The NCNG Museum has done some great things in the past, including a building, and bringing back NCNG No 5 from Hollywood, restoring/recreating a caboose and a tank car, but have been wandering in the forest recently. They never applied for their own 501c3, instead it was under the umbrella of the local historical society. The Historical Society is now running the show.
Most of the railroaders have left, either run off or wandered away for personal reasons. The feeling is that the local historical society is both too professional, (Don’t touch that! , its an artifact) Alternating with lack of professionalism (no collection records, poor research). If it is on site they claim ownership, whether loaned or donated. Loans have been spirited away when no one is looking to avoid conflict.
The group was always clickish… so there was always an in crowd and the marginalized… Now the railroaders have all been marginalized.
They have had issues with documentation for artifacts and loans… They had the Wulmunder equipment, including Porter 0-4-0t and the 18 ton Heisler, but that has since been moved away. There have been artifacts thrown in dumpsters. There are artifacts that are on loan that they claim ownership of. There may be court cases pending.
The Porter is a creation driven by the loss of the Wulmunder equipment, and of the belief that if it doesn’t have a “boiler” it won’t be subject to regulation. My understanding is that if it generates more than 15 psi that the CA boiler inspectors will want to be involved.
Everyone with railroad experience who has seen it believes that if it works at all it will quickly fail. There are no cross head guides. The frame is hollow square section tube. The drivers are from a Whitcomb internal combustion loco. The side rods are at best too small, at worst a joke (but at least they are light weight)
The railcar is a 1970’s product of the West Side and Cherry Valley. It is not a West Side Lumber Speeder… it is a railfan produced copy. It was involved in an accident, and was held as evidence by the court for an extended period of time… As a result it is occasionally called “exhibit A”. Little survived but the frame. It was rebuilt by the same crew (big on social and community spirit, low on railroad knowledge) and christened the Sarah Kidder. It uses Harbor Freight and Salvage benches for seats… the crew who operate it hand out a “spec sheet” which lists the highway flares and fire extinguishers carried but they can’t tell you what its history is… It’s painted blue and uses the same flags found at used car lots as decoration. They make most local museums with narrow gauge track (which they could visit) more than a little nervous. There is a photo shopped photo of the rail car with Sponge Bog Square Pants logos… It looks convincing.
The museum is located on land adjacent to a motel, with its own narrow gauge tourist railroad (3’ and 2’ gauge) which is currently being dismantled. They once cooperated, and the motel donated land for the museum, but the motel owners are now marginalized as well.
Randy Hees
