Took these photos over the New Years Weekend at the Ohio Railroad Museum in Worthington.  The photos are off an old Norfolk & Western Steam Locomotive that used to haul high speed passenger trains in Ohio (Columbus to Portsmouth) and the heavyweight Pullman observation car "Time Square" which used to run on the Pennsylvania RR's "Broadway Limited".  Sad to see these two classics rusting away outside.  Don't know what, if anything is being done to prevent them from deteriorating further.

Nasty looking choo choos!

From what I am told, the locomotive was delivered to the Ohio Railway Museum not only in opoerating condition, but had been completely re-habbed by the Norfolk & Western Shops prior to its donation.  I hate to see such living history being allowed to sit idle and exposed to the elements.  Unfortunately, this is the fate of a number of pieces of vintage railroad equipment not only here but at other small rail museums.  Largely through no fault of their own, they either purchase or take donations of locomotives, passenger cars, etc and then they don't have the budgets or incoming funds to properly take care of these pieces of railroad history.

The locomotive looks OK. The passenger car next to it looks like what happens when paint is burnt off of steel.

Ohio Railway Museum's web site looks current and maintained, and it appears they still sponsor excursions and give short rides in an interurban car.

 

What noozer said is pretty much on the mark, about acquisitions exceeding capability to restore and maintain them. I haven't been there in twenty or twenty-five years, but then they were trying to raise money to fence the property because of terrible problems with vandalism. They had, indeed, spent so much money and effort trying to save every piece of junk they heard about from the scrapper, that they didn't have much left to even take care of their property. When I was there, the steam locomotive was still operable and occasionally ran excursions.

 

On their web site, I see that they've at least covered a lot of their equipment with tarps to protect it. They own some of rreally nice equipment, especially electric traction, and when I was there they also had a fair amount of junk that should have gone to somebody else. They once had aspirations to run their trolley line all the way downtown, but I suppose the right-of-way has been developed by now.

 

The Indiana Transportation Museum, in Forest Park at Noblesville, was in a similar situation, but I think they've cleaned up their act (and their junk). They have a large, capable shop and do some work on rolling stock for other tourist lines and private owners, and have built up a sizable fleet of restored locomotives, cabooses and coaches. The place used to be a junkyard, fascinating to walk through but challenging because of the weeds and brush. It was depressing when I really thought about it. I think the park department gave them an ultimatum to clean up or scram. They have a short stretch of electrified track where they give rides on vintage North Shore cars, and in the fall they operate shuttle trains between Fishers and the Indiana State Fair. They run occasional excursions in summer behind former Nickel Plate Light Mikado 587, a very handsome engine, and in the past they have run trips to Tall Stacks at Cincinnati.

I thought you'd be interested in this development regarding the earlier photos.

 

FOCUS ON TROLLEYS

Rail museum upsets some with changes

Monday, January 16, 2006

Dean Narciso

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

For decades, the bridge over Rt. 161 in Worthington announced "Ohio Railway Museum" to motorists below.

 

The museum has been synonymous with big, lumbering engines and the bygone days of passenger rail travel.

 

But a vote last month by the museum’s board of trustees will change the focus permanently to trolleys, prompting criticism from some rail purists.

 

"It makes me feel sick," said Mary Waller, 73, a museum volunteer. "It’s fine if they want to change the name. But we’re not trolleys. We’re a railroad museum. That’s what it’s been all these years."

 

The decision to change the focus of the 60-year-old museum actually was made about three years ago after a consultant recommended the museum accentuate the most significant part of its collection, said John Wells, a board member.

 

"There are relatively few museums that have trolley equipment and none that have the quality we have," Wells said.

 

One rail expert told the board, "You probably have the finest collection of inter-urban streetcars and trolleys in the U.S. and you should concentrate your efforts in preserving and showing these items," Wells recalled.

 

Since then, the 11-member board has been working to find buyers for 10 pieces of equipment.

 

The board voted last month to sell the pieces. Some will be scrapped, including two large cranes. New owners plan to restore others, including Engine 578, a Norfolk & Western steam engine that pulled passenger cars during the Depression.

 

"It’s our baby," said Waller, a former chief nurse at New York’s Pennsylvania Railroad Station. "All the kids can climb up in there. They take pictures and movies. I love it. You should hear the kids scream when they see these things. It’s the cornerstone of our museum."

 

Waller has said she and others have considered chaining themselves to the engine in protest.

 

The decision to sell the great engine to a restorer in Coshocton and two Pullman cars to another in Dennison was "agonizing" board president Bill Wahl said.

 

"Some of the pieces have been on that property for 35 years and nobody has taken care of them. They’re orphans," he said. "We have to be the caretakers of these. Rather than calling a scrapper company to come in and tear them up, we have to find them good homes."

 

Wahl conceded the engine is "a great attraction, but here’s an opportunity to see it run again. And that’s more important than for it to sit here and see it rust."

 

The steam engine alone would require $1 million to restore, he said.

 

Wells said the board is trying to become more professional.

 

"In the past, if you scraped 10 pounds of rust you got to be on the board."

 

He says the museum’s direction should be dictated more by reality and less by passion.

 

"You’ve got to separate idealism from realism."

 

Losing the engine, Wells said, is "like coming home from college and finding out your mother has thrown out your favorite toy."

 

Critics of the new focus "are still playing the game like it’s a railroad club, and someone’s taking their favorite piece."

 

 

[email protected]

 

It sounds like a very sensible move to me. Mainline steam and diesel equipment is prohibitively expensive to restore, maintain and operate, and increasing freight traffic and business pressures have caused many railroads to stop hosting mainline excursions; once a group has invested a ton of money in a locomotive, they have few opportunities to show it off doing what it was designed to do.

 

Nothing's inexpensive in railroading, but trolleys and interurbans can be restored and maintained by well-trained and -supervised volunteers, without massive investment in heavy equipment and without sending out multi-ton parts to specialty machine and fabrication shops for thousands of dollars worth of work.

 

Operating on museum-owned track, once the rails are in place and the catenary strung, is reasonably economical. With adequate training, a much greater number of volunteers can actually operate equipment than is the case with mainline rolling stock. That creates an opportunity for community involvement and participation. Lower operating costs and fares and more frequent operation with relatively short rides can make the museum attractive to a lot of people who wouldn't lay out $75 for a ticket and drive 100 miles to ride an all-day steam excursion.

I am fairly certain that the Coshocton, Ohio locomotive restorer, who will buy the ex-N&W steamer, is Jerry Jacobsen: the owner of the Ohio Central Railroad.  The O-C is a for-profit short-line freight operation and very well run and proiftable.  Jacobsen, as a side "hobby", is the nation's largest single owner of restored steam locomotives.  The O-C's shops will likely do the restoration work.  If it is anything like what they've done in the past, this locomotive will be up and running in excellent condition.

 

I agree this is a good move by the ORM.  Their biggest handicap over the years has been this almost schizophrenic split over whether they are a rail museum or a trolley museum.  Unfortunately, as this split has gone on for the past 20 years or so, this historic equipment has largely sat idle and subject to the ill-effects of exposure to the elements. They have a much better shot at suceeding as a trolley museum.