My wife and I finally got up to the M&H today and we enjoyed this very much,Everyone was very friendly and with working at Strasburg and firing 89,it was neat to see her sister #91 running.Great job to all of you up there.

steamtrain90@aol.com

Any comments on the trolley collection there? Years ago there were quite a few there, mostly tarped, but I wondered if much would come of it. Is it yet another Pennsylvania trolley collection languishing in the weeds?

> Any comments on the trolley collection
> there? Years ago there were quite a few
> there, mostly tarped, but I wondered if much
> would come of it. Is it yet another
> Pennsylvania trolley collection languishing
> in the weeds?

The trolleys are there because of the personal interest of the railroad's owner-who I understand wanted to run them "sometime". Although there is a trolley barn going up, the years of being outside and the money for restoration (let alone running wire along the line) means they probally won't run anytime soon.

It would probably be best if they were sent elsewhere, but sometimes dreams die hard.

Being friends with several M&H'rs, I'm sure they'll appreciate Jeff's compliments. The M&H is a great place and I've always been made to feel welcome whenever I've visited. A lot of progress has been made there in recent years, the steam engine being the most noticable. The overall appearence of the railroad has also improved. With the restoration of the freight house, construction of the afore mentioned trolley barn and yard "cleanups" the place is starting to look good.

The railroad has its hurtles to overcome just like any other place, but as for "the complete picture" its doing very very well.

Dave Crosby

bing@epix.net

While I remember the M&H trolley collection from a few years ago as "Joe's Junkyard", what other Pennsylvania trolley collections are you referring to as "languishing in the weeds". Two collections, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and the Rockhill Trolley Museum, are almost entirely indoors. I am not up-to-date on the status of the Electric City collection, but I believe that much of it is also under cover.


artschwartz@sprintmail.com

The Kalmbach Shortline railroads guide has listed the Middletown & Hummelstown as a reorganization of the Mason City and Clear Lake - an interurban line that survives with electric operation today as the Iowa Traction. Is the Middletown & Hummelstown still owned and operated by this individual/group? This may explain, in part, the collection of electric railway equipment.

Was anything scrapped in the clean-up?

altoonaroundhouse@umich.edu

M&H owner Wendell Dillinger once told me that he used to work for the Mason City & Clear Lake interurban line in Iowa. In 1970 he purchased their charter for future use, and used it as a basis for organizing the M&H in 1974, by simply changing the name from MC&CL to the M&H. Also see Ed Lewis's "The 'DO' Lines," pp.102-105 (1978).

K.R. Bell

> The Kalmbach Shortline railroads guide has
> listed the Middletown & Hummelstown as a
> reorganization of the Mason City and Clear
> Lake - an interurban line that survives with
> electric operation today as the Iowa
> Traction. Is the Middletown &
> Hummelstown still owned and operated by this
> individual/group? This may explain, in part,
> the collection of electric railway
> equipment.

> Was anything scrapped in the clean-up?

I also have ridden the M&H and the operation is very good. The one time I rode it, I had been at a family reunion near the Harrisburg PRR station in my grandmother's apartment building. I left near the end to catch the last M&H train of the day. It was powered by a diesel.

On the way up, the history of the line was quite interesting. On the way back, the sing-a-long was great. I was more interested in the RR and I got to be out on the rear platform of the coach as we backed up. However, the entertainment was what got locals to come back and enjoy and support the train.

As I recall, it is an ex-Reading branch.

They had a quarry open up on the line a couple of years before I rode and they told me that to move 110 ton cars for the quarry, they would have had to upgrade much of the track and it was beyond their justification to do that. Too bad - the quarry really wanted to ship by rail.

DvV


douglasvanveelen@mindspring.com

Thank you for all the kind words, eveyday we are slowly making improvements. The 91 is slated to run tuesdays,thursdays, and weekends in August. She is running great with little to no fanfare, is a great steaming locomotive.

~George

midh91@hotmail.com

> While I remember the M&H trolley
> collection from a few years ago as
> "Joe's Junkyard", what other
> Pennsylvania trolley collections are you
> referring to as "languishing in the
> weeds". Two collections, the
> Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and the Rockhill
> Trolley Museum, are almost entirely indoors.
> I am not up-to-date on the status of the
> Electric City collection, but I believe that
> much of it is also under cover.

