August 14th was the Members Day Picnic at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. It was more than just a day for the Museum faithful to gather, reflect on the past years accomplishments and dine on a selection of grilled delights and other treats. It was the first day of electric passenger operation at the Museum.

We ran Shaker Heights Rapid Transit Car 12 on her own off the overhead for the first time. Cleveland Railway Crane 0711 was parked on the end of the line supplying power to the overhead. A gas engine generator and rectifier setup is located on this work car. This would be the source of the 600 volt DC.

Car 12 received bunting as a nod to history. In 1954 when the Madison Ave. streetcar line in Cleveland was converted to busses, several of the cars in service received identical bunting for their last runs. This was the last streetcar line in Cleveland. We decided to do the same decoration, but to celebrate the start of electric operation.

Further work is needed at the Museum before we will be ready to offer trolley rides to the general public, but we expect to begin offering demonstration trolley rides sometime in 2017.

Congratulations on your achievement!

The fruit of such hard work sure is sweet!

James Hinman

Congratulation on this success!

Congratulations to the members of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum...

Well Done, I too have enjoyed the first time a piece of railway equipment has operated as designed after several decades of "rotting away".

Enjoy your success, take good care of your equipment.

Cheers, Kevin.

Having been a reader of their newsletter for many years, it's obvious that NORM has come a long, long way. Steady progress and reaching each goal; August 14 has to be an extremely gratifying day! Keep going, guys.

Howard P.

Sunday was my first visit to the Museum and an exciting adventure. I see an organization which owns their land, owns their right-of-way, a sensible, achievable master-plan (which might need revision now that they own additional land) and a willingness to work together professionally, effectively and get things done. Even on Sunday I was able to see some of that professionalism.

It was the culmination of a tremendous amount of work, and I am proud to be part of it, even if in a tiny way.

This was Ohio's first new electric operation in nearly 50 years.

(The previous one being the obscure Muskingum Electric Railroad which was a 12 mile, fully automated mine-to-power-plant operation near Beverly, Ohio).

Congratulations on joining the ranks of operating trolley museums! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit this past Sunday. Steve and two other trustees were very welcoming and let me crash their "members-only" picnic, I got the full tour of the collection and facilities, and was so impressed, I made it all legal and joined up as a member as a way to lend my support. It was fun to see Car 12 roll down the track under its own power for the first time at NORM! I'm looking forward to future updates as the volunteers work towards establishing regular public trolley operations.

-otto-

NORM has a strong foundation and I fully expect the successes will keep on coming for them. All the best.
I believe the most recent electric traction startup was the Toledo Waterfront Ry. But Ohio has had more losses than gains in recent years.

Congrats from all your friends at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum on this step forward. Is a shift from petrol power to commercial power in the near future?

Congratulations! And thanks again to Chuck Lagree for sharing his experience with us (Shelburne Falls (MA) Trolley Museum) on putting up overhead wire, that was very helpful. Good luck with the rest of it!

Thank You to everyone for the congratulations. We have much to do before we can host the general public, but this was an important first step. As I said hopefully in 2017 we will begin offering rides to the public.

Concerning a shift from petrol to commercial power. Yes, that is our goal. First we need to erect a substation building. Actually it will be an addition to an existing structure, our vehicle maintenance building. The substation will have an electrical room(s) with space for AC equipment, rectifiers and switchgear. Another room will be for housing a diesel generator rig. A couple years ago I obtained the old backup generator for the transmitter facility from the TV station I work for. It is a Detroit Diesel model 6-110 series engine turning a 150 KW three phase AC generator. This will give us the capability of powering the overhead without using commercial power. Once commercial power is available, it will give us a way to power the overhead in the event of a power outage. This way trolleys could run themselves "home" instead of getting towed back by our diesel loco.

Commercial 3 phase power is a little over a half a mile from the proposed substation. We have yet to initiate discussions with our local utility on bringing this type service to us. First we are clearing a path in the woods for this line to reach the substation site from the local road it is located on. This path in the woods will also be the route of a loop at the museum, so this tree cutting serves double duty. But these are big trees, so the work goes slowly for the volunteer doing the cutting.

Next we need to fundraise for the building addition and any costs that the electric utility will charge us. We have a long road to travel before we are on commercial power. But it is our eventual goal.

Steve