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37-533: Public proposals to create a railroad museum in Altoona date at least to 1938, when the Altoona Mirror published a letter to the editor suggesting the city develop a tourism industry , including a "community railroad museum", centered around its railroad history. In 1959, Altoona's Chamber of Commerce proposed a similar museum. By 1963, a proposal for a "Pennsyland" railroad museum led representatives of

74-438: A GP9 diesel-electric locomotive , for the purpose. Pennsylvania State Representative Richard Geist announced that the museum would receive a $ 50,000 grant and a crew of state workers to move No. 1361 and begin a cosmetic restoration. At the museum's mortgage-burning ceremony on September 28, 1985, Conrail chairman L. Stanley Crane announced that his company would pursue steam train excursions . "The K4 [1361] would be

111-454: A prospectus detailing the terms and rights attached to the offered security, as well as information on the company itself and its finances. Many other regulatory requirements surround any public offering and they vary according to jurisdiction. The services of an underwriter are often used to conduct a public offering. Initial public offering (IPO) is one type of public offering. Not all public offerings are IPOs. An IPO occurs only when

148-491: A book claiming that deceased railroad workers haunt the museum. The museum's rolling stock includes Pennsylvania Railroad 1361 , a K4 steam locomotive that stood on static display at the Horseshoe Curve from June 8, 1957, until September 1985. It was restored to operating condition but suffered an axle failure within a year. Since 2015, it has been under restoration at a roundhouse on the museum grounds. No. 1361

185-431: A company offers its shares (not other securities) for the first time for public ownership and trading, an act making it a public company . However, public offerings are also made by already-listed companies. The company issues additional securities to the public, adding to those currently being traded. For example, a listed company with 8 million shares outstanding can offer to the public another 2 million shares. This

222-576: A more interconnected tourism industry in southwestern Pennsylvania. The commission identified the cities of Altoona and Johnstown as potential focal points for the new tourist industry. As part of the program, the Railroaders Memorial Museum collaborated with officials from the National Park Service to renovate tourist facilities at the nearby Horseshoe Curve. The $ 5.8 million renovations were completed in 1992 with

259-469: A morning paper, it offered an alternative to the State College, Pennsylvania -based Centre Daily Times which was an evening paper. Public offering A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be publicly listed. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish

296-588: A museum. The Railroaders Memorial Museum was incorporated in 1972 to raise more funds and collect more artifacts. The new group's first major acquisition was the 1975 purchase of The Loretto , a private railroad car built for steel tycoon Charles M. Schwab . That same year, the Altoona Redevelopment Authority sold a parcel of land previously purchased from the Penn Central Transportation Company to

333-403: A private developer for use as a shopping center . The land deal stipulated that the developer donate a portion of the property and $ 50,000 towards museum construction. The Railroaders Memorial Museum received full ownership of the property in 1978. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new museum were held on May 13, 1979. The museum, still incomplete, opened to the public on September 21, 1980. In

370-559: A third story was added to the building, giving the Test Department two entire floors. Test Department workers helped the Pennsylvania Railroad achieve company-wide standardization through their analysis of materials used in railroad construction and maintenance. Railroad officials also used the laboratories for public relations; for example, Test Department employees gave demonstrations at the railroad's exhibit at

407-493: A very appropriate locomotive to do that with," said Crane. The move was intended to put Conrail in step with other contemporaneous railroad operators during the company's bid for public offering . Over the next two years, the engine was restored to working condition in Conrail's Altoona railroad shops , but ran for just a year before bearing and axle failures sidelined it indefinitely. Inconsistent direction and financial issues at

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444-442: Is a public offering but not an IPO. Once the transaction is complete, the company will have 10 million shares outstanding. Non-initial public offering of equity is also called seasoned equity offering . A shelf prospectus is often used by companies in exactly that situation. Instead of drafting one before each public offering, the company can file a single prospectus detailing the terms of many different securities it might offer in

481-423: Is an offering of other securities, this entails the creation or expansion of a series (of bonds, warrants, etc.). However, more rarely, public offerings take place in the secondary market . This is called a secondary market offering : existing security holders offer to sell their stake to other, new owners, through the stock exchange. The offerer is different from the issuer (the company). A secondary market offering

