Eighteen month restoration underway

http://www.ectma.org/5205html.html

Cool! I got started in railroad preservation on the Penn's Landing Trolley in 1992 and 1993. We were always talking about getting the 5205 up to Pier 9 in those days, but the tenuousness of the operation and the lack of room in the pier prevented it. I wonder if there are any homeschool grants that would cover a family trip...?

Well, unfortunately the ECTMA website has turned out to be too optimistic in its forecast of a completion date for 5205. The Scranton crew has been working hard on it but they've found - surprise! - more areas of corrosion than originally expected, especially at the base of the body bulkheads. The restoration work has been coming along beautifully, though it looks like it'll be next year before it'll be ready to carry passengers. In the meantime, anyone coming to visit can look forward to riding either center door car 76 or master unit 80 to the restoration shop where they can view the progress being made on 5205.

David Noyes

This underscores the importance of keeping museum website up to date. A current website that cites progress, awards, grants, and volunteer heroics builds and sustains morale and provides a favorable climate for fund raising.

Maintaining a website is one more detail in museum management that is a task for a computer-savvy volunteer. That said, I recognize some museums may not have a large labor pool with requisite skill sets from which to draw. Accordingly, each museum should have an annual strategic planning session to assign priorities for the coming season. Hopefully a strong communications program to include web site updating would be possible.

Sloan