How is TM of NY coming on their electrification project? When I was there in 1996, the line crew was digging pole holes with a rather tired hydraulic auger rig. The railway ride was with a Brill (?) "doodlebug"--an "interurban without wires" to borrow a term from a book title.

Current status of the project is here: http://www.tmny.org/tmnybond.html.

The car currently operating is Johnstown PA #358, which was modified to diesel power in the early 1960's: http://www.tmny.org/tmny0358.html.

Thanks for the update. I wasn't aware of the "infrastructure conflicts" that mean the TM can't just set poles in the best locations. Drilling into a gas pipeline would definitely ruin your day. It was interesting to see how many of the Johnstown cars from the 20's have survived; I rode one at Shade Gap two years ago, and Market St. Ry. has plans for the one in San Francisco. What's ironic is that none of the JTC PCC's was saved (one could say the same about Pacific Electric). It would be interesting to hear the "un-trolley" running; with a Detroit Diesel (what size?) it would probably sound like a 1950s transit bus. That's not necessarily a bad thing--some of us like all sorts of vintage transport.

It's a model 453 Detroit Diesel with an Allison transmission.

I see a potential problem with this approach.

The B&O Museum stopped using its operable, functional, and perfectly suitable B&O RDC-1 on its out-and-back train run in part because "It's just too much like riding a bus!" That should be a concern if a lot of your visitors are urban dwellers and your ride is a big metal box with metal-framed Naugahyde seats, I'll admit--it's a different story of you're talking Strasburg's LO&S wooden gas car or Mack railbus or an Edwards motorcar.

Some young visitors to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum express some surprise upon feeling the cars move forward without some growling engine. I would suggest that running a trolley of any sort as a trolley with an engine and transmission would be akin to that 2-6-2 the National Railroad Museum had with a diesel locomotive subbing for the tender.........

No question we realize a diesel trolley doesn't quite match the experience of an electric trolley. Some day (soon?) we'll 'rectify' the situation.

There is also a press release on Senator Schumer's web site:
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=320759

Speaking of non-electric powered streetcars, I haven't been to the Poway Midland (Poway, in San Diego County, CA) lately, but for a while they were running an ex-Los Angeles Ry. single truck car with a Corvair engine for power. It had been modified by a movie company and ran at Travel Town in LA's Griffith Park for a short period. The Corvair "mill" was probably chosen because its "pancake-six" configuration made it suitable for under-floor use. By fortunate coincidence, their steam locomotive is 42" gauge, same as LARy streetcars. More recently I visited El Reno, OK and rode car 145, their "only rail-based trolley in Oklahoma". Technically it's not a "trolley", because it's powered by a propane fueled GMC V-8 mounted in one of the trucks. It started out as 165, a third rail powered car on the Philadelphia & Western Norristown line. Even without the wires overhead, it makes an eye-catching sight on the streets of El Reno, a town that remembers the Oklahoma Ry interurbans and highway traffic on Route 66.

The City of Kingston and state DOT have started the paperwork to prepare for the $800,000 project. The FRA will be the federal agency providing the funds, while DOT will hold the purse strings. As the particulars for the project gel, we'll keep tmny.org updated. Hopefully before Summer is over, the project will go to bid.

An update on the $800K track grant: Construction started today! Finally after about 3 years of preparation, which included an engineering design, various regulatory approvals and permits, and bidding processes, a contractor is now on site working on the track.

We'll be posting pictures of the project on Twitter, Facebook and TMNY.org as it progresses.

The track rehab grant project continues to move along. A steady stream of pictures of the work is on our Twitter and Facebook pages: http://tmny.org/main.php?p=buzz.

A reminder that a total of $0.00 from this grant has gone into the TMNY general operating budget and we're still assessing damage from Superstorm Sandy which inundated our entire ROW, yard, building and many of the traction motors of our equipment. We're always looking for new donors (donations are tax-deductible): http://tmny.org/main.php?p=shop

Sounds like your yard and building are at a challenging site. What are the prospects for relocation of the building and yard?

Sandy set a new high-water mark, literally, in the minds of officials and property owners along the waterfront. FEMA and SBA are in town taking applications from affected homeowners and businesses. The City of Kingston as a result of Irene had already initiated a flooding study that had its first public information meeting yesterday.

Certainly TMNY would like to flood-proof the collection, but when and how that will happen, too soon to tell.