Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum: June 2006

Working on the Plymouth BL's transmission

Back to life... The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 #1843 roars back to life after its winter slumber. The F-M had been pre-lubed and had some replacement batteries installed prior to its 2006 startup. USA 1843 is the only operating F-M locomotive in New York State.

Transmission nears completion... The friction drive transmission on the museum's Plymouth Model BL is nearly complete. This image shows the complete transmission along with the brake lever (red handle) and engine throttle.

A closer look... A closer look at the friction drive transmission. The flywheel on the right is directly connected to the Buda engine while the spoked wheel runs off of the flywheel via friction; transferring power via chains to the wheels. The position of the spoked wheel to either side of the flywheel determines the direction of travel for the engine.

The engineer's view... Shot from the back of the BL looking forward, here we see the transmission as it will be seen by the engineer. In this view, the drive chains can be seen. The spoked drive wheel is hidden in the center of the photo under the red guard. The small spoked wheel in the center of the image is used to move the larger spoked wheel left and right which adjusts the engine's direction and speed.

Caboose Day 2006

Caboose Day briefing... Before the engines were started and Caboose Day at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum got underway, a job briefing was held with all train and museum volunteers to get everyone on the same page. These briefings insure a safe and efficient operation.

Heading out... The museum's GE 80-tonner #1654 passes the B&O position light at Switch 6 as it heads north to the passenger transfer point to start Caboose Day 2006. If you missed Caboose Day, you will have another chance at Diesel Days in August.

60 years young... Behind R&GV #1654 is Erie caboose #C254. Built in May 1946, Erie C254 just turned 60 years old and continues in revenue service for the R&GVRR Museum.

Second section... Two trains were operated for Caboose Day. Here we see Eastman Kodak Company GE 80-tonner #6 passing the former Erie Railroad signal on the museum's demonstration railroad as it heads toward the Caboose Day passenger transfer point.

Back to Industry with passengers... Erie C254 enters Industry yard with its first load of passengers during Caboose Day.

Unloading passengers... Museum volunteer Dave Peet helps some of the passengers off of Erie C254 so they can start their tour of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.

Drainage and grading work continues

French drain complete... With good weather and the right equipment, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum was able to complete the installation of a 300 foot french drain that will aid in the removal of surface water after the track is installed to the museum's restoration building. This view is looking north with the building behind the photographer with the drain shown on the left in the image.

Looking back... Looking south toward the restoration building, the french drain can be seen paralleling Track 6.

Almost at grade... With the drain complete, finish grading was started and nearly finished. From this stake, only about 10 inches needs to removed from this position to reach finish grade at which point sub-ballast and track can be installed.

Pushing dirt around the Restoration Building

Boxing out... Taking advantage of a nice day, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's excavating crews got back to work boxing out the area where the lead switch to the museum's restoration building lead tracks will go off of Track 6. With a good size hump in the ground, a fair amount of dirt had to be removed. The museum's Cat D7E is making quick work of the job with the museum's Erie caboose and mainline shown in the back.

A blade full! The big Cat has a blade full of dirt as it works the area of the switch install.

In capable hands... Museum volunteer Joe Scanlon has the controls of the D7. With things working well, this is what volunteering at the R&GVRRM is all about and Joe's smile shows it!

A good size pile... It did not take long for a good size pile of dirt to accumulate. The museum's Trojan front loader is working on loading up one of the museum's dump trucks for use as fill on the south end of the Restoration Building.

Time to grade... With the rough work done with the bulldozer, it was time to switch machines to a road grader to finish and fine tune the job. Joe Scanlon has the controls of the Huber-Warco grader and is making quick work of finishing the job.