- Association of Railway Museums

Number 19
Address Service
Requested
ATRRM
P.O. Box 1189
Covington, GA 30015
PRSRT. STD.
U.S.POSTAGE
PAID
TWIN CITIES, MN
PERMIT NO. 1096
TheTexas State Railroad hosted the
2014 ATRRM conference. Our special
train did a photo runby at the Neches
River bridge, biggest on the line and
typical of the concrete structures that
the State of Texas built to replace all the
timber trestles. Aaron Isaacs photo.
Winter 2015
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ASSOCIATION OF TOURIST RAILROADS
AND RAILWAY MUSEUMS
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
By G. Mark Ray
The purpose of the Association of Tourist Railroads and
2015 - Opportunities Abound
Railway Museums is to lead in the advancement of railway
As we begin Year 3 of ATRRM’s existence, I am excited
heritage through education, advocacy and the promotion about
the opportunities ahead of us. Museum Advocacy Day is
of best practices.
in February, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad
For more details, or to report address changes, please contact
us at:
ATRRM
P. O. Box 1189, Covington, GA 30015
www.atrrm.org
770-278-0088
[email protected]
Officers
President: G. Mark Ray, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Vice-Presidents:
Scott Becker, Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Linn Moedinger, Strasburg Rail Road
Secretary: Ellen Fishburn, Orange Empire Railway Museum
Treasurer: Rick Burchett, Chehalis-Centralia Railroad
Directors
Richard Anderson, Northwest Railway Museum
Scott Becker, Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
John E. Bush, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
Steven M. Butler, Texas State Railroad
Don Evans, West Coast Railway Association
Scott Lindsay, Steam Operations Corporation
Bob LaPrelle, Museum of the American Railroad
Linn Moedinger, Strasburg Rail Road
G. Mark Ray, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Craig Sansonetti, Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad
Preservation Society
Jim Schantz, Seashore Trolley Museum
Donald Tallman, Colorado Railroad Museum
Jim Vaitkunas, Minnesota Streetcar Museum
Meg Warder, Black Hills Central Railroad
Kyle Wyatt, California State Railroad Museum
Committees
Renewal Parts: Rod Fishburn, Chair,
[email protected]
Staff
Lynette Rickman, Executive Director
P. O. Box 1189, Covington, GA 30015
[email protected]
770-278-0088
Aaron Isaacs, Editor
3816 Vincent Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55410-1122
[email protected]
612-929-7066
The Association of Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums is
a Professional Affiliate Member of the American Alliance of
Museums.
(ASLRRA) annual convention happens in March (ATRRM will
be represented), our joint Spring Meeting with the National
Railway Historical Society is in April, the American Alliance of
Museums Annual Meeting is also in April (ATRRM will be
represented there, too), the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee
will meet again in May, and in September ATRRM travels to the
magnificent Illinois Railway Museum for our Fall Meeting.
Thus, plenty of opportunities abound for us to interface with and
advocate for our industry.
Our Spring Meeting is when ATRRM updates the Strategic
Plan. As I’ve discussed before, the Strategic Plan is our roadmap
to meet our long term objectives. Keeping our objectives current
requires an annual review and update. Included in updating the
objectives is assigning the action items to the right owner,
typically a committee. Some of the strategies I foresee receiving
attention this Spring include:
Member Services
•Work to increase use of electronic media for magazine
Communications and Marketing
•Develop and open ATRRM's website with unrestricted access
for all but necessary confidential information. The prime goal
for the website is to grow interactions with ATRRM
•Improve and enhance electronic communications with members
Government Relations
•Develop clear messages at the national level with respect to our
industry's goals, both in what we say and do
Financial
•Focus on membership and advertising growth as key drivers of
increased revenue
Some of these actions would be built around •moving our quarterly publication to an electronic format that is
updated frequently;
•preparing for a membership drive;
•securing a voice on Capitol Hill to represent the interests of the
Association;
•attending annual conferences of other trade organizations to
benchmark seminar topics, presenters, and vendors;
•interfacing with the Boy Scouts of America and the Railroad
Merit Badge;
•partnering with the Center for Railway Tourism;
•creating multiple sponsorship opportunities; and
•making the website more user friendly.
I hope you’re excited as I am about 2015 and what lies ahead
of us. Ladies and Gentlemen, get on board and let’s get going.
Opportunities abound in 2015!
2014 ATRRM AWARDS
At the annual banquet in Tyler, TX, ATRRM announced its
annual awards.
Significant Achievement Awards
Two awards for significant achievement were given.
To advertise in Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums, contact Aaron Isaacs at [email protected].
To download an advertising rate sheet, go to www.atrrm.org, and click on Publications.
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Brooklyn Peddler
6678 Sierra Lane
Dublin, California 94568
Phone: 925-828-5858
Fax: 925-828-9195
www.brooklynpeddler.com
[email protected]
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Mount Ranier Scenic Railroad
For many years Mount Ranier was a
straightforward tourist railroad that
specialized in steam power. In the last
year it has transformed itself, adding a
logging museum and opening its shop as
a museum of railroad technology.
The transformation was triggered by
the closure of the Camp 6 Logging
Museum in nearby Tacoma in 2010.
Some of the bunk houses and bunk cars
moved to Mount Rainier’s Mineral Lake
Shop Complex..
Mount Ranier Scenic was also cited
for having six steam locomotives under
steam in 2014.
Shore Line Trolley Museum
Following the catastrophic flooding
caused by two recent hurricanes, Shore
Line raised $2 million and constructed
two new carhouses with significant new
trackage on the highest land on their
property. At the same time they have
been repairing the motor damage to
dozens of electric cars caused by the
flooding. These two projects were by far
the largest capital expenditures in railway
preservation in 2014.
Friend of ATRRM Award
This award was given to outgoing
ATRRM Treasurer Alan Barnett, in
recognition of his crucial role in the
ARM-TRAIN merger and the startup of
ATRRM.
Lifetime Achievement Awards
Lindsey Ashby has been in the tourist
railroad business since 1968, when he was
part of a group that built a short narrow
gauge tourist rail line on original right of
way from Central City toward Black
Hawk, Colorado and operated the line
through 1981.
He was involved in rebuilding the
Georgetown Loop Railroad between
Georgetown and Silver Plume, Colorado
in 1973-84. He and his family ran the
Loop for 30 years under a contract with
the Colorado Historical Society, which
owned the physical property. During that
time they amassed a major collection of
vintage narrow gauge rolling stock. Their
contract was terminated by the historical
society in 2004, a move that shocked the
preservation community.
Following the closure of Rio Grande’s
Tennessee Pass route, in 1998 Ashby
purchased the iconic 12-mile portion
between Canon City and Parkdale,
Colorado through the Royal Gorge and
operates the Royal Gorge Route Railroad
over these tracks.
He is a past President and Board
member of the Tourist Railway
Association from 1989-97. He is also a
past President and current Board member
of the Colorado Railroad Museum.
Donald Curry made his first visit to
Seashore, which was then only 14 years
old, in 1953 (celebrating its 75th
anniversary in 2014). The museum was in
a rather primitive condition as streetcar
systems were closing and cars were being
rapidly acquired, with track and wire
installed as quickly as possible to hold
them all.
Donald participated in the first
operation of a car at Seashore on January
1, 1954. He worked as a music instructor
in Cape Elizabeth, ME High School, a
profession that gave him summers off. He
began summer seasonal work at Seashore
in 1954, assuming a leadership role in
Seashore’s restoration program, taking
over from volunteers. He has worked
continuously at the museum since then.
Initially there were no heated facilities,
so given the harsh Maine climate, only a
seasonal program was possible. Donald
oversaw development of Seashore’s shop
facilities and restoration programs, first in
the very small Shop 1, then in the Town
House Shops which were constructed in
1967.
After retiring from teaching, and after
insulating and heating part of the
restoration shop, he began a year round
shop program in 1978. Donald developed
within his restoration team the ability to
replace almost any part of a streetcar and
re-learned lost skills such as hot riveting.
From 1988 until 1996 he served as
Seashore’s Museum Director, where he
helped develop interpretation, outreach,
and long range planning and oversaw the
evolution of the Museum’s primary
visitor facility.
In 1996 returned to restoration
activities and has continued in that role to
this day, where he is now the lead
restoration expert. Has been a regular
participant at ARM and ATRRM
Conferences, leading seminars on many
occasions. Nationally known as a
resource for other trolley museums, he
has organized group purchases of hard to
obtain materials (such as authentic rattan
seat fabric). He is known as an avid writer
about museum restoration programs and
maintains thorough restoration/curatorial
records.
Donald Curry is now the longest
serving employee in the rail preservation
field.
Other notable accomplishments
The award presentations were
preceded by editor Aaron Isaacs’
rundown of the year’s completed
equipment restorations and other notable
achievements.
