Friday, September 30, 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011 UPDATE

Work Sessions are slated for EVERY SATURDAY until we are done: October 1, 8, 15 and 22. 8:00 am to 2:30 pm. NO INVITATIONS are required.
Please come, one and all--you do NOT need to be a member--we have had numerous non-members come help and we are so grateful for all their enthusiasm.

Please be prepared for wet work--we'l be using power washers--bring boots, old clothes, buckets, squeegees.

Thank you.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Here's a link to a GREAT article on our flood by National Bus Trader magazine.

http://www.busmag.com/PDF/Flooding.pdf

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

I understand the current issue of Old Car News/Old Cars Weekly has an article about our Checker Bus--I tried to find it online but was unsuccessful--if anyone has the link--please post it! Thanks.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 UPDATE



Here are today's accomplishments:

Michaud: Oil in rear, clean small oil filter, running with missing oil filter and driven outside under its own power.

MC5: Drain and replace engine oil. Batteries charged.

Peter Pan: Fuel tank pumped out and fuel put in 55 gallon drums for disposal.

CAT Fishbowl: engine and trans oil added.

4104:
Fresh engine and transmission oil added.

MC 5, CAT, & TransBridge: batteries charged along with spare batteries.

36 Chevrolet: flat bedded to Ed Wolf's garage.

All museum borrowed tools cleaned of mud. Also--now that insurance inspectors are done, some floor cleaned up.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011


Here's the first bus to leave the Annex after the flood under its own power: Little Spike!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

The "Buses and Baseball" exhibit is now history. In its place we have a story board on the 2011 Flood and our volunteers' gallant efforts in cleaning up after this disaster!

Also - the Insurance Company finally finished their inspection today and therefore, we can start more cleanup in the building and moving those buses that run.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011




Here's the report from yesterday's volunteer work crew:


Ed Wolf and his mechanic got the RTS, the 4104 and the Little Spike started. Got the bathroom and the Bonanza MC9 baggage compartment/much of the exterior washed, but the well pump stopped running, I think the submersible pump screen is clogged with silt.

It's astonishing to see the widespread destruction in Union Deposit, several house trailers washed away down the creek and their whole sides ripped away, several houses already demolished, several more torn open. We noticed that McDonalds and other fast food restaurants in Hershey are also being demolished.
THANK YOU to all our volunteers--sounds like they had a GREAT day!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011




Here, finally, are some photos from the Annex....you can see the line on the vehicles and buildings and the mud on the floors and coming out of the luggage compartments. You can also see it is still very muddy all around the property. On a positive note--they got the RTS started today!
Sorry the pics aren't the best...but I think you get the picture!

Thursday, September 22, 2011 UPDATE

POWER IS BACK ON at the Annex - as of about 11:30 am this morning, our electric supplier (PPL) has turned the power back on. This is VERY good news. Thanks again to all our volunteers--especially Ed Wolf, Ken McNelis, and their teams!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tues/Wed - September 20-21, 2011 UPDATE

Tuesday, September 20


Certified electrical inspector installed the “certification” form, as instructed by PPL in a plastic sleeve by the meter box.

Buses opened remained that way to dry out


Wednesday, September 21


PPL called back, from Tuesday call advising them that certification form was at the building – all items in order – power should be on by midday.


T. Collins stopped by the Annex at 4:15pm--no new meter and still no power (noted that none of the surrounding homes have power either). One home two doors away has a generator but no PPL service to date.


Trash along Union Deposit Road (including ours deposited on Saturday) remains there--also noted several homes further east were being torn down completely.


Donations, from MBT members starting to flow in. Not in large amounts but flowing. Thank you!


Power, at this juncture, is an issue. T. Collins will call again tomorrow (Thursday).


Monday, September 19, 2011

Monday, September 29, 2011 UPDATE

Today was mainly an administrative day.The insurance adjuster is slated to visit the Annex tomorrow. In advance, he informed us that often, when water goes over a dashboard, they simply total a vehicle. We surely don’t want to do that with most of the vehicles at the Annex. Hoping to opt for super cleanup and new upholstery, etc.

The dumpster was to be delivered late this afternoon – one day early.

PPL (our power company)--very frustrating here. Tom Collins contacted PPL again (on hold for nearly 30 minutes before actually being transferred to the commercial division). They now inform us that the Certification copy must be at the actual location. It was faxed, by the firm on Friday – now that is not good enough. Hoping for power tomorrow!! The gentleman who did the Certification was called by Woodcock Electrical (he lives in Liverpool, PA.) He will be at our facility tomorrow.

Tuesday (September 20), we will have a crew on duty (another restoration firm, Zales, will inspect our units while the crew is there).

Monday, September 19, 2011


There is hope--here's a picture of a critter that survived at the Annex.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Saturday, September 17, 2011 UPDATE

Saturday, Sept 17th - 8:00 am to 1:00 pm


Volunteers: Ed Wolf, Jason Mellot, Dan Lehman, Phil Cray, Tom Collins. Dan came with a friend but I don't have his name.

