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| Restoration plans at SC RR Museum https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7157 |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:18 am ] |
| Post subject: | Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
I did something this weekend that will most likely get me into trouble with my fellow Trustees of The South Carolina Railroad Museum. A couple other Trustees have been considering our train ride to be the Museum's end goal, when it was always intended to be the moneymaking means to support the museum. I haven't found a way to address that fallicy yet, but I did find a way to derail a couple ill-advised intentions of these individuals and solve some of the internal debate over how to paint our excursion train. Some background: Several years ago, the Museum puchased four coaches from the Deaux Montaignes (I think that's spelled right) commuter line in Montreal. We got three EMU motors and one trailer. The trailer was purchased by a member, who has it on loan to the Museum. The funds for the three motors were loaned to the Museum by other members. These cars were acquired because we desperately needed seats -- we'd been running with cabooses and our ridership was starting to exceed the available seats. Not everybody wanted the CN cars (I recall one "no" vote was justified by the words "I think they're ugly"), but just about everyone has now agreed that we needed them and they were a good buy. Maybe not a perfect fit for our Museum, but the best we could do at that time in those circumstances. Almost as soon as the CN cars arrived, the debate started over how they would be painted. The cars were a little rough around the edges due to hard use in Canada. Two were almost immediately loaned to the Lancaster & Chester RR for their centenial trips, and got a quick repaint by the L&C's Ed Sharpe to make them presentable. Ed just sprayed on the same black and white that was already on the cars. The only change was the roofs got painted silver to try and reflect some of the Carolina sun instead of absorbing it. Ed's paint job wasn't intended to last. The silver hasn't -- it looks AWFUL now. Ayway, I finally got sick of the arguing over how to paint stuff. Our current Chairman has also been threatening to letter our steam engine (currently on static display) "SC RR Museum" instead of "Hampton & Branchville" as it should be. So, as Curator and Restoration Director, I generated a comprehensive plan for the restoration and use of every piece of equipment owned by the Museum. I presented it at the Membership meeting this weekend and got it passed. The Chairman's going to be pissed because he thinks that's business for the Trustees rather than the Membership. I've been at odds with my fellow Trustees over what's Board business and what isn't for years anyway, so why change now? Anyway, the plan was received well by the Membership. It should solve the problem of how to paint what once and for all. It also separated the rolling stock into sub-collections which will help with collections management in the future. We've got some neat stuff in our collection. A few highlights (with the paint plan): - A 1906 flatcar with Fox trucks, last used at the Guignard Brick factory in Cayce, SC. I'm still trying to find out where Guignard got this car and who it was built for. For now it'll be painted red. If I can ever track down its early history, it'll be returned to original. - A SAL 40' boxcar that will get the SAL "Route of the Comet" slogan. - A Lancaster & Chester 40' boxcar that will get the two-tone blue scheme. - A 40', single-dome tank car. - The cars Southern built to haul the Best Friend. - A SCL 50' express reefer that will be restored to the ACL's Champion scheme (purple & silver). The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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| Author: | dave [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:42 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
A plan is a fine thing to have, Matt. Good luck with your efforts to put some rational thought into action. Don't worry about making some people mad - if you are not generating any discontent, you aren't getting anything done and might as well be a bureaucrat. Noew for the fun part - funding your restorations. Have you considered Piedmont and Northern for the MUs? Dave irondave@bellsouth.net |
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| Author: | Tom Cox [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 1:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
While your plan seems good, end runs around the board to appeal directly to membership is generally something guaranteed to cause hard feelings and will sometimes get the board started on how to make the board self prepetuating and limit the role of the members. tcox@parknet.pmh.org |
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| Author: | ge13031 [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 2:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
> While your plan seems good, end runs around > the board to appeal directly to membership > is generally something guaranteed to cause > hard feelings and will sometimes get the > board started on how to make the board self > prepetuating and limit the role of the > members. Yah it can caue hard feelings but it sure is nice to know that somebody has the interests of the members at heart! Might make some control freaks stop, pause and think a little ...if you are lucky ????? lamontdc@adelphia.net |
