Christmas Tree Train Rides a success

For the second year in a row, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has run caboose rides in cooperation with Remelt's Evergreen Acres Christmas Tree farm. The rides were a real success and mark a great partnership between the museum and this "online" business. And even nearly 12 inches of snow did not stop the train from running today. For this weekend, R&GV 1654 and our Erie caboose did the honors. Our guests really enjoyed the warmth from the caboose stove on this day! Kudos to our volunteer train crews for a weekend of safe winter operations. Special events like these help keep us busy year round!

The Big Dig 2003 - Week 3

For the third weekend in a row, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum continued its excavation north of its Restoration Building to bring the ground in front of the building to the level of the building. This week saw mostly work being done by the museum's 1968 Cat D7E bulldozer freeing up dirt to be loaded by the front loader and dragline the following weekend.

A view of the north end of the R&GV RR Museum's restoration building. All of the excavation work is taking place on the hill to the front left of the building.

The D7 gets to work!

Pushing dirt over the bank!

And another blade full...

Time for a little maintenance check. With grease gun tucked under his arm, the museum's Master Mechanic Art Mummery, for whom the dozer is named (as he brought it back to life), checks over the tracks to make sure all is well.

The old and the newer. The museum's two Cat D7's are parked next to each other for lunch. The older Cat has done A LOT of work around the museum and it still sees use. With its cable blade, it is not as capable as its hydraulic equipped newer sibling.

Roofing our NYC crossing shanty

Other progress was also made around the museum. More finishing touches including more roofing shingles were added to our former New York Central crossing guard shanty that has seen a lot of restoration work this year, thanks to the Marks family. Once complete, we hope to make the shanty part of our demonstration railroad.

The Big Dig '03 - Week 2

For the second weekend in a row, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum continued its excavation north of its Restoration Building to bring the ground in front of the building to the level of the building. Unlike Week #1 where the museum had the donated use of a hydraulic excavator, this day the museum used only equipment from its own Historic Construction Equipment collection.

The museum's Cat D7 waits for the pan to return to give it a push with the museum's yard crane working in the back moving rail parts out of the way of the excavation.

The Cat D-8 and its tractor pan take its first pass of the day.

The results from the pan.

Museum volunteer Jeremy Tuke checks the fuel level on the D-8.

Fill 'er up! Museum volunteers, John McDonald (left) and Dave Luca (right) help pump diesel fuel into the Cat D-8 tractor.

Pumping up a tire on the museum's tractor pan.

View of the north end of the building from the top of the dirt still to be excavated.

Moving to the next spot.

Museum Construction Superintendent Joe Scanlon runs the Bay City 65 dragline.

Dumping the first load from the dragline.

And another load...

Filling the truck up!

The Big Dig '03 - Week 1

As we continue in our mission to acquire, restore, and display historical examples of railroad equipment, we must expand our storage capacity and improve access to our restoration shop. In order for the tracks to reach the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's restoration shop, several thousand cubic yards of dirt must be moved from the north end of the shop and placed on a fill to the south of the building. Over this weekend, our "Big Dig" was begun using a hydraulic excavator that was loaned to the museum for the weekend and other equipment from the R&GVRRM's historical construction equipment collection including our Cat D-8 tractor and tractor pan. Take a look at some of the progress made during this weekend.

Saturday morning loading out.

Monday evening... Lots of dirt moved!

Taking its first bite! Our Cat D-8 and its Cat tractor pan takes it first bite of earth on top of the fill. This was the first time the pan had been used and many of our guys said the first time they had seen one of these in use since the mid-60's. Operating a little piece of construction history.

Loading out...

Cat D-8 operator John McDonald pauses as he passes the restoration building on his was to spread his load of dirt.

And loading out again....

Museum volunteer, Scott Gleason, handles the excavator with ease.

Waiting for the truck... Early Saturday morning, the excavator waits to load it first dump truck.

Before the Big Dig... Saturday morning.

After the Big Dig, Week 1... Monday evening. Progress - Note how you can now see the Bay City 65 dragline on top of the hill. We hope to also use the 65 as part of the excavation.

Moving the track around our Upper Yard

To help facilitate some excavation around our restoration building, some track had to be moved out of the way. Since this was a possibility, the track was constructed in a panel fashion to make moving them easier. Here are some pictures of the movement of two of the panels using our Army Lorain crane...

Up in the air! The first panel is lifted. The second panel to be moved is in the foreground.

Placing the first panel out of the way.

The second panel is lifted.

The panel is swung over siding #6. This siding will be staying where it is.

Almost there.

Touchdown! The second panel is stacked and awaits eventual re-installation.

New York Central crossing shanty restoration continues

It has been a very productive summer for our New York Central crossing shanty restoration project. The shanty now has all new skirting to help support it and is seen here getting a complete roof replacement. Charlie Marks and his son Jesse have been instrumental in leading this restoration project.

Daylight... Part of the roof has been removed to be replaced. The roof was found to be in very poor condition so a complete replacement was necessary.

A close-up of the removed roof with the 1st new board in place.

Project leader Charlie Marks nails down some of the new roof boards.

An extra touch of class

Thanks to the RIT Model Railroad Club, and specifically project leader, volunteer Joe Werner, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum was the recipient of some very nicely decorated step boxes that were painted and lettered to match some of the museum's equipment. Building on a concept that museum volunteer Chris Hauf started with the building and painting of matching step boxes for ALCO RS-1 EK#9, Joe ran with the idea and improved on it.

Working with Otto Vondrak, the two volunteers created a workable prototype step box. With sponsorship from the club along with some painting and lettering assistance from Chris Huaf, the step boxes were debuted during the Diesel Days weekend. The step boxes help our guests make an easier entrance to and exit from our historic railroad equipment, especially in uneven areas beyond our depot yard. Take a look! Kudos to Joe and his helpers for their generous donation!

Lehigh Valley #211 was the third piece to receive a matching set of painted and lettered step boxes.

The C254 with the new step boxes ready and waiting for passengers.

Diesel Days 2003 a success!

Diesel Days 2003 was a great success for the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum this year. With over 1,050 visitors over the weekend, it was our busiest Diesel Days event and our second largest weekend ever! Three locomotives from our historic operating collection were out this weekend, including Lehigh Valley Alco RS3m #211, U.S. Army Fairbanks-Morse #1843, and Nickel Plate Road Alco S-4 #79. All three were celebrating their fiftieth birthdays that weekend, quite the milestone for our historic diesels. Our restored Penn Central and Erie cabooses were pressed into service to transport visitors across our demonstration railroad. Thanks must go out to our partner museum, the New York Museum of Transportation, for all their help at their end getting visitors ticketed and loaded on track cars. And we must thank all of our volunteers for their work both before and during the event. All we can say is THANKS! Photos by Chris Hauf

Ready to go! The engine line-up awaits the start of the operations on Saturday morning. Lehigh Valley #211, 50 years old this year, was running, but was not operated for the event. Visitors, however, were allowed the tour the cab and hear the 211 idle.

Another 50 year old... USA 1843 pushes the museum's Erie caboose around Scanlon's curve along the museum's demonstration railroad. Museum volunteer Mike Smith guards the rear platform of the historic F-M locomotive.

The last of the three 50-year birthdays was for NKP 79. Here #79 pulls the museum's restored Penn Central transfer caboose during the 2003 Diesel Days event.

Also operated, ALCO RS-1, Eastman Kodak Company #9, descends the hill block with a combination of museum volunteers and Diesel Days visitors. Volunteer Joe Werner helps keep visitors safe as the train decends into Indsutry Yard.