Please help save a museum!

[MasonJar]

This is how history disappears... Too bad that the political squabbling (between all parties) has lead to this outcome. If the rails-to-trails plan is still on the table, at least the station won't be lost. :?

Hope you've saved your pennies for that caboose - would make a great layout building...!

Andrew

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, there are further developments. Apparently, what the mayor is doing really is theft (trying to sell the trains without the titles or any documentation), and though the township council unanimously voted for a resolution that the trains will stay, they apparently have no power (then why are they there?). The Mayor was at this meeting, but made no comment. The Auction is in about a week, and it will be up to him.

He seems pretty driven to remove them, so who knows how it will go.

[Brakie]

Well, there are further developments. Apparently, what the mayor is doing really is theft (trying to sell the trains without the titles or any documentation), and though the township council unanimously voted for a resolution that the trains will stay, they apparently have no power (then why are they there?). The Mayor was at this meeting, but made no comment. The Auction is in about a week, and it will be up to him.

He seems pretty driven to remove them, so who knows how it will go.

Can the museum get a writ and stop the auction?

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I think that they plan to pursue legal action if the mayor doesn't back down soon, but they're running out of time if thats what they want to do.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Apparently after a LARGE group of people showed up at the last Township meeting, the town council unamimously agreed to let the trains stay. The auction for the trains has been cancelled, though i'm still in the dark on additional details.

It is a relief, since at least for now, things seem to be turning towards the positive.

[ngauger]

Wow!! A happy ending for the area..

[MasonJar]

Phew!!!

Hopefully there's some sort of reconciliation now the personalities seem to have calmed down. Good news!

Andrew

[Charlie B]

I have been very hesitant to step into this because I have seen both sides of the issue, but hoping that some of my thoughts may be passed on.
First I will tell you I have been involved with 3 different rail historical societies, and I am not impressed. I have seen donated equipment scrapped and the cash went into certain historical society members pockets. When this equipment is donated, the railroad that donates takes a tax write off, and it is usually written into the agreement that said equipment must be donated to another group in the event of group one disbanding.
I have dealt directly with several other groups that I was not a member, and quite frankly the arrogance of some of these people has caused more than one locomotive to be rendered to scrap. I personally arranged for transportation for 2 coaches (free move) but the society President was too busy to call me back. 2 weeks later the panic hit when the scrappers arrived with the torches. Tough isn't it.
If you want this equipment to be saved, start playing ball with people. Your group has created an eye sore. Just because we love trains doesn't mean that there aren't more people out there that see the dangers and liability of having this equipment sitting around. If you are going to cosmetically restore it, then get all the "whatyougottadois" guys off their butts and get it done.
When we started on the SW7 on the Y&S they were having a train festival in September. It was August 2nd when I got started. I was NOT a member of he historical society, nor were the 4 people that did most of the work. There were 140 members of this society, all saying whatyougottadois, while we got her done. Guess how many showed up for their train rides.....
So, remember be humble, and if you have folks that don't want to work, find some that will, and if they are willing to work and don't have money for dues so what. a small accident policy on volunteers is very inexpensive.
Keep the grounds neat and uncluttered. You are not a railroad yard and the public is watching everything you do.
It can be done but everyone has to work together and politicians can be a good source of revenue if you help them too.

Good Luck
Charlie

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I agree with you Charlie. Apparently, it was the opinion of more than one of the group's "higher ups" that the trains should have a used look. However, recent attempts to actually paint of fix anything always get stalled. There is CONSTANTLY new reasons that the group is not allowed to fix or restore anything, and anytime any large amount of work is getting done, Police are sent to chase them off. They've been getting ready to paint the locomotives into the Roebling Steel colors.

The day I was there, I left right before the police "condemned" the trains as being unsafe, but this was not done by the books and turned out to be unfounded (they're just rusty, not decrepit).

After that got sorted out, they tried to work on the stuff again, and were chased off AGAIN, now the mayor was making claims that this was "abandoned property", because the trains couldn't be moved in 30 days. As it turns out, that is also fishy, because soon they try to sell these trains at an auction, which is illegal since they don't actually own the trains and the township apparently really didn't have the rights to sell the trains.

The latest thing is now the trains are supposed to be "impounded", but this is using car and truck laws, and apparently its involving some legal wiggling and no one is quite sure the law will let them do that either. Besides, its not like these trains can just be picked up on a truck and shipped off. I'm sure they're going to sit there MUCH longer.

And lets not forget how this all got started. The township was physically there the day that 45 tonner was put on the ground. They told the trust to move it over and they moved it to where the township said to put it. The township made the mistake of leaving about a foot and a half of that thing over the side of Wawa's easement. The land deal to swap with the county wasn't even in jeopardy, at least not until the mayor of this town called the county seat about it.

It seems the ONLY reason that land swap might be in trouble is because the county does not want to be bothered with local politics, it has nothing to do with that extra locomotive being there. Indeed, it was the mayor who decided to over rule the township council's agreement to let them put that 45 ton switcher there after the fact.

Its just a tad agitating (not really at you, but using your words), that people say its an eye sore. The trains are rough, but that WHOLE area was loaded with debris from the past 100 years or so of the railroad having been there, and they've removed much of the junk and cleaned up a lot of the old buildings that would other wise be collapsing on themselves. On top of building the Section house back up, they rebuilt an old shed that belonged there, and an old telegraph house. They've cut up and scrapped endless amounts of old conduits and pipes to no where and junk that was in the ground.

Overall, the site is in MUCH better shape than it was before these guys came in.

I'll agree that some of the stuff that particular members try to save is worthless (like a piece of an old diesel headlight, that can go! same with a bunch of other rusty track bits that they'll never use and only need a couple to satisfy any "exhibit", not buckets worth), but a lot gets done all the time, until recently anyway.

Its easy to pick sides with these issues. I know the Historic trust has its faults, and as much as the trust demonizes the mayor, I'm sure he is not so much pure evil as he is just looking after his own agenda (such as revitalizing the "downtown" area of the town) and is pissed about some of the more personal battles going on between some of the members. I don't have an unrealistic polarized vision of good and evil in this situation, but you have to admit this is getting just a tad outrageous.

Still, its not like residents are loosing their minds over this "eye sore". More people have turned out in support of keeping the trains than not, and even the town council passed a resolution to keep them. If i wasn't afraid the police would arrest me, I'd probably just find some guys willing to help me paint the damn things and get this issue over with. I've done it before with that CNJ caboose, i can do it again. I'm dead serious to, i've got brushes and masking tape. all I need is to match the paint and see what i can get done.

[Charlie B]

I quite frankly don't understand what is going on there. If the Historical Society owns the equipment, and has a right for it to be where it is, then they also have a right to fix it up. You need an attorney and you need one now, and don't think for one minute that equipment can't be trucked out in pick-up trucks after it is cut into small pieces. I know of exactly that happening to a GP9 that a group would not move from a cities property after it had been ordered to do so, the city got a court injunction and sent a scrapper in and it was cut up and sold for scrap.
I understand what it is like to work for something and lose it. Years ago the group I was involved with lost a railroad line that was 12.9 miles long with an 1100 foot 100 foot high trestle and a 1/4 mile long tunnel that could have been made class one and operable for the first 7 miles with about 200 man hours of work, all due to infighting in the group.
Usually where politics are involved, try to follow the path the money will take.
Good luck.
Charlie

[Brakie]

Another way to keep the NIMBYs happy is to have a nice fence around the museum hulk storage/shop area and keep noise to a minimum.Display the refurbish equipment.

I agree with Charley's points as well..