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| Author: | HRMO'Biph [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 5:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Museum board vs membership |
> While your plan seems good, end runs around > the board to appeal directly to membership > is generally something guaranteed to cause > hard feelings and will sometimes get the > board started on how to make the board self > prepetuating and limit the role of the > members. That is certainly what a museum in the DFW area I was once involved with would do. IMHO, if the membership is the source of labor and significant investment of resources, then the membership has legitimate input. In many cases the membership values historic integrity much more so than the board. |
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| Author: | Ted Miles [ Mon Oct 13, 2003 8:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
Matt, What you did is a win for the side of history for once. Tell your fellow Board Members that this professional museum curator thinks you are on the right track! Hope you can find the money and volunteers to do the painting! And don't forget the used railroad car outfits for those missing parts. ted_miles@nps.gov |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:33 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
> Have you considered Piedmont and Northern > for the MUs? Yes, and dismissed the idea after considerable thought. The CN cars are considerably more modern than anything the P&N had. At best such a stand in paint job would be a "what if" scenario. I'm not a big fan of stand-ins anyway. I've considered a couple proposals for painting the SW8s and 44-tonner as stabd-ins, as well. Still thinking on those proposals. The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
> Matt, > What you did is a win for the side of > history for once. Tell your fellow Board > Members that this professional museum > curator thinks you are on the right track! > Hope you can find the money and volunteers > to do the painting! And don't forget the > used railroad car outfits for those missing > parts. Fortunately, only a couple cars in the collection have missing parts. We're very lucky that out of something like 50 pieces of equipment, only two small diesels and three or four cars are incomplete. The stuff just needs paint. The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:46 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Museum board vs membership |
Rightly or wrongly, at SCRM, the people who do the work call the shots. The Trustees can pontificate and "set policy" all they want, but if the working Membership doesn't want to do what they say, it won't get done and there's not much they can do about it. The current Chair has realized that fact and has decided to start painting things -- HIS way. This isn't an end run around the Board. It's a preventative measure to keep the Chairman from making an end run around the Membership. The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Thu Oct 16, 2003 4:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
I find myself doing something I never thought I'd do -- asking everyone here to please NOT come to SCRM until I have a chance to get a paintbrush and some gloss black paint and undo what our Illustrious Chairman has royally f****d up. Sorry for the cussing, Erik et al, but that's actually putting it mildly. If you could see what this... this... PERSON has done... The dolt decided to paint the 44's pilot red. The whole pilot. Bright red. Circus wagon red. It would look good on a Disney engine, but on a logging engine it looks absolutely awful. Worse than awful. Like an 80-year-old hooker in a miniskirt awful. Like scraping fingers across a chalkboard awful. Like Steve Lee in drag awful. Just... AWFUL. Please, please, nobody come by to look until I've corrected the travesty. If Jim doesn't make her presentable again between now and Saturday, I will be out there with a can of black paint first thing Saturday morning. Immediately following this, there will be a short ceremony in which I will personally be running the gentleman in question out of town on a rail. NS's rail. While 156 is using it. (Oh, that poor engine...!) The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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| Author: | Matt Conrad [ Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Restoration plans at SC RR Museum |
Well, it turns out I didn't have to take extreme action. Jim admitted he'd sinned. I attacked the pilot with gloss black Rustoleum spray bombs frst thing Saturday AM. The engine is presentable again, and Jim has agreed that bright red was inappropriate. She'll get another coat of gloss black and some white or silver trim. I laid down some ground rules and the trim will be conservative. Everyone should take this as a warning of what can happen if well-meaning but totally clueless volunteers are not give adequate guidance. It's also a warning of what can happen if you don't listen closely to what such volunteers tell you they're going to do. I didn't, and the Disney-red pilot was the result. This weekend is Member's Day. I'm probably going to have a restoration meeting on the train during the first of the two trips scheduled. Anybody who's interested in how SCRM restores what in what order is welcome to attend, but you'll have to join the Museum to ride. Email me for more info if you're interested. The South Carolina Railroad Museum mconrad@msmgmt.com |
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