Railroad History at Risk - A National Landmark

In addition to the steam locomotives displayed outdoors at The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania this artifact is probably the most important. PRR electric class GG1 #4800 known around the world as "Old Rivets" was the prototype of the highly successful line of electric locomotives that established the first high speed passenger service in the Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington, DC. She was rescued from the scrap line by railroad enthisiasts of the Lancaster Chapter, National Railroad Historical Society, who conducted a successful campaign to purchase the locomotive and restore her PRR markings. You may see this "National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark" on display outside the museum dressed in thick black preservative paint. Today, the restoration and preservation job needs to be done again and you can take part.

If you are interested in taking part in the future of this great institution join The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Read about their work on the Museum's website. You don't have to live in the local museum area, although Friend's membership will provide you with free admission. The bi-monthly journal "Milepost" is worth the membership fees alone with it's railroad history presented in a way that's interesting to railroad fans and scholars alike. You should also look at the museum's restoration successes by clicking here.

COMING UP: Monday PRR #860 Metroliner Snack Bar Coach

Railroad History at Risk - Another Engine

The above photograph shows PRR #520 class L1s Mikado 2-8-2 locomotive displayed outdoors at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania without its sheet metal sheathing covers for the firebox and boiler. Removed for a mandated but underfunded asbestos abatement program, the sheathing is only one of a number of restoration steps that need to be taken to preserve and restore this railroad history treasure. You can help.

If you are interested in taking part in the future of this great institution join The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Read about their work on the Museum's website. You don't have to live in the local museum area, although Friend's membership will provide you with free admission. The bi-monthly journal "Milepost" is worth the membership fees alone with it's railroad history presented in a way that's interesting to railroad fans and scholars alike. You should also look at the museum's restoration successes by clicking here.

COMING UP: Friday PRR #4800 GG-1 Electric "Old Rivets"

Railroad History at Risk - Two More Engines

Two more historic locomotives sit outdoors in front of The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. These two are perhaps the most familiar iconic symbols of railroading history in the Pennsylvania Railroad's operating area. On the left is 4-6-2 Pacific class K4s #3750, the Official Steam Locomotive of Pennsylvania. PRR #6755 Mountain class M1 represents what some people consider to be the best class of steam locomotive ever designed and built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The class M1 was originally built for both freight and passenger service, but it proved best at moving freight on the railroad's Middle and Pittsburgh Divisions. The pair, along with three other Pennsy steam locomotives, are without the sheet metal sheathing over their fireboxes and boilers as a result of an underfunded but mandated asbestos abatement program. They sit in a climate that annually experiences both tropical heat and humidity and arid arctic temperatures. The key to the future of these treasures is investment by private individuals and organizations in their preservation.

If you are interested in taking part in the future of this great institution join The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Read about their work on the Museum's website. You don't have to live in the local museum area, although Friend's membership will provide you with free admission. The bi-monthly journal "Milepost" is worth the membership fees alone with it's railroad history presented in a way that's interesting to railroad fans and scholars alike. You should also look at the museum's restoration successes by clicking here.

COMING UP: Wednesday PRR #520 Mikado class steam locomotive

Railroad History at Risk - Two Engines

On the left, PRR class E6a #460, built in 1914 at the Pennsy's Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania, is know as "The Train That Beat The Plane". Learn more about #460 details by clicking here. Sitting in front of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania next to big Consolidated PRR #7688, the pair waits for funding to stabilize them against the effects of the Pennsylvania climate and to restore them to their original appearance. PRR #7688 represents the culmination of the 2-8-0 H class "Freight Hog" that performed more than a half-century of service. Locomotive #460 is without her sheet metal sheathing as a result of a mandated asbestos abatement that did not include funding for restoration to the pre-abatement condition.

If you are interested in taking part in the future of this great institution join The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Read about their work on the Museum's website. You don't have to live in the local museum area, although Friend's membership will provide you with free admission. The bi-monthly journal "Milepost" is worth the membership fees alone with it's railroad history presented in a way that's interesting to railroad fans and scholars alike. You should also look at the museum's restoration successes by clicking here.

