Nostalgia & History > GGRM Receives GRANT from UP to restore historic RPO.

I am pleased to announce that the GGRM has been awarded a $3000.00
grant from the Union Pacific Community Grant Program.

The purpose of the grant request that we submitted was to complete the
restoration of our Union Pacific Railway Post Office (RPO) car #5901
(http://www.ggrm.org/Collection_view.aspx?id=13). This car regularly
served as part of Southern Pacific's "City of San Francisco".

Our RPO car will be returned to its original Union Pacific color
scheme and prior to painting the car will need minor metal work on
both ends to replace small sections that have rusted.

The museum has partnered with the Society of Retired Railway Post
Office Clerks in the construction of a really terrific interpretive
display that has been integrated into the restoration of the car.

In addition the museum arranged with the US Postal service to make our
RPO into an official US Post Office when it was on display in Sunol
during the fall. This included a special cancellation for any mail
brought to the car that day. We hope to be able to do this again very
soon.

When the car is next out for display you should make it a point to
come by and take a look. Dates for when the car will be on display
are published on our website and in the Monthly "Dispatchers Sheet"
and Quarterly "Stack Talk" newsletters available to GGRM Members.

Our grant from the Union Pacific will cover most of the cost of
painting the car, however approximately $2000 in additional funding is
still needed to cover the costs to fully paint and restore the car. If
you are interested in helping restore this car, or would like to
contribute please drop a line to info@ggrm.org.

Best Regards,

David Hensarling
President, GGRM

Why is UPRR funding the painting of a UP car in what appears to be an ex-SP area for what had been an SP train?
Who is GGRM and where are they located?
What is their Charter?
Is the group related to RR equipment or RPO equipment?
Do they have any relationship to the group that trashed out all the SP equipment?
Thanks in advance.

What and where is GGRM? upkpfan

I'll bet the "RM" stands for "Railroad Musuem'? ;)

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why is UPRR funding the painting of a UP car in
> what appears to be an ex-SP area for what had been
> an SP train?

The City of San Francisco was a streamlined passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the Union Pacific Railroad.

> Who is GGRM and where are they located?

They provided a link, check it out and you may answer your own question.

Going to the link shows Niles Canyon as a location. The rest of the questions, including the obvious one, are unanswered.
Thanks for your help.
Nice set of FP's though.
> -----
> > Why is UPRR funding the painting of a UP car in
> > what appears to be an ex-SP area for what had
> been
> > an SP train?
>
> The City of San Francisco was a streamlined
> passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago
> and North Western Railway, the Southern Pacific
> Railroad, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
>
> > Who is GGRM and where are they located?
>
> They provided a link, check it out and you may
> answer your own question.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why is UPRR funding the painting of a UP car in
> what appears to be an ex-SP area for what had been
> an SP train?

Because they want to? Because the car has UP heritage in it? Beacuse it was used on the jointly-operated City of San Francisco? Because it was a UP painted car?

> Who is GGRM and where are they located?

http://www.ggrm.org/

From their website: "Welcome to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum (GGRM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, and the interpretation of railroad history in the San Francisco Bay Area. "

They used to be located at the Hunter Point Naval Base, but due to (IIRC) redevelopment that had to move, and therefore their equipment has been relocated to other museums.

> What is their Charter?

Again, from their homepage: "the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, and the interpretation of railroad history in the San Francisco Bay Area."

> Is the group related to RR equipment or RPO
> equipment?

Judging from "the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, and the interpretation of railroad history in the San Francisco Bay Area." I would say they are related to restoring railroad equipment; an RPO is a piece of railroad equipment and would certainly qualify.

> Do they have any relationship to the group that
> trashed out all the SP equipment?

Please be more specific; what group and what SP equipment?

I know of at least a few groups that failed to uphold their mission to restore railroad equipment - some of which no longer exist, some of whom still do.

I detect some cat and mouse going on in this thread.
Perhaps someone can explain if this is or is not the same group that trashed out the SP equipment:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1029605,page=1
...your witness.
> -----
>
> > Do they have any relationship to the group that
> > trashed out all the SP equipment?
>
> Please be more specific; what group and what SP
> equipment?
>
> I know of at least a few groups that failed to
> uphold their mission to restore railroad equipment
> - some of which no longer exist, some of whom
> still do.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps someone can explain if this is or is not
> the same group that trashed out the SP equipment:
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1
> 029605,page=1
> ...your witness.

OK, it looks like it's the same group.

Sounds like the same 'ol song-and-dance - preservation group gets as much stuff as possible - and keep in mind most of it arrives in pretty sad shape, so what you saw in poor condition probably got donated in that condition.

Too many projects, too many members (and thus too much politics), not enough money. The group picks and chooses what it'll do - and not do.

The "desirable" projects get done and everything else rusts in the background.

Looks like we're missing a few posts. Curious how many SP cars have made it into a museum somewhere. The cars behind the 4449 specials looked great as a complete set, not sure that they were all ex-SP though.