Steam locomotives
Southern 2-8-2 #4501 at Tennessee
Valley Railroad Museum
Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-2
#491 at Colorado Railroad Museum
Magma Arizona 2-8-2 #7 at Texas State
Railroad
Frisco 2-10-0 #630 at Illinois Railway
Museum
Saginaw Timber 2-8-2 #2 at MidContinent Railway Museum
Reading inspection 2-2-2 Black Diamond
at Museum of Transport
Diesel locomotives
New Haven FL9 #2019 at Railroad
Museum of New England
Birmingham Southern high hood Alco
switcher #82 at Heart of Dixie Railroad
Museum
Plymouth industrial locomotive at
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
Passenger cars
Canadian National heavyweight coach
#5046 at Railroad Museum of New
England
Canadian National commuter coach
#6749 at Conway Scenic Railroad
Long Island commuter coach #2972 at
Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum
Frisco heavyweight coach #1062 at Heart
of Dixie Railroad Museum
Spokane Portland & Seattle wood coach
#218 at Northwest Railway Museum
Milwaukee Road Skytop observation
Cedar Rapids at Friends of the 261
Freight and non-revenue cars
Copper anode flat car at Arizona Railroad
Museum
Great Northern tank car #X-1390 at
Illinois Railway Museum
Chicago Great Western Russell
snowplow #X38 at Illinois Railway
Museum
McCloud River fire fighting tank car at
Niles Canyon Railroad
Erie wood caboose #04946 at Whitewater
Valley Railroad
Pennsylvania wood caboose #061741 at
Wabash Valley Railroaders Museum
Rock Island caboose #17634 at
Oklahoma Railway Museum
Electric cars
Philadelphia PCC #2168 at Baltimore
Streetcar Museum
Connecticut Company open car #838 at
Seashore Trolley Museum
Dallas double truck Birney #754 at
McKinney Avenue Transit Authority
Other achievements
Opening of the Colebrookdale Railroad in
Pennsylvania
Reopening of the Stewartstown Railroad
in Pennsylvania
First ever passenger operations at
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
Wood coaling town constructed at
Greenfield Village
Parts storage building constructed at
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
New depot and terminal yard constructed
at Wisconsin & Great Northern
Railroad
Former Waterfront Electric carbarn
purchased by Toledo, Lake Erie &
Western
Major trackwork changes at Colorado
Railroad Museum
Major land purchase at Wiscasset
Waterville & Farmington Railroad
9
RAPID GROWTH AT
RAIL EVENTS
By Aaron Isaacs
It’s no secret that special events have
become an ever more important part of
the revenue mix for every tourist
railroad and railway museum. This
trend has been underway for years, in
response to flat or declining ridership
for regular train rides. The public is
demanding entertainment along with
their nostalgic experience. One result
has been a proliferation of holiday
events around Easter, Halloween and
Christmas, as well as special trains for
whatever online attraction there
happens to be.
Then came Thomas the Tank Engine.
Not tied to any particular holiday, here
was an opportunity to capitalize on the
huge popularity among small children
of an animated television show. In no
time Thomas events became the
financial savior of many a railroad and
museum. The events are large and labor
intensive, but the revenue has become
an essential part of the budget. And it
wasn’t just ticket revenue—there was
plenty to be made on merchandise
sales.
The sales contrast between a
polished commercial special event and
the homegrown alternative was so
pronounced that more were sure to
follow, including events that were more
modest and easier to stage than
Thomas.
American Heritage Railways,
operator of the Durango & Silverton
and the Great Smoky Mountains
railroads, formed subsidiary Rail
Events in 2006. Rail Events became the
agent putting the railroads and
museums together with large
entertainment companies Warner
Brothers, Disney and the Jim Henson
Company.
When Rail Events owner Al Harper
starts talking special events, he sounds
like a preacher addressing a church full
of sinners. Why, he demands to know,
wouldn’t you take advantage of every
available revenue dollar to ensure your
long-term survival? He may be out to
turn a profit, but he’s adamant that his
real goal is to create a user friendly
revenue source for museums and tourist
railroads.
Entertainment today is packaged to
earn money in as many different media
and venues as possible. That’s why
there are Harry Potter amusement park
rides and Disney-themed ice shows.
Rail Events found its opportunity in the
railroad-themed childrens’ book and
movie The Polar Express. It didn’t lend
itself to a travelling road show unless
the venues came equipped with tracks
and trains. Just like Thomas. Here was
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a niche that tourist railroads and
museums could fill.
Polar Express has become a huge
success. Rail Events took the event to
43 locations in 2014. That number will
increase to 54 in 2015. Rail Events
reports turnouts as high as 95,000
people. The event includes many
elements of the movie itself with a
reading of the story, a trip to the North
Pole, Christmas caroling, and Santa
giving out the first gifts of Christmas.
Here’s the participant list so far.
Adirondack Scenic Railroad
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Branson Scenic Railway
California State Railroad Museum
Catskill Mountain Railroad
Chehalis-Centralia Railroad
Colorado Railroad Museum
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
Dartmoor Railway (England)
Delaware River Railroad Excursions
Dennison Railroad Depot Museum
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge
Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad
Eastern Flyer
Edaville Railroad
Fox River Trolley Museum
Gold Coast Railroad Museum
Grafton & Upton Railroad
Grand Canyon Railway
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
Indiana Railway Museum
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad
Medina Railroad Museum
Monticello Railway Museum
Mt. Hood Railroad
National Railroad Museum
Nevada Northern Railway
Newport Dinner Train
North Carolina Transportation Museum
North Fork Trolley Company
Railtown 1897
Saratoga & North Creek Railway
St. Louis Union Station
Texas State Railroad
Vermont Children's Trust Foundation at
Union Station, Burlington, VT
Virginia & Truckee Railroad
Weardale Railway (England)
West Coast Railway Heritage Park
West Texas & Lubbock Railroad
White River Rotary Club (Vermont)
Whitewater Valley Scenic Railroad
Wisconsin & Southern Railroad
Looking closely at the list, three
venues caught my eye. The Polar
Express is associated with steam
locomotion, yet the Fox River Trolley
Museum does it with trolleys. The
event at St. Louis Union Depot required
renting a train consist. Even more
unlikely is the North Fork Trolley
Company, which runs those fake
trolley-looking buses on Long Island.
They do it with no tracks at all.
Despite its popularity, Polar Express
is tied to the holiday season, from
Thanksgiving to perhaps early January.
Rail Events wanted something that
could go year round and found that in
The Jim Henson Company’s Dinosaur
Train. If you haven’t seen the show,
here’s how the website describes it.
“DINOSAUR TRAIN™ embraces
and celebrates the fascination that
preschoolers have with both dinosaurs
and trains, while encouraging basic
scientific thinking skills as the audience
learns about life science, natural history
and paleontology. 2014 marks the 6th
year the series has been aired on PBS
KIDS® in their promoted preschool
block. Each half hour episodes feature
Buddy, an adorable preschool age TRex, and includes two 11-minute
animated stories along with brief live
action segments hosted by renowned
paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson.
Young viewers join Buddy and his
adoptive Pteranodon family on a
whimsical voyage through prehistoric
jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans.
They travel aboard the Dinosaur Train,
a colorful locomotive, to the Triassic,
Jurassic, Cretaceous worlds and learn
facts about dinosaurs along the way.”
As Rail Events stages it, Dinosaur
Train has a ride with music, games and
a field trip with specific adventures in
paleontology, fossils, etc. “families take
a ride on a real train bound for the
Nature Trackers Adventure Area! Here,
young guests will participate in a series
of fun and educational challenges that
unearth basic concepts in science,
natural history, and paleontology. The
event also includes official music,
inflatable dinosaurs, fossil digs, and an
opportunity to have a photo taken
everyone’s favorite T-Rex, Buddy!”
Dinosaur Train is now at six venues,
expected to increase to ten in 2015:
Delaware River Railroad Excursions
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge
Railroad
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
Indiana Railway Museum
Mount. Hood Railroad
Seaton Tramway (England)
West Coast Railway Heritage Park
According to Al Harper and Jeff
Johnson of Rail Events, Dinosaur Train
can be done without a train, but then
tents are required.
The company’s next project is a
series of three seasonal events
employing the Peanuts characters.
These basically piggyback on three
holidays that have had homegrown
events in most places. The Great
Pumpkin Patch Express is held around
Halloween. The event consists of a
train ride to a pumpkin patch where
passengers enjoy meeting PEANUTS™
characters, live music, story telling,
tractor rides, pumpkin decorating, trickor-treating, and other family-oriented
activities. The Easter Beagle Express is
held in the spring and combines a train
ride to meet PEANUTS™ characters
with an Easter egg hunt. Other
activities include live music, story telling, egg decorating, and
arts and crafts projects. The Valentine Express is held in
February with PEANUTS™ characters, arts and crafts, and
creating a Valentine for that special someone.
So far only Rail Events’ own railroads and the Kentucky
Railway Museum have done Peanuts events, which don’t
necessarily require a train.
Other events are waiting in the wings. Chuggington is
another animated show, distributed by the Disney Channel.
While in Tyler for the ATRRM conference, a group of us
grizzled museum types watched three of the 10-minute episodes
and would have watched more except it was closing day and the
Rail Events staff had to take down the booth. Why were we
watching? The show’s characters are all trains based on a
staggering variety of real prototypes (UP’s original City of
Denver for example). Someone on the production team has to
be a railfan. Despite its name it features diesel characters.
