CHICAGO – The Tom Dailey Foundation has approved $25,000 in grants to railroad heritage organizations. These are the first rail-related awards granted by the foundation, which was formed in December 2012.

The awards were made to the following organizations:

Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society, Inc., $5,000. Founded in 2001, the society is currently restoring three dining cars to operate on county-owned railroad between Scranton, Pa. and the Delaware Water Gap. The grant will be used to move the projects toward restoration, including updating kitchen equipment to meet health codes and interior refurbishment to return the cars to original appearance. The planned completion is Fall 2013.
Center for Railroad Photography and Art, $10,000. The grant will be used to present an exhibition at the Chicago History Museum called “Faces of Chicago’s Railroad Community: Photographs by Jack Delano.” The exhibit will comprise 60 photographs from 1942-43 and narratives about each of 48 individual workers. The center will also publish a 224-page catalog with additional photographs, expanded narratives, and essays by leading scholars. The show will run April 4, 2014 to Aug. 10, 2015.
Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum Inc., $2,500. The money will be used to build a fire-resistant car barn in Shelburne Falls, Mass., to store trolley No. 10, with room for restoration work on a second trolley body. Total cost is $75,000 of which $28,000 has been raised. This grant will be used for site preparation, foundation, and track work.
Travel Town Museum Foundation, Los Angeles, $4,000. The grant will be used in the “Little Nugget” restoration project. “Little Nugget” is a 1937 dormitory-lounge that served on the Union Pacific’s “City of Los Angeles” from the 1930s to the 1950s. The most challenging aspect of the interior restoration is the replacement of missing/damaged light sconces. The estimated cost is $12,000 to replace three of the sconces and repair several others, and for the electrical work. Work will begin as soon as funds are received, and will require several weeks to make castings and complete the assemblies. The museum, with more than 300,000 annual visitors, is operated by the City of Los Angeles and is located in Griffith Park.
Lake States Railway Historical Association, Inc., Baraboo, Wis., $1,500. The award will be used to partially fund a yearlong effort to catalog Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific technical drawings. The goal is to sort, describe, catalog, repair, and properly store as many as 15,000 of the drawings. Volunteers will contribute approximately 2,000 hours to unroll, describe, and store these drawings. The lsrha.org website currently lists 22,531 items in its searchable catalog.

Tim,

This is good news for the ELDCPS and all others who recieved awards.

What particular car/project is the one that the story refers to?