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Re: Why no diesel or steam at Rio Vista JCT?
Author: fkrock
Date: 10-24-2016 - 11:37
Negin Wrote:
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> They need to get some new blood on their board
> that would be open to running non-electrics (steam
> and diesel) like they did eons ago. If they want
> to stick with the transit type trains only, maybe
> a rename is do, like WTM - Western Transit Museum.
Changing the legal name, tax exempt certification, and property deeds would be a monster amount of work with little benefit to the organization. You will find that many railroad museums still legally use an old name. For example, The Shoreline Trolley Museum is still owned by The Branford Electric Railway Association.
At one time the Bay Area Electric Railway Association (BAERA) used the name "California Railway Museum" for the museum at Rio Vista Junction. But too much confusion resulted when the state opened a museum with a very similar name in Sacramento. So after several years BAERA changed the name to Western Railway Museum for the museum at Rio Vista Junction. The BAERA collection began life as an electric railway or trolley museum.
The museum at Rio Vista Junction was always second rate compared with the state museum in Sacramento. The State museum had a mountain of money and the prestige of the state of California behind it. Eventually the BAERA Board of Directors decided to specialize in electric railways because the state museum does not include any electric railway vehicles or information about electric railways in its collection.
There is no reason why a museum must operate everything in its collection. Most operating railway museums also have static equipment displays. Look at the state museum in Sacramento. The Sacramento Northern interurban line was wholly owned by Western Pacific. Thus the WP steam locomotives are relevant to the history on SN. Both steam locomotives are inside buildings to protect them from the weather. WP #94 is in a display building open to the public. The paint has been touched up to keep it looking good and rust protection has been applied where appropriate. #94 has been very carefully inspected by competent people who determined that it is totally worn out mechanically and would require a large amount of very costly repair ever to run again.
WP #334 suffers from the effects of being stored unprotected outdoors in the days before it came to Rio Vista Junction. After it came to RVJ it was owned by people who did not have money needed to protect it from the weather.
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> They need to get some new blood on their board
> that would be open to running non-electrics (steam
> and diesel) like they did eons ago. If they want
> to stick with the transit type trains only, maybe
> a rename is do, like WTM - Western Transit Museum.
Changing the legal name, tax exempt certification, and property deeds would be a monster amount of work with little benefit to the organization. You will find that many railroad museums still legally use an old name. For example, The Shoreline Trolley Museum is still owned by The Branford Electric Railway Association.
At one time the Bay Area Electric Railway Association (BAERA) used the name "California Railway Museum" for the museum at Rio Vista Junction. But too much confusion resulted when the state opened a museum with a very similar name in Sacramento. So after several years BAERA changed the name to Western Railway Museum for the museum at Rio Vista Junction. The BAERA collection began life as an electric railway or trolley museum.
The museum at Rio Vista Junction was always second rate compared with the state museum in Sacramento. The State museum had a mountain of money and the prestige of the state of California behind it. Eventually the BAERA Board of Directors decided to specialize in electric railways because the state museum does not include any electric railway vehicles or information about electric railways in its collection.
There is no reason why a museum must operate everything in its collection. Most operating railway museums also have static equipment displays. Look at the state museum in Sacramento. The Sacramento Northern interurban line was wholly owned by Western Pacific. Thus the WP steam locomotives are relevant to the history on SN. Both steam locomotives are inside buildings to protect them from the weather. WP #94 is in a display building open to the public. The paint has been touched up to keep it looking good and rust protection has been applied where appropriate. #94 has been very carefully inspected by competent people who determined that it is totally worn out mechanically and would require a large amount of very costly repair ever to run again.
WP #334 suffers from the effects of being stored unprotected outdoors in the days before it came to Rio Vista Junction. After it came to RVJ it was owned by people who did not have money needed to protect it from the weather.
