http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articl ... es/1ts.txt

The article prompts some questions.
1. Why would OERM do this? What's the benefit to the museum?
2. Is the car a gift or a permanent loan?
3. How much restoration work will the Venice group have to do?
4. Will the car be operational? If so, with gasoline engine or electric?

Sloan

There is a bunch of bits of info on this if you do teh Google.

Does "Tokio Station" still exist? Some say yes. http://wikimapia.org/9608040/Former-Tokio-Station-Building

Now if they could get the live steamers back and running in town!

Venice has a great "American dream gone wrong" history that gives it a funky edge. Some decry the lack of edge compared to what it used to be 20 years ago, but I will trade that for being able to walk down the street at night.

Rob

An official answer from OERM should be coming soon; short answer is that the car in question is a "chicken coop" (stripped car body with little or no operational hardware) and OERM has other cars of this type in better condition.
(for readers outside the traction preservation field, "chicken coop" is our jargon for "body only"--few of these relics have actually housed barnyard fowl)

Bob is correct, it's just a carbody. When we acquired PE 530 in 2007, we deaccessioned the 511. http://www.oerm.org/pages/pe530.html The 530 was in far better shape, and we also have the 538 and the 524. Our collection policy allows the collection to evolve through the replacement of artifacts with better, more complete examples if they become available, and that is precisely what happened. We did not know of the 530's existence all those years even though the museum had acquired other PE carbodies from the same small mountain town.

We're already managing a large collection of over 200 pieces, and we must be realistic with ourselves and our supporters about just how much we can take on. When we acquired the 530 and deaccessioned the 511, we offered it free to any responsible non-profit, and the folks in Venice answered the call.

What's "in it for us" as the question was asked, is the 511 being preserved and hopefully successfully restored (by someone else). The more activities out there creating interest in subjects like the Pacific Electric, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Congratulations to OERM for finding a new home for a piece of equipment they no longer need.

I am quite certain that most railway museums could and should follow this lead as most have taken on more projects than they can realistically handle.

Jim

john,

You mentioned the PE 530, which is now indoors in your big new car barn. While a full blown restoration program takes planning and money, could you take the home owners plywood off the windows?

It would make the car look a lot better and people could see the amazingly well preserved interior.

A PE Fan,

Ted Miles