Wabtec Donates Unit to Lake Shore Museum

Wabtec has donated an Erie-built locomotive to the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pennsylvania.

The unit, GECX 6002, a GE-built AC6000 is one of the most powerful diesel locomotives ever built and is the first AC traction unit to be preserved by a museum.

The 6002 arrived at the museum on March 17.

Although built in 1998 for the Union Pacific, the 6002 was returned to GE to become part of the company’s engineering test fleet.

At that time it was repainted red and gray. It has since been retired.

The Lake Shore museum specializes in collecting GE locomotives built at the nearby GE assembly plant in Lawrence Park.

EL Dining Cars to be Moved from Scranton

Two former Erie Lackawanna dining cars are being moved from their current home in Pennsylvania to a new museum in New York.

The cars, which are owned by the Dining Car Society, formerly known as the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society, have been based in Scranton for the past 15 years.

They will move to the Port Jervis Transportation History Center in Port Jervis, New York, sometime before the museum celebrates its grand opening over Memorial Day Weekend. 

The collection of dining cars includes, former Lackawanna No. 469 and EL No. 741.

The announcement of the move indicated that Lackawanna No. 470, will remain in Scranton and be transferred to the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad because of its historic ties to that part of Pennsylvania.

The Dining Car Society also has sold 1970s era commuter cars, one to the New York, Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society and the other to the Port Jervis museum.

Boxcar to Become Conrail Museum in Pennsylvania

Drawings show plans for how a boxcar will be transformed into a museum and archive by the Conrail Historical Society.

A former Conrail boxcar will be transformed into a museum operated by the Conrail Historical Society in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.

The 86-foot auto-parts boxcar, Conrail No. 295644, was donated by CSX.

Built in 1970, the car will be repainted into Conrail markings and its 10,467-cubic-foot interior will become a museum and archive.

The bulk of the funding of the project will be a $100,000 grant from the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau.

The remaining $34,000 will come from the society funds and in-kind donations of local contractors for material and labor.

The boxcar is now in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and will be moved by truck. The museum is projected to open in 2021.

North East Museum Gains 10th Vintage GE Locomotive

The Lake Shore Railway Museum and Historical Society has added a 10^th General Electric-built vintage locomotive to its collection.

The latest addition to the collection in North East, Pennsylvania, is a 45-tonner originally used by the U.S. Army.

No. 10 was built by GE in 1943 and had been sitting at ELG Metals southeast of Pittsburgh.

The company agreed to donate the locomotive to the museum with Wabtec, which now owns the GE locomotive assembly plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, providing technical assistance on how to move the diesel.

The move was handled by Daily Express of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The Lakeshore museum plans to restore No. 10 to operating condition.
The vintage GE engines are part of a collection that has been named “Locomotives that our parents and grandparents built.”

Rover Winning Name for Steamtown Locomotive

The winner of a locomotive naming contest conducted by Steamtown National Historic Site is Rover.

That name will be applied to a Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 switcher that the museum uses to pull its Scranton Limited excursion train on short trips on select days.

The winning entry was submitted by 3-year-old Gracee Straut, of Old Forge, Pennsylvania.

The contest was limited to contestant age 6 and younger.

The Rover name will be used through the 2020 railroad operating season.

In a news release, Steamtown said several dozen youngsters offered names during Railfest 2019, the park’s annual celebration of railroads.

This year’s themes commemorated the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad  and the 60th anniversary of the first Reading Company’s Iron Horse Rambles that operated in eastern and central Pennsylvania.

The winner was chosen by a panel of three Steamtown employees with the longest park tenure: Preservation Specialist John Melliand, Supervisory Park Ranger John Mucha, and Trainmaster Willard Sturdevant.

Steamtown said the judges thought Rover best fit the personality of BLW No. 26.

Gracee received a certificate, tickets for her family to ride behind Rover on the Scranton Limited, and several of the site’s collectable trading cards showcasing some of the park’s locomotives and rolling stock.

No. 26 was built in 1929 at Baldwin’s assembly plant south of Philadelphia and was used by the builder in its own railroad yard.

It can carry nearly seven tons of coal and 1,750 gallons of water. It is capable of producing 29,375 pounds of tractive effort.