Chuggington is being tested and will appear at three locations in
2015. Under consideration are events based on the Lone Ranger
and The Little Engine That Could.
Rail Events prefers to include train rides whenever possible,
but they are ready to adapt any branded event to unique venues,
whether railroad or museum. They’ve done Polar Express on
rides as short as half a mile.
According to Rail Events, Thomas the Tank Engine set the
standard in licensed events at a 30% royalty on tickets and 10%
royalty on retail. Rail Events often offers introductory discounts
and incentives to help new venues get up and running. Rail
Events recommends a minimum ticket price, but each venue is
free to charge what is appropriate for its market above the
minimum. Typically it averages between $4 and $6 per ticketed
rider.
I asked Al Harper and Jeff Johnson to rate the difficulty of
staging an event on a scale of one (easy) to ten (difficult),
assuming that Thomas the Tank Engine is a 10. They rated the
Polar Express also a 10, Chuggington a 7 or 8, Dinosaur Train a
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6 or 7, and Peanuts a 2 or 3.
As the number of event sites
increases, so does the likelihood that
sites will compete with one another. Jeff
Johnson
says
they
research
demographics intensively and try to
avoid competing sites. Much depends
on population density. The Boston area
has four Polar Express sites within 100
miles. Less populous areas are spaced
much farther apart. They said that most
of the time they are approached by
museums and tourist railroads, not the
other way around.
Although some might see Thomas
the Tank Engine and Rail Events as
competitors, Al and Jeff didn’t view it
that way. There are 52 weekends each
year and the different events tend to
compliment each other rather than
conflict. Several venues do both Polar
and Thomas.
The big news lately is that Thomas
the Tank Engine is establishing a
permanent site at Edaville. I asked Al
and Jeff if they have any such plans and
they don’t. In fact, they pointed out that
Edaville also does Polar Express and
plans to continue.
What’s it like producing a Polar
Express event? I interviewed Kelly
Alexander of first time partner North
Carolina Transportation Museum and
Ed Kounecki and Doug Rundell of
veteran but unconventional partner Fox
River Trolley Museum.
Fox River Trolley Museum
Fox River Trolley Museum is not
your usual Polar Express venue, but
they’re been holding the event since
1999. For the first decade, according to
president Ed Kounecki, there was no
license and they didn’t realize one was
needed. The event was pretty basic and
tickets went for $5. That came to a
screeching halt in August 2009 (ticket
sales were already underway) when Rail
Events sent them a cease-and-desist
letter. It was immediately clear that costs
would rise because of the license fee, but
they were committed for that year, so
after a vigorous debate within the
museum Board, they signed up. As part
of the agreement, they had to add music
from the movie soundtrack and provide
approved costumes for the car hosts who
passed out the cocoa and cookies. “We
have a wardrobe department now”, says
Kounecki.
Since then the ticket price has been
raised every year, and more trips have
been added, yet every year it sells out. In
2014 it sold out in under three days, with
no marketing other than a notice on the
website. The 2014 ticket was a flat $25
for everyone, no exceptions. That
increases next year. There were 8 days of
service in 2014, with 4 trips each day at
3:15, 4:25, 5:35 and 6:45. The total
package of 32 trips has a theoretical
2944 seats, yielding about $73,000 gross
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revenues. After expenses, the museum
nets about $40,000. To put this in
perspective, Fox River’s regular trains
carry about 6000 passengers a year, so
Polar attracts a third of the annual
passengers and brings in about half the
annual revenue.
Passengers board at the Jon Duerr
Forest Preserve, the south end of the
railroad, not at the museum’s site at the
other end of the line. The reason is that
the Park Reserve has a paved parking lot
that can accommodate two trains worth
of cars (one on the line, one waiting to
board).
The story features an enormous steam
locomotive that travels through the
night. Fox River runs a pair of Chicago
L cars and half of the trips are run during
daylight. According to Kounecki and
operations superintendent Doug Rundell,
the lack of steam and darkness makes no
difference at all to the passengers and no
one has ever complained. In fact, the
kids are super excited and stay that way
throughout the trip.
The L cars were selected because
they’re all-electric, with no air brakes to
freeze up. Their electrical system works
well with a PA system. It’s a bonus that
all the standee poles and handholds are
great for hanging lights and decorations.
The train’s capacity is only 92 people.
Why not add more L cars, which the
museum owns? There are several
reasons. It would exceed the parking lot
capacity. There probably aren’t enough
volunteers to staff three cars, and the
third car would strain the overhead
power system.
The train travels to the North Pole, in
this case the museum grounds at the
other end of the 2-mile railroad. A oneway trip takes 12 minutes during which
the reader completes half the story as
high school volunteers pass out cocoa
and cookies. Once at the North Pole, it
takes Santa and Mrs. Claus about 15
Fox River Trolley Museum uses a pair of Chicago L cars for its Polar Express.
minutes to circulate through each car.
With two cars, Santa is in one while the
musicians are in the other and they
switch at 15 minutes. The reader
completes the story on the way back.
Rundell says they have successfully
run Polar Express in every kind of
weather. Sleet was the worst, but they
installed sleet cutters on the trolley poles
and made it work.
It takes 25 people each day to stage
the event. The two musicians and the
reader are paid. The 22 volunteers
include:
2 motormen
2 conductors
1 sound engineer
6 chefs and servers
Santa and Mrs. Claus
Agent at North Pole
3-4 at the forest preserve for parking
direction, train boarding, replacement
tickets
Hospitality manager and assistant
Kounecki says that Rail Events has
been flexible in adapting the standard
operating agreement to fit the Fox River
Trolley Museum’s short railroad and
small cars. The biggest difference is a
complete lack of merchandise sales. The
museum’s license with the park district
prevents merchandise sales, and there
was no way to work them into the North
Pole at the other end of the line without
disrupting the operating schedule, which
probably would have reduced total
revenues.
One of the questions the museum
board has discussed is whether a more
expensive licensed event is worth the
extra cost, compared to a similar
homegrown event. To find out, inn 2010,
the museum ran a separate Santa trolley
during the day. Polar sold out and the
Santa trolley didn’t do very well. That’s
the power of a licensed event. Doug
Rundell estimates that about half the
Polar passengers are repeats.
North Carolina
Transportation Museum
If Fox River Trolley Museum is a
veteran Polar operator, but small and
unusual, North Carolina Transportation
Museum is the opposite. They just
finished their first Polar and it’s a bigger
deal with a longer train, 42 trips over 16
days. Trains are confined to the museum
site. Boarding is at the Barber Junction
Visitor Center near the east end of the
property adjacent to the main parking lot
where regular train rides board.
The North Pole is located at the
Roundhouse where visitors are unloaded.
They board the train again and return to
the unloading area. Santa goes through
the train on the return trip handing out
bells to all the passengers. A round trip
takes 75 minutes
Even though it was the first year,
Polar sold out. A total of 13,458
passengers rode, an average of 320 per
The Spencer roundhouse doubles as the North Pole at the North Carolina
Transportation Museum.
trip. Each train includes 3 standard
coaches, 2 deluxe coaches, and 2 first
class cars (one 36-seat diner and one 28seat lounge car). The train is diesel
powered. As with Fox River, the absence
of steam and running some trips before
dark don’t seem to be issues.
It was NCTM’s second largest event
for 2014 after Day Out With Thomas
which had 19% more riders. Polar and
Thomas together brought in 37 percent
of the museum’s 2014 ridership, which
was up 16% from 2013.
Unlike Fox River, which charges $25
for everyone, no exceptions, NCTM has
a wide range of fares.
Standard Coach
Adult - $30
Child - $24
Deluxe Coach
Adult - $38
Child - $32
First Class (Sold by Table, not by
individual seats)
4 top table - $170
2 top table - $85
It takes 40-50 people to put on Polar
each night, including 12-15 volunteers.
Merchandise sales take place in the
regular year round gift shop which
enhanced its operations for the event
including adding additional sales space
in an adjacent area of the building where
the gift shop is located.
I asked chief operating officer Kelly
Alexander if Rail Events was easy to
work with. “Very much so, she replied. “
They are extremely supportive. I have
done a lot of events over the years and
worked with many good groups, but they
have to be one of the best I have worked
with.” According to Anderson, next year
potentially will see additional days and
trips with new and enhanced program
elements.
13
ATRRM ANNUAL IN
TYLER, TEXAS
By Don Evans
We travelled to Tyler, Texas to
attend the Association of Tourist
Railway and Railway Museums annual
conference the first week of November.
Joining Deb and myself on the trip were
WCRA volunteer Lynne Kinnell and
we met our Chief Mechanical Officer
Robert MacBeth in Tyler.
Wednesday, November 5—the preconference tour visited the McKinney
Avenue trolley shops and operation,
which was fun. The weather continued
wet, but the full line ride on the trolleys
was a highlight. Two new cars have
recently entered service, Dallas double
truck Birney #754 and a Brussells,
Belgium PCC. The big news is that
construction of the loop extension into
downtown Dallas is finally underway
after many years of planning. This will
bring streetcars into the heart of
downtown instead of ending at its edge.
The loop passes within half a block of a
light rail station, so now MATA will
connect with LRT on both ends of the
line. Having loops and turning facilities
all along the line will permit the use of
single ended cars for the first time,
taking pressure off the small number of
double enders.
