From the "First and Fastest" facebook page;




It would appear they are trying to be good neighbors.


Jeff

I was working building maintenance for the Chicago Transit Authority during the period during the seventies when they stopped using real glass due to breakage. What we found was acrylic, trade name Plexiglas and others, is worthless; if it doesn't break the first time the vandal hits it, they just hit it again harder and it does break. After a couple years of that, we switched to one of the hard surface poly-carbonate materials, trade names Marguard and Tuffack, and had a different problem develop; the sheets were so strong that with repeated beating, the sheet wouldn't break but it would destroy the sash or frame it had been installed in. By the mid eighties the CTA was covering all glazing within reach of the public with metal gratings.

Plastic safety glazing is ideal for preventing accidents like a child running into a storm door, or having the glass shatter when a door is slammed. When it comes to vandalism, the perpetrators just seem take safety glazing as a challenge, and always seem to rise to the occasion and break it anyway, often doing more damage because of the greater force applied. Glass is at least replaceable. By comparison, wood window sash are expensive to replicate, and the brass sash used in many twenties era cars are unobtainium.

The greenish imitation glass used in Reading Company MU cars in the 1970s was flexible. If hit hard in the middle, a vandal could pop it out of the metal frame.

If any of you were aware, over the weekend FRTM hosted an open house of sorts, giving tours of the carbarn and of the damage suffered.

I usually head there only once a year, but I decided to go there for the open house. When I drove in, there were far more cars than I had ever seen there. I initially walked down to the carbarn. Right outside of the carbarn, there was a fare box set up, soliciting donations to cover the damage. It was so full that I had trouble stuffing my donation inside. Right inside the carbarn, a crew from ABC 7 was onsite interviewing a volunteer. Once the interview was over, I was promptly given a tour of the cars, focusing on the damage done.

I then headed over to the ticket booth. Since it was an open house, tickets were actually provided for free (with the request of a donation, of course.) There was a second fare box set up there, which was so packed full of donations that a volunteer was having trouble dislodging the money to empty the box. Two cars were operating: CA&E 20, and CNSM 715.

I went aboard car 20 early, but it soon filled to the brim with visitors. Every bench was taken. When I have went there in the past, there are usually 5-10 people on any given ride. Almost 50 people is a big deal! Even more encouraging is that the crowd was not just railfans - there were a large number of families there, showing that the community as a whole, not just the railfan community, was rallying behind the museum. I took my ride, and then shortly after left.

Obviously the vandalism was tragic, and it would have been better if it had never happened. But it was encouraging to see so much support for the museum from the entire community. And on a side note, the gofundme page is at about $21,000 right now, out of a $110,000 goal. Progress seems to have been slow yet steady. I would say that in general, I left with a feeling of hope for the museum. I would say that us railfans need a good dosage of that after recent events like this, ITM and UP 844.

Thanks for the insight of your visit. I'm very happy to hear this, all things considered.