Bringing Electrification to TMNY

My name is Omar Pagan and I am a member of the Car Preservation and Restoration Group, founded in 1987 in Brooklyn, New York and currently based at the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston. I have been volunteering in the preservation effort since August 2014.

Since then, I myself and many others involved with the preservation effort, including as those involved directly with the museum, have been working together in sharing and discussing ideas, as well as finding ways in interacting and educating others about our transit history. We have been also been working alongside with a few other museums and preservation groups in order to help provide ideas and support with one another.

Our aim with this project and others is to not only improve the museum, but attract others to see first hand in what we currently do. We want for this to be a very interactive, very hands-on, worthwhile experience for all.


To better understand what we intend on doing on this project, we'd like to provide you with a background of who we are. The Trolley Museum of New York was founded in 1955 by a group of individuals with one thing in mind: preserving history. One of our goals has always been to share the rich history of rail transportation with the public through educative programs and rides on our vintage equipment. Over the years, our collection grew larger and it came time for us we to find a place to exhibit our collection in one place. And so in 1983, we found a home in what was once the rail yards belonging to the former Ulster and Delaware Railroad, located in the city of Kingston in Ulster County, New York.


Unfortunately, despite having our unique collection of trolleys and other transit equipment (many hailing from New York City) on display for all to see, we have not yet been successful in fulfilling one of our goals – to allow the public to experience this rich history of transportation come to life.


Logistical issues and a lack of adequate funding have hampered us as a museum in running electric wire along our trackage in order to operate our equipment. As our current home is the former site of a railroad yard, the trackage in our museum has always been intended for railroad usage. One of the conditions set to us when we first moved to the city of Kingston was that we had to begin museum operations immediately. While it was always our plan to electrify the trackage, in our current state, we have not been able yet to modify our tracks for other transit vehicles, thanks to the conditions set forth to us by the city at the time.


We have gas lines that run under some of our tracks. A number of these gas lines consist of metal piping; one spark from electrified track and we run the risk of a gas explosion. Our trackage is not yet properly modified to prevent such event, for it is currently set up specifically for railroad equipment, not for trolleys. With needed funds, we would be able to modify our tracks so that we can run electric wire from above and prevent the danger mentioned.


While we have one trolley car, the Johnstown Car #358, to transport visitors throughout our main line along the Hudson River, it is the sole piece of equipment we currently have that can actually run, as car #358 runs on diesel fuel. Everything else in our collection either requires electricity to work, or is currently out of service at this time.


Like other museums along the east coast, we're still recovering from the effects of Superstorm Sandy. We've always strived to improve our museum for the enjoyment of our visitors and we continue to do so today. However, the funds that currently come our way are not sufficient for a project such as electrification to become a reality, let alone help restore some of our vintage equipment that need attention.



Fortunately, we’ve recently started to receive an immense amount of support from the transit community in New York City. Last September, a great effort began in assisting us with the restoration of one of our transit cars – R16 car #6398, which suffered mechanical damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 by flood waters from the nearby Hudson River.  In just a few short months, we accomplished a great deal of restoration work on this thanks to this new infusion of support, which sprouted a few other projects as well, such as the restoration of R4 car #825 and the revival of our one-of-a-kind Whitcomb Diesel locomotive #9. You can see what we’ve done here in this link - http://www.tmny.org/tmnyvol.html


This support and attention encouraged us to pursue a turnaround of our collection, a strengthening of our goals and mission to educate the public, and an overall revival of our museum grounds and organization. As the year 2015 begins, we want to make this museum a place where the experience of learning transit history can be enjoyed by all – from transit buffs, to the casual museum visitor. And the installation of wire for electricity will enable all to reach that optimal experience. And you - the fellow transit fan, the railroad buff, the rail aficionado - can take part of this new turnaround. For your enjoyment. For the enjoyment of all.


Our current project presented to you today is simple. We need a total of $50,000 to hire an engineering firm to help design our wire and track set up to power our collection of trolleys and transit equipment. This year 2015, we as the Trolley Museum of New York are all about progress. As part of our ongoing effort to turn around our museum and provide you an amazing experience, we will be asking you to help support our cause for electrification of the museum grounds.


When we reach our goal of $50,000, we can then complete the engineering process. Then we can initiate the process of setting up wire and preparing an electrical plant to power that wire. We can then expect to see trolleys run on our tracks by the end of the year or sometime next year.


The project is being done with you in mind. How soon we can complete this task depends on your support! Help us reach our goal and in turn, we will provide you with the optimal transit fan experience.


Please check out the links below. You will see what The Trolley Museum of New York's all about. You will also see a Facebook group dedicated to the restoration effort of R16 subway car 6398 and all of our hard work so far (you need a Facebook account and join this group to see content).

It has been an amazing one so far. Please come and join me.


Links:

The Trolley Museum of New York 
The R-16 #6398 Restoration Page
Volunteers at TMNY