Next we headed to Frisco, TX where
the Museum of the American Railroad
is getting re- established (see TRRM
issue 17). Director Bob LaPrelle gave
us a preview of the planned
construction of their new museum, and
we wandered the three lines of
equipment that had been moved from
their previous site at Fair Park in
Dallas. To accomplish the move of the
two buildings and more than 40 pieces
of rolling stock—which includes Big
Boy 4018 and Frisco Northern 4501—
was a major accomplishment in itself
and was done with the cooperation of
four railroads! Now the long road of
constructing the new museum to house
the collection gets underway. Also in
the line was newly repatriated Santa Fe
Alco PA-1 #59 (which came to the
museum after careers on ATSF, the D
& H, then Mexico and finally back to
the US via the Smithsonian Museum).
While it may be hard to imagine this
shell being rebuilt into its Santa Fe
glory, one needs only look to what
Doyle McCormack has done with a
sister PA in Portland Oregon, which is
now resplendent as Nickel Plate #190.
Thursday, November 6—a highlight
as we spent the day on the Texas State
Railroad. We started at the depot and
shop at Palestine, and they pulled the
large Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #610
outside for us all to see and photograph.
Meanwhile, Magma Arizona 2-8-2 #7
got set for the day’s run and coupled
onto its six-car passenger consist for the
25-mile run to Rusk. It was a great ride,
as #7 strode well along the good right
of way, the sounds of steam at work
were great as she handled the train over
the hilly line (grades of up to 2.2
percent) beautifully. There were also a
couple of photo runbys on the way to
Rusk, where we enjoyed a great bbq
lunch on arrival in the State Park there.
Following lunch was a shop tour
where we saw 2-8-0 #300 nearing
completion in the shop and their
repowered RS-3 #7 along with many
other locos and rolling stock.
After lunch, the ride was repeated
back to Palestine, and we enjoyed the
sounds and sights from the open air
observation car. A great day, then back
to Tyler for the opening reception of the
conference where we met old friends
and enjoyed the evening together. HIT
Entertainment sponsored this evening
reception.
Friday, November 7 was spent with
the ATRRM board in the morning, and
then the seminars started in the
afternoon. As always, learning from
others in the field of railway
preservation and operations is one of
the main benefits of these annual
conferences, and this one was no
exception. In the evening, another
hosted event—this time by the good
folks at Rail Events.
Saturday, November 8 was another
day of seminars and learning, along
with time to meet with the many
vendors who were at the conference as
well. After a full day, the evening
McKinney Avenue Transit Authority
will soon be able to run single-ended
cars, thanks to the turntable at the
City Place LRT station and the
downtown one-way loop which
should open in 2015. This is the
uncompleted Olive Street portion of
the loop Jim Vaitkunas photos.
14
featured the closing banquet. It was a
nice affair with the usual annual
meeting items, and a very special guest
speaker—Ed Ellis of Iowa Pacific
Holdings—who told the story of how
he bought his first shortline railroad
and built it into today's company with
eight railroads in operation as well as
Pullman Rail Journeys.
Sunday, November 9 we packed up
and wandered our way on back roads
back to Dallas (no significant rail
sightings). A final dinner in Grapevine
(where we saw the Grapevine Heritage
Railroad train arrive back from Fort
Worth with a GP 7 and four cars). We
then flew back home Monday,
November 10th. It had been a good
conference, and we look forward to
visiting Illinois Railway Museum in
2015.
Massive Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #610 resides inside the Palestine car shop and was
pulled out for the benefit of the ATRRM conference attendees.
THE TEXAS STATE
RAILROAD
By Aaron Isaacs
In 1881 the first five miles of track
were built west from North Rusk to
haul wood and iron ore to the prisonoperated iron smelter at the Rusk
Penitentiary. The furnace supplied the
State of Texas with iron products,
including the columns and dome
structure for the capitol building in
Austin.
In 1906 prison crews extended the
rail line to Maydelle and in 1909
reached their final destination of
Palestine. This gave the line a
connection with the International &
Great Northern at Palestine, as well as
a connection with the St. Louis
Southwestern and the Texas & New
Orleans at Rusk. There were depots at
Rusk, Palestine, and Maydelle, and the
general business office, while initially
at Rusk, was later moved to Palestine.
In 1913 the prison ceased operations
of the iron furnace and the penitentiary
was converted into the state mental
hospital.
In 1921 the line was leased to the
Texas & New Orleans (Southern
Pacific) In 1962 the SP declined to
renew the lease of the Texas State. By
that time the only industries on the line
were a bulk feed plant at Rusk and the
Vernon Calhoun Packing Plant near
Palestine, as well as some pulpwood
loading.
The railroad was then leased to the
Texas South-Eastern Railroad
Company between November 1, 1962,
and December 31, 1969. After the
Texas South-Eastern lease expired, the
few miles from Palestine to the packing
plant was leased to the Missouri
Pacific.
In early 1970 a tourist train known
Prior to departure from Palestine, attendees were invited to pass through the cab of
Magma Arizona 2-8-2 #7. Jim Vaitkunas photos.
We pulled through the Rusk shop and explored the railroad’s interesting back yard.
Inside the Rusk Shop, 2-8-0 #300 is under restoration. It will emerge as Southern
Pine Lumber #28. Jim Vaitkunas photo.
as the Cherokee and Southwestern
attempted to operate a few miles out of
Rusk. However, the operator ran only a
few trips before folding.
The railroad was conveyed to the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in
1972 and state inmates were again
brought in to help with the creation of
the state historical park. The park and
railroad were opened to the public on
July 4th, 1976, as part of the nation's
Bicentennial Celebration.
In 1981, the railroad acquired the
1902 Frisco turntable from Paris, TX
and installed it at Maydelle.
The State of Texas put a great deal of
money into the railroad. The track was
rebuilt and every bridge on the line was
replaced with a solid concrete structure.
Large depots were constructed a couple
of miles outside both Palestine and
Rusk, so the trains don’t actually enter
either town. The Palestine terminal
received a new car shop, while the main
yard and locomotive shop is at Rusk.
However, by 2006, the train cost the
state of Texas $1 million per year more
to maintain and to operate than the
revenue from the park generated.
Because of budget concerns, the 2007
Texas legislature passed Senate Bill
1659 which allowed for the creation of
an operating authority for the train with
the power to lease the train to a private
operator.
On September 1, 2007, the train was
transferred to the Texas State Railroad
Authority and leased for operation by
American Heritage Railways that same
month. The new operator was able to
reduce the deficit substantially but
never achieved profitability. American
16
Heritage withdrew from the contract in
2012.
In August of 2012 the State of Texas
sold the Texas State Railroad to Iowa
Pacific Holdings. Actually, that’s an
oversimplification. Apparently the state
still owns the right of way, as well as a
20 percent interest in the railroad. The
cities of Rusk and Palestine own their
respective depots and the land
surrounding them.
In addition to continuing passenger
operations, Iowa Pacific Holdings
opened the track to the main line in
Palestine on November 1, 2012 to begin
offering freight service.
Big River Industries is the first
official customer of Iowa Pacific
Holdings, and plans to ship two to eight
freight cars per week on the railroad.
The railroad is also in negotiations with
several other potential freight
customers.
To learn more about the railroad, I
interviewed Steven Butler, the
railroad’s general manager and an
ATRRM Board member.
Ridership in 2014 reached 79,354, a
16.8 percent increase over 2013, and
passing the previous high of 75,078 in
1984. However, the mix today is much
different. Events, primarily the Polar
Express, dominate. This year’s Polar
brought attracted 58,184 riders or over
73 percent of the year’s riders. Polar
ridership grew 20 percent over 2013.
The regular daily train rides carried
about 22,000. Ridership is growing, up
10,000 over the previous year. Butler
believes the railroad has finally reached
profitability, but won’t know until the
books are closed for 2014.
A number of changes have
contributed to the move to profitability.
The employee count was reduced,
ridership is up, the number of special
events has increased, and more food
service has been added. Polar Express
merchandise sales have increased. The
generally better economy has probably
helped, as has lower fuel costs. The
railroad uses parent Iowa Pacific’s
centralized reservation center, which
costs less than running its own. This
year saw two TV episodes and a
History Channel special filmed on the
railroad. TV work often comes out of
Austin.
Next year will see new dinner, beer
tasting, brunch, and wine and cheese
trains. There will also be a steampunk
event, emulating the successful eventsat
the Strasburg.
Regular trains follow the same
pattern as in the past. A round trip starts
at each end of the line. At present, the
one from Palestine gets steam, the one
from Rusk has a diesel. Passengers
have the option of riding the entire
round trip or transferring when the
trains meet halfway down the line.
The tiny town of Maydelle is located
19 miles from Palestine, 6 miles from
Rusk and still has its original depot.
The railroad has a 10-acre event site at
Maydelle, as well as a turntable, so it is
used as the destination for certain event
trains like the Halloween pumpkin
patch.
