The privately-owned Ironhorse Railroad Park, about 30 miles northeast of Minneapolis, suffered major damage July 12th when strong winds downed over 20 trees at the museum, including a large one atop their main "car barn" which damaged their wooden 1870 NP passenger car.

They are soliciting cleanup help for the next couple weekends.

I'm not going to steal wholesale from other sources.......

If you have a Trains or other Kalmbach subscription, the story is at:
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... ota-museum

If you have a Facebook account or don't mind the annoying pop-up, their page with news and photos is at:
https://www.facebook.com/Ironhorse-Rail ... 000149588/

The tree in the photo is an Oak. I wonder if the damaged Northern Pacific wood bodied car was built of Oak? Revenge maybe?

Also, there are a lot of vintage station signs hanging from the car barns ceiling. I wonder how many of those were damaged?

Les

How would you know which station you are in? Confusing......

Add tree risk management to the list of risks that museums should guard against. Yeah I know that ancient hardwood tree that provides shade to your station is a great thing to have, but what if a storm brings it down onto the station? What would you rather deal with? No shade or no station?

Its not a question of if, it is a question of when that tree will fall.

Rick -

No, not all trees will definitely fall. Trees provide shade which can cut electrical costs in the summer, however, my guess is that most museums don't have shade trees, at least around their depots. Maybe we could do a thread on trees and museums!

Les

The Iron Horse Central welcomes volunteers to help with cleanup efforts this Thursday (7/20) and Saturday (7/22). The Thursday session begins at 4 P.M., Saturday's, 9 A.M.

I was granted an impromptu tour of the IHC when I stopped by this past Memorial Day weekend. I was very impressed by what I saw.

The IHC deserves all the help they can get.

If you want a second opinion about tree hazards, you can hire a certified arborist to do a "tree risk assessment" on your property.

I had one done on my property. The arborist identified one tree (approx. 70 years old) that was rotting from the inside out due to a fungus. I had that tree removed.

For a few other trees, the arborist advised removal of excess soil that had been piled over the root crowns.

It was educational and money well spent.