With the last piece of track completed inside of the building, the track construction has begun on Track 8 south of the restoration building. With this track, both bays of the building finally have tracks all the way through them. This greatly increases our capacity for storage, and will allow us to keep the active equipment free and ready for service.
With EK 6 back on the road, the museum's ex-New York Central Pullman PS-4 flat car 506102 was brought into the restoration building for a little work prior to a being used for some museum maintenance-of-way work. The car will eventually be restored back to its New York Central paint and have a new deck installed. The car was donated to the museum by Conrail. It has become a very useful addition to our museum fleet, even without its wooden deck.
Fireman Ron Amberger poses with EK 6 and his train on the way to relocate a few freight cars to the north end of the line. While classroom sessions help teach the basics, hands-on training is an important part of becoming a train service volunteer on our museum railroad. Interested in learning how to run trains? Want to learn more about railroad operations? Join us and find out how you can be in the engineer's seat!
Museum volunteer Dan Waterstraat uses the Rochester & Gensee Valley Railroad Museum's restored Caterpillar D7 bulldozer to prepare the roadway between Tracks 7 and 8 on the south end of the restoration building. Work will continue in this area to prepare for new track extensions that will help increase our storage capacity. Want to lend a hand?
A busy weekend of track construction at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum! Volunteers Luther Brefo and Mike Roqué measure, gauge, and spike an additional track panel on Track 8 to extend it towards the south end of the Restoration Building. Construction department volunteer Dan Waterstraat works to box out the location of the track extension at the south end of the restoration building. Volunteer Dan Waterstraat operates the museum's restored Caterpillar D7 bulldozer in preparation for the southward extension of Track 8 from the restoration building.
Work continues on extending Track 8 through the Restoration Building at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. After the grading was completed, another section of track was laid out in the building; ending just a few feet shy of the south door. Once some grading outside of the building is completed, the track will be extended out of the door. This track is temporary to allow addition use of the building. Through its 'Building Tracks to the Future' capital fundraising campaign, the museum hopes to raise all of the necessary funds to install a concrete floor and inspection pit in the building. Can you help with a donation?
Volunteer Dave Luca navigates the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Bobcat 610 out of the restoration building after doing some leveling work on the grade inside of the building to allow for Track 8 to be further extended south out of the shop. The museum is currently seeking a donation of new or good RTO rims for our 610 since the current rims are starting to show wear around the lug nuts from years of service. Please let us know if you can help.
Work continues on our fleet of Fairmont track cars. The Oliver Cletrac engine in our Fairmont A4 track car TC-2 is back together after receiving new rings and a valve job. The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum relies heavily on its two A4 track cars for its Sunday public operations. The museum is also seeking to add a third car of similar size to its fleet. Do you have a car we might be interested in? Please contact us.
After a lot of work, EK6's brake cylinders have all been re-assembled and its rehabilitated hand brake mechanism reconnected. Along with the cylinder and hand brake work, several new cast iron brake shoes were purchased and installed on the engine. One of the new shoes is shown here. The third switching step for RG&E #1941, the museum's GE 45-tonner, has been cleaned, primed and reinstalled. Finish painting will take place later in the summer when all of the mechanical work is complete on the engine.