The railroad has about 30 full time
staff. Volunteers are not used for
regular operations. However, there is a
new support group, the Texas State
Railroad Society. It replaced the
Friends of the Texas State Railroad,
which disbanded in 2010. Butler sees a
role for the society similar to the
Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec,
helping with publicity and beginning
the restoration of non-operating pieces
of rolling stock.
Although there is only one
operational steamer at present, Butler
believes two will be the norm in the
future. The goal is one in service, one
in reserve and one in the shop. 2-8-0
#300 (Baldwin 1917) will come out of
the shop this year as Southern Pine
Lumber #28, where it ran until
retirement.
The locomotives have been switched
from burning diesel fuel to burning
used motor oil. Santa Fe 4-6-2 #1316
(Baldwin 1911) is next into the shop,
thanks to previously approved grant
funding. Under state ownership the
locos were painted gaudy colors and
given non-historic numbers. The
railroad’s policy now is to return them
to the paint and number of their last
owner. Although regular state funding
is gone, the railroad can still apply for
state grants.
The standard coaches in the fleet are
getting air conditioning, but otherwise
the passenger cars will remain
unchanged. However, Iowa Pacific will
rotate in other cars from its national
fleet when it makes sense. The next
visitor will be a former New York
Central diner for dinner train service.
When the state upgraded the
railroad, it built a shop at each end.
Rusk is the larger facility of the two,
with the main yard and engine shop. At
the Palestine end of the line is the car
shop, which also handles locomotive
running repairs.
Freight
A key part of Iowa Pacific’s
acquisitions strategy has been to revive
freight service where it had
disappeared. The Saratoga & North
Creek is the best example so far. The
Texas State Railroad was isolated from
the general rail system. The three miles
leading to the UP interchange in
Palestine was intact, but out of service.
Texas State restored it and has started
serving a plant just east of Palestine
that produces oil field chemicals.
On the other end of the railroad the
city of Rusk has recently rebuilt out of
service track into an industrial park.
The hope is to attract shippers who
with use Texas State, now the only
railroad in town.
The ATRRM special backed into the
Rusk yard and through the shop
building. A number of derelict and
interesting pieces have found their way
onto the property and sit behind the
shop, even though the railroad isn’t a
museum. These include the detrucked
bodies of a Texas Electric box motor
and freight trailer. Butler says there is a
list of surplus equipment for disposal
and no plans to restore or display
historic pieces. There is a movie consist
of badly faked open platform coaches
created from flatcars. Those will be
kept, because the movie or TV crews
can do anything they want with them.
In the end, this is purely a tourist
railroad with no plans to be otherwise
except for making the steamers look
historically accurate.
converted to other uses. Whenever I
travel to an ATRRM conference, I
spend the day before or after visiting all
the nearby railway preservation I can
find, and usually that includes
preserved depots. From a preservation
standpoint, there’s a hierarchy of
interest.
Of least interest are the depots that
have been repurposed into something
else with little or no regard for their
history. A step up the ladder are re-uses
that at least acknowledge that this was a
depot, although it may have been
heavily modified. That’s often the case
with restaurants, chambers of
commerce and visitor centers. It helps if
appropriate history displays have been
worked into the restoration. Too often,
however, the history tends to either be
forgotten or is slapdash, superficial and
frequently wrong. The restaurant with
generic train photos on the wall is an
example when a little research could
have interpreted the building’s actual
history. An embarrassing name doesn’t
help (my favorite example is the
Steaming Tender Restaurant in Palmer,
MA). Wince.
More respectable are depots that
have intentionally been preserved as
historic artifacts. Lowest on that
hierarchy are local historical societies
who occupy the depot but use it simply
to house displays on everything but
railroads. If the railroad history gets at
least part of the space, that’s better, and
best of all is a depot presented as such
in its entirety.
Other factors enter into the quality of
the depot museum. Is it in its original
location or has it been moved? If on the
original site, are the tracks gone? Is the
platform intact? If the railroad is still
active, has the platform been cut back
or isolated behind a fence for liability
reasons? The more original the better.
If the depot has been moved or its
railroad has been abandoned, it really
improves things if some track has been
installed, even a short segment. If there
is rolling stock on that track, all the
better, although the caboose next to the
depot has become a cliché. Still, it’s
better than no rolling stock.
It’s not uncommon to see depots
moved into “historic villages”,
collections of old building brought
together to create the feel of a small
town.
Probably at the top of the depot
hierarchy are those that still serve their
original purpose, whether for Amtrak, a
commuter train operator or a tourist
railroad. These have often been
beautifully restored thanks to
Transportation Enhancement grants and
frequently incorporate history displays.
As I toured east Texas the day before
the ATRRM conference, I ran into
almost every variation described above,
plus plenty of other interesting
attractions.
Wills Point Historical Society
Located 50 miles east of Dallas on
the former Texas & Pacific main line,
this brick depot still sits next to the
track, although it’s fenced off and the
platform is gone. It wasn’t open when I
passed through. A caboose is displayed
across the street.
Edgewood Heritage Park
This one wasn’t on my advance list.
Edgewood is the next town east of
Wills Point, and there was a sign
pointing to the Edgewood Heritage
Park so I followed the sign. It led to an
historic village that includes the Cotton
Belt wood depot from Murchison, TX,
30 miles to the south. On a short piece
of track was the obligatory caboose, but
also a Missouri Pacific 50-foot steel
boxcar, a nice bonus.
EAST TEXAS
ROAD TRIP
By Aaron Isaacs
I’d never been to east Texas, so the
day before was spent briefly stopping at
nine attractions that you probably never
heard of.
First, a word about depots
Although so many are gone, a
surprising number of depots have
survived, either because of preservation
efforts or because they can be easily
The Wills Point Texas & Pacific depot, now housing a local historical society.
17
Jay Gould private car and the
Historic Jefferson Railway
Jefferson, TX is where the Mopac
from Texarkana crosses the Kansas City
Southern’s Shreveport-Dallas line. It’s a
picturesque tourist town with a well
preserved downtown complete with
brick streets. On the edge of downtown
is the Excelsior House Hotel, dating
from the 1850s and still very much in
business. Across the street is, of all
things, Jay Gould’s private car Atalanta
(ACF 1888). Gould controlled the
Mopac and died in 1892. Following his
death, the car was used by his son,
George Jay Gould, president of the
T&P. It was brought to Texas from St.
Louis and used as a family residence
during the 1930s East Texas oil boom.
Purchased in 1953 and still owned by
the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club, it
was moved to this site in 1954. The car
lacks trucks and sits on the ground, but
it’s open daily for tours.
A few blocks away is a real surprise,
the Historic Jefferson Railway. The 3foot gauge tourist railroad opened in
1982, using a Crown Metal 4-4-0, three
open coaches and one closed coach
from the defunct Six Guns Territory
amusement park in Florida. The 4-4-0
just reentered service after receiving a
new boiler and firebox. Backup power
is a Plymouth gas loco. Passengers
board at Jefferson’s relocated original
Louisiana & Arkansas depot. From
there the train travels four miles through
deep woods along the twisting Big
Cypress Bayou. Annual ridership is
about 20,000.
The railroad wasn’t a financial
success until Don Rainey purchased it
about 1992. He built the Diamond Don
RV Park at the outer end of the line. His
campers use the railroad to travel into
town, and he puts on a series of special
event trains throughout the year. The
most creative is “The Naval Battle of
Port Jefferson” which Don describes as
“the reenactment of a Civil War battle
that didn’t happen”. The highlight is
the shelling of troops by a miniature
replica of an ironclad gunboat that sails
on the bayou.
Although I wasn’t aware of it at the
time, Jefferson also has a large model
railroad display that is open to the
public. The R. D. Moses Texas &
Pacific Model Railroad is located in a
replica depot museum behind the
Jefferson Historical Museum.
Texas & Pacific Railway Museum
This is a fine example of a high end
depot museum. It still serves Amtrak,
sees plenty of freight trains, houses a
good railroad museum, and has a steam
loco on display. The fleet of
Mopac/T&P passenger trains did
considerable sorting en route, first at
Little Rock and then at Marshall, TX.
This is where the trains from St. Louis
18
Above: A Missouri Pacific boxcar graces the Edgewood Heritage Park.
Middle: The narrow gauge Historic Jefferson Railway connects downtown
Jefferson with an RV park and hosts an annual Civil War reenactment.
Bottom: Rail magnate Jay Gould’s 1888 private car Atalanta is open for tours in
Jefferson.
and Memphis to Houston and San
Antonio met the New Orleans-DallasEl Paso trains and swapped through
cars. The depot is located inside the
wye where the still busy three lines
continue to meet.
Because accessing the depot requires
crossing a main line track, access is via
the original pedestrian subway,
complete with embossed T&P logos in
the step treads.
The substantial two-story depot,
built in 1912, also housed the division
offices and is still owned by MP
successor Union Pacific. It was close to
being demolished when UP filed for a
demolition permit in 1988. The
community intervened to prevent the
loss. Eventually the depot was restored,
the Amtrak station was reopened and
the T&P Museum with well done
displays now occupies much of the
building, all under lease from UP.
