Les,

I believe that IRM's former Union Pacific Gas Electric M-35 is being restored to operation in the diesel shop. Bob, please correct me if I am wrong.

In my experience, once the infrastructure is in place, trolleys are by far the cheapest rail vehicles to operate. However, installing and maintaining trolley wire and a substation are projects not for the faint of heart (or wallet).

Also, and this is important if you are trying to staff a daily operation with volunteers, most trolley museums, including IRM, have enough one man cars to cover weekday operation. Try running anything else with one man!

The M-35 is indeed in the midst of an extensive restoration project. Some years ago after arriving at IRM it was fired up and operated under its own power. The wood roof and canvas over it was in poor shape so the decision was made to replace it.

It involves a lot of expensive woodwork and milling, and once the old roof was stripped, a myriad of other issues cropped up - which made sense to address now rather than later.

"Doodlebug Dan" often frequents this forum and he is the project manager, so he may correct me, or elaborate on the details, if anyone is interested. It is just about to the stage when new parts start going back into place.

Bob Kutella