Good morning everyone,

I just wanted to post a quick note today about Liberty Historic Railway Inc.'s new fundraiser which is now underway. We are asking the RYPN community for some assistance in this campaign. No donation is too big, nor too small. We have made donating to this effort easy. We are accepting donations via GoFundMe, or via our website (see links below).

https://www.gofundme.com/trenton-trolle ... g-campaign

https://www.lhry.org/donate

As many of you know, Liberty Historic Railway has become a major provider of funding for many different heritage rail (and other transportation related) projects here in New Jersey. After many years of raising money for others, Liberty has now begun a serious fundraising campaign to support the restoration of its two historic Brill streetcars - Five Mile Beach Railway #20 and Trenton Transit #288.

Working in conjunction with the world-renowned Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, the #288 Restoration Team has commissioned a complete set of new construction drawings which will be used to guide the restoration of each of #288's missing "ends".

The success of this fundraising campaign is critical for the #288 Restoration Team. The quicker we meet our fundraising goal, the faster the work on #288 can begin. In order to make this project a success, we need your support.

Can you spare $5, $10, $20 (or more) for a worthy cause?

Since the campaign formally "kicked off" just this past Thursday, word of our fundraiser has only begun to spread. However, donations are beginning to come in. We could really use some help from the RYPN community in jumpstarting the GoFundMe portion of the campaign. A good start to that campaign will help inspire those non-railfans who we are currently reaching via our social media channels to donate as well.

If you can't make a donation at this time, could you share our GoFundMe information with those who you believe might have an interest in seeing historic streetcars preserved and restored? The further we are able to get the word out there, the quicker we will reach our goal!

Thanks in advance - The Trenton Transit Co. #288 Restoration Team!

Thanks for positing the data, Eric.

Yes, this is a big step in an effort to kick off the restoration of the #288. As suggested, if you could, please pass the word. Perhaps make a small donation yourselves if possible.

We really have three options for how to make a donations:

1) gofundme as follows:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/trenton-trol ... g-campaign

2) If someone would prefer to send a check directly to LHRy that would be
great as well. Checks can be sent to the below address with a note that the
donation is for "Trenton #288" and if possible send me an email
(jrmay@optonline.net):

Liberty Historic Railway, Inc.
103 Dogwood Lane
Berkeley Heights, NJ 079224

3) LHRy has a donate button on their web site. Just send me an email
(jrmay@optonline.net) that you made a donation so that we can keep track of
it.

https://www.lhry.org/donate

If there are any questions, or if someone wants to see the car in person,
just drop me an email or call 732-330-1876.

Many thanks all, and please remember, small donations are just as important
as large ones!

J.R. May
Director
Liberty Historic Railway, Inc.

Mr. Strohmeyer:

The gofundme fundraising campaign copy that you linked to states, "Today Liberty Historic Railway, Inc., a NJ-based, not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving New Jersey's unique and varied transportation history, is seeking the public's financial support to help restore #288 back to its original condition when the trolley was "in service" in the early 1930's."

1. Is the ultimate goal an era-correct static restoration or a full operational restoration?
2. Once restored, where will the artifact be stored, displayed, and, if operational, run?
3. Will storage/display be under cover or out in the open like the URHS' equipment in Boonton?

Thank you.

1. Is the ultimate goal an era-correct static restoration or a full operational restoration?

Yes, it will be restored to operational condition.

2. Once restored, where will the artifact be stored, displayed, and, if operational, run?

LHRy is working on a site currently. Stay tuned for updates via LHRy.

3. Will storage/display be under cover or out in the open like the URHS' equipment in Boonton?

Being a wooden car, it will be kept under cover, not outdoors. See #2 above.

J.R.

Good morning everyone,

As J.R. May mentioned, the #288 will be restored to operational condition. I will add one additional detail - For a variety of reasons, the #288 will be restored to its 1934 appearance. The car will look like it did on the last day of service, as opposed to when it rolled off the Brill factory floor 20 years earlier.

As to your other two questions, I would encourage those in, or near, Morristown NJ who are interested in learning more about #288's future, to come and attend the Tri-State Railway Historical Society monthly meeting tomorrow (Thursday, March 14th at 7:00pm.)

