Congratulations to all the recipients.



Tom E. Dailey Foundation, Inc.
GRANT AWARD ANNOUNCEMENTS - August 21, 2015

The Board of Directors of the Tom E. Dailey Foundation is pleased to announce the following 12 railroad heritage grant awards totaling $22,500 which were approved at the August 21, 2015 quarterly board meeting. Since its creation in 2013, the Foundation has awarded grants totaling $414,300. We would like to thank the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad for their hospitality in hosting our board meeting.


Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, Inc., Dennison, OH $ 7,500

This long-time and well established group in Dennison, Ohio, has received an 80% Ohio Department of Transportation matching grant for the cosmetic restoration of a 1940s Kanawha Steam Engine 2700, and the restoration of a former Pullman Bed & Breakfast car into an operating bed & breakfast car. The steam engine is one of the only remaining Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad engines of its kind. It will be used in a wide variety of museum exhibits and programs. The Pullman car, once up and operating, will bring in hotel tax revenues to the community, enable exhibit and tour opportunities, and house college interns for railroad research projects at the museum. This is the 8th phase of a comprehensive restoration of this 1873 Pennsylvania Railroad Station and surrounding area begun in 1984 and will be designated Ohio’s 70th National Historic Landmark. In 2011, Dennison Railroad Depot Museum was named Museum of the Year by the Ohio Museum Association. Museum visitors and train ridership combined exceed 65,000 annually.

Rosenberg Railroad Museum, Rosenberg, TX $ 2,000

The project is to restore their Missouri Pacific Caboose #13591. The caboose was donated to the museum in 2007 from the Houston Children’s Museum, and it is in need of repair and restoration to make it safe. An estimated 60,000 visitors have toured the caboose since its move to the Rosenberg. The museum provides insight into the history of the railroads in Fort Bend County, Texas. Their focus is largely educational. In addition to the caboose, the museum has an operating 1903 switch tower where visitors can operate the semaphore, an 1879 private rail car, a replica of the train depot and water tower that serviced the original steam engines, along with a garden railroad and HO model train layout.


Railways To Yesterday, Inc., Rockhill Furnace, PA $ 2,000

This group requested funds to transport a 1937 Baldwin #404 electric locomotive to their museum, the Rockhill Trolley Museum. Originally constructed for the Niagara Junction Railway Company, #404 was overhauled in 1974 and is fully operational. They anticipate using the locomotive not only for display and demonstration purposes, but also to tow other pieces in the collection when needed for maintenance or display. Railways to Yesterday is able to acquire #404 for only the cost of its relocation.

Center for Railroad Photography and Art, Madison, WI $ 2,000
A previous grant recipient, The Center for Railroad Photography and Art requested funds for their “Railroad Heritage Visual Archive.” The Center has acquired several new collections of the steam-to-diesel transition era. Depending on the condition of each collection, processing can include: transferring each photograph into archivally safe materials, arranging the photographs into a cohesive organizational scheme, numbering and digitizing each, and embedding metadata—the most time consuming step but critical for a searchable database. Then the collections are shared online through the Center’s website. The Center employs paid graduate interns from the University of Wisconsin School of Library and Information Studies, along with archivists from the Lake Forest College library in Lake Forest, Illinois. The Center hosts an annual conference on railroad photography, publishes a quarterly journal, and operates a traveling exhibitions program.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Inc., Washington, PA $ 2,000

This group, in operation since 1954, requested funding to restore and interpret the historic Wexford trolley interurban passenger/freight station. Last year they received a Tom E. Dailey Foundation grant to restore a vintage streetcar. The Wexford depot was carefully relocated to a new concrete foundation on the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum from its original home along route 910 in Wexford, PA. They have raised $203,000 of the estimated $220,000 needed to fully restore the building. The depot was along the famous “Harmony Route.” When the depot closed in 1931, it was purchased by the station agent. Through the years it was a post office, an antique shop, and most recently a delicatessen. But the family of the agent never allowed structural changes. So the depot is largely in its original condition. The grant will be used to purchase materials, equipment, and contract services.

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, Rochester, NY $ 1,000

The group requested funding to restore the Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose #95100. Since October 2011, the organization has been repairing the exterior of the caboose, which included extensive metal replacement to the sides. The interior is now being repaired and reinstalled. The grant will be used to purchase materials, prepare, re-paint, and re-letter the exterior of the caboose into the paint scheme it wore in the late 1960s. The funds will also be used to hire a contractor to do the surface preparation, media blasting, and priming. Volunteers would be used for all other work. The group, founded in 1937, if focused on the preservation and interpretation of the railroad history of the Rochester and Western New York area. The museum is in the former Erie Railroad Industry railroad station. They have over fifty pieces of railroad rolling stock and operate a one mile demonstration railroad.

