I remember some time ago a posting that Trolleyville USA was having some troubles with those trying to by the mobile home park it runs around in North Olmstead, Ohio, and that they were potentially looking for a new home. Did anything more come of this? Was it just a rumor? I've tried getting into their website (www.trolleyvilleusa.org) but no luck.

TJG

Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

You are correct the collection has been told that it has to move by the owners of the trailer park.

Sadly, Ohio seems to be jinxed as far as rail preservation goes. The Ohio Railroad Museum has been in trouble for years and now Trolleyville,USA
will very likely have to sell off the collection.

They have some very nice Interurban cars and work equipment that has been in covered storage for years. so its in good shape.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@nps.gov

> Sadly, Ohio seems to be jinxed as far as
> rail preservation goes.

That is a very temperate way of putting it. While the states surrounding it have made a go of some pretty neat rail preservation sites, Ohio sees no benefit in doing the same. For a state that had such a large share of the traction industry and infrastructure along with a wonderful class 1 heritage we have a terribly short memory.

OHIO; once a leader, now a follower!

lamontdc@adelphia.net

> You are correct the collection has been told
> that it has to move by the owners of the
> trailer park.

> Sadly, Ohio seems to be jinxed as far as
> rail preservation goes. The Ohio Railroad
> Museum has been in trouble for years and now
> Trolleyville,USA
> will very likely have to sell off the
> collection.

> They have some very nice Interurban cars and
> work equipment that has been in covered
> storage for years. so its in good shape.

> Ted Miles

Ted-

Thanks. I was wondering if anything new had happened. I can't think all of Ohio is jinxed: from today's flimsie, it looks as though NORM has got a good thing going. Is there some way Trolleyville and NORM could get together to preserve the collection? Also, is there an extant roster of what Trolleyville has?

Thanks,

TJ


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

> Also, is there an extant roster of what
> Trolleyville has?

There is a roster of what EVERYBODY has at:

www.bera.org/pnaerc.html

This includes all electric railway equipment except that from other continents (in other words, the "boat car" from Blackpool that Trolleyville has isn't on the list). Just run a search on "current owners" for Trolleyville. The only equipment that Trolleyville owns that isn't on the list is the boat car, two cabooses and a pair of boxcars used for parts storage.

Frank Hicks

Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars
fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

GE13031 is correct, Ohio SUCKS. You should try and do something worthwhile here. We need to wait and see on the NORM thing. They haven't put all of their track in yet.In the mean while Yuppyville Medina is coming out to thier location and the talk is of running street cars through the new 300,000.00 dollar houses.

The first lawyer that buys a new house and there is a "trolley" in his back yard during his BBQ is going to rally the NIMBY's and before you know it they have to move just like Trolleyville.
The sadest part of all of this is ego's. 20 miles from Trolleyville and NORM and between NORM and the Grand Rpaids Group is the Lake Shore Railway and thier railroad the Lorain and West Virginia railway. We own 100's of acres(free and clear)19 miles of track, end at the county fairgrounds have a wye and plenty of cheap farm land to add on. Not to mention probaly the most historic interurban in Ohio and Part of Ohio, LSE 167.
It's just so sad no one can get along and work toghter to make something the Whole country could be proud of , Oh well enough rambling, time for a double of JACK to calm nerves.
Oh and before I forget GE is right the state goverment's biggest question is blacktop or concrete. Railroads? what are they? Preservation? What! who cares!


irss@eriecoast.com

> There is a roster of what EVERYBODY has at:

> www.bera.org/pnaerc.html

> This includes all electric railway equipment
> except that from other continents (in other
> words, the "boat car" from
> Blackpool that Trolleyville has isn't on the
> list). Just run a search on "current
> owners" for Trolleyville. The only
> equipment that Trolleyville owns that isn't
> on the list is the boat car, two cabooses
> and a pair of boxcars used for parts
> storage.

