Twelve year old J. T. Robertson (Trains June 2008) wanted Arcade & Attica to be handicap accessible so wheelchair-bound kids can enjoy the train as much as he. Well, Ty Pennington of [i]Extreme Home Makeover[i] gave him the good news that the dream will come true.

/http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/

I say, don't stop there, Ty. Bring the show to a few other other worthy RR museums!

Sloan

Yeah just don't bring the backhoe. They may have the best of intentions, but the whole concept of Extreme Home Makeover re-doing an historic train makes me nervous.

ME TOO!!!!!!

Len.

They recently tore down a perfectly repairable home near my neighborhood, and replaced it with a huge monstrosity that sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb, all the while inconveniencing local residents by blocking streets, etc. I'm certain the recipients of the new quick and dirty houses think they are getting a wonderful gift - maybe except for the couple on another program the other day that can't afford the expenses of the new place and are being forced out. I'll be amazed if the new place near me lasts as long as the 1960's houses surrounding it.

Be very wary.......suburban white bread dude with a soul patch who gets all choked up every week on cue? Give me a break and grow a pair.

dave

I to am a little nervous about this. I womder how the A&A feels about this. I hope all goes well and they don't destroy anyhting

Anthony

Well I am sure the A&A has to have final approval on everything they plan to do. Lets just hope both parties know what they are doing.

That's one amazing kid! He's helping the people in his community and raising the visibility of the railroad he loves so much. Not bad for 12 years old!

I hope the project works out positively for all parties involved.


Best Regards,
Glenn

The kid is better at media and PR than most museums.

He gets a popular figure to help a tourist railroad and it is aired during a stunt week about trains on one of big three networks.

And this is bad? Come on!

This is a GREAT media play that should be seen as a boon for the historic rail community.

If this exposure is not what the community wants, then we might as well call it quits and let the scrappers in.

In a week where armchair critics slam Steamtown in the AP and the GCR quits steam, a 12 year old hits the media with a positive message about the love of trains, and what happens on this board? Worry and complaint.

Ugh.

I found this story on the "makeover"
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/440501.html?imw=Y
which includes the following line:
"The makeover will not change the historic nature of the rail cars."

If true, this can only be good for the A&A, as well as railway preservation as a whole.

-Ed Lecuyer

I question how you can makeover a rail car without changing its historic nature. In my time at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis we had a number of situations with people in wheelchairs not being able to get into passenger cars. In some it was that there were steps to use from the ground level. In others the cars were at a high level platform but the person could not make the right angle turn from the platform to the end door in the space available. In others the wheelchair was too wide to fit into the first door opening, or sometimes the end door itself. Our director tore his hair out about these things to the point that he wanted to have a side door cut into a caboose used for birthday parties so handicapied folks could get in. He was confounded to learn about the substantial collision posts that were inside the ends of rail cars that would have to be cut to make the modifications he thought would be easy, compromising the structure of the car. In one case where a coach was being used for a classroom a ramp was built so handicaped folks could get in via the end door, but the ramp is the length of the car. The end platform isolates the car so it can only be moved with difficulty in the future. But it works. So what will these TV folks do? Are they going to build a platform with a ramp leading to it that can be extended to the end door and allow a wheelchair to go in that way, then fold out of the way to allow the train to proceed? What happens if the train gets stranded somewhere and has to be evacuated quickly? Or will they do something with a baggage car or side door caboose where there is a large existing door and a lift can be installed aboard the car? I guess time will tell.

I don’t see how you can widen doors or add doors, ramps, etc. without altering the historical nature of the car. I guess it might depend on what is meant by historical nature. How do other operations of historical equipment deal with this problem of accessibility? I would think that the way to deal with the problem would be to design and build a special car. Apparently this makeover will be on GMA next week rather than as a full episode of Extreme Home Makeover.

I have no problem with solving the accessibility objective or with the kid who promoted this. But I do find Extreme Home Makeover to be especially galling on several different levels.

They should do what steamtown did with there CNJ 303 Combine. I don't know what Steamtown did but they could put an "elevater" in the baggage part. I belive the A&A has 2 combines so it could work. I don't know if they can leave the combine or not, depends on the size of the doorways in the cars

Anthony

When I visited the Arcade & Attica in July, I saw two ex-Lackawanna "Boonton" combines on the property. One's baggage section was set up for snack and souvenir sales. The other car was sitting at the enginehouse, so I don't know its function.

At the station, a battery-powered wheelchair lift sat beside the track, dust-covered and rusting, while two trainmen assisted several caregivers in hoisting three wheelchair-bound individuals up onto the platform of a coach and then into the car. Seems to me the second combine and the renovated wheelchair lift would solve the problem. Wheelchair tiedowns could be installed in the baggage section, along with a couple of surplus walkover seats for the caregivers to ride with their charges -- voila -- problem solved.

(By the way, I note the Friends of the East Broad Top has rebuilt and modified an EBT boxcar to include a wheelchair lift.)

Well, after I saw what was done to #18, and in general, talked to the new GM and staff earlier this year, I think the appropriate response is 'hold your fire'.

In case you've all forgotten, the same kid and same railroad got a national cover on newspaper inserts for 'make a difference day' last year. He's the real deal.

GMA regularly features 'make a difference' topics; ABC is at least trying, the railroad literally has a new sheriff in town this year....lets see what we've got here before we guess.

Well, the project looks pretty damn good.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5891930&page=1

They outfitted the baggage area of a combine to handle wheelchairs rolled in off an external lift.

And while they were at it, they repaired and repainted the depot.

Hardly a preservation disaster and a HUGE national TV PR victory.

It continues to amaze me that while this board is filled with complaining about the media, this operator or that operator, and so on and so on... we can't find a way to regularly post good news.

Is the cynical disease that bad? Is this why decades after Mark Smith called for unity, it is so hard to find?

Rob