[PRCo] Re: [PRCo]

[John Swindler]

Go to Oberver-Reporter website, and try searching on "trolley"  Will give 
about 5 'hits', with first one being:



2/26/2006 6:03:00 AM

Jim Herron of Canonsburg spray paints a handle that belongs to Pittsburgh 
Railways Co. Car 4398, which is being restored at the museum. (GREG 
TARR/O-R)


In addition to repairing overhead lines, Anthony DeSensi of Washington lends 
his painting skills as a volunteer. (GREG TARR/O-R)

All aboard

Denise Bachman

Anthony DeSensi wasted no time finding a full-time hobby, walking into the 
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington almost immediately after retiring 
in 1985 from the Port Authority of Allegheny County.


“I haven’t lost a minute. I stepped one foot out of that company and stepped 
one foot in here,” the 82-year-old Washington man said with pride.

DeSensi is among a crew of volunteers dedicated to restoring and maintaining 
the nearly 50 vintage trolley cars the museum has acquired since it opened 
in 1963.

And when it comes to recognizing the role volunteers play at the trolley 
museum, executive director Scott Becker minces no words.

“Quite simply, the museum would not exist,” Becker said.

In fact, the museum was operated solely by volunteers for 30 years before 
Becker was hired in 1993. Although the museum now employs three full-timers 
and some seasonal help, the bulk of the operation is handled by the 150 
volunteers who last year donated 26,000 hours and welcomed more than 21,000 
visitors.

“The volunteers have a real can-do attitude,” Becker said. “They figure out 
how to fix things.”

As the museum expands it hours and square footage, so, too, does its need 
for volunteers. The museum will hold three open houses – two on Tuesday and 
another on March 4 – to discuss the volunteer options that are available.

DeSensi’s expertise has been invaluable to the museum. He constructed and 
repaired overhead lines when he worked for Pittsburgh Railways Co., which, 
in 1964, was purchased by the Port Authority. Ironically, he was among the 
volunteers who helped restore the M210 line car – the same car he worked on 
while he was employed by the Port Authority – that is on display at the 
museum.

“I’ve always enjoyed working on the streetcars,” DeSensi said.

Added Becker, “We’re lucky to have Tony. He’s our link to the old days.”

But as Jack Sutherland of Upper St. Clair pointed out, experience isn’t 
required to become a volunteer.

“You don’t have to be someone who knows a lot about trolleys,” said 
Sutherland, a Westinghouse retiree who has been a volunteer for nearly 10 
years.

“I’ve always been, to an extent, a rail fan. I enjoy riding most of all,” he 
said.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Sutherland joined DeSensi and Jim Herron of 
Canonsburg in working to restore Pittsburgh Railways Car 4398. Built in 
1917, Car 4398 is the oldest trolley in the museum’s fleet. The car provided 
service on the North Side of Pittsburgh and in McKeesport until 1952, and 
was retained for emergency service until 1956. It is the only survivor of 
213 double-ended, low-floor cars owned by Pittsburgh Railways Co. Sutherland 
estimates that volunteers so far have put 1,000 man hours into the project.

“These guys have a lot of skills,” Sutherland said. “Why would they just sit 
around at home?”

Besides, 1,000 hours is nothing compared to the 12,000 man hours volunteers 
devoted to restoring Red Arrow Car 14 during a seven-year stretch.

But it was well worth the effort.

Last year, the museum received an Honorable Mention Institutional 
Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical 
Organizations for restoring Car 14, a vintage 1949 streamlined interurban 
trolley that once ran on the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. rail 
lines.

“It’s fun,” said Herron, a retired veterinarian who has been an active 
volunteer force for a year.

In addition to restoring the trolleys, Herron also is qualified to operate a 
trolley car and will often bring his conductor’s uniform during operating 
hours in case he’s needed to drive.

“There are a lot of things to do,” he said. “A lot of this is woodworking, 
and I enjoy that.”

Chris Walker is another conductor who has been on board as a volunteer for 
six years. Walker is a 2005 graduate of Fort Cherry High School, and he 
started to volunteer when he was 13 years old.

“It’s always been an area of interest to me,” Walker said. “I always find it 
fun doing tours and being the operator.”

Walker is pursuing a degree in media art/television at Robert Morris 
University, and he’s researching the trolley lines in McDonald.

“I can’t believe how much information he knows,” Becker said. “He kind of 
grew up here.”

But when it comes to longevity among the volunteers, nobody can touch Dr. 
William Fronczek, a board-certified ophthalmologist in McMurray. Fronczek 
was 17 years old when he started to volunteer in 1955 – before the museum 
even opened to the public. He now serves on the board of trustees and is an 
active fund-raiser.

“He witnessed the museum going from nothing to a pretty nice place,” Becker 
said.

Interestingly, not all of the museum’s volunteers are local. Becker said 
among the museum’s 90 trolley operators are volunteers from Atlanta, 
Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. In addition, an 
electrical engineer from Columbus, Ohio, is designing a substation for the 
museum and makes monthly visits. Other volunteers will take a week’s 
vacation to help out during the busy season.

“People just step up,” Becker said. “But the thing about it is there’s room 
for lots more.”





>From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject: [PRCo] Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 15:05:06 -0500
>
>Scott Becker at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum deserves a little pat
>on the back ... after George Tucker's funeral he started thinking
>that too many of our people are dying and we need new blood.   He
>staged an open house last weekend to try to get new people.   I'm
>told we got 13 nibbles ranging in age from 15 or 16 up to 75 which
>skills ranging from operators through an auto body worker to a civil
>engineer.   Scott also managed to get articles in three newspapers in
>advances of the open house.    You guys might want to pull up the
>piece on the fellows at the museum that appeared in the Washington
>Observer-Reporter:
>
>
>
>
>http://www.observer-reporter.com/main.asp?
>SectionID=6&SubSectionID=15&ArticleID=12612&TM=29093.76
>