Below this post is an article detailing the history of one of the museum's streetcars, Illinois Terminal 170. This car is our only Birney and is one of only a couple of surviving cars from the many small-town street railway systems that once dotted Illinois. Although acquired as a stripped car body, most of the parts needed for the car's restoration have been acquired and are currently on hand.
The single large exception is the car's Brill 79E truck. Though several major components of this truck are on hand, the museum still needs to procure several other parts. Fortunately a consortium of trolley museums is currently working together to cast new replacement 79E truck parts, and IRM is trying to raise money to procure parts for car 170 as part of this project. This is a unique opportunity to assemble all of the remaining components needed to restore car 170 and add it to the museum's fleet of restored and operating streetcars. If we do not obtain the truck parts for car 170 as part of the current consortium effort, it will be much more expensive to do so in the future.
We are asking for your help. Please consider donating to the Illinois Terminal 170 car fund. The truck components currently being manufactured will cost around $1,400 so even small donations will help immensely in reaching that goal. With your help, the last Illinois Birney will once again take to the rails. Thank you for your support.
We already have a pledge for $100 from an anonymous donor. This is, of course, a much easier goal than Barn 14 was, so I'm sure we can do it.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, we didn't mention this at the time, but Barn 14 has been fully funded with your donations, not using any of the recent bequest money. The actual work will begin soon. We can't thank enough everybody who contributed to this important addition It's something we can all be proud of.