer and got power just
> before he run WP 1 into Rinneys Pay Car.  Today equipment is getting restored
> the right way, there are line extensions, a solid membership, and a solid
> future.  Use PTM as a benchmark.  There are others for sure, maybe Baltimore,
> Halton County for sure, and I wouldn't want to exclude any but it won't take
> long for anyone to develop a mental list as Fred might do and come to the
> same conclusion. We all need to continue sending in those $10 and $20 checks
> to our favorite car fund, and without them they won't get restored, but
> beyond that be sure the museum your associated with is being run so it will
> be around.
> 
> the other Fred

Thanks, "Other Fred."  I've having trouble mellowing out now after two
days at the museum.  We were running three car service at PTM this
weekend ... only the portion of the line from Arden to Richfol.  There
was a craft show at the fair grounds plus were were running the pumpkin
trolley service.  Takes three (two-man) car crews plus one or two others
for lunch relief, two dispatches, several shop people to handle what
breaks, several people in the store, two or three more handling cider
and cookies, one song leader, two selling tickets at the fair grounds
platform ... maybe 20 people total and by the end of the day most of us
were beat to shreads.  The car service called for two regular cars on a
fifteen minute headway plus a third one built into the same schedule to
hall kids and pumpkins.  I don't have any idea how many we moved ... I
worked the Pumpkin car on a every thirty minutes on Saturday and I think
we lifted about 300 fares until 4 PM.  Yesterday I worked one of the
other cars, with loads ranging from 0 up to 46 in a car.  I'm guessing
that we pulled in $3500 to $4000 on the pumpkin car and perhaps another
$1500 on the other two cars in two days ... plus the nickel and dime
things.  

And for those who thinks the public knows about the cars ... I'll remind
you all of one lady who told me, "I rode this very car in McKeesport
years ago."  The car was Philadelphia Rapid Transit 5326. It was orange
and so were the Pittsburgh cars. 

Have a nice day.  I still have about 150 e-mails to read.   fws