The Messenger
September/December 1997

Director's Report

The Board of Directors took the following actions during the last half of 1997. Winterizing the station was elevated to highest priority in order to eliminate further damage due to winter stress (see story later this page). a $100 scholarship is to be awarded to an Onteora High School senior based on competitive essays relating to railroads and railroad history. The resignation of Henry (Otto) Bernstein due to the increased demands of his business was regretfully accepted. Ralph Goneau was elected Director to serve the unexpired portion of Otto's term (through 2000). Purchase of a video camera for recording museum presentations and old-timers' meetings was authorized. The 1998 summer exhibit is to present new material relating to the Catskill Watershed following on the theme of this year's show.

Calendar

• December 14th, 1997 - 1pm to 4pm, Christmas Party, Santa Train, Refreshments, Model railroads, Gift shop, Phoenicia Station
• February 4th, 1998 - Steam engines in China, 1997, presented by Earl Pardini, 7:30pm, VFW Post 1386, Rt. 9W, East Chester Bypass, Kingston, NY
• April 1st, 1998 - Open meeting, topic to be announced, 7:30pm, VFW Post 1386, Rt. 9W, East Chester Bypass, Kingston, NY
• May 16th, 1998 - All-Members Annual Meeting, Election of Directors, 10:30am, Phoenicia Station
• May 23rd, 1998 - 11:00am, Station season opening, Memorial Day Weekend

Station Upgrade

In 1996, estimates were obtained for winterizing the station at Phoenicia. At present, rime frost forms on the inside of the exterior walls of the station during the winter months due to moisture rising from the basement. It is felt that this heavy layer of moisture will lead to eventual deterioration of the interior. In August of this year, ESRM applied to Ulster County for a one-time grant of $13,325.00 to insulate, install heating and provide storm windows for the station. More recently, at the urging of our Curator, Lonnie Gale, the Board established winterization as our principle goal for 1998 with a funding goal of $15,000.00 to winterize and complete the other necessary structural repairs required to seal up the basement.
We have received notice of a grant of $2,400.00 from Ulster County from the Hon. Ward Todd, Ulster County Legislator for the district containing our station. In a letter to Dexter Jeannotte, Mr. Todd reported, "...Although I spoke long and hard to my fellow Ways and Means Committee members, appealing for the entire requested amount of $13,325, I was able to secure only $2,400. Certainly a disappointment, however, I should tell you that nearly every other non-profit agency had their approved amount from 1997 reduced. I hope that this funding will enable you to begin the necessary winterization process, which will protect the museum for future generations....". Note that ESRM received only $400 in '97.
The Board expresses their deep appreciation to Mr. Todd for his efforts on our behalf and to all Ulster County legislators for their support of our museum. We will also apply to Senator Cook for a member item and to the Catskill Watershed Corp. for additional funding. However, we are now calling on our members for support on this project. Please use the contribution form found elsewhere in this mailing to send us your donation. Thanks in advance for your support of our museum.

Engine 23 Restoration Project

Restoration of Engine 23 was kicked-off this year on July 20th, 1997, with a presentation by Earl Pardini, Director of Engine 23 Restoration, on general objectives, tasks ahead and safety requirements for work on Engine 23. He stressed that safety is paramount, the two people should be present whenever work on the engine itself is planned, and he emphasized the necessary equipment for safe operations, such as steel toe shoes, ear plugs, work gloves and helmets.
Work crews have met every Sunday morning at 9:00am since July under Earl's direction or under the direction of Associate Directors of Engine 23 Restoration, Al Howes and Joe Michaels. A total of 761 man-hours has been devoted to Engine 23 since July. The super-heater tube assembly has been removed. All 160 - 2" and 24 5 3/8" boiler tubes were torch cut for removal. Dave Conrad loaned the 2" inside tube cutter for this work. Additional major donations of equipment usage and materials were by Al Howes, Pete Kranenburg, Earl Pardini, and Mike Spader.
The boiler has been pressure washed, wire brushed and needle scaled on the outside and is 95% painted with Rust Destroyer primer. The running gear has been pressure washed. All exterior piping has been removed, tagged and stored in a nearby boxcar. All appliances, air compressor, feed water pump, air tanks, power reverser, fire door, fire box grates, smoke box front and air brake equipment, have been removed and stored in the boxcar. Continuing work includes removal of the large diameter flue stubs by grinding off the welds at the firebox flue sheet.
Planned for May, 1998, is a lift of the boiler to free the running gear for removal. The lift will cost about $5,000 and donations and other funding will be required at that time.

