>>cause there ain't no replacements! <<

There are never any replacements, but that fact is never excuse for operating a museum in a junk yard like fasion. This only keeps serious funding organisations away from the museum's door. A more serious approach would show the museum community that the museum takes a PROFESSIONAL approach and not a RAILFAN approach to its stewardship of equipment. If the museum would just say NO once in a while to new opportunities to take on just one more must-save locomotive or car, it would get a lot more money for the stuff it already has.

By trying to save everything, museums are rushing hell-bent to ensure that most of what they have will never get the funding for serious restoration, preservation, or operating status.

--Malcolm


malcolmrcampbell@cs.com

> Offering it free is not responsible because
> a museum that is seeking money from funding
> organisations looks kind of stupid if they
> are simultaneously giving away assets
> themselves.

But are they really assets? Anything that requires the expenditure of resources (which includes the cost of maintaining the real estate on which it sits) without providing recompensation and doesn't contribute to the overall mission is to my mind more of a liability. Perhaps we could consider it something akin to excess inventory for obsolete product lines on retail shelves when we do our balance sheets?

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Offering it free is not responsible because
> a museum that is seeking money from funding
> organisations looks kind of stupid if they
> are simultaneously giving away assets
> themselves.

> But, the responsible thing would be to send
> it to a good home for some kind of
> consideration or other. Maybe it's not for
> money, but for inkind work or other
> assistance. Maybe it's a trade, say, a
> locomotive/car for artifacts.

> Better to save it somewhere else than watch
> it fall apart where it sits.

> --Malcolm

I agree with you.

The generally held good practice of museums and as stated in the American Association of Museums Code of Ethics is that collection items are desposed of to enhance the collection. The funds obtained are to be put back into the collection -- either to acquire a more worthy item or to conserve and protect existing items. Various ethics statements indicate that you should offer to 1)similar museums 2) other non-profits or finially 3) private individuals (not members of your board, etc).

A museum should look at its collection and decide it it reflects the mission statement. It needs also to look at the collection and decide if it can care and utilize the collection.

When would you get rid of an item:
1) When you realize it is outside the museum's mission
2) When you get the same or similar item in better condition.
3) When you realize that it is beyond the ability of the museum to care for it.
4) When it is taking resources away from other, more worthy collection needs.
5) When it will be better interpreted in another museum.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net

> The basic problem comes from the fact that
> RR museums seldom have mainstream
> collections policies that govern the
> reasonable acquisition of some rolling stock
> while excluding other stuff that is outside
> the museum's main focus (or financial
> capabilities).

At Orange Empire we are trying to be responsible about the collection. We have used our mission statment when looking at acqusitions, etc. We have put togeather a Collection Policy and are doing our best to follow it.

It is available at our website.

Brian Norden

Orange Empire Railway Museum Collections Policy
bnorden49@earthlink.net

> At Orange Empire we are trying to be
> responsible about the collection. We have
> used our mission statment when looking at
> acqusitions, etc. We have put togeather a
> Collection Policy and are doing our best to
> follow it.

> It is available at our website.

> Brian Norden

Amen!, Brian

At National Capital Trolley Museum we invested several years in development of a Mission Statement and a General Plan for the collection. The Plan defines gaps in our collection. It is a shopping list of sorts, one that clearly defines those types of vehicles that support our mission statement. The General Plan is specific in terms of car types, it is not an open door policy.

The development of the General Plan followed several years of debate over the acquisition of a PRR MP54 coach. Proponents justified this idea on a variety of levels (storage space, "traction" used in commuter service, etc.).

This year we adopted a collections policy that governs the loan of items from the collection, and acquisition of new pieces. If and when light rail retuns to downtown Washington, DC, we now have a policy that protects the Washington collection from those who would want to use the Museum's cars in regular heritage service.

Wesley



National Capital Trolley Museum

Wesley,

Good for you and National Capital.

At Orange Empire we established a Collections Managment Committee to review the collection, etc and advise the BOD. The first thing it did after creating the Collections Policy and getting it adopted was to review the existing rail vehicle collection. Some items are Permanent Collection, some are in Support Collection, some are simply held as utility (not education) purposes.

The members of the committee have scheduling problems and we need to make the effort to get back on a regular schedule. We need to look at what gaps exist in the collection and how we may fill them. Also we need to move further with deassessioning some items, etc.

Brian Norden


Orange Empire Railway Museum Collections Policy
bnorden49@earthlink.net

> Well, there is restoration and there is
> restoration. How would you count the baggage
> car that looks like a baggage car from the
> outside but now contains displays? Maybe
> adaptive reuse?

Well, since we resemble that remark, I will have to side with adaptive re-use. We have never tried to argue that our car was a full blown restoration; to be truthful, I see no way that car can be on outdoor display and not have a compromise. We used a rubber membrane roof instead of tar and canvas; newer tongue and groove which holds up to the extremes of Michigan weather better; climate control hidden within the car to maintain temperatures; windows with fixed mullions that are double-pained; etc. The main thing we did was this: document, document document, and save just about EVERYTHING.

So to add my two cents, at the Port Huron Museum, we have

1.) 1878 PH&NW RWy. 2-4-0 Porter, unrestored, but

under cover.
2.) 1870's C&GT Wooden Combine, with wooden-beam

six wheel trucks, adaptive reuse/ restored,

outside display.

Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

The short and sweet of it all remains the fact that a museum has an ETHICAL obligation to assure that any items entrusted to its care are preserved and protected to the best of the museums ability. If they can not accomplish this, they need to have a policy that will allow that item to be preserved and protected by others.
Ron Graner

rgraner@aol.com

> We have about 35 main line railroad items
> that we do not plan to operate.

