Seeing as how we're now three weeks away from the New Year, I thought it was time for the annual "what we've accomplished" thread. There's been a lot to talk about this year, so this should be quite a list!

Milwaukee Road 261, Pere Marquette 1225, Santa Cruz Portland Cement 2, Frisco 1630, Southern Pacific 2248, D&RGW 463 and many other steam locomotives returned to service.

Work has started on NKP 384 in Wellington, Ohio.

When I started volunteering in the DT&M Roundhouse at Greenfield Village, the guys were in the final stages of an almost 10 year restoration on Detroit and Lima Northern Baldwin 4-4-0 #7, which was built in 1897 and later worked on the DT&I. In June (possibly late May?) she moved under her own power for the first time since the late 1920's and after several test runs was finally placed into service on the railroad.

We started the structural and exterior restoration of Capital Traction 522 (American Car 1898).

Wesley

The Virginia Transportation Museum launched their campaign to return N&W 611 to service. Union Pacific reacquired Big Boy 4014 and began preparations to return it to service. The Museum of the American Railroad completes its move from Dallas to Frisco, TX.

On the (mostly) traction side of the fence:

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum during 2013 accomplished:

1. Started, finished, and occupied a 40x216x16' "Artifact Preservation Building," which is really a fancy term for our parts warehouse. Once connected to the track it will also provide housing for a number of our "not quite ready for public exhibit" trolleys. The building also has a big lean-to on one side for under cover storage of trucks, wheelsets, motors, track supplies, and GOK what else.

2. Installed in our 1957 vintage Carbarn #1 an entire new track structure topped by a concrete floor--both LONG overdue.

3. Placed in service our broad gauge 25 ton GE diesel PTM 89 as shop switcher, rescue loco, and eventually snowplow.

4. Made significant progress on the full restoration of West Penn Railways Cincinnati "Curved-Side" car 832.

5. Set new records for attendance and volunteer hours.

Northern Ohio Railway Museum has been busy in 2013.

In February we closed the deal on purchasing 8.1 acres of adjacent land. We had fundraised about 90% of the purchase price of $71,000 by the time of the closing. This land will allow us to build the carbarn area loop on better quality land and avoid an area with poor soil conditions. It also gives us access to another road. Finally this land allows us closer access to 3 phase commercial power, thereby lowering costs to bring it to the museum.

In May we moved a diesel generator donated to us from WJW TV 8. This unit formerly was the backup power for the stations transmitter. It is powered by a series 110 6 cyclinder Detroit Diesel engine. It produces 3 phase 480 volt AC at 150KW. Amazingly it has less than 400 operating hours on it and has been maintained impeccably. We have the maintenance records to prove it! It will become an integral part of our substation facility.

In June a series of public educational signs titled "Ask NORM" made their debut. The signs are scattered about the carbarns along the route of public tours. They pose a question and then in about 300 words answer that question. A photo or illustration accompanies the text. A sampling of subjects is as follows: What Jobs Did Minorities Have on Trolleys? How Does a Trolley Get Its Power? What Streetcar Builder Was in Cleveland? Why Was Ohio an Interurban Center? What Jobs Did Women Have on Trolleys? There are 15 signs at present. More are under development this winter.

During the summer we worked on removing cars and material from an area adjacent to the CSX line in the area just south of the Buffham Rd. grade crossing. This is on the former Southwestern ROW and was the only museum property prior to the main property purchase in 1984. This area is very visible to the public and we wanted this area cleaned up. Moved were a Northern Ohio Traction and Light carbody off of timber cribbing and onto trucks. The car was then moved over to storage by the carbarns. We also assisted in removing a McGuire sweeper truck from this same area. This latter work was in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

In September after many months of behind the scene meetings and correspondence with RTA administrators to arrange their donation, we moved Shaker Heights Rapid Transit car 12 to the Museum. This is probably the most photographed Cleveland trolley ever. Also moved were Cleveland Transit System (CTS) Rapid car 109 and CTS line car 024. We recieved much favorable media coverage from this. Here are the links.

http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/ ... ay-museum/
http://fox8.com/2013/09/11/cleveland-st ... or-museum/
http://www.wtam.com/articles/wtam-local ... -11648920/
http://www.ohio.com/news/cleveland-s-la ... s=1.428982
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_ ... ina-County

In October we erected our first overhead line poles. In 2014 overhead construction will begin using newly acquired line car 024.

These are the out of the ordinary projects of 2013. During the year we continued restoration work on Shaker Rapid Car 303, a former Aurora, Elgin and Fox River car. Mechanical repairs were completed on the Plymouth Switcher and work began on stripping it down to bare metal, priming and painting in traction orange. Finally there is the ordinary maintence work on the property as well as conducting public outreach both on site and in the community.

Let's hope all of us have a safe and prosperous 2014.