ESRM Summer Exhibit: Reception and Results

The ESRM summer show on the building of the Ashokan Reservoir has been a stunning success. The opening reception was briefly described in the previous newsletter. Based on the number of guest register sing-ins, Beth Waterman estimated the total summer visitor count at approx. 8,000. This number of guests is roughly for times as great as normally received during our summer openings. The word-of-mouth excitement among members of the local community created a ground swell of interested guests, many of whom had personal connections to the reservoir.
Members of the press shared that excitement and ESRM received extensive coverage of the exhibit in most of the local and regional papers. Visitors to the exhibit became a source of added information for our archives and historic photos were made available to ESRM for copying.
Key to the success of the exhibit was the level of support provided by our mainstay volunteers. Lonnie Gale and Ralph Goneau were present most weekends to interpret the exhibit for the visitors. In addition, Betty and Ed Bolsetzian were also present most weekends manning the gift shop and also sharing the exhibit with visitors. The direct docent-visitor contact made the exhibit more accessible and meaningful for visitors, which, in turn, contributed to favorable word-of-mouth.
Gift shop sales for the months of June through October totaled $5,653 and donations during that same period totaled $5,814, the best year ESRM has had since moving to Phoenicia in 1985. In addition to providing our regional community with a show which had personal meeting for many, ESRM heightened its credibility as a major contributor to the cultural life of our community. The chief architect of the exhibit was Lonnie Gale, ESRM Curator, with the key assistance of Beth Waterman, ESRM Director of Publicity and Education.

Your Will

For members and friends wishing to support the museum and its objectives (see page 6 for discussion of ESRM), a bequest of money, property, or collections of railroad artifacts, is an excellent way to help. While an attorney should be consulted in the drafting of a will and his advice is not meant to be construed as legal advice, a model bequest clause can take the form of the following:

I give, devise and bequeath to the Empire State Railway Museum. Inc., Phoenicia, New York, ____________ dollars (or set forth a description of the property or collection to be bequeathed) to be used for the general purposes of said organization.

Members who have extensive collections of railroad artifacts and wish to assure their preservation can do so by means of a bequest of their collection to ESRM. Your estate can benefit from tax reductions through bequests to ESRM. For further information or assistance regarding bequests, write to ESRM at P.O. Box 455, Phoenicia, NY 12464, or email us.

Empire State Railway Museum, Inc. and Catskill Mountain Railroad Co., Inc.

