Ribbon cutting this morning per WTOV9. Looks good, and somebody on the crew will doubtless stop in to tell us. I want to get up there “toot” suite. It’s another welcome “they said they would, and they did” PTM project, this one in cooperation with Carnegie Science Center.

There is a full record of the proceedings on You Tube....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykMBlDFnvzo

I did actually start watching it live yesterday when they streamed it on YT as the link popped up while I was watching something else, but, shall we say, you obviously do things different to what events like that are here in the UK, so it soon got switched off !!!

Looks a very impressive addition to the Museum, having seen their YT updates during its construction though and hopefully I might get over there one day to see it, as I last visited the PA Trolley Museum in 2011.

First visit last summer, and very impressed by the way they do business and support the mission. There's a lot to be learned there if you want to learn......

This is impressive, to say the least. Congratulations!

My wife and I visited about six years ago and were given a tour by Art Ellis, one of the founding members, who was 98 years old at the time. In the ribbon cutting sequence I see a white haired gentleman with a walker. I sincerely hope that is Mr. Ellis; he must be immensely proud.

Thanks for your kind words!
Opening this Welcome & Education Center is a huge leap forward to improve the Museum's visitor experience which tells the fascinating story of the Trolley Era! The Trolley Era was a time beginning in the 1890s when streetcars, interurbans and trolley freight cars connected cities, suburbs and the surrounding countryside at a rate that had not been seen before. It also heralded in “the electric age.” Most importantly, the Trolley Era has not ended, and you can still ride electric light rail vehicles and streetcars in over 40 cities across the country and here in Pennsylvania in both Pittsburgh & Philadelphia.
This building is a place that strives to engage the visitor in meaningful ways by featuring interactive exhibits built by the Carnegie Science Center and rides on historic streetcars powered by solar energy. It’s more than this one building but a site that really works together to present “History that Connects Us.”

P.S.
Scott Becker
Executive Director/CEO
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
www.patrolley.org

Scott,
Thank you $15 million times for the Welcome and Education Center project. It will be the state of the art facility for years to come! I like the way you have gotten so many electric and railroad artifacts into the building. Like the clock at the entrance.

TM retired but who still likes streetcars.

PS The Wexford Station is way cool also!

Thanx to all for the complements. PTM's East Campus project has been decades in the making. The actual construction of this last phase (which cost about $10 million out of the total program) took almost three years due to various supply-chain issues. As the PTM volunteer who had to shepherd the consultants and contractors, and coordinate between them and the Museum's staff (both paid and volunteer) I'm very relieved it's over. Cat herding on steroids. Describing the entire project procurement process, including hiccups along the way, would take several sessions at some future Heritage Rail Alliance conference.

The attached photos illustrate some features mentioned by ted66. The clock came from the PRR station in downtown Pittsburgh. The sign came from P&LE's Pittsburgh station. Both had been rescued by the Founding Fathers but were stashed away in storage for over 50 years. One of the great things about the project is finally having a suitable environment to display hundreds of artifacts, ranging from the very large to the very small, which could never before be placed on display. The outdoor night shot incudes Wexford Station, which is just one element of Volunteer Boulevard at the center of the East Campus. Photo credits to PTM's Michael Buchta and Elizabeth Hosier respectively.

I apologize that 70000 found the ribbon cutting ceremonies to be tedious. Alas, on projects of this scale, it is important to give innumerable politicians their chance at the podium. Every project has six phases:
1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Innocent
6. Praise & Honors for the Non-Participants
This was merely Phase 6.....

I'm pleased to report that Art Ellis, mentioned above by Dennis Storzek, is still with us and just marked his 104th birthday. Art was there at the very beginning when, back on February 7th 1954, now almost 70 years ago, he and the other Founding Fathers ran the first three cars out from Pittsburgh over the abandoned Washington interurban.

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.
Director of Engineering
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Inc.