The Fort MacArthur Museum Association is proud to announce the arrival of our latest artifact for Battery Osgood-Farley. A working General Electric Model GM-12 Generator. The is a culmination of sorts of the work done by successive generations of volunteers here at the museum. In the mid-50's the army offered up the original generators at Fort MacArthur for sale or scrap. In the mid-80's volunteers cleaned up the damage created by a fire-bombing. In the late 80's a group of our volunteers secured a loan from of a derelict GM-12 from the National Parks Service (from Fort Hancock). Museum Director Steve Nelson recovered another one from the jungles of Panama when he was fresh on the job in the 1990's. Over the years, our volunteers have worked hard to restore the power room, with its massive distribution panel, original radiators, generators, and transformers.

Earlier this year, the opportunity presented itself for the association to purchase a working GM-12 from a private collector in Pennsylvania. The only catch was that the owner insisted on doing business in-person! So in April 2007, with the approval of the Board of Directors, Steve Nelson, John Kanaster, and Joe Janesic, with the help of our east coast host and guide Andy Grant from the Army Ground Forces Association,  headed east to try and seal the deal.

Power Room is ready for the new generator, the Fort Hancock generator is in the background

The new GM-12 arrives at 10:00am on the back of Bill Hazzard's truck, Bill has traveled from York, P.A.

Unwrapped and ready for the lift

Osgood-Farley Power Room is in the background

Moving into position, thanks to the loan of a forklift
from our good friends at Vanco Heavy Lift
 

Up in the air and off the trailer, we have to be extra careful with this one, it weighs almost 6,000 lbs!
 

Continuing Projects