Preservation Does Not Wait For Budgets

All over the world historic railroad rolling stock and structures await the healing touch of preservation. The relentless passage of time exposes much of this legacy to the constant erosion of climate. We can see with our own eyes the result of aging on our own planet. Canyons a mile deep are worn through solid rock. The same physical processes erode man-made artifacts, too. Much of the deferred preservation work is due to economic restrictions; not enough money. We can wait for the money to be raised, but if we wait too long our world will place some treasured artifacts beyond the ability of our good intentions to preserve.

To the point a good example is The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Nearly half the Museum's rolling stock collection is stored outdoors, unrestored. As a state entity, the Museum's funding is not only inadequate, but is being reduced over time. One source of hope for the museum's preservation funding needs is the Friends of the Railroad Museum. For 25 years The Friends have played an important part in museum operations, providing funds for staffing as well as preservation. It's apparent that The Friends will have to play a larger role in the next 25 years. The Friend's large corps of volunteers provide a public presence that allow the Museum to remain a leader in the railroad museum field.

If you are interested in taking part in the future of this great institution join The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Read about their work on the Museum's website. You don't have to live in the local museum area, although Friend's membership will provide you with free admission. The bi-monthly journal "Milepost" is worth the membership fees alone with its railroad history presented in a way that's interesting to railroad fans and scholars alike. You should also look at the museum's restoration successes by clicking here.

Over the next three weeks I will be showing you examples of The Museum's collection at risk and writing about their importance to American railroad history.

Where Can Stuff go by Rail? - UP

Probably no other American railroad has a name more steeped in history and myth as the Union Pacific. The story of the realization of President Abraham Lincoln's dream to link the nation together by building a railroad spanning two-thirds of the nation to the Pacific coast has been told in many books, and motion pictures of the dramatic as well as documentary variety. Lincoln, a former railroad lawyer, got the specific routing idea from General Grenville Dodge, the UP's chief engineer just before the Civil War of 1861-65. Dodge convinced Lincoln to build the railroad up the Platte River Valley and later got the President to support the 1962 and 1864 bills that made the road possible. Probably one of the most famous photographs in all American history shows the ceremonial meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869. The actual meet had occurred a few days earlier. Today, the UP has absorbed Central Pacific's successor Southern Pacific and operates one of the busiest rail lines in the U.S. over much of the same routing of the 1869 road.

One of the best accounts of UP and CP completing the transcontinental railroad is Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like it in The World" available from Amazon.com. Amazing isn't it? In the early 19th Century transportation and communications were conducted at the same speeds as the early Greeks and Romans. By mid-century people were moving at speeds up to ten times faster than any previous and messages crossed whole continents almost instantly.

Rail Brings The President-Elect to The Capitol

Photo by TRAINS Magazine Amtrak reporter Bob Johnston in Wilmington, Delaware.

At the end of a 6-1/2 hour trip from Philadelphia's 30th Street Station , Amtrak brought President-Elect Barak Obama to Washington, DC's Union Station. Amtrak's scheduled service is scheduled closer to 90 minutes for the 137 miles. Although the route is fully electrified, the 10-car train was headed by a pair of P42 diesels chosen for backup in case of power failure. The President-Elect along with Vice-President-Elect Joseph Biden and their families rode at the train's rear in 1939 vintage observation car "Georgia 300", chartered from a private owner. Three trains were used for the trip: a two-car advance train and a chase train for the Secret Service.

Historic Presidential Car on the Rails Today

Article in the Baltimore Sun does a much better job than I could in telling about the historic car "Georgia 300" carrying President-Elect Obama and VP-Elect Biden to Washington today. I hope many of you had the opportunity to watch on TV. Myself, I should have been on the platform at Perryville, Maryland to photograph but it was just too cold for me today. The 10-car set was behind a pair of P42 diesels rather than the usual AEM-7 electric. All other cars were the aging Amfleet cars used on "Regionals" on the Northeast Corridor.