Received this message on another board. The St Louis Museum of Transportation is dispersing a part of its collection.
http://www.rrarchives.com/Rail_Deaccession_2009.pdf
From: Butterworth, Molly [mailto:MButterworth@...]
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:30 AM
Subject: Museum of Transportation Railroad Equipment Available
Good morning,
The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, has recently undertaken a year-long analysis of its railroad motive power, rolling stock, and electric railway collections. As a result of that analysis, several objects were deaccessioned from the collections for one or more reasons including a lack of relation to the collecting scope or mission or the presence of a duplicate or similar item already in the collection. Those objects are now being made available to other
organizations. A PDF document with information about the objects and the guidelines for submitting a proposal to obtain them is attached.
We encourage proposals from organizations supporting the preservation of railway heritage such as yours. If you have any questions regarding the equipment or proposal process, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you,
Molly Butterworth
Curator/Interim Director
Museum of Transportation
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My response on that board was:
I just looked at the catalog. Several issues, and at least one has my head
scratching:
- UP RPO. Built by ACF. That car came from the St Charles plant of ACF. It has some small degree of local history just in its manufacture.
- The Wabash GP-35: It does have a legitimate connection to Missouri. Why are they dumping it?
- Frisco 200: Another car that has legitimate connection to St Louis and Missouri. My guess is they're dumping it because they cannot preserve it.
- The Army diesels: I don't know what sort of industrial railroad Jefferson Barracks ever had, so I don't know if they have a legitimate place in the collection, or are simply sitting in museum collection storage.
- The GN tender: What is it doing in St Louis, unless it was to be a water car for Frisco 1522?
- B&O Skydome. Kasten and Butterworth donated it to get it off their books it looks like. Does it have operational significance to St Louis??
- The "Frisco Blubonnet" (actually the ex-Milwaukee Road Milwaukee) appears to be a sleeper lounge repainted for Frisco 1522 service: I can see what it's being removed from the collection. The Milwaukee never made it to St Louis.
This is the same complaint I have with the Kansas City Union Station collection! Equipment is gathered somewhat willy-nilly, with no regard for its local history. In this case though, it's easy to see that several donors "dumped" their problems onto the museum, and got the tax write-off to boot.
To me, while it looks like St Louis is getting some "junk waiting to happen" off their books, they are also trying to, to some degree, tighten up the relevance
of their collection.
http://www.rrarchives.com/Rail_Deaccession_2009.pdf
From: Butterworth, Molly [mailto:MButterworth@...]
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:30 AM
Subject: Museum of Transportation Railroad Equipment Available
Good morning,
The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, has recently undertaken a year-long analysis of its railroad motive power, rolling stock, and electric railway collections. As a result of that analysis, several objects were deaccessioned from the collections for one or more reasons including a lack of relation to the collecting scope or mission or the presence of a duplicate or similar item already in the collection. Those objects are now being made available to other
organizations. A PDF document with information about the objects and the guidelines for submitting a proposal to obtain them is attached.
We encourage proposals from organizations supporting the preservation of railway heritage such as yours. If you have any questions regarding the equipment or proposal process, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you,
Molly Butterworth
Curator/Interim Director
Museum of Transportation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My response on that board was:
I just looked at the catalog. Several issues, and at least one has my head
scratching:
- UP RPO. Built by ACF. That car came from the St Charles plant of ACF. It has some small degree of local history just in its manufacture.
- The Wabash GP-35: It does have a legitimate connection to Missouri. Why are they dumping it?
- Frisco 200: Another car that has legitimate connection to St Louis and Missouri. My guess is they're dumping it because they cannot preserve it.
- The Army diesels: I don't know what sort of industrial railroad Jefferson Barracks ever had, so I don't know if they have a legitimate place in the collection, or are simply sitting in museum collection storage.
- The GN tender: What is it doing in St Louis, unless it was to be a water car for Frisco 1522?
- B&O Skydome. Kasten and Butterworth donated it to get it off their books it looks like. Does it have operational significance to St Louis??
- The "Frisco Blubonnet" (actually the ex-Milwaukee Road Milwaukee) appears to be a sleeper lounge repainted for Frisco 1522 service: I can see what it's being removed from the collection. The Milwaukee never made it to St Louis.
This is the same complaint I have with the Kansas City Union Station collection! Equipment is gathered somewhat willy-nilly, with no regard for its local history. In this case though, it's easy to see that several donors "dumped" their problems onto the museum, and got the tax write-off to boot.
To me, while it looks like St Louis is getting some "junk waiting to happen" off their books, they are also trying to, to some degree, tighten up the relevance
of their collection.
~John Perkowski: Moderator: General Discussion: Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Equipment
Assistant Administrator: Railroad.net/forums
Jeff Smith & Greg Primrose now own railroad.net!
Assistant Administrator: Railroad.net/forums
Jeff Smith & Greg Primrose now own railroad.net!