518-637: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago . By 1909, the Master Mechanics Building had been expanded to four floors, but the Test Department needed yet more space, and in 1914, the department moved to its own building in the Altoona Works. The Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors continued to use the building for administrative offices, including railroad police headquarters. It last housed Conrail's medical offices and

555-402: The board of directors —Dean McKnight, a senior vice president at M&T Bank—alerted his fellow board members that the museum was dangerously close to insolvency . An internal audit showed that the museum had maxed out its line of credit and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Despite public reports showing that the museum had been steadily losing money since its reopening in 1998,

592-510: The Railroaders Memorial Museum and Horseshoe Curve visitor center. DeFrancesco ordered "cuts across the board" and restructured the museum. The museum reopened in March 2021. On June 24, 2021, the Railroaders Memorial Museum hired FMW Solutions to again restore the PRR 1361 to operating condition. Charles "Wick" Moorman , a retired railroad executive with both Norfolk Southern Corporation and Amtrak ,

629-498: The board expressed shock upon learning that they couldn't "afford to open the doors." The eleven other members of the board soon resigned. The new board members hired the Westsylvania Heritage Corporation , another descendant of America's Industrial Heritage Project, to run the museum, and approved drastic measures to keep the museum afloat. They cut the operating budget and laid off more than half of

666-496: The building dating to 1882. It had last been occupied by Conrail and vacated in 1984. The $ 12 million project was funded by the National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration , and a state grant. Bureaucracy and natural disasters delayed the project and briefly plunged the museum into a fiscal crisis. Grand opening ceremonies were finally held on April 25, 1998. In May 2002, a new member of

703-570: The city and displayed at the Horseshoe Curve . Museum officials immediately lobbied for a role in the project. The city established the Horseshoe Curve Task Force to investigate the feasibility and costs of restoring No. 1361. In 1985, the Railroaders Memorial Museum was granted possession of the PRR 1361 on condition that a suitable replacement be provided to the Horseshoe Curve; Conrail subsequently donated PRR 7048,

740-705: The city's Tourism Bureau to compete against the Strasburg Rail Road in Lancaster County for possession of 28 pieces of decommissioned Pennsylvania Railroad rolling stock . Negotiations intensified when the Pennsylvania General Assembly chartered the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania but did not immediately designate a location. In 1965, Strasburg was selected as the site for the state museum and later awarded

777-402: The city, including locomotive and rail car fabrication and repair shops, a paint shop, a blacksmith shop , a brass foundry , and an iron foundry. The two-story Master Mechanics Building was completed in 1882; it contained administrative offices and was the first home of the railroad's Test Department: physical and chemical testing laboratories inspired by those of European railroads. In 1886,

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814-857: The contested Pennsylvania Railroad stock, which included historic steam locomotives and passenger cars being kept at a roundhouse in Northumberland . Despite the state's decision, the Altoona Railway Museum Club carried on with efforts to construct a museum in Altoona. In 1968, the club was granted a charter by the National Railway Historical Society to begin operating as the Horseshoe Curve Chapter. The chapter collected railroad artifacts to display in empty storefronts and at civic events in attempts to raise public support for

851-427: The dedication of a new visitors center to be operated by the museum. Museum officials also collaborated with agents from America's Industrial Heritage Project to seek a larger space for the Railroaders Memorial Museum. In 1990, the museum expressed interest in moving to the nearby Master Mechanics Building. The four-floor brick office building had originally been constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, with sections of

888-492: The early hours of October 8, 1983, The Loretto was badly damaged by arson . Two juveniles were charged with setting the fire, whose damage was estimated at $ 200,000. The Restore the Loretto Committee was formed to raise money to restore and preserve the railroad car. Altoona's city council later wondered whether a similar campaign could be organized for PRR 1361 , a deteriorating K4 steam locomotive owned by

925-447: The museum grounds, is used for storage. The museum began marketing the Master Mechanics Building as a haunted tourist attraction in 2003. Halloween tours that year centered on the museum's "real ghost stories." Ghost Hunters , an American paranormal and reality television series, filmed part of an episode inside the museum. The episode portrayed the haunting as fictional. After the episode aired in 2004, local ghost hunters wrote

