Subject: PRR N5b #477768, Annual Report

Compared to 2010, when #477768 went up and back to Scranton, PA to be exhibited at Steamtown, 2011 has been an uneventful year. Our restoration is essentially complete. Well, no restoration is ever actually complete, but the really big tasks seem to have been accomplished. This year, we have been mostly tidying up.

Our biggest achievement has been the installation of running water. Knowing that we needed one, T[.] N[.] purchased a ConRail caboose sink for us at auction, which we then repurchased from him. It is not authentic PRR (although the drain pipe is!), but we think it is good enough. We ran new piping from the 50 gallon tank in the cupola. It is now used when we clean up from our Saturday work day dinners (always coffee and stew/chilli cooked on our coal stove).

T[.] also purchased a door handle and lock set for us which we are installing on the B-end. We still need one for the A-end as well. If anyone come across one (it need not
be authentic PRR) for a left hinged door, we will buy it from you.

We purchased two authentic brass air whistles/brake levers for the end platforms on ebay. These are exactly the models listed for an N5, and we've tested them. They work.

We have learned that our cabin is providing a real service to the railroad industry. Amtrak's Northeast Regional #176 from Lynchburg now uses it as its land mark for imminent arrival in Charlottesville. At least one conductor complained to me when it was gone for the month in 2010.

We would like to move #477768 up to Harrisburg in May to coincide with the PRRT&HS annual meeting. However, at this point it is not clear whether the Harrisburg NRHS Chapter can make arrangements to display it with their own GG1 and N6 cabin car at the Amtrak station.

Finally, since the restoration is so far along, it is time to begin thinking about a more permanent home for #477768. It does not belong in central Virginia! It should be in former Pennsy territory. If you have any ideas, please send them to us. We will consider either purchase, or donation. Our sole constraint is that it must remain operational. We did not restore it to become a static display.

Bet it would look good in CR blue!