March 2011 Main Line vol3 No1 copy - the Seashore Trolley Museum

!
THE
MAIN LINE
! !
Vol 3
No 1
The Monthly Bulletin
of the New England Electric Railway Historical Society Libraries
!
March 2011
Well, as I start to write this it is the first day of Spring so that is kind of fun. Of course
September 20, 2010 Volume VII
yesterday when I was going to Seashoreʼs strategic planning review in Arundel it was
snowing fairly heavily after you passed to toll gates at York - it was all gone by afternoon.
This is the first issue of Volume 3 of The Main Line so Happy Second Birthday to us
all!

Seashore Goings On –
Things are starting to spin up as the weather improves and both the Annual Meeting and
the museumʼs 2011 Season opening day of public operation are not that far away - arriving
on Saturday May 7, 2011.
A combination trusteeʼs meeting and strategic planning review was held offsite on March
19, 2011 at the Mildred L. Day School in Arundel, ME. A very significant step forward for
Seashore was taken at this meeting. The primary focus of the trusteeʼs meeting was the
consideration of proceeding with the hiring process for a professional Executive Director
for Seashore. In the Strategic Plan adopted by the trustees in January of 2009 the hiring
of a paid professional Executive Director was identified as critical to the future growth and
success of the museum and the end of 2011 was set as the target date for having this
individual in place. Since the January 2009 meeting there has been ongoing discussions
and planning regarding the establishment of the position. At the semiannual strategic plan
reviews that have taken place since that time the position has been reaffirmed as
absolutely vital to the future of the museum. At the March 19, 2011 meeting, after an indepth
review and detailed discussion, the trustees reaffirmed the critical need for this
position to be filled and voted to proceed with the hiring of an Executive Director. Steps
will now be taken to move forward with the advertising of the position, interviews and
selection. There will be detailed presentations and discussion regarding the ED at the
annual meeting.
The second part of part of the day was devoted to a complete review of the Strategic Plan
with detailing of progress on tasks as outlined in the plan and adjustments as to target
dates where appropriate. These semiannual reviews are lengthy and, in truth, somewhat
painful but necessary activities if the Strategic Plan is to be kept a living document guiding
the museumʼs progress and not simply a well-intentioned pile of paper.
Following are a couple of pictures of the group at the March 19 meeting:
NEERHS Strategic Planning Meeting - Mildred L. Day School in Arundel, ME

Planning For the Future –
The Library Committee was at Lowell, MA for the second consecutive time with our March
12, 2011 committee meeting being held in the the Visitorʼs Center of The National Park
Serviceʼs Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, MA. We had another good turnout for
both the meeting and the subsequent working group. The room was again a very good
meeting space and the NPS staff were most pleasant.
As mentioned in earlier issues of The Main Line JNB & Associates are working on the
capital fundraising feasibility study as part of the new library project. JNB has undertaken
initial analysis in support of information collection and have just delivered a draft statement
of need to NEERHS for review. This document will be reviewed to provide feedback for
the final version. In the meantime, JNB is working on building a potential interviewee list
consisting of foundations and national, museum and library donors, and of course with
specific attention to any who have given to transportation (especially trolley and train)
related activities. In the near future JNB will be interviewing the Trustees so as to identify
and answer any questions and concerns that they may have about the process. The
Committee and the Trustees as well as other NEERHS members will be asked for names
of any folks they believe we should interview during the feasibility study. We have all
come across the theory everyone is within six degrees of separation of anyone else on
earth and this theory was expressed in the mid 1920s - with the almost infinite expansion
of electronic communication and interaction we are probably closer than that. So, should
you be asked to suggest potential interviewees, or should you ultimately be one, please
remember that, in addition to ourselves, we really all do know someone or know someone
who knows someone who could offer sound insight.
Funding-
As part of the Strategic Plan initiated in 2009 the NEERHS is developing a Capital
Fundraising Program to support the libraryʼs construction and operation. The Feasibility
Study as discussed above is part of that process.
The NEERHS Grants Committee is looking into other near and longer term grant
possibilities for the Library. Library Committee member Herb Pence is a member of the
Grants Committee which also includes Phil Morse and NEERHS VP Development Steve
McIssac.
The Library Committee, in support of our activities at York County Community College and
in conjunction with YCCC, has recently applied for two grants in support of the ongoing
preservation efforts of photographic materials, especially those concerning the OR
Cummings collection. If received, one grant will provide an intern to create an online
exhibit at the Maine Memory Network to be entitled: A Virtual Trolley Tour of Maine - (June
1, 2011 - August 30, 2011). The second is also to provide intern hours to digitize the O.R.
Cummings Photograph Collection, 44 albums of 4000 photographs and postcards - (June