Parked out front is a UP caboose and
a steam locomotive that at first seems
to be mislabeled. T&P 2-8-2 #400
(Baldwin 1915) spent all but the end of
its career with Burlington subsidiary
Fort Worth & Denver. It’s clearly a
CB&Q design. T&P bought it in 1958
to haul freights through the Red River
floodwaters. Retired thereafter, it was
placed in the park in Marshall.
Marshall was a big T&P shop town.
None of the buildings survive, but
displays inside the museum do a good
job of telling the story.
Henderson Depot Museum
Although it’s called a depot
museum, this is really an historic
village of 12 collected buildings located
on five acres away from the tracks. The
site also houses the Rusk County
History Museum and the Children’s
Discovery Center. It started with the
1901 Mopac Henderson depot, a long
rambling wood structure. The baggage
room has been turned into a meeting
facility, but the agent’s office is intact
and appropriately furnished. A MP
caboose is parked nearby.
Texas Forestry Museum, Lufkin, TX
The Lufkin area, which includes
Diboll (see below) was logging
country. Located a few miles apart are
a pair of museums that have important
rail history components, yet they are
not what we would consider typical
railroad museums. There were several
logging railroads, three of which are
The Texas & Pacific Railway
Museum in Marshall sits in the center
of a wye, so access is though a
pedestrian subway with T&P logos in
the stair treads. Amtrak shares the
building. Parked outside is ex-Fort
Worth & Denver 2-8-2 #400.
19
The rambling wood Mopac depot in
Henderson is now part of a village of
historic buildings. Left: The agent’s
office.
and forest industry. The Texas Forestry
Museum was organized as a non-profit
organization in 1972; large and small
items were collected on the grounds of
the Texas Forestry Association, such as
the fire tower, train, equipment, depot,
etc.; the museum building was
completed in 1976.
Th museum and its activities/events
are financed through memberships,
donations, sponsorships, and grants, and
offers free admission to the public.
Annual visitors and outreach efforts
equal approximately. 10,000 people.”
Outside, W. T. Carter 2-6-0 #3
(Baldwin 1908) leads a short train
Below: W. T. Carter 2-6-0 #3 leads a
short train at the Texas Forestry
Museum in Lufkin.
still running, albeit shorter than they
used to be. They are the Angelina &
Neches River, Texas South-Eastern, and
Moscow, Camden & San Augustine.
The museum maintains an online
database of 369 east Texas lumber
railroads and tram lines, as well as 4665
east Texas sawmills. It also holds the
papers of the Moscow, Camden and San
Augustine Railroad and the Shreveport,
Houston & Gulf Railroad (W.T. Carter
lines) from 1899 to 1960, 80 linear feet
in all.
Executive Director Rachel Collins
writes, “The idea for a forestry museum
began in the 1950's when mechanized
equipment began replacing mules &
oxen as a means to transport logs
through the forests. Members of the
Texas Forestry Association and the
Kiwanis Club of Lufkin decided to
begin collecting equipment, relics,
photographs, etc. to preserve the history
of the early sawmills, sawmill towns,
20
Texas South-Eastern 4-6-0 #7, a log
flat and caboose are displayed
outside The History Center in Diboll.
Middle: Lifting #7’s tender truck
journal box lid reveals cotton waste
still in place.
Bottom: This extremely clean track
car was a bicentennial project of the
Texas South-Eastern, as an
alternative to painting a locomotive.
consisting of a circa 1910 steam
powered log loader from W. T. Carter, a
flatcar and a 1901 wood caboose from
the Angelina & Neches River,
originally owned by the Cotton Belt.
They are parked next to the depot from
Camden, built by W. T. Carter in 1936
from long leaf pine sinker logs that
were pulled from the sawmill pond at
Manning. It was donated to the museum
in 1977.
The History Center, Diboll, TX
This local history museum is housed
in a beautiful modern building, funded
by the T. L. L. Temple Foundation. The
Temple family owned the Southern
Pine Lumber Company and through it
the Texas South-Eastern Railroad. In
1969 the company went public and has
been through a series of ownership
changes. One of the successors,
Temple-Inland, donated much of the
museum’s collection, including the
following rolling stock in 2002.
On display outside is TS-E 4-6-0 #13
(Baldwin 1920). It was used regularly
by TSE and Southern Pine Lumber
Company (SPLCo) of Diboll as a
mainline logging engine until replaced
by TSE diesel #22 in 1956. It then
served extra duty periodically until
1964, when it was retired.
Southern Pine Lumber Company
(SPLCo) acquired its 40-foot log car
from the Louisiana & Arkansas
Railway late in the 1940s. It was last
used at SPLCo's creosoting plant in
Diboll, where it carried poles, and at the
Texas South-Eastern shops.
TS-E caboose #6 was built in 1948
by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railway in their car shops as #2246.
TSE acquired it in 1972 and last used it
in revenue service early in the 1990s.
The museum has an impressive
archive of local railroad records and
photos.
Cotton Belt Depot Museum
Tyler, TX
Tyler has its own depot museum,
which was open for conference
attendees. The 1905 brick, tile roofed
depot sits at the junction of the former
Cotton Belt Corsicana Sub main line
21
Tyler’s Cotton Belt Depot Museum shares space with the local transit authority’s
transfer center. Note the brick street.
Inside the Tyler depot museum, a
Cotton Belt spittoon.
and a former Mopac branch line, now
both UP. Half of the building serves as
the local transit center. The museum
occupies the other half, which is staffed
by volunteers of the Cotton Belt Rail
Historical Society, Tyler Tap Chapter.
Inside are O, HO and N scale model
railroads and the Bragg Collection of
1800 tinplate and model trains and the
eclectic McDaniel collection of rail
artifacts.
The museum is trying to acquire
former Cotton Belt heavyweight
business car Dixie. It was built by
Pullman in 1910 as a Pennsylvania
Railroad parlor car, sold to the Cotton
Belt in 1940 and rebuilt as a business
car in 1953. It’s currently stored in San
Antonio.
OUT AND IN
WITH A BANG
By Jim Porterfield
The year 2014 roared to a conclusion
with a number of innovative initiatives
to be launched by the Center for
Railway Tourism in 2015. Which of
22
them can help you generate new visitors
or increase the professionalism of your
operation?
First: Working with one of the
nation's premier railway heritage
preservation and tourism operations, a
one-year paid internship will immerse
an undergraduate accounting major in a
hands-on, not-for-profit accounting
experience. Under the direct supervision
of Davis & Elkins College Accounting
Instructor Lisa Daniels-Smith, the intern
will review the host organization’s
accounting records, assist with day-today accounting functions, prepare
quarterly financial statements, and
prepare the organization’s Form 990.
Second: In cooperation with a
company that specializes in railroad
travel world-wide, an annual contest
will challenge undergraduates studying
recreation and tourism at colleges and
universities throughout America to
design vacation agendas that include
both rail travel and railway heritage
sites. The broad outline of the contest is
that first round entries will consist of a
one-page Executive Summary of the
proposed itinerary. From those
submitted – depending on their number
- some five to ten “finalists” will be
invited to submit a more detailed
itinerary – essentially a trip agenda,
marketing plan, budget, and sales
forecast. From those finalists, anywhere
from one to three of the proposed trips
will then be offered to the general
public for bookings in late
summer/early fall of the following year.
The trip(s) for which bookings achieve
break-even will earn an as-yet
undetermined scholarship amount for
the student trip designer.
Third: The initial Railway Heritage
Practicum, a 3-credit elective that
counts toward the Railway Heritage
Tourism Management minor at Davis &
Elkins College, has been arranged. A
team of students has enrolled for the
spring 2015 semester in response to a
request from the owner of a retail
establishment that occupies a restored
former railroad hotel, adjacent to a
restored downtown depot and nearby
railroad museum. The store specializes
in antique toys, crafts and floral
displays, and sought out the Center with
a request to design and install an
operating overhead G-scale model
railroad. Initially it will occupy space
above the checkout area.
The students, under the direction of a
local modeler, will research the
construction of the layout, and compile
a directory that consists of sources for
the specialized materials needed to
build and operate the layout,
suggestions for how best to build and
operate the model railroad, and a
bibliography and selected anthology of
articles on the subject – whether from
model railroading media or other print
and broadcast media. The manual will
then be offered to other organizations
wanting to install a similar overhead
railroad.
Fourth: The Center is working with a
local independent bookstore, Main Line
Books, the Elementary Education
Department at Davis & Elkins College,
and both state and national
organizations that promote reading
literacy, to develop a program
tentatively titled Reading ‘n Railroading
(RnR). The goal is to select four
children’s picture books, intended for
readers between the ages of 5 and 9,
that are devoted to some aspect of
railroading.
Organizations subscribing to the
program will receive a packet that
includes the book; suggestions for how
to position and promote the RnR event,
and execute it successfully with
assorted activities, such as a unique
page by the book’s illustrator that can
be colored by the participating children,
a contest or craft project, puzzle pages,
and the like. These programs will be
released for use in April, June, August,
and October. And while they will be
available to school and public libraries
as well, their primary purpose is for
railway heritage sites to provide
programming that involves young
families in a meaningful and
entertaining manner so as to build
greater community involvement with
your site.
These projects (more are being
planned) reflect the range, and
imaginative thinking that can result
when growth-oriented people in the
railway heritage tourism industry work
with the Center to find new ways to
strengthen participation in our industry.
