For Immediate Release
Contact: Jim Fetchero
Phone: (704) 364-6471
Email: jfetch@aol.com

N E W S R E L E A S E
From the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust
February 26, 2019

The JOHN EMERY RAIL HERITAGE TRUST has announced their grants for this year. John Emery was a long-time Chicago resident who was an avid rail enthusiast who loved to ride trains around the world, and wanted to help preserve rail equipment and infrastructure that will allow future generations to share his experiences during what he considered the “Golden Age” of railway travel, from 1920 to 1960.

Thirty-seven applications were received requesting in excess of $800,000. After much careful research and consideration by the Trust, 29 grants were awarded totaling $500,000.00. This amount doubles the amount that was given last year. The John Emery Rail Heritage Trust is the largest trust in the US that makes 100% of its awards solely for railroad restoration purposes.

• Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society: $1,000 for work on the Clinchfield 100.
• Bluegrass Railroad Museum, Inc: $8,000 for restoration on coach C&NW 3478.
• Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway Museum: $8,000 for track work.
• Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, Inc.: $9,000 for work on RDC car, ex-NH #42.
• Cincinnati Scenic Railway: $9,000 for electrical upgrades to car #104.
• Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $10,000 for coach work.
• Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad: $10,000 for NYS&W RDC M-3.
• Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society: $10,000 for D&H coach #233.
• National Railroad Museum: $10,000 for power car NADX 50143.
• Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Inc.: $10,000 for station canopy.
• Railroaders Memorial Museum: $10,000 for PRR K4 tender project.
• Railways to Yesterday, Inc.: $10,000 for CA&E car #315.
• Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum: $10,000 for NYC RPO car.
• Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, Inc.: $13,000 for SP GP-9.
• Iowa Railroad Historical Society: $14,000 for track work.
• Colorado Railroad Heritage Foundation: $14,000 for RGS #20
• Black River Railroad Historical Trust: $15,000 for SW9 #438.
• Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum, Inc.: $15,000 for generator for the Alabama Club.
• Midwest Railway Preservation Society: $18,000 for passenger car restoration.
• Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation: $20,000 for turntable installation.
• Engine #557 Restoration Company: $21,000 for continued work on #557.
• Roanoke Chapter, NRHS: $24,250 for coach #512.
• NM Steam Locomotive & Railroad Hist. Society: $25,000 for PTC for AT&SF 2926.
• Nevada Northern Railway Foundation: $29,750 for locomotive #81.
• Railroading Heritage of Midwest American: $30,000 for PTC for locomotive #261.
• Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc.: $30,000 for PTC for locomotive #765.
• Illinois Railway Museum: $30,000 for DC Line Stabilization.
• Western Maryland Scenic Railroad: $40,000 for continued work on C&O #1309.
• Kentucky Railway Museum: $46,000 for new boiler tubes for C&O #2716.

Congratulations to all the groups who received a grant and the best of luck as they continue to preserve our railroad heritage!

Applications for the next round of grants will be due not later than February 1, 2020. Check for details at http://emeryrailheritagetrust.org/WP/.

Point of Contact: Jim Fetchero (704) 364-6471



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Thank you to the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust for your continued support of the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum's "Mountain Extension" which will allow the visiting public an extended ride along a historic railroad utilizing equipment that originally operated there. This award will ensure the extension is completed in time for the 2021 operating season.

I'll second Ed's thanks. Playing a small role at the WW&F restoration, I know what an impact the Emery Trust's contributions have had on advancing our progress.

That's quite a list of preservation projects the Emery Trust is supporting this year.

Thank you to the Trust for their support of the restoration of Alaska Railroad #557. It takes us a big step towards the vision of seeing #557 on Alaska's Rails.

The list of projects being supported this year is impressive, both in numbers and the scope of the projects. Noteworthy is their support for PTC implementation efforts over the last two years. It will benefit all of us who intend to operate a steam locomotive on the general rail system.

Dick Morris
Secretary/Treasurer
Engine 557 Restoration Company

The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, located in Lenox, Massachusetts, echoes the sentiments of both the WW&F and Engine 557 Restoration Company in our gratitude for the incredible generosity of the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust. As any of those associated will rail preservation will tell you, donations in the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars oftentimes provide the ability to move a project from one phase to the next and provide inspiration to both volunteers and donors alike. While small donations are the lifeblood of the industry, they do not always manifest themselves in actual physical progress on a project. In other words, they may buy paint but not the painter or wheelsets but not the crane. The ability to purchase materials is critical but to donors or even the general public it does not elicit that type of "Wow...this project is moving along" response, thus making organizations like the Emery Trust all the more important.

The $9,000 received from the grant will be used to cosmetically restore the ends of New Haven 42 "Firestone", a Budd RDC1 built in 1953. The acquisition of NH42 represents a textbook execution of the standards for deaccession set forth by the HeritageRail Alliance. The Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum sought to downsize their larger artifacts, including artifacts, and offered the car to the BSRM free-of-charge and with its known operational history on the Berkshire Line and in accordance with its collection policy. Currently, a second Detroit Diesel 6-110 has been rebuilt and is awaiting bench testing, along with truck rebuilding to mitigate the missing spicer drive on one end. Once both projects are completed, the restoration of the original propulsion system will be complete. To date (and including the recent grant), $28,375 has been raised towards the goal of $42,000.

Brent Bette
Director/Manager of Special Projects
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum

A very big "Thank You!" to the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust for a grant of $15,000 to the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum to purchase a generator for the Louisville & Nashille "Alabama Club" Tavern Lounge.

The grant will have a significant positive impact on the restoration of the "Alabama Club" as it will allow the museum to proceed immediately in taking this very important "next step" to bringing the car back to life.

It is great to see so many rail heritage projects being supported by the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust, and the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum is excited to be among them!

THANK YOU!


Jimmy Summers

Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum

About the Louisville & Nashville 3050 Tavern Lounge "Alabama Club"
https://www.hodrrm.org/body.cfm?id=963

The Rockhill Trolley Museum, operated by Railways To Yesterday Inc. in Rockhill Furnace, PA is also very thankful for the $10,000 grant we have received from the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust for the restoration our Aurora Elgin & Chicago interurban car 315.

The Trust has supported this project in the past and we are thankful for their generous support again this year.

Our grant wasn't approved... It was for a private/business car, and they generally don't do private/business cars... But while disappointing, we understand their decision, and need to all thank The Emery Rail Heritage Trust for their generous support of railroad preservation...

Next year we are asking for support to repaint our dining car...

Apply, Listen to the feed back, Learn...

Our attitude is, every one of these projects is worthwhile, and funding isn't always a simple matter. There's always next year to apply in most cases. Thank you to foundations like the Emery Trust, for understanding the critical nature of what we do and why we do it. Thank goodness they have the ability to share with the rest of us.

That is a very encouraging list! Thank you for posting it.

I'd like to find out a few more details about the 3rd item up from
the bottom of this list.

$30K for DC line stabilization at IRM.

Anyone have any specific info on this?

From IRM's official Facebook page:

Regarding the IRM overhead stabilization project. I would guess that it is time to replace some of the wooden poles, etc.