NRHS awards preservation grants to 28 organizations

MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Twenty-eight organizations have been awarded a total of $125,000 from the National Railway Historical Society as part of its Railway Heritage Preservation Grants program, the organization has announced.

The 2024 grants are awarded in the memory of longtime member Carl S. Jensen, who died in March [see “Carl Jensen, manager of NS steam program, dies,” Trains News Wire, March 27, 2024]. His lengthy service with the organization and rail-industry experience were invaluable in administering the grant program, and the NRHS said it is grateful for the knowledge, experience, and dedication that Carl brought to the Heritage Grants committee for decades.

“The NRHS Heritage Grants program is a prolific and visible funder of restoration and preservation projects encompassing all aspects of railroading,” NRHS President Tony White said in a press release. “… These grants will help enable 28 non-profit organizations to continue to preserve America’s rich railroad history.”

Receiving grants are:

— Western Forest Industries Museum, Elbe, Wash.: $10,000 to complete the running gear rebuild on 1924 Porter 2-8-2 steam locomotive No. 5 of Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad.

— Lafayette County Historical and Genealogy Society, Darlington, Wis: $5,000 to restore a 1937 Magor Car Corp. caboose, built as Missouri Pacific No. 11020, for exhibit at the former Milwaukee Road Darlington depot.

— Hinsdale County Historical Society, Lake City, Colo.: $5,000 to restore the floor of 1881 Jackson & Sharp 3-foot gauge wooden baggage-coach combination car Denver & Reio Grande Western No. 211.

— West Gadsden Historical Society, Greensboro, Fla.: $5,000 to restore Clinchfield Railroad caboose No.1075 to Apalachicola Northern Railroad appearance for Apalachicola Northern lineside exhibit.

— Corry Rail and Industrial Legacy Society and Museum, Corry, Pa.: $5,000 to improve a shop building housing reconstruction of 1903 narrow gauge, wood-frame, T-boiler, box cab Climax geared locomotive, serial A-313, from gold mining Wild Goose Railroad, Nome, Alaska.

— Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, Tillamook, Ore.: $5,000 for telegraph office restoration at replica Southern Pacific Garibaldi depot.

— DuPont Historical Society, DuPont, Wash.: $5,000 to restore a narrow-gauge boxcar from the “dynamite train,” a powder plant railroad to a Puget Sound ocean wharf.

— Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum, Alna, Maine: $5,000 for materials to install Eames Automatic Continuous Vacuum Brake system on three 2-foot gauge cars: B&SR flatcar No. 34 (1881), WW&F combine No. 8 (1985), and WW&F caboose No. 320 (1901).

— National Capital Trolley Museum, Colesville, Md.: $5,000 to restore trucks under original Capital Transit PCC Streetcar No. 1101 (Washington, D.C.).

— Lake States Railway Historical Association, Baraboo, Wis.: $5,000 to upgrade computer system to support Chicago & North Western; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Milwaukee Road; and related railroad research.

— Central Vermont Railway Historical Society, St. Albans, Vt.: $5,000 to prepare detailed professional inventory of over 300 linear feet of ther society’s railroad archives. plus several dozen file cabinets, including the entire CV corporate, engineering, operations, and related railroad records dating from the 1840s to the 1990s.

— Branford Electric Railway Association, East Haven, Conn.: $5,000 to restore 10 rattan seats on Connecticut Co. streetcar No. 775 at Shore Line Trolley Museum.

— Tri-State Chapter NRHS, Boonton, N.J.: $5,000 to purchase high-speed scanner to initially digitize some 60,000 slides and photos from extensive collection of the late Mike Del Vecchio, covering the DL&W, New Jersey commuter railroads, and freight car file photos.

— Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. and Museum, Portland, Maine: $5,000 for structural lumber for operating restoration of 2-foot gauge Bridgton & Harrison coach Mount Pleasant, built in 1882 by Laconia Car Co. in New Hampshire.

— Danbury Railway Museum, Danbury, Conn.: $5,000 for initial cosmetic preservation of two New York Central electric locomotives, 1904 Alco/GE model S-1 No. 100 and 1926 Alco/GE model T-3a No. 278, both built for Harmon-Grand Central service.

— United Railway Historical of New Jersey, Boonton, N.J.: $5,000 for contract labor to service and restart prime mover within 1971 GE model U34CH diesel locomotive Erie-Lackawanna 3372, for operational restoration. This locomotive model, in New Jersey commuter service, inaugurated the 480 Volt AC head-end power concept.

— Rushford Area Historical Society, Rushford, Minn.: $5,000 to refurbish the visitors center and museum in former Milwaukee Road/Southern Minnesota Railroad depot.

— Waldwick Historical Society, Waldwick, N.J,: $4,550 for exterior spot repairs to 1890 Erie Railroad “WC” wooden Interlocking Tower.

— Iron Mountain Railway, Jackson, Mo.: $4,500 to repaint two 1926 Pullman-built electrified multiple-unit trailer commuter coaches, Illinois Central Nos. 1345 and 1365, to original IC colors.

— South Park Rail Society, Longmont,  Colo.: $4,500 for lighting and electrical system upgrade of the stone roundhouse at Como, Colo., of 3-foot gauge Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad.

— Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter NRHS, Scranton, Pa.: $4,200 to upgrade exterior lighting on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western passenger station platform and freight station at Moscow, Pa.

— Baltimore Streetcar Museum: $3,750 to conduct feasibility study for long-term lease of former Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad 1910 stone roundhouse in Baltimore.

— National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis: $3,000 to cosmetically restore Wabash cupola caboose No. 2847, built in 1952 at the company shops in Decatur, Ill.

— Western Museum of Mining and Industry, Colorado Springs, Colo.: $2,500 to restore two wooden D&RGW 3-foot gauge freight cars,  a gondola and a bottom dump car.

— Southeastern Railway Museum, Duluth, Ga.: $2,500 for cosmetic and mechanical restoration of U.S. Army Transportation Corps locomotive crane C-271, American Hoist & Derrick, 1953.

— Western Railway Preservation Society, Portland, Ore.: $2,000 to transport 1942 Pacific Car & Foundry (Renton, Wash.) narrow gauge side dump car White Pass & Yukon No. 664 from Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration, McEwen, Ore., to Antique Powerland Museum Association, Brooks, Ore., for restoration.

— Sacramento Valley Historical Railways, Woodland, Calif.: $2,000 for exterior repairs and painting of Southern Pacific cupola caboose No. 1156 (built by SP in Los Angeles, 1942).

— Tri-States Railway Preservation Society, Port Jervis, N.Y.: $1,500 to install HVAC system equipment in the “Big Red Boxcar,” a 1973 Fruit Growers Express 70-ft. insulated boxcar, SCL No. 499025, to protect archived railroad documents on exhibit near the former Erie Railroad Port Jervis turntable.