We were surprised by a group of 22 Lower Dauphin High School (Hummelstown’s High School) students--part of a volunteer group dispatched from the school to help where needed! They wanted to help the home located in front of our property but those people felt they did not need the help and suggested that maybe we did. WOW, these kids worked for two solid hours. They removed everything from the mobile office. They took the file cabinets out of the building (we may be able to save them). ALL items in the mobile office had to be thrown away--it was all a soggy mess. The kids did salvage some of the pictures and always asked us about stuff before tossing it out. They came equipped with trash bags, etc. We were VERY impressed with their work. Thank you!

ED and Jason worked on buses in the garage and out--draining them. Only a few more to go. Ed is returning on Tuesday.

Phil and Tom Collins removed the trash the students took out of the mobile office along with the items Jot took out earlier in the week. Phil and Tom did the same with the storage trailer. Bus parts were retained but ALL paper goods were soggy and were destroyed. There are only a few paper items remaining at the upper end of the trailer.

Dan was very helpful--his low boy trailer came in handy for Phil and Tom to truck away the trash to the edge of Union Deposit Road for the township to pick up. He assisted with trash disposal and opened up all buses for drying. He also supplied the crew with a hot dog lunch and water. Thanks to Dan and the township picking up the trash, we, most likely, will NOT need the dumpster we ordered for Tuesday.


Jamie Novinger-Tailgo, President of Service 1st Restorations and her Operations Manager stopped by to look over the fleet. This firm is used by the AACA, and two local fire companies. The came highly recommended. They inspected the buses and the 1936 Chevrolet. They will work with us and the insurance carrier as soon as we get some feedback from the insurance carrier. They said that we have a lot of vehicle damage but they have “seen and worked on worse.”

Zales Restorations called yesterday and were to come by today but they did not show.

We feel we are making progress.

We had a GREAT team effort--thank you everyone!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011 UPDATE

Volunteers at the Annex today were: Ed Wolf, Mr. Johnson and Tom Mozer.

Accomplishments:

- More buses drained (oil, etc.)
Trash pickup:

National Guard made pickups of most of our trash including the refrigerator, microwave, computer and backup.

Administration:

- PPL contacted regarding certification, etc. Still no power as of 3:45 pm--will followup.

- FEMA: Meeting with them on Monday (at the Harrisburg Mall office)

Cleanup:

- two firms due in Saturday to survey the bus cleanup and give us estimates.

Miscellaneous Bus Info:

- H and L was to pickup the Harran Flxible to transport to Museum (the Museum will clean it up for us as it will now become part of the "full size" sign in front of the Museum)

- ABC (Clancy Cornell)called and has okayed the move of the Flxible two–level to Camden.

Work Session:

Saturday (tomorrow) will be another workday with more cleanup.





Thursday, September 15, 2011

Thursday, September 25, 2011 WORK UPDATE

On Wednesday, September 14 - the following volunteers showed up: Ken McNelis, Jot Bennett, Tom Mozer

This team concentrated on:

- Parts and Tool Room cleanup; the room is full of mud. Tom Mozer cleaned the cabinets and floor. The refrigerator and microwave were rendered useless and discarded for Derry Township to pickup. Service manuals were placed outside, in the sun, to dry out.

- Small free-standing building. This had been completely under water. All paper goods were destroyed and will be thrown out. Jot Bennett took the models that were on shelves and cases home to dry out (it appears they will survive).

Vehicles

- doors were opened in all buses inside to help them dry out

- roof hatch on Volvo closed to prevent further water damage

Electric Service

Certifed electric inspector contacted by T.Collins was dispatched to the annex to do the final inspection - he called PPL (our electric provider). They will need to install a new meter and then turn on the power (hopefully Thursday (today)).

Insurance Adjustor

Did not show up Wednesday - we will pursue this again today

(NOTE: There is a Saturday work session scheduled for September 17--we have a fair amount of help lined up). Thank you to all the volunteers who are helping with this disaster.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

VERY unfortunately, it is raining cats and dogs again in the Susquehanna Valley today. Yesterday, volunteers worked on emptying the small building that was in front of the Annex. Most all the paperwork stored there is ruined. Luckily, some of the vintage transfers that were in the process of being catalogued and were stored in plastic zip-lock bags will probably be able to be saved.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

After many inquiries on both our Facebook page and our email, I thought I'd post this:

Donations for a disaster fund should be clearly marked on the check and the envelope DISASTER FUND--the check should be made out to the MBT, and mailed to 161 Museum Drive, Hershey, PA 17033.

Thank you all for your support, phone calls, emails and offers of help.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 UPDATE

Three volunteers (Ed Wolf, Paul Johnson, and Tom Collins) – some assistance in the morning from Museum staff Tom Border and Paul Taylor.

The Museum suggested using “their” outside electric contractor to check out our lines and service in preparation for PPL to turn on the power. The technician spent about 6 hours working on our switch box, etc…..the PPL meter was full of water and PPL was advised and will replace it prior to start of service…all the fuses in the box etc have been replaced.

Our technician needs to have his superior “certify” the work – then we call PPL back (referring to the “job number”) and we should have power by no later than Thursday the 15th.