Each of these projects is meant to
engage come combination of our
emerging generations – undergraduates,
Millennials, young families, working
23
professionals, and others with an
interest in authentic railway heritage
experiences. We need them to insure a
future for the projects to which so many
of today’s enthusiastic but aging
railway
preservationists
have
committed so much time and effort.
Center goals for 2015 focus on
recruiting undergraduate students of all
ages –Davis & Elkins College is known
for reaching out to veterans - who seek
to build a successful career in railway
heritage preservation and tourism
management. We’re working to secure
funding needed to implement carry out
this mission. See the Center’s ad on
page 23 of this issue for more on
gaining admission to the Railway
Heritage Tourism minor at Davis &
Elkins College. For copies of the ad
suitable for posting, contact me – Jim
Porterfield - at [email protected]
or 304/637-1307. Contact me as well
for information on making a
contribution in support of the work of
the Center.
24
BIG YEAR FOR
FRA ADVOCACY
ATRRM really ramped up its
outreach to the Federal Railroad
Administration in 2014, largely because
of the many new FRA being developed
in response to the 2008 Railroad Safety
Improvement Act. The effort was
spearheaded by Bob Opal of Illinois
Railway Museum. He is retired from
Union Pacific Railroad, where he dealt
extensively with the FRA.
The main thrust of our advocacy is to
get FRA to recognize that tourist
railroads are different from Class I
Class I carriers and conventional
regional roads and short lines, and from
large passenger carriers like commuter
providers and Amtrak. The goal is to,
wherever possible, prevent the tourist
rail
industry
from
being
indiscriminately swept into regulations
designed for these other railroads.
This effort isn't new. It was pursued
independently by ARM, with Opal and
the late Julie Johnson as representatives,
and by TRAIN, with paid Washington
lobbyist Frank McKenna. Now that the
two organizations have merged to form
ATRRM, the effort has been
consolidated and is being pursued more
vigorously.
Our primary forum is a seat on the
Rail Safety Advisory Committee
(RSAC), an FRA sponsored committee
that often develops new regulatory
proposals through a process called
“negotiated rulemaking”.
You haven't seen this effort reported
here in TRRM because a quarterly
publication can't get the word out
quickly enough when new regs pop up.
Instead, Opal puts together Regulatory
Action Summaries and posts them on
the ATRRM website. Because they're a
member benefit, you have to log in to
find them, under the Resources button,
then scroll down to Regulation.
Who is subject to FRA regulation?
In the eyes of the FRA, tourist
railroads fall into three basic categories:
1. General System (“GS”): These
roads are considered part of the
“general
railroad
system
of
transportation” because share track with
non-tourist freight and passenger trains.
Essentially, FRA considers these roads
to be like a short line freight railroads.
2. Non-General System / Non-Insular
(“NGS-NI”): These are tourist railroads
which do not handle commercial freight
(other than their own shipments) or
intercity or commuter passenger service
on their tracks. The primary difference
between a “non-insular” and an
“insular” tourist road is that a “noninsular” property has characteristics that
prevent it from being considered
“insular. Most often, the a tourist road
will be classified as “non-insular”
because it has crossings of public roads
(either at grade or on a bridge). Other
characteristics that will cause a NGS
tourist road to be classified as “noninsular” are an active grade crossing
with another railroad, a bridge over
navigable waterways, or a “common
corridor” with another railroad (i.e., its
operations are within 30 feet of another
railroad). Most NGS tourist roads are
“non-insular”
3. Non-General System-Insular
(NGS-I). A non-general system tourist
road having none of the characteristics
of a “non-insular” road. An example
would be a museum railroad that
operates entirely on the museum’s
campus, without public road crossings
or the other characteristic described in
‘2’ above.
Not surprisingly, general system
tourist railroads are subject to the
heaviest regulation, and insular railways
the least. Beyond that rule of thumb,
determining which regs apply to your
railroad can be complicated.
On the website is an FRA “decision
tree” diagram to help you figure out
which type of railroad you have. This is
an FRA created document, as it is
usually used by their inspectors. Mr.
Opal has also prepared a table titled
“Applicability of FRA Regulations to
Tourist Railroads,” which describes the
applicability of each FRA reg (as well
as self-executing statutory requirements
which do not require an FRA rule). It
can be found on the web page next to
the decision tree.
New regs don't appear out of
nowhere. The ones that are often the
most difficult to deal with are rules
mandated by Congress when it passes a
new law requiring multiple new
rulemakings, often in response to a
crisis or a bad accident (for example,
many of the new rulemakings required
by the 2008 Railroad Safety
Improvement Act were in response to
the tragic Metrolink accident at
Chatsworth, California that year). When
Congress passes a law, FRA has to
promulgate rules and regs that carry out
the letter and spirit of the legislation.
Unfortunately, while laws like this are
usually directed at Class I railroad
issues, Congress often writes them in a
ways that, on their faces, seem to have
broader application.
One of the values of the RSAC
process is that it gives us the
opportunity to point out areas in which
rules designed for Class I railroads
don’t make sense for small tourist
railroads, and suggest ways that FRA
can avoid unnecessarily burdening our
industry. Unfortunately, this is not
always
possible
under
the
Congressional mandates FRA must
follow.
There are two basic ways for the
FRA to keep sweeping regs designed
for Class I railroads from negatively
impacting tourist railroads:
1. FRA can adopt blanket exceptions
in rules that make particular rules
inapplicable (in whole or in part) to
tourist railroads or tourist railroad
operations. For example, most FRA
rules do not apply to “insular” tourist
railroads. “Non-insular” tourist roads
are subject to more regulation, but not
nearly as much as Class I railroads
(many FRA rules, in fact, have specific
exclusions for “tourist, scenic, historic
or excursion operations that are not part
of the general system” or an older
exclusion for railroads “that operate
only in track inside an installation
which is not part of the general railroad
system of transportation”). “General
System” tourist roads are subject to the
most regulation but, even here, a
number of FRA rules have exceptions
for “tourist, scenic, historic or excursion
operations, whether on or off the
general
railroad
system
of
transportation.” A good recent example
25
of a “blanket exception” is a revision to the “Part 215 freight car
rules recently approved by the RSAC committee, which was
spearheaded by ATRRM. Once adopted by FRA (which it should
be), this will allow tourist railroads to continue using 50+ year old
freight cars in tourist service (not commercial freight service)
without obtaining individual waivers and without special stenciling.
Keep in mind, however, that FRA’s ability to grant blanket
exceptions from particular rules depends on how the underlying
Congressional legislation is written
2. Authorize case by case waivers, meaning each railroad has to0
apply directly to the FRA for exemption from a particular rule.
2014--a busy year for new regs
What follows are examples of regs affecting tourist roads that
have been active recently, and the kinds of tourist roads to which
they are applicable (i.e., GS, NGS-NI, NGS-I). Space doesn't permit
running Opal's Regulatory Action Summaries, so check them out
online.
RECENTLY FINALIZED RULES (Since 2012)
Grade Crossings – Telephonic Notification of Unsafe Conditions
(GC, NGS-NI)
Track Standards (GS)
Grade crossing inventory reporting requirements (GS, NGS-NI)
Hours of Service (Passenger) (ALL),
Locomotive Safety Standards - Non-Steam (GS)
Positive train control systems (GS, but very limited applicability
to tourist roads – see the Regulatory Action Summary)
Track Standards (GS)
Training standards (GS)
Bridge safety standards (ALL)
Conductor certification (GS)
Hours of service--passenger service (ALL)
PROPOSED RULESs
Glazing (Amendments) --locomotives, passenger cars and
cabooses (GS)
Alcohol and drug testing (GS)
Passenger train emergency systems (GS)
Data-based risk reduction programs (GS)
26
HERITAGE RAILNEWS
New sources for car cards
ARM used to sell copies of streetcar car cards (interior ads)
made available by the late Julie Johnson. A new source has
now appeared. Woodson Savage of Cordova, TN collects
them and will sell reproductions. His extensive collection can
be viewed on his website http://1-woodsonsavage.artistwebsites.com.
The Minnesota Streetcar Museum also has a large selection
of ads that have been scanned. Contact TRRM editor Aaron
Isaacs for more info.
Halton County Radial Railway Milton, ON
Recent grants include:
-$29,000 for building repairs from Federal Cultural Spaces
-$7000 from local government to fund summer staff
-Ontario Trillium Foundation for new computers for the
office, store and archives
Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum Calera, AL
Frisco coach 1062 (American Car & Foundry 1910) has
received a cosmetic restoration. In 1942, the 60-seat coach
was modernized in the Springfield shops for operation in the
Firefly’s consist. New seats, lighting,
and an air-conditioning system were
added. The air-conditioning changed
the appearance of the car, as a new
turtleback roof replaced the original
clerestory roof to accommodate air
ductwork in the ceiling. Mounted
underneath the car was a Waukesha Ice
Engine, which was a refrigeration
system utilizing a compressor
supplemented with a water chiller
powered by a propane engine. Skirting
was added to make the car appear more
streamlined, and the blue-and-silver
paint scheme was applied. Frisco
advertised the modernized heavyweight
cars in the Firefly consist as “heavier
than ordinary streamliners ... resulting
in smoother riding.” It is still known to
be the smoothest riding car the museum
operates today.
