I see in today's flimsies the article about Ohio RRM mentions a $3 million Railcar. That seems a little rich to me. It mentions it being a Ringling car. Anyone know the specifics and why the value would be $3 mil?

Bill

Wow, if ever an article left one with more questions than answers it would be this one! Certainly if someone reads that this car is "valued" at $3 million then sees the condition of everything else at the museum they will be left scratching their heads.

And of course the comment about scrapping stuff that is in bad condition is really troubling. Anyone there heard of de-accession? I know that the URHS recently gave up their attempt to acquire the Erie doodlebug. My understanding is that several people represented themselves as being in charge and each one had different terms and conditions for acquiring the car.

ORM remains the cautionary tale it has been for nearly 20 years.

Does anyone know how many "Ringling" private cars are kicking around? I remember discussion here about another one and maybe a reference to this one or is there a third one out there too.

I believe John Ringlin's PV "Wisconsin" is at the Circus Museum / Ringling Estate in Sarasota, FL. Some of the interior was restored by Edwards Railcar In Montgomery, AL. I think rest of the work will be done by the museum's own people. Here's a link to the Ringling info about it.

http://www.ringling.org/Resources2.aspx?id=3910

Bill

I am only about a mile from the museum right now but rarely go there.

My understanding is that the doodlebug was privately owned (not by the museum) and last time I was in the museum about two years ago it was not there (If I am thinking of the same RDC units.) ORM was supposed to be deascessing the N&W steamer and three heavyweight cars (basically their mainline railroad pieces leaving them with traction equipment.) Last time I was by there late last year they were all still there. ORM's web site says two heavyweights were donated to the museum in Dennison (a small museum with a C&O Kahwana in rough shape and a large tank engine) and has photos of them being moved out. The little vulcan 0-4-0 was moved to The Depot, mentioned in the article, which is a meeting center a few miles away. It is still owned by ORM and is on loan.

Frankly the ORM is not too impressive as a museum. As of last time i visited, most of the equipment had no interpretation and is just "there to look at". There are no interpretive exhibits that I recall. The trolley ride is OK, but there is nothing at the far end, except to sit and wait to go back. The volunteers running the museum at my last visit looked like visitors, with no indication they were running the place (uniforms, name tags, behavior). There was nothing to eat or drink. Their lot is the only gravel one in the area. It felt like a trolley operation club that let people in one afternoon a week. I think the volunteers work hard but are hampered by the lack of a unified plan.

Still the place looked better than it did in the 90's. The Locomotive had been cleaned and painted and most of the trolleys were covered with good quality tarps. In the 90's most of the trolleys looked deplorable, and I think most of them still do under the tarps. Their shed had been demolished, which since it was held up with a post on their roof of one of the trolleys, is probably for the best.

When I spoke with a volunteer a few years ago he said they were close to building a new car barn and were making plans to extend the line at that time. I have seen no signs of either coming to pass. I have never seen an ORM booth at any local train show, even though the Northern Ohio Railway Museum is always there. They had a booth at the "Celebration" a The Depot but it was unmanned (???) despite them being one of the event's sponsors.

I don't know what's happening at the ORM, but I hope they get it sorted out.

Good to know that our C&S car body alone is worth around $500,000 then, might sell it and get a sensible hobby instead !!!!

Mike Pannell
Cheyenne

Do you have a link to the articale?

In January I passed through Dennison and by ORM. At Dennison, ex-PRR sleeper Times Square was at the end of the car line at Dennison. With some of the draft gear on the ground, it looked like it had been recently moved by truck. There was a hulk of an observation car near the depot that only later did I realize was ex-PRR Williamsport from ORM. At least these two cars have a chance... a later rumor was that the Williamsport was twisted badly while being lifted.

ORM was fenced off and there was snow on the ground, several pieces of hardware I was looking for were hidden from easy view.

I hadn't been to ORM in 25 years; it seemed a much smaller place then what I remember from my youth when N&W 578 ran, Columbus 703 had just been restored, on rare occasion C&LE 119 was run, CD&M 501 was prettied up inside, North Shore 450 was a regular on the weekend runs and every year we spent a weekend trimming bushes and trees using the line car.

Perhaps what saddened me the most was how when the Worthington Food factory was torn down, replaced by small business offices, a tall wall was built along the west side of the ROW in an apparent attempt to hide from the "junkyard" museum - meaning that even if one day they get their act together, there isn't much of a ride to take unless they get the bridge over Rt 161 repaired and the rest of the southern ROW built up.

Bob Bunge

It sounds like the folks from the "Depot" are going to provide some leadership and seed money to help improve ORM. That sounds good to me. What always gets me nervous is the statement in the article:

I suspect we will see this more often... There are just too many cars at too many museums or tourist lines, all of which have too few resources to preserve them. I expect to see more and more projects and cars/artifacts abandond.

I am not surprised at the $3 million observation car... much of the valuation of historic railroad cars is about the tax deduction. We have a 1880 narrow wooden gauge boxcar which was valued at $90,000 when donate some years ago (by others, I only had to sign off that we received it)

I agree - unfortunately. Indigestion is what I call it.