Mr. Bill McKelvey, Liberty Historic Railway's Chairman will be giving a presentation in which he will be discussing the efforts currently underway which will lead to a permanent home for #288, and LHRy's other trolley, FMBER #20.

The meeting will be held at:

Morris Museum
Bickford Theatre
6 Normandy Heights Rd,
Morristown, New Jersey 07960

Admission is free. All are welcome to attend.

For more details, you can check out Tri-State's Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/TriStateRail


AND, .... for those of you who are just chomping at the bit to donate to this fantastic project, please feel free to check out our current fundraiser and donate a few bucks to this worthy project.

https://www.gofundme.com/trenton-trolle ... g-campaign

Thanks in advance!

Mr. Strohmeyer:

Yes, I am familiar with Mr. McKelvey's ideas regarding Grace Lord Park in Boonton, NJ. For those not interested in FB, here is the link to Tri-State's website which gives an overview of the concept and his presentation.

http://www.tristaterail.org/events/2019/3/14

NJ has many great rail-related artifacts and a rich rail transportation history. Unfortunately, these artifacts have no appropriate facility to house them and to present them in a manner in which they can tell their story.

Good morning everyone,

On behalf of the #288 Restoration Team, I just wanted to pass along a quick update this morning on our progress with regards to our first fundraising campaign for the car.

We are happy to announce that we have now surpassed the $1,000.00 mark (on the way to our initial goal of $8,500.00) in this campaign. We appreciate everyone who has been kind enough to spread the word about this effort.

Yesterday, the folks at NJ.com were kind enough to run a follow up story about the #288. We also got some additional television exposure as well.

https://www.nj.com/news/2019/03/hidden- ... glory.html

After a brief slowdown, LHRy's current GoFundMe campaign is beginning to pick up steam once again.

We ask anyone reading this post to please consider making a small donation. This post has been viewed over 700 times already. If every person who looked at this thread would donate $10.00, we would be well on our way to kick-starting this project into high gear.

https://www.gofundme.com/trenton-trolle ... g-campaign

The Trenton Transit $5 and $10 challenge.

More importantly, the #288 Restoration Team needs your help bringing in some of the small donations needed to generate the viral "buzz" to sustain a good GoFundMe campaign. To date, the smaller donations are finally beginning to come in. However, more smaller donations are still needed.

It is said that "money begets money". Indeed, the GoFundMe platform is set up on this very simple principle. The publicity being generated by the #288 team is driving viewers towards the donation collection points. When people keep being offered the opportunity to help, they may not donate the first time you ask them to participate. However, if potential donors return a second time and see the campaign "taking off", they become more receptive to giving to the cause.

The more donations a person sees coming in, the more likely he or she will be to opening their wallet and help out. Smaller donations will encourage other people (like members of the general public) to donate who otherwise might not be able to donate in larger amounts.

On behalf of the #288 restoration team, I am asking you to consider making one of those smaller donations. You might not think it is important, but if that one small donation helps inspire an additional 15 people to donate, than even a small donation can have a huge impact on a fundraising campaign.

If you prefer to mail in a donation, instead of using our online platforms, please make your check payable to:

Liberty Historic Railway Inc,
103 Dogwood Lane
Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922

** Please remember to denote that your donation is for "Trenton Transit #288" so we can apply your donation correctly.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Good afternoon everyone,

On behalf of the #288 Restoration team, I wanted to thank everyone who has donated to the campaign so far.

I am happy to announce that the campaign has successfully raised 25% of our initial Phase #1 goal thus far.

Half of the funds raised so far have come in through our current GoFundMe campaign.

The other half has come in through direct mail-in donations.

However, we still have a ways to go in this campaign and we still need your support to reach our ultimate goal.

If you haven't contributed already, please consider making a donation. Remember, for your convenience, we offer three easy means to donate to the cause.

Via GoFundMe at:

https://www.gofundme.com/trenton-trolle ... g-campaign

Direct via the LHRy website at:

https://www.lhry.org/donate

Or via US Mail at:

Liberty Historic Railway, Inc.
103 Dogwood Lane
Berkeley Heights, NJ 079224

Make checks payable to: Liberty Historic Railway Inc.

Once again, thanks to all those who have contributed so far, and thanks in advance to those who will donate in the future!