SUCCESS on Car 453!

We are overjoyed to announce that the fund-raising drive has been successful in raising the money needed to purchase, transport, and store car 453!   It will be coming soon to a museum near you!

A large number of people contributed to make this possible, and we thank you all.  Two donors in particular gave substantial amounts.  One of them came from a long-time member, who wishes to remain anonymous, in celebration of his 45th year since joining the Museum in 1974.  The other came from Jeffrey L. Wien.  Jeff comments:  "I felt that I was playing the role of a White Knight in making my donation.... I donated to the 453 fund because the 450 class were the last interurbans built in the U.S. and to me were very aesthetically attractive.  Now we will have 75% of the surviving 450 class!  It should also be mentioned that as a former North Shore Line employee, that I have always favored North Shore equipment, but this time I wanted to make sure that a rare piece of CA&E history is preserved.  Julie Johnson would be pleased."

Now -- if you have not yet contributed, don't worry.  We still need to restore the 453.  At a minimum, we will want to hire a professional to sand-blast and repaint the exterior to match the other steel cars.  We are in the process of applying for a matching grant to make this possible, and so we would ask you to hold off on any more donations to the 453 at this time.  Once we have made a more detailed determination of what needs to be done, and applied for the matching grant, further contributions may be worth much more.

Nick is working on the arrangements for moving the car.  Of course, the Electric City guys will need to do some re-arranging of their own to get the 453 to where it can be loaded, but they are eager for both the money and the barn space, so we hope it will not be long.  Now it's the 453 vs the Electroliner -- which will be first to get put on its trucks?  Jan will be taking your bets at the bookie window during regular hours.