Because of the influx of new visitors to the museum and the dramatic increase in membership this past year (now at 306 members), it has become apparent that confusion exists in the minds of many about the relationship between the Empire State Railway Museum, Inc., (ESRM) and the Catskill Mountain Railroad Co., Inc., (CMRR). Many of the volunteers who support ESRM also support CMRR so it is not always clear if one is speaking with a CMRR volunteer or an ESRM volunteer. In addition, we both support the restoration of railroad service to the tracks of the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad in Ulster County.
Basically, CMRR is a railroad. It is a privately owned shareholder corporation engaged in business to make a profit for its shareholders running trains on the tracks of the former Ulster and Delaware Railroad in Ulster County. It leases those tracks from Ulster County, the owner, from Kingston to Highmount and is responsible for rehabilitating the tracks to permit operation of tourist or other type trains. It operates the Esopus Creek Shuttle from Mt. Pleasant to Phoenicia with a stop at the ESRM museum in the Phoenicia station. At some point in the future, it hopes to run a steam powered excursion train along the Ashokan Reservoir and elsewhere in Ulster County.
ESRM is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt educational corporation chartered by the NYS Board of Regents for for charitable purposes, principally the preservation and interpretation of historical materials and structures relating to railroad activity locally and regionally. We do this interpretation principally in our museum in the Phoenicia station. As a 501(c)(3) organization, contributions to ESRM are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
ESRM does not run trains. Why are we restoring a steam engine to pull trains if we do not run trains? First, because Engine 23 is a valid historic artifact worthy of preservation and restoration to teach and illustrate the means by which the United States railroad infrastructure was built. We are also restoring Engine 23 because we believe that an operating steam engine is one of the most effective ways to develop in the general public an interest in the historic role of railroads in our cultural and economic history. Development of a heightened interest is key to our educational role as a museum because it insures us of an audience for our interpretive efforts. However, actual operation of Engine 23 will be left to CMRR by means of a lease or hire agreement since CMRR has the trained personnel and operating rights to the trackage here in Ulster county.
While ESRM shares with CMRR the objective the objective of restoration of railroad service along the Route 28 corridor, our reasons are probably different. ESRM seeks to educate the broader community about the role of railroads both currently and historically. An active railroad excursion service will increase our audience. At some level, whatever benefits CMRR might be seen to benefit ESRM if it increases our audience. It might be argued that ESRM should operate to benefit CMRR to assure its own benefit. Within our charter, we do support CMRR by supporting such objectives as restoration of the Route 28 RR crossing at Mt. Pleasant. However, our charter as a 501(c)(3) organization specifically bars ESRM from using any of its resources to financially benefit any individual. Since CMRR is a privately owned corporation, we cannot use our equipment or resources to provide a free benefit to CMRR under the law which grants us tax exempt status. We are able to pay CMRR for services they provide to us and have done so in the past by transfer of materials such as railroad ties in lieu of cash payments for those services.
CMRR has been very generous and supportive of ESRM by providing us with donated train services such as the Santa Train and the special train for our exhibit opening and ESRM expresses our thanks for their continued generosity. We are delighted to be partners with CMRR in bringing more railroad service and an expanded railroad audience to our region through the rebuilding and operation of Engine 23.

School Visit

In October, Charles Davis brought some of his 6th grade Phoenicia students to the museum to see the Ashokan Reservoir exhibit. Several of his students wrote to Ralph Goneau, docent for the visit, about their impressions and selected quotes from those letters follow:

"...I was shocked that they had telephones in the early 1900's....." ---E.M.
"...amazed...40 cemeteries...moved....2700 bodies...." ---E.M.,M.A.,R.R.,E.K.,R.C.,
"...different kinds of tracks... narrow gauge and standard gauge..." ---S.T., V.P.
"...they had the coolest clothes, cars and telephones..." ---K.H.
"I absolutely loved the picture of the wooden excavator."---R.H.
"Did you see them build the dam, or live in any of the towns they (tore) down?" --K.H.
"Wow, I learned more things on this field trip than a week of school."---E.K.
"It is so sad that all of those beautiful old towns are gone forever."---R.R.
"I was amazed that the people had to put 130.5 billion gallons of water into that reservoir."---N.A.
"You're a very nice man. I hope to meet you sometime again."---M.A.

Call for Modelers

Are you a scratch builder? The museum has two prototype model building projects at the scale of 12" = 1'. One project is a lane 19th century Pennsy bobber caboose and the other is an early 20th century CV flat car. The volunteer modeler will have the opportunity to research the history of each car to establish restoration parameters, with an added objective of submitting an application for listing of the car on the National Historical Register.
Antique railroad cars are eligible for listing as Historic Places. Once listed, they become eligible for funding grants for restoration and preservation as most of the funds for the balance of the scratch building project, namely, actual restoration of the railroad car. The modeler would have principal responsibility for the project subject only to reporting to Robert Angyal, Director of Rolling Stock.
If you have been wondering what to do with your spare time for the next 3 to 5 years, here are two projects just for you. Contact Robert Angyal at ESRM, Inc., PO Box 455, Phoenicia, NY 12464 for more information on these projects.

Errata

The editor apologizes to those concerned for the following errors in the last issue of the newsletter. The photo of the train at the Olive Branch depot was from the collection of Alonzo Gale and not from NYC-DEP. Ken Shuker was inadvertently omitted from the list of pledge contributors for museum expansion.
Due to production problems, it has been necessary to combine the September and December issues of the newsletter into one mailing.