In regards to your questions...
1. As of recent I've been told many different things by the museum. I've asked and some say the debt is back up to 600,000.00 and some say it's in the 350,000.00 range. Personally I think they're trying to cover up the amount of money they actually owe.
2. As I'm aware of the museum makes no mentions of this to donors, at least online. If you physically give them a donation they typically say something along the lines of "this money will go to preserving Kentucky rail equipment" or "your donation is appreciated as it will help us put 152 back into operation." How much of the money actually goes to equipment is questionable. There was a volunteer who supposedly was taking up donations for a cosmetic restoration of #770 and has raised $50,000 back in 2014. As of now 770 has not had any work put into it. Also apparently there are volunteers making a push towards restoring the combine #1603 and are collecting donations, but after speaking with the Executive Director I've been told that project is years away.
3. I wish I could provide an answer to that question, but whenever I inquired about much money does the museum put out on salaries I was told to "keep myself where I belong."

My final verdict on the whole situation is that I believe the museum is still turning around and going on an upwards path, but they're still struggling. As mentioned in previous comments they can't attract large donators due to the lack of records of success. Also, not always telling exactly what donations are used for hurts them too. I understand lots of donations probably go to general upkeeps of equipment (that's still running) like 2546, but I wish they'd be more clear. Another downfall, in my opinion, is the lack of taking members and volunteer's ideas into account. Myself and another volunteer had the idea to make (and pay for ourselves) little stands with a card with information about certain pieces of equipment (such as 770 or 2152) and drive them into the ground next to the piece and also attach a donation box to it. That would allow people to know exactly what piece they were donating to and would allow them to know its story. The idea was promptly turned down and we were given no explanation as to why. The volunteers have the right idea trying to take projects into their own hands, it's just the overall management of the museum isn't the best right now. Plus the director isn't the friendliest person to younger volunteers such as myself, which may explain why the number of volunteers has decreased in recent years.

Visited KRM yesterday (8/2/15) after not going for about 7-8 years. Hence that's where I got the photos of the 0-6-0T that's heading to Pennsylvania in another post.

Swade by no means take what I'm about to say as insult to yourself personally. As a fellow younger Kentucky railfan thats totally given up on supporting museums because of the local groups here, I'm actually sympathetic with your plight. That having been said, KRM has to be the most half-assed mickey mouse operation I've been to as a visitor in the last 5 years. If what they call "improvement" is what I dealt with yesterday then by god I'd hate to see what "bad" used to be.

I won't spend time re-writting the whole ordeal here but anyone interested in the little adventure can read about it here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRevi ... ml#REVIEWS

1. If your organization leaves your entire complex in the charge of ONE little 15 year old girl (who runs the giftshop) because she was literally the ONLY person who showed up that day - your group has done something wrong.

2. If I'M on tripadvisor telling people to drive an hour up the road to BGRM (a place that I have a physical hatred for on an almost cellular level) instead of going to your museum - your group has REALLY done something wrong.

As of now I'm only considered a car host. I'm trying to get more involved in the mechanical aspects of the museum including 2152's "cosmetic restoration" although the volunteers kind of push younger audiences away from volunteering. Apparently yesterday the dinner train was cancelled due to mechanical issues with the locomotive making the trip unsafe. It kind of makes me question what happened since if 411 (309) has mechanical issues surely they could've used 2546 instead and vice versa. I wasn't down at the museum yesterday so I'm not really sure what the issues were. Even when a road locomotive isn't available they usually hook B&O #21 up to 1-2 coaches and do an excursion South to New Hope. I'll try to find out what was wrong, although at this point it looks like volunteers just didn't want to come in. Sadly Kentucky rail preservation is going downhill, I'm just trying to be optimistic. I've always wondered what the museum would do if a private donor handed them 15 million dollars and said do what you want with it. It'd be interesting nonetheless. Even if anyone ever did donate a few million dollars to the museum they'd have to have a lawyer draw up papers saying that if they donate this money they have moderation of it. That way you could make sure they used it on relevant things like 770, but of course under those circumstances the museum would probably refuse the money.

Kind of switching over to the BGRM here I've never been. I wanted to go the last two summers, but some medical issues arose last summer and this summer my job got in the way. I've seen 7738 that they repainted and it looks great, plus they actually keep the white on it clean. The BGRM does seem to have somewhat of a plan in place, as they even have an R.J. Corman staff looking at getting their Fairbanks Morse H-12-44 back into service. The KRM on the other hand kind of lives from day to day. I'm sure eventually they'll go somewhere, but for now its future is questionable. The more I read the comments the more I'm starting to want to turn away from the museum sadly. The volunteers try to start projects; they get together, have a way to get funding in place and then the director simply turns them down. The only reason the L&N Pearl River sleeper is getting restored is because a volunteer had to buy it so they could work/repair it whenever they want without the museum's permission.

After years of work The Flying Duchess Locomotive is returning to her glory. A group of volunteers are (cosmetically) restoring the locomotive. The paint is not yet completed.
The Name and Logo will be added shortly.
The Duchess resides at The LaGrange (KY) Railroad Museum. More information and pictures to follow.
When the museum acquired the Duchess drive parts were missing.

Green, lined out buffers? - They wouldn't have lasted long like that in service!!

A quick search on the internet came up with this photo of the loco working at Meaford Power Station in Staffordshire in February 1970.........
https://7451c961-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.goo ... edirects=1

I'm not too sure about the cylinder cocks being connected to the crosshead either.

Anyway, it's good to see some care going into that locomotive. It certainly looks better than it did.

Roger

Great to have this 7 year old thread resurrected and especially gratifying to see the "Flying Duchess" cosmetically restored. Will be interesting to see a photo of her after the lettering is completed. Kudos to the folks there in La Grange, Kentucky for doing such a nice job. With the CSX (ex-L&N) street running through town, the restored "Duchess" is another reason to make a visit.

If we could now get an update on NC&StL boxcar #20156 that was moved some time ago to the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum, we could rap this old thread up!

Les

Is NC&STL 20156 the same car as NC&STL 20000, or do they have two? Here is 20000 being unloaded in 2012, when it was 99 years old, put on trucks that are marked 20156 (photos from the SARM facebook page):

PMC - When the NC&StL boxcar was first repainted back in the 1980's at the L&N's South Louisville Shops, the number of the car was apparently not known, so it was given 20000 as the first number in that particular series of cars (20000-21230). When it was moved to Oak Ridge, the number 20156 showed up on one of the trucks, as shown in the photo. The plan at SARM was to give the car its correct 20156 number when it was restored. Of course, that was a few years ago and perhaps that is no longer the case.

Les

Additional Pictures:


Ernie the Engine for the kids:



Street Running in LaGrange (KY) Main Street:

Ernie the Engine looks really nice.