Pa. Trolley Museum Sets Annual Meet

The Pennsylvania Trolly Museum will be conducting its annual Western Pennsylvania Trolley Meet on June 1-3.

Admission each day is $10 per person although a three-day pass can be purchased for $25.

Throughout the meet, cars from various transit companies and agencies will be in operation and on display.

A night photo shoot will be held on Saturday night and coordinated by Steve Barry, editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine.

There will also be model railway vendors, traction memorabilia dealers, presentations, demonstrations, a model contest, and hourly door prizes.

The museum is located at 1 Museum Road in Washington, Pennsylvania. Further information is available at  patrolley.org

North East, Pa., Museum Gets GE Switcher

The Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pennsylvania, has received a GE 80-ton switcher that was built in 1944 for the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad and also has an Ohio connection.

The locomotive was transported to the museum by flat car.

Once owned by a Lordstown steel company, the locomotive was later given to the Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation.

The Youngstown museum traded it to the Pennsylvania museum.

It was the first diesel-electric locomotive owned by G&W and also served as an industrial switcher for the Kinzua Dam project on the Allegheny River near Warren, Pennsylvania.

Altoona Museum Roundhouse Getting ‘Tenants’

The new roundhouse in Altoona, Pa., at the Railroaders’ Memorial Museum will soon get some “new” tenants.

Museum officials said they plan to move into the facility Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 electric locomotive No. 4913, Pullman solarium observation Loretto, Vulcan-built 0-4-0T Nancy, and Broadway Limited observation lounge Mountain View.

The tender from the museum’s Pennsylvania K-4s Pacific is now housed in the building. Museum volunteers are currently working to reassemble No. 1361, which was disassembled 18 years ago for restoration.

Construction of the roundhouse has been underway for more than two years.

The roundhouse will also have classroom space for Penn State’s railroad engineering and management classes.

 

 

Tom Dailey Foundation Awards Grants

Five Pennsylvania museums and one located in Indiana have been awarded grants by the Tom E. Dailey Foundation. The grants total $44,765.00 and were announced on Aug. 9. Among the grant recipients are:

Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, Beaver, Pa.: $1,000 to restore the Beaver railroad station, which was built in 1897 by the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie. It will house a local genealogy collection and two classrooms. The grant will be used toward renovation of the exterior of the station.

Steam Into History, New Freedom, Pa.: $2,000 for the purchase and installation of a handicap lift. The group was formed in 2010 to provide Civil War railroad history to the general public. Visitors board a replica train that travels a 30 mile route taken by Abraham Lincoln to deliver his Gettysburg Address.

Northwestern Pennsylvania Railroad and Tooling Heritage Center, Meadville, Pa.: $4,465 to be used to insulate the exterior walls of a former trolley station as part of a capital improvement project for the completion of a transportation museum. The main goal of the project is to create and operate the trolley station museum as an educational and interpretive center emphasizing the industrial history of trolley, railroad and canal transportation in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Inc., Washington, Pa.:  $3,000 for refurbishment of 1926 Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. (Red Arrow) center door car No. 66. Work will include repainting the exterior, reupholstering the interior, rebuilding one truck with overhauled traction motors, replacing windows, and rebuilding the center door steps and underframe.

Railways To Yesterday, Inc.; Rockhill Furnace, Pa.:  $2,500 to restore Johnstown Traction Co. car No. 311, a Birney Safety Car built in 1922 by the Wason Manufacturing Co. of Springfield, Mass. Safety trolleys are designed to operate with just a motorman, saving the cost of the conductor. The car, which ran on the museum’s line, was taken out of service for repairs in 2004.

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, Inc., North Judson, Ind.; $3,300 to replace 250 ties on 33 miles of former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway track.

Also receiving grants were the Milwaukee Road Heritage Center, Montevideo, Minn., ($3,000); New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railway Historical Society, Albuquerque, ($7,500); Sarpy County Historical Society, Bellevue, Neb., ($2,500); Austin Steam Train Association, Inc., Cedar Park, Texas, ($2,000); New England Steam Corp., Winterport, Maine, ($2,000); The Toy Train Depot, Alamogordo, N.M., ($4,000); and the Railroad Museum of New England, Inc.; Thomaston, Conn.; ($2,500)