I, too, would like to know more about the Electric City collection, as it was created through the merger of the McGee/Blossom collection and the Valhalla/Buckingham Valley/Penns Landing collection. While I believe both of the predecessor organizations still live on in some form, I am not completely certain that their entire collections have been redistributed. One or two of the Peter Witts are still able to ply the streets of Philly, I thought (and an amazing thing that is). I would like to know more, but it was clear from my visit to that area in the early 90s that both groups had too much restoration to do just to beat mother nature and the little elves (who essentially destroyed at least one car in Philly), and too few volunteers. I was most impressed by a brief meeting of Mr. Blossom himself, who I found to be an interesting amalgamation of Albert Einstein, a shop steward, and a resourceful Okey from 1930s America.

Perhaps in my mind I was lumping together Pennsylvania with Ohio, probably the state with the most nice (or formerly nice) electric cars languishing in the weeds at floundering museums or private collections.

I have never met Mr. Dillinger, but I understand he was an active, early member of RELIC/South Elgin. The two open cars at the M&H were at South Elgin, the single trucker operated right up to its delivery to PA. It did have a derailment problem, thought to be because the truck was out of tram, but also due to its miniscule flanges. It was interesting to find the little steeple cab in PA painted in CA&E colors!

> I, too, would like to know more about the
> Electric City collection, as it was created
> through the merger of the McGee/Blossom
> collection and the Valhalla/Buckingham
> Valley/Penns Landing collection. While I
> believe both of the predecessor
> organizations still live on in some form, I
> am not completely certain that their entire
> collections have been redistributed. One or
> two of the Peter Witts are still able to ply
> the streets of Philly, I thought (and an
> amazing thing that is). I would like to know
> more, but it was clear from my visit to that
> area in the early 90s that both groups had
> too much restoration to do just to beat
> mother nature and the little elves (who
> essentially destroyed at least one car in
> Philly), and too few volunteers. I was most
> impressed by a brief meeting of Mr. Blossom
> himself, who I found to be an interesting
> amalgamation of Albert Einstein, a shop
> steward, and a resourceful Okey from 1930s
> America.

> Perhaps in my mind I was lumping together
> Pennsylvania with Ohio, probably the state
> with the most nice (or formerly nice)
> electric cars languishing in the weeds at
> floundering museums or private collections.

> I have never met Mr. Dillinger, but I
> understand he was an active, early member of
> RELIC/South Elgin. The two open cars at the
> M&H were at South Elgin, the single
> trucker operated right up to its delivery to
> PA. It did have a derailment problem,
> thought to be because the truck was out of
> tram, but also due to its miniscule flanges.
> It was interesting to find the little
> steeple cab in PA painted in CA&E
> colors!

The steeple cab loco has an interesting history. It was built by GE in 1948 for the Kansas City Public Service Freight operation. After that road dieselized, the loco was acquired by the Hutchinson & Northern RR in 1960. (The H&N was a captive RR of the Cary Salt Co. in Kansas.)

The H&N dieselized in 1970, and Mr. Dillinger bought the loco in 1971 for use on the Iowa Terminal RR in Mason City. (He was president of the IT RR at the time.) It was moved on its own wheels to Mason City, refurbished for service, and painted in CA&E colors by Ed Allen, MM of the Iowa Terminal.

Unfortunately, the loco was never used on the Iowa Terminal, except for one day, and remained in storage in Mason City off the property till moved to Middletown, PA by Mr. Dillinger, after he had organized and began operating the Middletown & Hummelstown RR. The loco remains in dead storage at Middletown, PA. It is probably the last steeple cab loco for electric railway service ever built.

aeriola@adelphia.net

I am posting a series of bothersome photos that include equipment lost (or badly damaged) in the years of restoration attempts. This is not to slander or berate these groups who suffered the misfortune, but to realize that all the work we do can be lost, slowly and surely, if proper museum conditions are not maintained. The perpetual lack of esources was probably the biggest problem in preventing these stories, but probably also bad luck, bad decisions, or simple neglect.

First, a Philly Hog Island car.

A CTA 4000

Near retirement, Niagara St. Catherines and Torono 130. In 1955 went to Rail City, 1970 interior parts stripped by Magee museum (note correct spelling this time!) and then in 1990 trucks were taken by Seashore. A beautiful car with a sad fate, the body reportedly rots in Sandy Pond NY.

A steeple cab, which may yet still be restorable, but the uncanvassed roof boards blowing in the wind indicate that rot is setting in fast. Perhaps another salvage candidate if no action is taken.