> There is a new wheel shop under
> construction. They poured three truck loads
> of foundation cement last weekend. One of
> the lathes weighs about 10 tons!

What are your plans for this wheel shop? As a recall, WRM had a large wheel lathe that is a restoration project in itself.

> It is available at our website.

It really helps everyone else when examples of mission statements, codes of ethics, and collections policies are posted for others to see.

At one time, the California State Railway Museum had a booklet of sample policies and forms one could get and use as a model for developing one's own forms. One handy one in the packet was the deed of gift form.

--Malcolm

malcolmrcampbell@cs.com

> The short and sweet of it all remains the
> fact that a museum has an ETHICAL obligation
> to assure that any items entrusted to its
> care are preserved and protected to the best
> of the museums ability. If they can not
> accomplish this, they need to have a policy
> that will allow that item to be preserved
> and protected by others.
> Ron Graner

This view is right on point. It's often difficult to get the powers that be to go along with it because they often believe that "more is better" and/or that the stuff nobody has restored for 30 years will suddenly get fixed up next year by magic.

--Malcolm


malcolmrcampbell@cs.com

>> But are they really assets<<

Generally, they are listed on the tax forms as assets.

Assuredly, a passenger car (that's worth, say, $10,000) when it comes in as a gift is not going to be viewed by the IRS as anything else.

Money-wise, it looks bad to do an assessment of that car five years later and see that it is now worth only $5,000 because it has been rusting, it has been run into several times during switching, or that parts have been "borrowed" off it for other needs.

Collections-wise, the museum often does not formally accession each new item of rolling stock into the museum collection. Later, the item ends up in limbo. It's historic, but not accessioned. Now, one is going to want to ask for money for it when--up to that point--there was no evidence tat the museum cared about, protected it to maintain its value, or even put it into a specific category of the collection. This makes things look like they are running on flat wheels, so to speak.

--Malcolm

malcolmrcampbell@cs.com

> Money-wise, it looks bad to do an assessment
> of that car five years later and see that it
> is now worth only $5,000 because it has been
> rusting, it has been run into several times
> during switching, or that parts have been
> "borrowed" off it for other needs.

It may look bad but it is the truth. And, one of the truths we need to be honest about if we are going to stay in business.

Assets are depreciated and become scrap or liabilities in business. Consider the hypothetical example of a rare wooden bodied car which is worth some real money as an artifact when donated, but over the years it gradually rots, gets eaten, collapses and is burned to salvage the hardware. Is that car still an asset with its original value?

Better to write it off and give it away.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> What are your plans for this wheel shop? As
> a recall, WRM had a large wheel lathe that
> is a restoration project in itself.

The equipment slated to be installed in our new wheel shop at Rio Vista Jct. includes the following:

1. 52" Niles Car Wheel Lathe - early post war product designed for roller-bearing passenger car wheelsets, formerly used by the Southern Pacific Company at the West Oakland coach yard. In 1976, the machine was rebuilt and upgraded for carbide tools, changing from a 25 horsepower three phase gearbox drive to a 75 horsepower direct drive variable speed DC system. Since that time, it has been used only to maintain the wheels of the SP's business car fleet which was operated out of Oakland, so we believe it is probably in good shape with little use.

2. 48" Farrel-Betts Diesel Wheel Borer - '70s vintage machine with side arm for facing wheels at the thrust face of the motor-axle bearing (of traction motors). This machine was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad and used in their Sacramento Car Shops until swallowed by the Union Pacific Rairoad in 1984.

3. Farrel-Sellers Axle Lathe - also '70s vintage, equiped with cutters and rollers for both wheel seats and journal surfaces of plain bearing axles. This machine also served the Western Pacific Railroad in Sacramento.

4. 200 ton, 84" wheel press - uncertain age or manufacturer, possibly Niles. There's no way we would need to press an 84" wheel, so we would happily install a smaller press if we had one.

5. 2 ton travelling bridge crane covering all four machines.

Because there is no room in our current shop for this equipment, it is being installed in a building the Association recently acquired - a '30s era grain warehouse built by the Sacramento Northern Railway. At the current time, the foundations have been completed for the wheel lathe and wheel borer, and as soon as the surrounding floor is completed, they will be lifted into place. This will involve a large crane (the wheel lathe weighs 132,000 lbs.) and also removal of a portion of the building's roof.

This wheel shop will be used to restore and maintain the rolling equipment owned by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association. That means it will be used primarily for traction-motor type wheelsets equiped with plain bearings. This also means that the other wheel lathe owned by the Association and referenced by the message above is surplus to our needs. That wheel lathe is a 90" Sellers dual-motor DC drive lathe, purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad during WWII for turning steam engine drivers, and used by that railroad until merger with the Union Pacific. The Association acquired that lathe after it had sat outside on a flatcar for about five years, and now it has lived outside for another 15 years. As referenced, it is a restoration project in itself, not the least of which will be replacing the electrical control system that syncronizes the two DC drive motors.

coxj@amtrak.com

> It really helps everyone else when examples
> of mission statements, codes of ethics, and
> collections policies are posted for others
> to see.

> At one time, the California State Railway
> Museum had a booklet of sample policies and
> forms one could get and use as a model for
> developing one's own forms. One handy one in
> the packet was the deed of gift form.

> --Malcolm

For general recommendations about the whole direction and operation of Railway Museums I would suggest the "Recommended Practices for Railway Museums" compiled by the Asssociation of Railway Museums. See the link below.

I was part of the working group that met over two years to put togeather this document. We put it togeather for two purposes: one was to help people involved with railway museums and to tell them what they need to be concerned with. The second was to identify how a railway museum might differ from the "art and pewter" museums.

The work on this document was supported by the American Association of Museums and by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Brian Norden

Recommended Practices for Railway Museums
bnorden49@earthlink.net