The posts about the MOT in St Louis leads to this question:

What have been the experiences of rr museums with equipment/artifacts on owned by the rr museum at the museum? Is it a good idea or does it lead to problems?

The safest thing to do is anything on the property should have a written lease or storage agreement.

This is a situation faced by many museums. The number of problems that having non museum owned equipment on the property are legion.

The best thing is for the Board or other governing authoirity not to do it.

Second best is to have a detailed loand agreement in writing which covers all it needs to about the artifact and when it ends, who acts in the event of the death of the owner etc etc.

Do you want to spend scarce museum dollars to store, paint or restore etc something that your museum does not own?

That is what a long term loan is!

Ted Miles

TYPO - Should read:

What have been the experiences of rr museums with equipment/artifacts NOT owned by the rr museum at the museum? Is it a good idea or does it lead to problems?[/

Ted wrote: "This is a situation faced by many museums. The number of problems that having non museum owned equipment on the property are legion."

I'm guessing that some of these just evolved over the years. A long time ago, with good intentions, .....

Does anyone think it's a good idea today?

Jim

> Does anyone think it's a good idea today?

I'll take the bold step and say yes it is a good idea, but with caveats and depending on the situation. I'd break it out as follows:

1) Museum Owned Equipment:
For items used on a regular basis for revenue generation or that require huge sums to remain operational or returned to operation, then that equipment must be owned by the museum. It is bad business to spend funds generated by volunteers and fund raisers on equipment that is not owned by the museum.

2) Privately owned equipment:
I take a slightly different view here than normally seen I believe. Yes, many museums have privately owned equipment stored on their property. And yes there are many negatives to such situations. But I believe there is a different aspect that should be looked at. Flip this around. Many museums own vast amounts of equipment but do not have the funding or manpower to preserve, restore, or maintain that equipment. In many cases there is no room indoors. As a result, the equipment rots rather badly. I have spent a lot of time pondering the situation and really only came up with one answer: Private Ownership, but with some strings attached. Why not turn an item over to an individual or individuals, who would cough up proof of some sort that he can maintain that piece of equipment. It would be bought (if allowed under by-laws and charter) which generates cash for the museum, would be stored on the property, but he would ensure its preservation and stability at a minimum.

I know there are many complications, but alternatives are needed as in many cases the usual ideas just don't work. And in talking about NRHS below, kids today want hands on, active experiences. Can this all be tied together? Let NRHS be an aid to private ownership, insurance, guidance? How do we preserve more equipment? How do we see NRHS grow and survive? How do we ensure a younger generation takes and interest? Some sort of private ownership as I described above could be an answer.

J.R.

A museum can provide a sheltered environment for privately owned equipment, and even utilize it as a beneficial display. I do think that such loans need to be on a short-term basis, renewed every five to ten years. Certain understandings about the owner maintaining the equipment and keeping it in good repair have to be spelled out, with the museum having the right to either demand removal of the equipment or assume title and ownership of the equipment if it falls into neglect. The museum provides a service to the owner in exchange for the use of the piece, since private, protected sidings are few and far between. Since this is such a thorny problem, involving personalities and egos, many museums side step the issue by not allowing this to happen. Even so, semi-permanent loans can make addition of expensive, rare, and exciting locomotives and cars a reality. In England, private locomotive owners often truck their tank engines from museum to museum for as little as a weekend's usage! The public has been known to turn out in droves to participate in a particularly interesting weekend out with a certain class or loco.

There is another side to this story. What about privately owned equipment that a museum agrees to accept, signs an agreement, the owner pays to bring it in, only to have the museum NOT honor the original agreement?

Les Beckman

> There is another side to this story. What about privately owned equipment that a museum agrees to accept, signs an agreement, the owner pays to bring it in, only to have the museum NOT honor the original agreement?

When you say "accept" I assume you mean a museum who leases some privately owned equipment and plans to restore it. That is a case where the owner at some point has to take an interest and monitor the status of the work. Leases tend to stipulate what must be done but if it is ignored (or forgotten) by the owner, then its the owner's own fault for not keeping an eye on things.

J.R.

There is actually a situation/option #3 or a #2a to JR May's 3/29/06, 14:42 post:

3) Privately owned equipment (Option 2):
Equipment owner pays to rent/lease a spot of track the length of his/her car on museum property, to be located where the car will not conflict or interfere with the museum's operation, visibly or logistically. The money collected is in turn utilized by the museum to fund the restoration of a piece of their equipment that might not get funding in the near term. Just make sure that storage environment, mobility, repairs to keep presentable and mobile, and other responsibilities are spelled out in the space rental/lease agreement. Also make sure there is a way to modify the agreement if the need arises, spelled out in the agreement.

This is exactly how the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum lucked out a few years ago. A Caboose owner approached the museum about renting space to store his car, within the museum fence. These funds have, after the idea was broached, been rolled into a dedicated fund to restore one of our cabooses. Now a few years after the dedicated fund was started, with the assistance of a grant, we now have enough money to start working towards a full restoration of the Central Vermont Composite Caboose 4052 (steel structure, wood sheathing), after we move her into the Roundhouse.

Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226
www.cteastrrmuseum.org