A Big Event in Railroad Preservation

Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society Presents $50,000 To Railroad Museum Friends

Al Buchan, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society recently presented the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania with a check for $50,000. This sum represented the matching gift from the PRRT&HS's challenge to the Railroad Museum to raise $50,000 for the restoration of the historic Lindbergh Engine in six months.

"It gives me great pleasure to represent both the PRRT&HS as its current president as well as the PRR as a former employee and official," stated Buchan. Raising $50,000 in matching funds is quite an accomplishment especially in our current difficult economic times, and shows how great the interest is in preserving a part of the late, great PRR."

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania director Charles Fox said that the Museum had met the match of $50,000 on March 1, 2010, just two weeks shy of the end of the campaign.
"We were delighted to accept this gift from our generous friends at the PRRT&HS, on behalf of everyone who has contributed to the restoration of PRR E6 locomotive No. 460. The Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania had already raised $50,000 for the Museum's famed Lindbergh Engine when, late last summer, the PRRT&HS came forward and issued their challenge. This group recognizes the importance of preserving an artifact of this caliber and is willing to commit much-needed funds to the project. We are truly grateful for their support. Donations are still coming in and the Friends will continue to raise funds for the restoration of this engine through their annual fund and other methods at their disposal."

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and one of the artifacts from the famed Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Collection, No. 460 is slated to enter the Museum's restoration shop sometime this month. Current estimates are that, even with $150,000 for the restoration of this locomotive, an additional $235,000 will still be needed. The project is anticipated to take more than 10,000 hours, or three to four years, to complete.

"Only with financial and volunteer support of the railfan community can the Railroad Museum continue to meet its overwhelming and seemingly unending challenge to restore the collection," Buchan asserted. "If we, collectively, are not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. We cannot attack and solve this problem through the rose-colored glasses of idealism but rather through the pragmatic lenses of realism."

photos from Friends of the Railroad Museum, Strasburg, PA