Capital Transit 1470 immediately after arrival at the NCTM campus on July 15, 2020.
Simply put, NCTM lost almost an entire year of operations (we still, as of this writing, have no projected date of reopening.) The events we planned and were so excited for, including a very special $25 Day and Cavalcade of Streetcars, were off the table entirely as the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown the museum in March. Even normal administrative procedures, such as board meetings and bookkeeping work, had to be significantly adjusted to meet the new demands of a pandemic world. Yet through all of this, thanks to the tremendous efforts by our entire army of volunteers, we were able to take the dramatic year of 2020 and turn out several major successes. Here's a brief pictorial review of some of our 2020 accomplishments, and the people who made them happen.
January: DC Transit Day and Artifact Display
What ended up being the only major special event hosted by the museum in 2020 took place on January 25 as we celebrated the 58 anniversary of the end of street car service in Washington. DC Transit 1101, the very first PCC type street car to operate in Washington DC (and also one of the last) was in operation that day.
The 2020 DC Transit Day also included a display of rare Washington street car and railroad artifacts from both the museum's collection and a private collection. Our hope is to bring this display back in the future.
February: Toronto Transit Commission 4603 Truck Shipment
**IMAGE TAKEN PRIOR TO MASK AND SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES
In February, NCTM volunteers extracted the trucks from Toronto Transit Commission No. 4603 for shipment to an outside contractor for rebuilding. These are scheduled to return to the museum in 2021. 4603 has been out of service for years, and we look forward to returning the car to revenue operations. A special thanks to Matt Nawn, who has spearheaded this project and arranged many of the complicated business and mechanical logistics.
March: Museum Closed
On March 14, NCTM closed to the public due to the pandemic. At the time, museum staff anticipated only a two week closure. Obviously this ended up not being the case. DC Transit 1101 graced our social media accounts and website with a "NO PASSENGERS" destination sign photoshopped onto the front.
April: Successful fundraiser
NCTM supporters, visitors, staff and members raised over $10,000 in just a couple days to help support COVID related expenses. We are always shocked at the sheer generosity of NCTM friends; if not for the support of such generous people, the museum would endure many other challenges.
May: TrolleyTime Throwback
In April we began streaming old Trolley Museum video programs as part of our new TrolleyTime Blog, launched in response to our COVID shutdown. These videos had not been publicly presented in years. In case you missed then, you can still check them out by going to our YouTube Channel: tinyurl.com/dctrolleyyoutube.
June: Trolley Continuities
In June we published one of our most popular TrolleyTime blog articles - this one covered the many intentional similarities between the Trolley Museum and Washington's street car system. The badges that are part of the NCTM uniform, for example, are based off of authentic badges worn by Washington street car employees. You can view the article here: https://trolleytime.blogspot.com/2020/06/continuities-keeping-dcs-street-car.html
July: Scaled-back Operations Resumed
Our staff gradually resumed on-site activities over the summer. Here Motorman Spencer Morgan inspects the NCTM Demonstration Railway with President Wes Cox. Notice the significant accumulation of rust on the rails, a direct result of the shutdown museum operations. These inspection trips located several downed trees, branches and debris that needed to be removed.
August: Capital Transit 1470
Capital / DC Transit 1470 arrived at the museum in July, although the work didn't really begin until a few weeks later. The car's trucks were "locked up" after sitting for so many years, and NCTM volunteer crews began multiple major efforts to release the trucks. They were partially successful.
September: Story time
NCTM Director of Education Karen Lipson began recording story time videos for the TrolleyTime blog once the museum shutdown. We published one of her videos, which all come with followup activities, in September. If you have kids who might be interested in this book, head over to our YouTube Channel (tinyurl.com/dctrolleyyoutube) to view the video.
October: House keeping
NCTM Volunteers cleaned the Conduit Hall and painted the floor, both of which were badly needed. The pandemic closure has allowed our staff to take the time needed to ensure a clean museum is ready for visitors to return.
November: Trimming Trees
Regular inspections of the railway continued throughout the year; these inspections discovered many issues that required addressing, such as the trimming of nearby tree branches as seen here. NCTM Volunteer Anthony Vo captured these shots as volunteers tend to the many needs of a railway.
December: Snow and Stingers
The museum's long inoperable tamper is going to a new home and was extracted from it's long time storage on Track 13 in mid December. Snow lingered on the group from a few days prior and made for what turned out to be the only significant snow-street car day of 2020.
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As difficult as 2020 has been, we want to pause and extend a very special and warm thank you to all of our volunteers and staff who have worked so hard during this time to maintain the museum and advance museum projects. Everything on this (summarized) list of 2020 achievements was possible because of the contributions made by our volunteers. We are incredibly grateful for our team and take this moment to formally extend our appreciation to everyone who made a difference in this year.
We'd also like to extend our thanks to the many individuals who supported the museum this year; from those who donated on Power2Give, Facebook or by check, to those who follow us on social media or support the museum through a membership. We are very grateful for your support. While financial contributions are helpful, we always appreciate and value the moral support contributed by those who are friends of the museum. Our drive to continue through this difficult time is fueled in part by the support we receive from individuals like you. This is appreciated, and very much valued.
We certainly look forward to a better 2021; our wonderful volunteers have already made many adjustments to the museum, and we are essentially 100% ready to welcome our valued visitors back to the museum as soon as we are legally permitted. Once it becomes safe to do so, we will resume our typical programs and special events. All of us look forward to the day when this can finally happen.
Happy new year, we look forward to seeing you soon.
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