Steve Heister
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
http://www.northernohiorailwaymuseum.org

Someone was asking (either here or in Trainorders.com) whether NORM has a carbarn and whether they had overhead wire. We can applaud the fact that they do indeed have a carbarn, and trolley wire will be part of next years activities. And I noted the acquisition of the diesel generator, which will go from keeping the radio station "on the air" to keeping 600 volts "in the air". All it needs is a rectifier bank, and that's technology that is quite common in the electric railway preservation field.

A few of many at Illinois Railway Museum:

Personal project:

Milwaukee Road Dynamometer car X-5000 ran on IRM's main line for the first time since 2007, and managed to power the lights in three coaches during night operations. The roof was also fully sealed to prevent leaks, the hydraulic dynamometer unit itself was made operable, and other mechanical systems were worked on.

Elsewhere (and simplfied):

MILW E9A #37A was made operable for the first time in years.

The CA&E wood cars were run as a operable four car set for the first time.

South Shore 803 had its air compressor replaced, and was made operational.

Steam Department brought Frisco #1630 back to operational status.

I'm missing a lot, but this is what I have on the top of my head.

First Addition: (12/12)

Celebrated 60th anniversary with two visiting steam engines.

Acquired ex-C&NW Ohio Locomotive crane from Union Pacific.

Acquired ex-CRI&P 2612, repaired her, and commenced interior restoration.

Repainted ex-Great Northern diesel fuel tank car.

Continued work on ex-Chicago Great Western X-38 russell plow, Baltimore & Ohio wagontop boxcar, Lake Shore Electric freight trailer 810, CRT 1024 (or is it now 24?), and many others.

Returned ICG steel caboose to serviceable condition by replacing wheelsets, and commenced (possibly finished) interior work.

I'm still missing a lot, but hopefully others can add more.

My vote goes to the Museum Of the American Railroad for moving their entire museum from Dallas to Frisco, including one of them big UP locomotives that everyone's been talking about lately.

2013 was a very successful year for the Rockhill Trolley Museum. We accomplished many things, including the following:

- The museum was featured on the cover of Pennsylvania Magazine winter 2013 issue

- Tremendous progress was made on the ongoing restoration of the museum's first vehicle, Johnstown Traction Company #311. Thanks to the progress made, we can look forward to completing this project in 2014.

- As a step towards attracting new generations to our organization, we started the process to acquire a 1981 vintage light rail vehicle for both display and eventual operation.

- We replaced the double track sliding door to our Carbarn #1; a project done entirely in house with our own volunteers and equipment.

- Hosted our 50th Anniversary celebration, which brought back many older volunteers, had two of our state representatives in attendance, and was featured on a local television station.

- Constructed new sidewalks and concrete landings to help improve visitor flow around the museum area, make walking around the property easier, and improve the experience for our visitors.

- Started work to return Liberty Liner Independence Hall to reliable operating condition.

- Hosted 10 special events throughout the year as well as our regular operating schedule.

Without our dedicated volunteers, who travel from across town to across several states to be a part of our organization, none of this would have been possible.

Matt Nawn
Rockhill Trolley Museum
http://www.rockhilltrolley.org
http://www.facebook.com/rockhilltrolley

2013 marked the centennial of the opening of the railroad between Oakland and Sacramento, CA, which eventually became the Sacramento Northern Railway. The Western Railway Museum is located on the largest remaining piece of the SN.

In January we completed installing control equipment (brake stands and controllers) and pilots on Oakland, Antioch & Eastern trailer car 1020. This allows us to operate an authentic two-car train of original SN equipment (1020: Hall-Scott, 1913, and SN 1005: Holman, 1913) on its original railroad.

On September 15, we unveiled a plaque commemorating the inclusion of the Sacramento Northern Historical District on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The District includes our 22-mile section of the Sacramento Northern and our WRM campus.

Jersey Central 113 was returned to revenue service by doubleheading with Reading and Northern 425 on our Santa trains on November 30th. It still needs tweaking and a boiler jacket, but there were several negative people who said it would never run, but they were proven wrong. 2014 should see more action.

Bernie

In the mid 90s a thought was presented to a group that was part of a heritage advisory committee: What about reviving the interurban? Jump to the beginning of 2013. It was about to become a reality: BCER 1225, after 20 000 hrs of rehabilitation made it first trip back on home rails since 1958. It was Valentine’s Day, 2013. Typical February day, cloudy with a hint of rain. The car and its power cart operated perfectly.
In the Spring we opened a replica BCER station within feet of its original 1910 location and geared up for our first operating season. On June 22nd, with a good crowd on hand, major sponsors and city dignitaries cut the ribbon to begin our first operating season.
We were somewhat overwhelmed by the public response and even with some down days due to track availability we had a full car for most of the days we operated.
Since the end of our season in October we are now working closely with many people to secure a track that will allow us to eliminate the down days. From our meetings with the key players it looks very positive.
We can’t wait for 2014!
Be sure to check out our web page and Facebook page.