1, 2011 - January 30, 2012). Amber Tatnall, YCCC Library Director, identified the grant
opportunities and was the lead individual in writing the applications.
Please remember when sending donations for the library to note that it is for Library
Development – Fund 951.
Donations of Materials to the Library-
A number of items have come to the library recently. I will apologize up front because I
usually manage to miss someone.
With that said Barbara H. Gladney of Urbana, IL contributed several items including
editions of Seashoreʼs Historic Cars publication including a second edition (1955) of the
publication. A nice copy of Maine Two-Footers was included as well as an August 1956
issue of Railroad Magazine containing a large article (7 pages) describing “Trolley Town”
at Kennebunkport, ME by our own OR Cummings. There is also an interesting clipping
from the July 7, 1961 Christian Science Monitor showing the arrival of Sydney Tramways
1700 arriving by freighter at Boston. This is reproduced later in this edition of The Main
Line in the Seashore History section. I should note that Ms Gladney started up and ran
the first gift shop at Seashore in the 1950s. In fact in the Railroad Magazine article on
Trolley Town there is a picture of a young woman scraping paint at Seashore whom OR
Cummings describes as Ms Barbara Heard, a Radcliffe College girl - our present donor,
Barbara Heard Gladney. Thanks Barbara
for both then and now!
A longtime friend of Seashore and the
library, Jeff Mora of Washington, DC,
provided a booklet on the Hamilton
County Radial Railway published in
November 1968 and another book I had
not previously seen - The Trolley, Triumph
of Transport by William M. Moedinger and
published in 1972 (Second Printing) by
Applied Arts Publishers. A color photo by
Tom Ruddell of Seashoreʼs No. 38 graces
the front cover.

Len Bachelder of Merrimac, MA donated a large set of trip brochures spanning
approximately 30 years. These brochures, written by Len and others, were for rail
enthusiast excursions sponsored by the 470 Railroad Cub of Portland, ME and/or the
Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts of Andover, MA. A complete listing of the
brochures prepared for these organizationsʼ trips is provided including some missing from
the set. Thanks Len - I should mention that Len attends our library committee meetings
and helps with our working groups.
Dr. Donald F. Morrison of Wallingford, PA provided the library with in excess of a dozen
NTSB reports and publications involving both heavy rail and transit. Last year Dr.
Morrison donated to the library nearly 200 NTSB rail accident reports from his personal
collection that spanned from then 1970s through the early 2000s. As with the present
materials both heavy rail and transit were included.
My thanks to all of these contributors. These are the materials that make up the fabric of
the history we are trying to preserve and explain. All of these bits and pieces of
knowledge provide meaning, context if you will, and tie together the large artifacts in your
museumʼs collection.
Seashore History-
It has been a few issues since we have run a specific Seashore history item so here are a
couple
conveniently
arrived in recent
donations.
The 1970 version
of Historic Cars of
the Seashore
Trolley Museum
carried a picture of
Seashoreʼs
Claremont Railway
No. 4 (Claremont
Railway), acquired
by the museum in
1955, doing a stint
for emergency
service in 1969 at
the MBTA.

