Railroad Forums 

  • How are your organizations doing?

  • General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.
General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.

Moderators: rob216, Miketherailfan

 #958787  by mxdata
 
I keep hearing a lot of bad things in the Northeast about donations being way down and other problems relating to the economy. Is this also the case in other parts of the country? How are the groups in your area doing?

MX
 #959484  by n2xjk
 
This forum might not have enough readers from those in the know about donation and attendance figures from the museum and tourist RRs. If you go to the RYPN.org interchange and search for these keywords you'll find a few past threads.
 #967022  by mxdata
 
I think you are probably right. When the "month old" postings on these discussions are only three or four entries down from the top, it is pretty evident there isn't much traffic here any more.

MX
 #967074  by n2xjk
 
Yea. Particularly if you want to reach the tourist and museum groups, whether steam, diesel or trolley, RYPN.org has that audience. Here at the Trolley Museum of New York, our attendance this year is trending to be similar to last year, perhaps slightly up.
 #978777  by mxdata
 
In my area, several of the local "historical" organizations are filling in their program calendars with showing commercial videotapes because they do not have enough members left who put together slide or PowerPoint programs, and can no longer lure presenters from further away due to the high cost of travel. I doubt that very many of their members will bother to renew their memberships in order to drive to meetings where they see videotapes that they could purchase to view at home for less than the cost of travel to the group meetings.

So I would have to say that some groups are not doing very well right now.

And I notice the rate of postings on this website is down significantly compared with a few years ago.

MX
 #1038222  by archw
 
I am a Trustee of Andover Historical Society in Andover NH. Our chief asset is our Railroad Museum which consists of the station building, a restored caboose, a freight shed and a freight/box car. The rails are still intact. The station was the old Potter Place Station coming up from Concord. My question is this: our project this year is to restore the freight car which is 'parked' at the shed siding. I would like to move it further down the track to make it more accessible to work on. My thought is to get the Town grader to pull it but am concerned the wheels may not turn. Is this likely? If so would they break free easily? Also do you have any advice as to how to proceed with the restoration? We know we have to strip the old paint (lead-based), then power-wash with an auto wash no-wax, then self-etching primer, then a uro primer. Who does this type of work? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.