[PRCo] Re: M454

[Fred Schneider]

And speaking of Electroliners ... IRM has done a beautiful job with  
one of them.   The other sits at Railways to Yesterday (the  
Mountainside Mausoleum) in declining condition as it came from Red  
Arrow.   It isn't something the average railway hobbyist can even  
dream of affording.   I remember sitting on it at 69th Street  
Terminal during a Philadelphia Railway MU Car Club meeting one summer  
evening and observing that the air conditioning amperage load was  
heavier than the entire current draw for my house.

On Dec 26, 2007, at 3:27 AM, Ken & Tracie wrote:

> Hey Ed,
>
> I asked you about M-454 when we met for the first time. Simple
> explanation....M-452 was in better shape, was a better preservation  
> choice
> and M-454 was scrapped for parts after being used as something of a
> temporary storage unit.
>
> That M-454 was used as fan trip car certainly wouldn't assure its
> preservation. As a teenager, I asked a friend at IRM why Milwaukee  
> trackless
> trolley 441 was preserved and last scheduled coach, 428, was  
> allowed to go
> to Mexico City. Simple reply...428 wasn't in as good shape as 441  
> and the
> museum wanted to preserve a typical Milwaukee Marmon-Herrington,  
> not the
> city's first, or last, or first to operate, or last to operate.
>
> People tell me the North Shore Line's second to last order of cars  
> (built by
> Pullman) were better built than cars of the last order, built by  
> Standard.
> This fact has come home to roost as serious restoration efforts are  
> being
> made to some of these cars.
>
> A NSL coach retired in decent, operating condition in 1963 is now  
> sitting at
> a museum in Connecticut, a tree or bush growing through one of its
> platforms.
>
> Preserving any artifact is a gamble. Some may be rescued and restored
> immediately, others may die a slow death over decades.
>
> Scrap prices are at their highest level in years.
>
> We may live long enough to see one of the Electroliners and  dozens
> of those preserved PCCs recycled.
>
> K.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Edward H. Lybarger" <trams2 at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 9:18 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: M454
>
>
>> The record shows eight through September 4, 1966. I don't have a
>> handy-dandy
>> list for trips after that weekend.
>
>