Panoramic progress outside the restoration building

Panoramic progress... Looking north out of the east door of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's restoration building, these two panoramic views show the progress that has been made from November 12, 2005 (top) until April 28, 2007 (bottom) with more to come very soon. To help better see the changes, note the yellow Allis Chalmers bulldozer in the upper right of each picture.

Trackmobiles and steam locomotives

Trackmobile on the go... One of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Trackmobiles heads off to move the museum's PRR N5C caboose #477822 back toward the restoration building. The caboose is located on the stub of Track #7 laid out of the west bay of the restoration building. Part of that track has been completed and the caboose needs to be pulled on to that completed section so the rest can be completed and hooked up.

Split personality... With its railroad wheels perpendicular to its road wheels, volunteer, Norm Shaddick, works to center the Trackmobile over the rails under the watchful eye of Bob Mader.

On to the rails... Centered, the Trackmobile lowers itself on to the rails. The tires will rise up into the wheel wells placing all of the weight on the railroad wheels.

Ready to roll... The Trackmobile's tires are up and it is ready to head down track #7. Inside the building is the museum's Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh caboose #280 that is under restoration along with the museum's ALCO RS-1, Eastman Kodak Company #9, poking its nose out from alongside the building.

Hooked up and heading south... With the 477822 hooked up, the Trackmobile heads south toward the restoration building to allow this portion of Track #7 to be connected up, jacked, ballasted, leveled and tamped.

Prep for inspection... While others were out working on track, our Vulcan 0-4-0T, ex-Brooklyn Navy Yard #12, was receiving some attention in the restoration building. Volunteer, Pete Gores systematically cleans up small patches on the inside of #12's firebox so the thickness can be checked with an ultrasonic thickness checker.

Checking thickness... Ron Amberger checks the thickness of the #12's firebox from the outside based on spots already cleaned up to insure a good reading. These readings will allow the R&GV Railroad Museum to better understand what boiler work will be necessary to eventually return #12 to steam.

Ballast spread and ready for track

Spread and ready for track! Thanks to the efforts of a few of the R&GV Railroad Museum's volunteers, the sub-ballast has been spread and is ready for track to be installed; hopefully during the first week of May.

Work continues on our Upper Yard

Time for stone! With grading complete, it was time to spread some 100+ tons of railroad ballast to provide a stable base on which to build the yard trackage. Here we see the start of the work.

More stone! The R&GV Railroad Museum's ex-Army 6x6 dump trucks go to work delivering stone to the work site.

New timber! To make this project take place, some additional new railroad ties and timber had to be purchased. Here we see the delivery truck waiting to unload at the R&GVRRM. Each new 6"x8"x8' tie is $32.00! Can you help us by adopting one or more of these new ties? Please consider a donation to our "Building Tracks to the Future" capital campaign.

More new timber... Down in Industry yard, the switch project rebuild is continuing nicely with some of the new timber laid out for the switch.

Grading and spreading ballast

Finish grading! With another nice day, the finish grading needed to ready the restoration building yard switch installation was undertaken and completed. Joe Scanlon has the Huber-Warco grader underway as he takes another pass with the museum's Bay City Model 65 dragline in the background.

Getting to the bottom... Having made several passes, grade has been achieved to the right of the grade stakes. Further work will now be done west of the stakes to get the area ready for sub-ballast and track.

A steady hand... Joe Scanlon has the controls of the grader as he makes a finishing pass. It is quite an art to work the many levers needed to control the grader's blade while guiding the grader with the steering wheel, and Joe really makes it look easy!

Cleaning up... To keep the area clean for grading, the R&GV Railroad Museum's Trojan loader scoops up the extra dirt the grader left behind.

Hauling it away... After scooping it up, the spoiled is hauled away in one of the museum's dump trucks to the fill area south of the building.

And down below... In Industry yard, the R&GV Railroad Museum's track gang was hard at work on the other switch project, the reconstruction of one of the switches in Industry yard. With all of the old ties and ballast/mud removed, the area was ready to accept new sub-ballast.

Loading up... To help make the ballasting process a little easier, Jeremy Tuke has a Bobcat bucketful of ballast ready to be taken into Industry yard for the switch project.

Dumping it in... Another bucket load of stone is placed into the switch area where it was worked level by hand by the museum's Bobcat 610.

No April showers means more progress at Industry

Inches to go! The stakes are set for the last of the grading needed prior to the installation of the two switches for the restoration building yard. The switch work is to begin in just over one week so the dirt around these stakes should be approximately eight inches lower in the next week.

The calm before the storm... In just over one week, construction of the two new restoration building yard tracks will begin and will connect the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Restoration Building to the museum's demonstration railroad via the stub of the track seen in the distance.

Looking the other way. Looking back at the Restoration Building, one can get the feeling where the switches will go to connect tracks (from right to left) #6, #7 & #8. More dirt still needs to be removed from the west to further widen the area north of the building, however, there is room to install most of the yard and all of the switches.

More stone... And more stone... More stone taken from a recently delivered one hundred and twenty tons was added to road crossing on siding #6 and #7 to make it easy to get cars and trucks up to the building in preparation for the switch install. The museum is going to need SIX HUNDRED or more tons to complete the yard. That is approximately $7500.00 in stone alone! Care to help us reach our goal? Consider a tax-deductible donation to the Museum's "Building Tracks to the Future" Capital Fundraising campaign.

Another new part... When the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum acquired its Plymouth BL gas-mechanical locomotive it had three of its four original sandbox covers. As his first project, new volunteer, Tom Anderson had a new covered machined and the finish product is shown here on the engine. Thanks Tom!

Flipped over... Flipped over, one can see the machining necessary to make the cover fit on to the sandbox. The cover was machined from the same metal the cast originals were made from.

And up on the roof! Continuing with his sheet metal work, Kevin Klees has the engine cab roof sheet metal nearly finalized and with a nice coat of paint to protect it.

In other Motive Power news... On the other side of the Restoration Building, the oil pan from the #1 prime mover for RG&E 1941, the museum's GE 45-tonner, awaits re-installation having been completely cleaned and painted. The primer mover is coming to an end of a complete rebuild, and we hope to have it running again in 2007!

Spring has sprung! Thanks to our Building & Grounds team of Dave Luca and Janet Dittmer, signs of spring are popping up all over the museum.