It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:37 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: A southern Steamtown?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 1999 8:45 am 

This is all just fantasy, but if someone wanted to create an operation like Steamtown in the southeastern U.S. where would be a practical place to put it? I will suggest the abandoned ex-SR shops at Knoxville, Tennessee and the NS branch line to Middlesboro, Kentucky with a turn around point somewhere about half way along that line for more practical tourist excursions. Or maybe the short branch line from Knoxville to Maryville. All this of course if NS would part with these lines.<br>



winklerj@webtv.net


  
 
 Post subject: not enough already for you johnny??
PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 1999 9:37 am 

i figured between TVRM, SERM, KRM, NCTM, Cass, etc. there would be enough for you, no? <p><br>



Wrinnbo@aol.com


  
 
 Post subject: Re: not enough already for you johnny??
PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 1999 12:00 pm 

Oh shoot, for a minute there, I thought he was talking about the most well preserved antebellum shops in the country, in that new tourist mecca, Savannah, where the ridership would be built in. <br>Well, that's what I get for thinking when I'm not used to it. <br>hey, wait a sec Jim, Cass is in W. Va., no??? <br>That ain't 'zactly the south, leastwise since 1860 or so. <br><br>


  
 
 Post subject: well, cass is just about even with charlottesville!
PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 1999 4:01 pm 

i understand what johnny is saying now, but i've got to say with all due respect to the folks in illinois and at steamtown that MORE is LESS. <p>saving a bunch of stuff so it can RUST "in preservation" don't cut it; <p>i'd rather see a small place like the museum in stephenson, illinois that has 1 opeating engine, 1 coach, 1 caboose, 1 switch, 1 signal, 1 bridge, 1 shop and it all works and is fixed and painted! <p>last time i checked spencer, TVRM and SERM total held a grand total of 23 steam engines preserved;<br>andrew and alan can enumerate what their efforts have produced and i think they've done a good job of fighting back the rust; for my own satisfiaction, at spencer i count 4 cosmetic, 2 operational 1 basket case that's been ripped apart since before the first day i played hookie at UNC (but we ARE working on it now) and 1 more slated for steam--if god and FRA are willing! <p>a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, who volunteers at one of the well respected museums says that one evening over a cold beverage several folks realized that if they whittled down the collection to 10 pieces from 60 all their problems would be solve; everything could be maintained; kept painted; kept operating; problem was: nobody could say no or make the cut! <p><p><br><br>



Wrinnbo@aol.com


  
 
 Post subject: Unrealistic goal, Jim for a preservationistRe: well, cass is
PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 1999 6:17 am 

Jim,<p>While your noble MORE is LESS stance is commendable, I would rather take what you see as rust yards in Union and Scranton, than see the equipment scrapped. That is the alternative. There simply can't be your little i enoigne 1 depot railroads for all locomotives at Union.<p>You are committing the crime of repeating railfan press pablum rather than actually looking at what IRM and Steamtown really are. Your comments may be out of "respect", but you are disrespecting both museums by mis-labling them.<p>The last time I was at IRM was 6 years ago, and most of the equipment -- including all the real rarities like the LNE 0-6-0 -- wwas inside pole barns. Montreal(Delson), which also gets slammed also, has done the same thing.<p>This is bad?<p>This is a rusty field to you? A N&W articulated stored inside is worse than one scrapped? <p>I don't want to see your Sepncer folks even get near getting #1218. Go for the Y in at Union if that collection is in so much need of help.<p>Steamtown has gone a long way to improving conditions, though more needs to be inside. The real ugly scene are the cars and engines outside at Tobyhanna, which are the pieces the museum does not see a future for a Scranton. <p>They have been proactive in trading these pieces as viable preservation opportunities come along. At the same time, the equipment in Scranton is being stabilized one-by-one in a an effort that rivals any rolling stock project going on today for scope.<p>To Steamtown's credit, they have not scrapped or sold willy nilly.<p>I have yet to go to Spencer, though I hear your efforts have paid off well. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing another 15 former park engines in a pole barn out back. At least I would know someone cared.<p>It is easy to sit back and be critical of the big collections, but you know what? With IRM in particular, all of us should be greateful there are people devoting money and time to gather and collect now so that in the future we will still have these pieces.<p>Without IRM, where would all these pieces be? <p>Is that alternative better? Scrap the last Borden's butterdush milk car rather than see it outside at Union, stabilized?<p>They make more of an effort to save than ANY other museum, than perhpas all US rail museums COMBINED. And for this they should be put down by prominent museum leaders?<p>Read SteamCentral to see what the British are doing today with engines they grabbed and set aside 30 years ago.<p>Mark Smith, where are ya' man? Here's another zinger in the side of rail preservation ever becoming a movement.<p>Ugh.<p>Patch<p>PS: If anyone really wants to save a field of trains worth worry about, try Worthington, Ohio. IRM is fine.<p><br>



patchtown@hotmail.com


  
 
 Post subject: Re: Unrealistic goal, Jim for a preservationistRe: well, cas
PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 1999 9:37 am 

I would agree with Patch's comments made about IRM. I have visitied it frequently since I was 6 years old. I have also spoken with the General Manager there. <br> Do they have stuff which is rusting, most museums do. They have a huge backlog to chew through. <br> They have received a lot of bad press over the deal with the former Northwest Steel & Wire GT&W 0-8-0's in Galt, IL. Unfortunately these were part of an all or nothing deal. The locomotives were(and still are) in terrible condition. THe circumstances in which they were acquired was definately not ideal from the museum (or anybody else's)point of veiw. <br> Every year that I have visited IRM, I see some fresh paint, and sometimes even a new pole barn. An unlike another midwestern museum, they have traded surplus equipment in the past.<br> Once a piece of equipment makes it onto to IRM property, it will at least be safe from vandalism, needless conversion into scrap metal or otherwise desecrated. They also took time to establish a diesel collection when no one else seemed interested. We have the last Baldwin Centercab, the first GP-7, the only preserved SD-24, the only CB&Q E-5 saved, and numerous other first generation diesels because of IRM. I would like to see all of their steam engines and all of their wooden rolling stock in a barn right now, but this will have to wait. Small museums do play a useful role in the preservation movement, but large museums have certain logistical and fundraisings advantages over their smaller brethern. <p>Have a good day<br>Paul Kattner <br>


  
 
 Post subject: realistic goal: know when to say when!
PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 1999 2:06 pm 

i think a good strategy is to really question very hard the true costs of preserving the stuff so that it's actually preserved and not dying a slow death; <p>compiling a list of needs at NCTM 3 years ago, the master mechanic and i came up with another $1.1 million needed to repair and repaint equipment even after spending about $800k on cosmetic restorations for the roundhouse project; <p>do we need to keep growing? yes, when it is something we can truly say to ourselves that we'll get it on our plate in a reasonable amount of time; <p><br>



Wrinnbo@aol.com


  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: elecuyer, Google [Bot], Kelly Anderson and 132 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: