ALTOONA, Pa. — Officials of the North American Railway Foundation dedicated an outdoor display and event venue — the Luther G. Smith Memorial Yard — here today (Thursday, April 18) at the Railroaders Memorial Museum. The public space is bracketed by the museum’s Master Mechanics Building and Norfolk Southern’s Pittsburgh Line.
Costing $1.9 million, the project accomplished several goals, including cleaning up, regrading, and reorganizing the nearly 1-acre area at the museum’s entrance, installing sidewalks and lights, and moving several pieces of rolling stock indoors to prepare them for restoration. Behind it was a desire to establish a tribute to Smith (1870-1938), a Pennsylvania Railroad engineer who started the nonprofit Brotherhood’s Relief & Compensation Fund, the parent organization to the foundation.
After his own union rebuffed his proposals, Smith in 1912 set up an independent voluntary mutual reserve fund to supply income insurance to railroaders who were “held out of service” (suspended) as discipline for a rule violation. BRCF started with about 100 members on the PRR Middle Division (Altoona-Harrisburg) and now has 20,000 members across the U.S. and Canada.
A native of the Altoona area, Smith hired on with PRR in Harrisburg, Pa., at age 17 and started the fund there. He is buried in Altoona.
He understood the carriers’ need for discipline but did not think working railroaders’ families should suffer the consequences of what often was an honest mistake or error in judgment. That prompted his interest in starting an income-protection plan.Brian Penfield, vice chairman of NARF, an officer of BRCF and a former NS engineer with 22 years’ service, explained why the group chose the Altoona museum as a fitting place to make a grant.
“It’s focused on the railroader,” he said. “We’re proud of where we came from, proud of what we do, and we want people to know just how hard railroaders work to drive the economy.”
About 80 people attended the program, consisting of remarks, followed by a ribbon-cutting at a statue of Smith that had been relocated from BRCF/NARF’s previous office. About the time the groups relocated in the Harrisburg area, they stored the statue for placement here.
Joe DeFrancesco, the museum’s executive director, said, “They’ve given us an opportunity to to create a space that we can program for education and entertainment to be more diverse in our fund-raising.”
Situated at the east end of the yard is a new brick-covered stage area. On the north side is a newly revamped display track with PRR’s unique 32-wheel FD2 depressed-center flat car No. 470245, built in Altoona in the early 1950s. Beyond that lies the Harry Bennett Roundhouse, where PRR Class K4s 4-6-2 steam engine No. 1361 is undergoing restoration. Bennett was a PRR master mechanic whose heirs donated funds for its construction. More information on the museum is available at its website.
Have any of the displays inside been redone or replaced with new ones. Great museum, been there many times in the past. Haven’t been there in a while. It is always the same interaction. Just wondering and not trying to be negative.
Thanks for the information Dan.