Southern Appalachia Railway Museum, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN $ 1,000

The project is the interior restoration of the 1947 Southern Railroad Fort McPherson coach. Specifically, the funds will be used for spray-in foam wall insulation, replacement of steel panels, replacement of floor tile, replacement of a wall divider, and trim hardware. All work will be done by volunteers. This 26 year, Knoxville-based group is dedicated to the railroad history and equipment of the Southern Appalachia region. It operates an excursion train using period-appropriate cars to tell the story of Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project, and how the railroads in the region helped win World War II. They had 12,000 passengers on the excursion train during 2014.

Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust, Boyertown, PA $ 1,000

This group requested funds to restore a 1920s “heavyweight” passenger car. With thousands of volunteer hours already invested, this car has a new roof, new Spanish cedar windows, exterior steel repair, new electrical, sound, light, and heating systems, a new floor, and a new restroom. The grant will partially fund the remainder of the interior fit out to include: retiling the bathroom, replacing cloth with original mahogany paneling, a pantry, bar/buffet, and replicated Tiffany windows. The Colebrookdale Railroad has 20,000-30,000 annual passengers for their excursion line. The Trust strives to capitalize on a Civil War-era railroad heritage unique to Southeastern Pennsylvania by returning Edwardian-era-caliber train service.

Deltaville Community Association, Inc., Deltaville, VA $ 1,000

This organization operates a model railroad club in Deltaville, Virginia—the Rappahannock River Railroaders. They are seeking to extend their community outreach to engage children in the creative hobby of model railroading. In addition to their fixed club layouts, which are frequently open to the public, they have a mobile track layout they take to local fairs and festivals to expose children to model railroading in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck of Virginia. In the fall of 2014, the group began a project to replace the mobile exhibit. They have begun work on the new trailer. The funds for the remaining work is partially funded by this grant.

Taltree Arboretum and Gardens, Valparaiso, IN $ 1,000

This 18-year-old not-for-profit operates 330 acres of woodlands, savanna, and hiking trails in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 2011, Taltree opened its Railway Garden: an outdoor, G-scale train garden that tells the story of American’s steam engine history and its impact on the Civil War. They are receiving partial funding for an educational display inside their Depot Visitor Center. The display will include photo-representations of people from the steam engine era including Civil War railway workers, Chinese immigrant workers from the Sierra Nevada range, and rail workers from the 1920s, who rebuilt sections of track and bridges. The focus is to accentuate the hardships and danger that often accompanied early railway jobs. The Taltree Arboretum and Gardens served 4,700 students in 2014 and saw 48,000 visitors last year.

Hopewell Depot Restoration Corp., Hopewell Depot, NY $ 1,000

This group requested funding to replicate the signal tower which was in operation at the Hopewell Junction Depot from 1892 to 1938. Construction of a replica of the tower will complete the historical accuracy of the site. The tower will have two floors: the top floor will be set up depicting the controls and facilities as they were when the tower was fully operational. The first floor will be built as handicapped accessible restrooms. This group was formed in 1996 to preserve the Hopewell Junction Depot as the only surviving railroad building in the area. The depot serves as both a museum, visitor center, and educational facility with a host of written, photographed and preserved artifacts. They have 160 members, 50 volunteers, and a staff of 18.

Colfax Railroad Museum, Inc., Colfax, WI $ 1,000

A previous grant winner, the museum requested funding for the purchase of unique metalworking tools needed for the restoration of the Coronet Phosphate #5 2-6-2T locomotive, four Milwaukee Road cars and several smaller projects. The group was founded in 1969. In addition to the locomotive and car projects, they are also continuing to restore their 1898 museum/depot.

June 2015 photo of it on PATCO:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4214170

With the latest grant awards from the Foundation, I thought I would post a photo of how HVRM has acknowledged its past rewards. These particular ties are located right next to the pedestrian cross walk across the tracks between HVRM's depot and the exhibition cars/parking lot.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

Very nice of the foundation to make these grants.

This caboose was discussed w/ pics here on Rypn. A neat story about a scrap yard save: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32138

Not to derail this thread, but the car coupled to No. 404 might be worthy of preservation; judging by the 4/4 Dreadnaught ends, it looks like possibly a 1932 ARA standard boxcar. I wish the photo was not cropped so tightly so we could see more of the car.