The Christian Science Monitor of July 7,
1961 had some fun with a trolley
arriving three weeks late at the Port of
Boston. The Monitor was referring to
Sydney Tramways No. 1700 (1925
Meadowbank Manufacturing Co.)
arriving in the Port of Boston on the
United States Lines freighter Pioneer
Gem enroute to Seashore.
Unfortunately the Pioneer Gem arrived
on the very day that a general maritime
strike, ultimately lasting three weeks,
paralyzed East Coast ports.
Today Sydney 1700 is one of the
workhorses of Seashoreʼs
demonstration railway.
Information Requests –
The Library continues to receive and respond to information requests through the
Museumʼs website. Requests seem to come in waves of specific varieties. In the past
month there has been an interest in box motors and express motors - C&LE 648 and
Oshawa 300 among others. Our answering requests often provide new materials to the
museum. The individual seeking info on C&LE 648 sent some material in return that was
new to us. Please note that although a great deal of material has been moved into
storage this material is inventoried and retrievable. Although not yet fully computerized
this inventory allows us to continue, actually expand, our ability to fulfill information
requests. The volunteers at YCCC who are computerizing our inventory sheets now have
some 2,500 publications in the system. We will happily undertake a search based upon a
request to the library link on the Seashore website or to the librarian.

Do You Recognize-
Answer to the February Issue:
We jumped across the pond to North Wales for the Februaryʼs entry. This picture is of
Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway Ltd. open car No. 22 departing Colwyn Bay,
North Wales enroute
to Llandudno - the
dasher sign reads
Llandudno Pier. The
pier is a resort pier
with entertainment,
shops, etc., that still
exists today.
Unfortunately the
tram line closed in
1956. No. 22 was a
single deck open
“toast-rack” tram, so
called because of its
resemblance to the
device that was
commonly used on
breakfast tables in the UK to make sure that the breakfast toast was both cold and dry
prior to it being consumed. No. 22 joined the L&CBER in 1920 and was scrapped in 1956
with the closure of the line.
This Monthʼs Do You Recognize -
In this image we have come
back from Europe to New
England and we have also gone
back a bit in time. This is a
postcard view of a scene that no
longer exists today. Basically
nothing that can be seen in this
image currently exists although
the area is known by the same
name.

Just Interesting-
Shortly after the
end of WWII part
of a 1946 postwar
design order of 48
single end PCC
cars, destined for
the Birmingham
Electric
Companyʼs
streetcar
operation in
Birmingham, AL,
await shipment
outside of the
Osgood Bradley
(Pullman-Bradley)
plant in
Worcester, MA.
It is May 5, 1935
in Kearney
Square in Lowell,
MA and a string
of shiny new
ACF H-9 buses
of the Eastern
Massachusetts
Street Railway
foretell the future
of the solitary
streetcar,
probably a
Laconia product,
tucked in the
middle of the
line.

Early in the Edwardian Era a classic London double-deck tram trundles onto Westminster
heading towards Big
Ben and the Houses of
Parliament. Electric
powered trams got off
to a slow start in
London but by 1903,
when the Westminster
Bridge - Tooting route
opened, there were
300 electric tramcars
in the city. Note that
the trams on this route
are picking up their
power through a slot in
the road surface rather
than the overhead
systems used in some
parts of London. A little note for your next trivia contest - the Westminster Bridge is
painted primarily green - the same color as the leather seats in the House of Commons.
The bridge is at the downstream end of the Houses of Parliament where the Commons is
located. The next bridge upriver, the Lambeth Bridge, is on the end of the Parliament
where the House of Lords is located. The Lambeth Bridge is painted primarily red which,
as you might guess, is the color of the leather seats in the House of Lords.
Library Committee Meetings –
The next Library Committee meeting will be held at the library, second floor, of York
County Community College in Wells, ME on Saturday, April 16, 2011 from 10AM until
Noon. A working group will follow from Noon until 3PM.
The Committee meetings on May 14, 2011 and June 11, 2011 with their subsequent
working groups are also scheduled to be held at YCCC.
Please come and join us at the Library Committee meetings, we all look forward to seeing
you and hearing your thoughts and needs. Canʼt make the meeting – please drop an
email to the library SeashoreLibrary@ramsdell.com or use the contact link on the
Museumʼs Internet site.

Working Group Meeting-
There are working groups currently scheduled after our April 16, May 14 and June 11
committee meetings. A full day working group is scheduled at York County Community
College on Friday, Friday April 22, 2011 from 10AM until 3PM.
Please let me know your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, etc. The Main Line exists to
share and exchange information and ideas about your NEERHS Library.
Ed Ramsdell, Librarian
New England Electric Railway Historical Society
TheMainLine@ramsdell.com