Heritage Rail Alliance:
Annual HRA Awards
October 15, 2017
At the Fall conference in Minneapolis, the HeritageRail Alliance presented its annual slate of awards.
Significant Achievement Awards
These are given for restorations and other large capital project completed in the last 12 months. This year the category was broadened to recognize equipment restorations in multiple categories such as steam locomotives, passenger cars and electric cars.
It’s not every year that two pre-Civil War locomotives receive a thorough cosmetic restoration. The B&O Railroad Museum and the Atlanta History Center were recognized for their restorations of Baltimore & Ohio 4-4-0 #25 William Mason (Mason 1856) and Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 Texas (Danforth Cooke 1856). The two efforts took different directions. The Mason was backdated to what restorers believe was its original color scheme.
The much-rebuilt Texas rolled out in the relatively austere black of its later years of service.
SNIP
Of the several electric car restorations completed during the last year, the most challenging was Winona, Minnesota single truck streetcar #10 (St. Louis 1914). It last ran in 1938 and the carbody became a cabin outside of town. The restoration took 13 years and a quarter million dollars. The restoration is notable for its historic accuracy. Under the car is the correct power truck, one of only two Dupont trucks in North America. It was purchased from the Trolleyville collection. Inside the car are replicas of the correct seats, thanks to the loan of hardware from a car at Museum of Transport.
Continue here w/numerous photos.