NRHS awards $48,000 to nine organizations NEWSWIRE

The National Railway Historical Society has awarded $48,000 to nine recipients of its annual Heritage Grants Program. The recipients are nonproft organizations, including historical societies, museums, and an NRHS chapter. This year’s grants were awarded to the following recipients:

$8,000 to the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation in Portland, Ore., towards the refurbishment and installation at its Rail Heritage Center of a 102-foot continuous turntable, the last remaining historic element of the former Southern Pacific Brooklyn roundhouse. It will be one of only a handful of powered operating turntables accessible to the public in the West.

$8,000 to the Roanoke Chapter, NRHS in Roanoke, Va., to replace window gaskets and related parts of former Norfolk & Western Railway “Jim Crow” coach no. 512, built in 1949 by Pullman Standard Co., that was originally part of the consist of the railroad’s classic streamliner named the Powhatan Arrow.

$3,500 to the North Carolina Railway Museum in New Hall, N.C., towards the rehabilitation of the Goldston Depot, a small town freight depot constructed around 1884 by the Cape Fear & Yadkin Railway, and later operated by the Southern Railway. The depot has been relocated to the grounds of the museum and will be available for  visitors to view the original interior and a display of historic artifacts stored by the museum.

$8,000 to the Pacific Railroad Preservation Society in Portland, Ore., for work relating to the 15-year FRA boiler inspection and rebuild of former Seattle, Portland & Spokane steam locomotive No. 700, originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1938. The locomotive is the railroad’s last surviving Northern E-1 class. The NRHS grant is specifically for the rebuild of two air pumps used in the locomotive braking system.

$2,000 to the New England Steam Corporation in Winterport, Maine., toward the replacement of the tender cistern and coal bunker of Maine Central passenger steam locomotive Pacifc class No. 470, built by the American Locomotive Co. in 1924. The locomotive was the last steam locomotive to operate on the Maine Central. The locomotive tender restoration is part of the overall project to restore No. 470 to operating condition.

$5,000 to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, Minn., for the cosmetic restoration of Erie Mining Co. S-12 switcher No. 403 (later renumbered 7243) the last diesel to leave the Baldwin Locomotive Works factory in Eddystone, Pa., in 1956 when the factory closed. The locomotive worked at the Erie Mining plant in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., from 1956 to 1992 when it was donated to the Museum.

$8,000 to the Nashville Steam Preservation Society in Nashville, Tenn., towards the rebuild of the Worthington SA Hot Water Pump, a part of the feedwater system of Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis steam locomotive No 576, a 4-8-4 J-3 class engine built by the American Locomotive Co. in 1942. The restoration of the pump is part of the restoration of the locomotive to operating condition.

$2,500 to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Nevada City, CA to restore gondola car #233, built in 1917 and used by the Southern Pacific narrow gauge line until 1955. It is the only remaining SP narrow gauge gondola car that has all mechanical parts preserved and can be fully restored.

$3,000 to the Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad in Folsom, Calif., for brake equipment parts for Southern Pacific “suburban” coach No. 2110 built by the Pullman Co. in 1924 and used in regular commuter service between San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. It is a passenger car design that dominated northern California commuter trains for decades. The NRHS grant will enable the car to return to operating condition after cosmetic repairs.

–From an NRHS press release