Our Condon and Skelly adjustor did not show today but had advised us, earlier, that it might take him a few days to get over – in the meantime we can't move any buses out of the garage until he ascertains the damage.

Ed Wolf, assisted by Paul Johnson worked on the following buses:

Capitol 4l06…..drained engine, air filer, and transmission

Bonanza MC-9….engine and air filer drained

Peter Pan 2903…..engine and transmission drained

Long Beach RTS…..engine and transmission drained

Trans-Bridge MC-9…..engine drained

Here's the VERY GOOD NEWS: the RTS and Trans-Bridge engines turned over and were left running for a period.

NOTE: The Museum staff volunteered to power wash the Harran Flxible....in return they want to put it on the outside display – with the Studebaker (which is to be replaced with a ‘40s Chevrolet)

Taylor Made Services, of Hershey, will inspect the buses to see about cleaning them inside (they have some experience with this).

We opened both storage trailers--the one with the paperwork is a mess – most likely we will simply trash the paper items; the other one with the tables is OK…just muddy ….tables appear to be OK.

Small Office: We could not open it…we wanted to see how much damage we had with the models, etc.

Dumpster has been ordered but, due to high demand, will not be delivered until Tuesday, Sept 20th (Museum low rates will apply as previously).

Goal: to have us back as normal as possible by the Annual Meeting – October 29

Tuesday, September 13, 2011


Here's another photo of the flooded Swatara Creek - this photo shows the Giant Center with Route 39 (the road that goes to the Museum) on the bottom--totally immersed in water.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011 UPDATE

As you know, Hershey, Hummelstown, Derry and South Hanover townships (the areas where the Museum and our Annex are located)suffered severe flooding. The Museum, itself, suffered NO damage but was closed for 2 l/2 days mainly because highway Route 39 which serves it was closed to traffic. The MBT storage facility, George M Sage Memorial Annex, suffered severe flooding – reported to be in excess of Hurricane Agnes (1972). It crested 10 feet above any recorded flooding on record.

Earlier today, 4 MBT members (T. Mozer, E. Wolf, T. Collins, and D. Lehman) accessed the Annex – following is a recap of the damage:

- The Annex (garage) had 7 feet of water. Water entered the 7 buses which were housed inside….mud and debris in inside each of them.

- Waters flowed through the Annex with such force that our refrigerator, battery chargers, etc., were tossed around the building.

- The vehicles parked outside, in some cases, had water up to the top of the windshields and roof lines (see the previous aerial picture).

- The storage trailers were not able to be inspected (they have certain archives in them).

- Although the Swatara Creek has receded, mud is caked on the floor and items.

- Debris is scattered around the property and a segment of telephone poles have damaged our fencing. We also have garage door damage.

Now the good news:

- The bus fleet IS insured – our agent is Condon and Skelly, who we have been with for a number of years and has already been contacted.

- Bus insured values are those determined by the Appraisal done by Michaud Appraisals on the buses at or around the Annex, at the time of the appraisal range in value from $1,000 to $40,000 each--an adjuster is scheduled to visit the property in mid-week.

- Fortunately, there were a number of buses “off the property” (12 are located on the Museum floor, 2 were stored at the Museum, and 3 were away for restoration – and not affected)

Here’s where we need your help:

CLEAN UP WORK SESSIONS are slated for:

Tuesday, September 13th – 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Wednesday, September 14th – 8:00 am to 4:00

Saturday, September 24th – 8:00 am to 2:00 pm

We are asking for as many people who can assist. Please bring/wear old clothes (you will be getting dirty!). Also please bring buckets and cleaning material. We will need mechanical assistance also.

We will come through this unfortunate episode (with the Creek rising so rapidly and so many buses not readily operational, it would have been impossible to move them – the entire surrounding area was affected).

Thank you for whatever support you can give us – we will survive!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Just to clarify something--from a comment made on yesterday's Blog--believe me we didn't LET this happen. This flooding was 10 feet higher than any flooding on record--no one in their wildest dreams ever thought this could happen. Most of those buses outside do not run under their own power--it would have taken dozens of tow trucks or flatbeds to move them--hindsight is wonderful. What we need now is help in cleaning up, fund raising to restore and support for those who are willing to work.

This flooding surprised everyone....no one had an idea that this rain would stall over the Hershey area. If you have read any of the news, the entire Hershey/Hummelstown area has been flooded....you can't plan for that. This is not a time for blame--this is a time for action, healing--helping us clean up these buses, the Annex, raising money to restore what we can salvage.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011


Sadly, the Swatara Creek crested 10 feet ABOVE any record flooding in the past.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Thursday, September 8, 2011

We have extensive flooding here in the Susquehanna Valley and the Hershey/Hummelstown area has been very hard hit. Here is a link to a picture of the Route 39 bridge (from Hershey to the Museum). The Museum was closed yesterday, is closed again today. We are concerned about flooding at the Annex--but right now non-essential travel is restricted. http://photos.pennlive.com/patriot-news/2011/09/swatara_creek_flooding_in_hers_3.html

At our home--our road is closed due to flooding--we live on a hill and basically are marooned here.