962-458: The museum hindered repairs to the steam engine. In 1996, the disassembled engine was sent for a complete restoration to Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton , Pennsylvania. The Railroaders Memorial Museum ceased funding the incomplete project in 2007. Pieces of the engine were divided for storage between the museum and East Broad Top Rail Road . The restoration was officially canceled by

999-409: The museum in 2010. The failed restoration remains a controversial topic due to its lengthy history, technical errors, and use of state funds. The National Park Service's interest in western Pennsylvania's historic roads and sites led to the formation of America's Industrial Heritage Project in 1988. Congress authorized the commission to identify historic sites of heavy industry and to help develop

1036-490: The museum's employees. The paid services were largely replaced with volunteer labor. They began to seek more revenue by hosting events and renting the museum's facilities. The museum gradually reduced its outstanding debt. In 2007, the board transferred museum operations to the Salone Management Group, which had previously organized concerts at the museum as part of its events programming. Board members and

1073-515: The next several years. Shortly before the offering (if any) actually takes place, the company informs the public of material changes in its finances and outlook since the publication of the shelf prospectus. Other types of securities, besides shares, can be offered publicly. Bonds , warrants , capital notes and many other kinds of debt and equity vehicles are offered, issued and traded in public capital markets. A private company , with no shares listed publicly, can still issue other securities to

1110-571: The outgoing executive director cited company's greater financial resources as reasoning for the transfer. In 2010, Salone Management Group oversaw construction of a quarter-roundhouse on the museum grounds. In 2020, the board of directors hired a new executive director: Joseph DeFrancesco, a former executive director of the Blair County Historical Society. Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed

1147-437: The public and have them traded on an exchange. A public company may also offer and list other securities alongside its shares. Most public offerings are in the primary market , that is, the issuing company itself is the offerer of securities to the public. The offered securities are then issued (allocated, allotted) to the new owners. If it is an offering of shares, this means that the company's outstanding capital grows. If it

Railroaders Memorial Museum - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-464: The sole owner. Mr. Slep's eldest son, William H. Slep, eventually joined the business and the firm became known as H. & W.H. Slep Company. In 1888, the newspaper's name was changed to Altoona Mirror . In 1907, the Slep company name was changed to Mirror Printing Company. The paper remained in the Slep family until being sold to Thomson Newspapers in 1984. Under Thomson ownership, a Sunday edition

1221-493: Was elected chairman of the board. A new staff of professionals and a new board of directors has ushered in a new era for the organization with a solid financial foundation. Since 1998, the museum has occupied the Master Mechanics Building built by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of its Altoona Works, once the world's largest complex of railroad shop facilities . The railroad began building shop facilities at Altoona in 1849, and within three decades had multiple campuses across

1258-512: Was launched in 1987 and the paper switched its weekday publication to mornings starting in 1997. The Altoona Mirror was sold to current owner Ogden Newspapers in 1998. Dan Slep, a fifth-generation descendant of co-founder Harry E. Slep, became publisher in 2021. A Mirror Printing Company sister newspaper, the Pennsylvania Mirror , was published between 1968 and 1977 and covered news and events in neighboring Centre County . As

1295-509: Was replaced at the Curve by Pennsylvania Railroad 7048, a preserved GP9 Diesel-electric locomotive . The locomotive was built by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in December 1955 for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and later passed to Conrail . In 1985, Conrail repainted No. 7048 in its original Pennsylvania Railroad livery and donated it to the museum. A cosmetic restoration of 7048

1332-478: Was underway in late summer 2021. Altoona Mirror The Altoona Mirror is a daily newspaper located in Altoona, Pennsylvania . It is the hometown newspaper for Altoona, all of Blair County , and parts of surrounding counties. The newspaper was founded on June 13, 1874, as The Evening Mirror by Harry E. Slep and George J. Akers (Slep & Akers Company). Akers left the company in 1877, leaving Slep as

1369-490: Was vacated in 1984. Beginning in 1990, the Master Mechanics Building was renovated and remodeled for the museum, which opened in its new space eight years later. The building also houses administrative offices for the Railroaders Heritage Corporation. Rolling stock is displayed in a courtyard , quarter-roundhouse, and turntable on museum grounds. The former museum building, also located on

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