[PRCo] Re: PTM November 2009

[Fred Schneider]

The condition of the roadbed in many of our museums is vastly superior to the actual railways we attempt to portray.   

The original history (and I have managed to forget the author's name) of the Lake Shore Electric describes how you could walk along the line in 1937 and simply lift the spikes out of the crumbling ties with your bare hands yet they were still running cars at mile-a-minute speeds.  

Before its abandonment in 1957, the track gangs on the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad were moving cinders from one place to another to try to hold the track ties up for a few more weeks ... they could not afford ballast.  

I remember Wendell Dillinger telling me how he caught hell from the lady who owned the Iowa Terminal Railroad because he installed tie plates under the rail to protect the ties from being hammered by the heavy tank cars they were hauling.   She simply didn't want her money spent.   

We all remember Pittsburgh Railways.   I remember a motorman out on Charleroi in 1953 telling me, as he slowed for a major kink, "They quit fixing anything out here when they decided to abandon."   Frankly, who could blame them.   You don't throw money down a rat hole.   

I remember some of the Pennsylvania Railroad branches where gauge bars instead of ties held the track together between derailments.

Frankly, there is no comparison between what I remember in the declining years of the privately owned "for profit" railways and what I see today at Orange Empire, Western, PTM, Baltimore Streetcar Musem, IRM and so forth.   It's remarkable to have ties holding up the rails!   :<)   

For those into steam ... stop by and I'll show you pictures of what the Strasburg looked like when the new management took over in 1958 with flowers growing out of the rotting ties.   In the 1960s they were spending $20,000 a year on track maintenance just to gradually bring it up to snuff.   Believe me, in the first years you could loose $5,000 a mile and almost never see where you put it.     And there was nothing that beat up the track quite like an 0-6-0 doing 25 mph.   You could have it beautifully lined at the beginning of the summer and beat to shreds three months later.



On Jul 19, 2010, at 7:22 AM, Dennis F Cramer wrote:

> PTM is not a PRCo Museum, but one which reflects the Electric Era, much of 
> it as centered in Pennsylvania.  The volunteers at the museum spend a lot of 
> time making sure the ride is safe and comfortable, so we can operate the 
> antique cars.  We have received numerous positive comments on the condition 
> of the right of way and the overhead.  Our volunteers in those departments 
> work hard to keep up the great appearance.  Our typical guest would be 
> greatly disturbed if they had to ride over weed infested track, and as an 
> operator, I appreciate being able to see what lies in front of me.
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>          Dennis F. Cramer
> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1
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