Should these B&SR cars be shiped and sold to the WW&F for better restoration?

[Matthew Gustafson]

Before these cars Deteroate badly that they can no longer run again?

[James Patten]

Let me speak on this, both as a director of the museum and as moderator of this forum.

The WW&F and Boothbay Railway Village both have a pretty good relationship with each other, considering our proximity (15 miles or so).  There is no way we would jeopardize this relationship by suggesting such a thing.  As BRV owns these cars, it's their call as to what they do with them.  I believe I've heard of long range plans to fix them up, but don't know of specifics beyond that.

End of discussion.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

To add to James' post, the folks at Boothbay are just as preservation minded as the WW&F.  A few years ago the  Boothbay carpenters built a covered shelter over most of their stored (not used in regular service) rolling stock.  This protects the cars from rain and sun damage plus it keeps heavy snow off the roofs each Winter.  In addition, the Boothbay shop crew recently rebuilt a SR&RL caboose and restored B&SR coach 11 for regular service.  The coach was originally the B&SR's 3 door combine.  The Boothbay people spent many hours on these cars.  I know that there was much research done to determine the original color of the B&SR car.  There's a photo of the finished car on the B&SR Coach 11 thread.  The Boothbay people do beautiful restoration work.   

[Ed Lecuyer]

To piggyback on Stewart's response...

Just this year, Boothbay Railway Village (BRV) received a grant from the National Railway Historical Society to help fund the building of a new car barn - a replica of the car barn used by the original WW&F. It is much better to ensure there is a good building to store restored equipment in before worrying about restoring the actual equipment.

A grant from the NRHS is not easy to get, and it shows that this accredited organization shows respect and admiration toward the work that BRV has accomplished.

In short, anything at BRV is in good hands, and I would not worry about it at all.

In the meanwhile, I again invite you to get involved at your local railway museum. I think you'll find out a lot more of the answers than you expect. You would also be contributing to the overall cause of railway preservation.

-Ed Lecuyer

[Matthew Gustafson]

I tryed to vollenter last year but unforunitly I Learned that I have to be 18 or older to Vollenter at IRM! So I Have to wait for about 2 more years. Also I Thanks for the info on how both of these museums working together to presrived our American Railroad History!