> Frank Hicks

How big an organization is Trolleyville (number of active members)? I seem to recall that it was started by an individual and progressed from there; is that true and if so, is the "founder" still involved with the organization? Finally, how do the current members feel about the upcoming dismemberment of the museum and what is the thinking about going to another museum? I guess these questions would have to be answered by one of their members and I am not sure any check out the RyPN website.

Les Beckman (HVRM)

midlandblb@cs.com

To be fair, Jack, isn't there a fair bit of steam going on up there? Ohio Central seems like it may be the last big show in the midwest in the next couple years. I don't know a lot about the narrow gage park trains at Cedar Point other than they were asking outrageous prices for their castoffs a few years back, but the remaining are steam and do run so far as I know.

Hopefully, the museums will be stronger combined than apart.

Dave

Dave: Please note that the steam operations you mentioned are business operations not museums. Please also note that they are me-to jobbies funded by for profit businesses (thats pretty neat though, it works!). Trolleyville was "owned" by one man who passed away leaving a family that is not too interested in an operation on a piece of property that is just crying for some upscale development. ORM is suffering from a lack of plan for their traction equipment. NORM has a plan that needs a major cash infusion ...especially if you figger a half mil per car to bring a chicken coop back to life in a true "preservationist" fashion. The other pile of "stuff" that is brought up every so often is weathering away exponentially, with little or no hope for meaningful preservation, again big, big bucks to salvage what amounts to a set of patterns.
Bellevue, Dayton and Newark are static displays which remind me of funeral homes (I'm not knocking all the time, energy and talent, but it leaves me cold). With the current budget crunch and the control of ISTEA funds for roads only there ain't much out there ... makes you wonder how the neighboring states do it ?

lamontdc@adelphia.net

> OHIO; once a leader, now a follower!

Yeah, but their farm girls are pretty. I married one.

> Dave: Please note that the steam operations
> you mentioned are business operations not
> museums.

C'mon Dennis, I know you are smart enough to know that any non profit museum that isn't run like a business is doomed to fail. If the places you mention are not being managed in a businesslike way, there's the reason they are disappearing.

Question: any major urban center in the region interested in using a nostalgic trolley line as a redevelopment tool in a historic district hampered with old narrow roads and too little parking? May be a tie in to transit funds to rehab these cars and provide them a place to earn a good living.

Dave

>TJ

There are rosters of all the places we have been talking about in Vintage Transit by A.D. Young

For you web surfers there is or was a site that has a state by state list of preserved traction equipment. It has the Seashore Trolley Museum down to single bodies that are now restaurant center pieces.

Ted

ted_miles@nps.gov

Les,

As mentioned above, the founder of Trolleyville has passed on and his family has sold the Moble Home Park to folks who want the equipment to go away.

There are a bunch of good cars there. But the Blackpool double deck car has been sold to the Williamette Trolley where it is operated with a towed trailer.

I hear the river view gives a great ride!

ted_miles@nps.gov

Trolleyville traded the Blackpool double decker back to Blackpool for a Blackpool boat car.

Wesley

> Les,

> As mentioned above, the founder of
> Trolleyville has passed on and his family
> has sold the Moble Home Park to folks who
> want the equipment to go away.

> There are a bunch of good cars there. But
> the Blackpool double deck car has been sold
> to the Williamette Trolley where it is
> operated with a towed trailer.

> I hear the river view gives a great ride!

> Yeah, but their farm girls are pretty. I
> married one.

Yup, me too. And thanks to Jason Johnson and the guys at OC, she now has a real love for steam (she won a cab ride in #1293 in October). I got a lot of flack from fellow railfans for letting her take the cab ride instead of taking it myself, but you just can't buy the look of wife covered in coal dust and STILL (or espcially) smiling from ear to ear. Plus, she may take Marty Knox up on training to be a fireman. To quote Mr. Burns from the Simpson's: "Excellent!"



Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org