Once the car was donated to the
Heart of Dixie Chapter NRHS, it was
restored to run in excursion service with
the Southern Steam Program.
Adirondack Scenic Railroad
The state of New York has granted
the railroad $791,000 to construct a
maintenance and repair facility at Utica.
This is an interesting development,
since the state is also about to decide if
portions of the railroad that are
currently inactive will be removed for a
trail.
Shore Line Trolley Museum has acquired an incredible rarity from the Museum
of the City of New York, Eighth Avenue Railways horsecar #76 (John Stephenson
1850s). In later cars the driver’s seat on the roof shifted to the front platform.
California Trolley and Railroad
Corporation, San Jose, CA
CTRC occupies part of History San
Jose’s 14-acre History Park, which
contains over two dozen buildings.
Working with Google, the entire park
can now be viewed in Street View. This
includes interior views of select
structures, including the trolley barn.
Catskill Mountain Railroad
Kingston, NY
The railroad has acquired a GE 44tonner #42 from the Railroad Museum
27
During World War II, ex-New York
elevated cars were brought to the San
Francisco Bay Area and, with
pantographs installed, served the new
Shipyard Railway. This year they
have recently been cosmetically
restored at Western Railway
Museum.
28
First Class Railroad Pins and Patches
of New England.
Center for Railroad Photography and
Art, Madison, WI
The Center’s exhibit at the Chicago
History Museum, titled “Railroaders:
Jack
Delano’s
Homefront
Photography”, has exceeded everyone’s
expectations. The first six months saw
over 100,000 visitors, plus 30,000
students. Because of this response the
exhibit has been extended until August
2016.
Colebrookdale Railroad
Boyertown, PA
The Colebrookdale Railroad
Preservation Trust recently was
awarded a $10,000 donation from the
Francesco A. Mascaro Charitable Trust.
The funds will be put toward the
restoration of a railroad coach built in
1919 and currently under restoration by
the Trust.
Fraser Valley Railway Historical
Society, Cloverdale, BC
In 2014 almost half of scheduled
runs were preempted by freight trains.
Now the society has completed a 1000
foot bypass track that will make meets
possible and should greatly reduce the
service disruptions.
The society is acquiring British
Columbia
Electric
steeplecab
locomotive #961 (GE 1912). Built
originally as Oregon Electric #21, it
was sold to BCER in 1946 and along
with sister #960 (now under restoration
at West Coast Railway Heritage Park)
worked an isolated Vancouver
switching operation until 1981. It was
purchased by the Edmonton Transit
System for the new light rail line in
1980. After finally being retired for the
last time, it was acquired by Edmonton
Radial Railway.
Inland Northwest Rail Museum
Reardan, WA
The Hillyard Fire and Rail Museum
in Spokane, WA concentrates on
firefighting history but also displays
several rail cars. Due to highway
construction, it has to move. Equipment
includes Great Northern caboose #X176
and two boxcars. These may find a
home at the Inland Northwest Rail
Museum, which is developing a new
site west of Spokane at Reardan, WA.
To build the first building and tracks,
Inland has taken out a $2 million loan.
Construction is underway.
Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum
Bellevue, OH
The museum has constructed the
Kemper Rail Park railfan roofed
viewing platform on a piece of donated
land where Monroe Street crosses the
town’s major junction, near the site of
the former Pennsylvania Railroad
Bellevue Tower. Rail traffic of 75-100
daily trains can be viewed from the
platform.
Middletown & Hummelstown
Still recovering from damaged
caused by Tropical Storm Lee, the
railroad has received a $203,000 state
grant for track repairs.
Monticello Railway Museum
Monticello, IL
Sending Wabash F-7A #1189 to
“Streamliners at Spencer” had the side
benefit of repairing the locomotive. On
the way it stopped at Norfolk
Southern’s Juniata Shops in Altoona,
PA, where NS donated some major
repairs. They rebuilt both trucks, which
had been prone to hunting. The trucks
received new wheels, new D77 traction
motors, new brake rigging, new springs
and the axle bearings were serviced.
Juniata replaced the main generator,
29
ATRRM AWARD RECIPIENTS--2014
SHORE LINE TROLLEY MUSEUM
MOUNT RANIER SCENIC RAILROAD
To recover from two storms that inflicted severe damage to
its collection and to prevent it from happening again, Shore
Line Trolley Museum raised over $2 million to build a new pair
of carbarns on the highest available ground. They also have
made good progress repairing dozens of flooded motors.
Mount Ranier Scenic Railroad has transformed itself into a
logging and railroad museum by acquiring camp buildings from
the defunct Camp 6 Museum, and by opening its shop to
interpretive tours. It is also being recognized for having six engines
under steam at once.
30
Irwin Car and Equipment
Atlas Car Products
PO Box 409 Irwin, PA. 15642
Contact Bill Springer
Ph. 724-864-8900
Scenic Railroad and Museum Car Parts
Two of America’s favorite past Times
Atlas Car Products can help make sure that your cars stay on track, operate safely and
maintain their historical integrity with our stocked parts and extensive line of distributed
products.
Couplers and Replacement Parts
Sharon 10 and 10A Couplers
Willison and Willison Reduced Couplers
Knuckles, Locklifts, Levers, Latches, Pins
Coupler Pockets
Stocked and Distributed Parts
Axles
Gear Guards
Brake Components
Gears and Pinions
Bearings
Hoses (Air and Grease)
Bolsters
Rubber Cushion Pads
Couplers
Side Frames
Brake Cylinders
Springs
Traction Motors
Traction Motor Axle Liners
Truck Assemblies
Wheels
Wheel Sets
Atlas Car Products has Truck Assembly Repairs and Rebuild capabilities with a truck
shop and motor repair shop located at the same site.
Services Include:
Truck Assembly Repairs & Rebuilds
Traction Motor Repairs
Wheel Re-profiling
Wheel & Bearing Replacement
Custom Manufacturing
Wheel & Axle Shop
For parts that no longer available, let our engineering staff reverse-engineer them with
our high tech Faro-Arm coordinate equipment.
Atlas Car Products also supplies parts for captive services, maintenance of way, and steel
mills.
Look for Atlas Products at www.irwincar.com
31
The Friends of the 261 have completed a restoration of Milwaukee Road Skytop lounge car Cedar Rapids.
32
33
The United Railway Historical
Society has repainted both of its
GG1’s in two versions of the
Brunswick green color scheme.
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Strasburg, PA
The museum has sent its Climax
geared locomotive to the Pennsylvania
Lumberman’s Museum at Galeton. This
happened as part of reorganizing its
exhibits.
installed a rebuilt engine governor, and
replaced some smaller items such as
water tank sight glasses and valves,
copper lines and hoses. The repairs had
a value of about $150,000.
Nebraska Railroad Museum
Fremont, NE
The museum, which has operated the
Fremont & Elkhorn Valley Railroad, is
attempting to move to Nebraska City.
Oklahoma Railroad Museum
Oklahoma City, OK
Santa Fe 2-8-0 #643 (Cleburne
Shops 1897), long displayed at the
Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in
Oklahoma City, has been donated to
ORM. The donation also included a
wooden Frisco caboose.
Old Colony & Newport
The railroad has been sold to the
Newport & Narragansett bay Railroad,
owned by Integrated Rail Group.
REAL BIG
REAL BIG
RE
Shore Line Trolley Museum
East Haven, CT
The museum has purchased a 4.7
acre parcel directly abutting the east
side of its main line across from the
carbarn complex. The acquisition effort
began back in 2009, when the parcel
became available through a tax
foreclosure auction. The museum was
the winning bidder, but the owner
appealed and was given a reprieve. The
owner took out a loan to pay the back
taxes and eventually failed to keep up
the loan payments. That led to a
negotiated settlement with the museum
finally taking ownership. The land
includes 2.5 acres located above the
flood plain.
West Coast Railway Association
Squamish, BC
Museums continue to prune their
collections. The Association has
scrapped five cars that were badly
deteriorated and had never been
accessioned. Included were Canadian
National wood caboose #79143, Pacific
Great Eastern wood caboose #1821,
PGE flanger #6016 and the steel
skeletons of CN boxcars #88346 and
108120.
Western Railway Museum
Rio Vista Junction, CA
In the latest newsletter is a recap of
the top ten donated private collections
that have been catalogued into the
museum’s archive. They contain 36,656
items in all.
Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington
Railway Museum, Alna, ME
During its Fall 2014 work session the
museum constructed a runaround track
at Top of the Mountain, the current end
of track.
An amazing ride with
Thomas the Tank Engine™!
Plus tons of other activities.
www.ticketweb.com/dowt
or call 866-468-7630
Day Out With Thomas™ Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends™ Based on The Railway Series by The Reverend W. Awdry.
© 2014 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Thomas & Friends and Day Out With Thomas are
trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited. © 2014 HIT Entertainment Limited. © 2014 MEGA Brands Inc. All rights reserved.
MEGA BLOKS and the MEGA BLOKS logo are registered trademarks of Mega Brands Inc.
34
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