Friends of Phila. Trolleys Disperses M&H Collection/Parts

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2024 12:43 pm

From Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 0696502354

Quote:

FPT Makes Substantial Gift to Multiple Museums

The ability of six trolley museums to maintain their historic electric vehicles in running condition in future years received a major boost thanks to a recent gift from The Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys, Inc.

Lifetime trolley fan, collector, and long-time proprietor of the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad, Mr. Wendell Dillinger, passed away in late 2023. Over his lifetime, Wendell collected more than a dozen examples of electric railway rolling stock, and amassed a large collection of spare parts for his collection for a planned electric railway operation which, unfortunately, never came to fruition. Following Wendell’s passing, the rolling stock and parts collection became the property of the M&H Railroad, which determined that all but a few vehicles would be surplus to its needs, and sought to dispose of the remainder of the collection in a manner that would both support settlement of Wendell’s estate as well as find owners who could utilize and appreciate the materials that Wendell saved from scrap.

As options for disposal of the collection were proposed, The Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys (FPT) were invited to be part of the discussions due to the organization’s reputation for fairness and unbiased support of many museums over two decades.
Accordingly, FPT made a proposal to the M&H Railroad to purchase the entire spare parts collection from its own resources and then develop a method to disperse this collection at no cost to trolley museums within a reasonable driving distance to central Pennsylvania. This proposal was accepted by the M&H Railroad, and FPT developed a method to fairly disperse the parts collection to the following museums: Shore Line Trolley Museum, Electric City Trolley Museum, Rockhill Trolley Museum, Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Baltimore Streetcar Museum, and National Capital Trolley Museum.

95% of the parts were dispersed on October 31, November 1, and November 22, 2024. Each museum identified a lead representative who worked with FPT Directors Matt Nawn and Bill Monaghan through the necessary advance paperwork, approvals, and release documents. The distribution process was balanced among participating museum based upon identified need, and items dispersed included trucks and truck hardware, traction motors, MG sets, controllers, numerous switchgear components, air compressors, brake valves, brakeshoes, body hardware and numerous other unique and hard to find parts to ensure historic vehicles at the participating museums can continue to operate for the educational benefit and enjoyment of visitors for years to come.

FPT extends its thanks to the staff of the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad for their unfailing cooperation throughout every step of this process and their shared commitment to ensuring the parts purchased by FPT are put to good and appropriate use. FPT is honored to be able to make this contribution to the long-term preservation of the electric transportation heritage of the greater Philadelphia area.

Matt Nawn, FPT Founding Member

o anderson · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:50 pm

This is wonderful news and I am happy these museums stepped up to make logical decisions about dispersing a collection of rare artifacts. There are perhaps a couple other small trolley collections that may (I hope) have a similar outcome. The only wish that was not realized in this particular arrangement is the inclusion of the Hoosier Heritage group. A good bunch of Master Unit interior and other parts would probably be handy for their Indianapolis streetcar.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2024 1:34 am

In my experiences with these guys, they are among the best in the "business" at rescue, salvage, sharing, "horse trading," and reuse. They certainly grabbed anything that could be identified of use, and if the Hoosier Heritage group has any outstanding needs that could have been met out of this dispersal, I'm sure the administrators involved can identify who got what for potential request for donation or trading. Let me know if you can't hunt down Matt or Bill.

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2024 10:02 am

Wow, this is just outstanding.

I met Wendell the week before three mile island, believe it or not, just dropping in on the place to see what the railroad was - that was March of '79, and the only thing there was Wendell, the concrete block building with him in it, and what I christened the 'trolley prison' behind barbed wire in the back. Everything else was a dream then.

This is how it's done right, and however it was managed, is one of the better outcomes on a 'collection' of stuff that could have been disposed of by the pound.

Thomas Cornillie · **Joined:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:19 pm **Posts:** 272

Thank you for sharing this good news story.

Has any mention been made about steam-road freight and passenger cars at the M&H being made available?

One car that comes to mind in particular is the Pullman [url]Orange State[/url] described in RYPN's Surviving Pullman thread as:

The 12-1 at M&H is "Orange State", built for Overland Limited service. It became a GM&O car, finally used as a coach with no interior change. Sold to a succession of private owners (2 at least), it became RMNE property in the late 1980s, and was eventually given by RMNE to a volunteer group at M&H. A second car that RMNE obtained from the previous owner, "Mount Royal" (10-section lounge solarium) was moved from Middletown, Pa to Connecticut about 1989.

viewtopic.php?t=30187&start=375

There are other freight cars on the property that are deserving of continued preservation as well.

PMC · **Joined:** Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm **Posts:** 2874

Thomas Cornillie wrote:

One car that comes to mind in particular is the Pullman Orange State

Here is a post from Mike Graycar from January 2022 on the Friends Of The M&H Railroad facebook page, I haven't found anything more recent: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8886970 ... 6049547959 (A comment says: "Charlie High
Admin
Group expert
Mike Graycar it is the former Orange State used on trains on the Overland Route west out of Chicago. 2y")

"Friends Of The M&H Railroad
Mike Graycar ·
Admin
All-star contributor
· January 11, 2022 ·
We are giving serious consideration to selling this Pullman coach which still has it’s bunks intact. The car is in rough shape inside and out, but with a dedicated person or group of people the car could be restored to it’s former glory or be converted into something else. It will need to be transported by truck due to friction bearings and other issues. Private Message me if you are a serious buyer. We can try to work something out. I would like to see it saved but scrap prices are way up again so it is very valuable as scrap as well. But I will try to see it doesn’t get scrapped."

PrrOpCrew · **Posted:** Fri Dec 13, 2024 1:24 pm

As stated above, Wendell's original intention was to convert the M&H into an interurban line. It's my understanding that PennDOT wasn't going to allow the overhead wire where it would have crossed US322 due to clearance concerns.

There are A LOT of traction gems in the weeds at M&H, I'm curious just how many traction pieces the M&H is planning to retain and which ones will be getting relocated. I know at least one car was converted ro run off of batteries or a generator.

Of course this also kind of begs the question what M&H will do with all of this cleared off track space once the interurban equipment gets redistributed. The 2-track storage barn was built for storing a portion of this collection under cover, now it might no longer be occupied.