New volunteer crew training continues at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Musuem. Hands-on training is an important part of the process. At left, Brakeman Rick Israelson poses in front of his train led by the museum's former Lehigh Valley RS-3m 211. Below, Fireman Ron Amberger operates the 211 as part of his hands-on training. After his qualifying runs, he will have to pass a qualfying test before he can become an engineer on our museum railroad.
On this morning, the grading for the first phase of the LA&L siding install is looking very good and close to subgrade. One of museum's Cat graders and its D-7E bulldozer sit ready to go to work later that day to complete the grading work. This first phase of the project will give the museum about 350 feet of new siding with the goal of installing 1,400 feet.
With the new siding switch installed on the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville mainline, it was time to start to gather and deliver materials for the job of installing the siding. To bring some of the needed ties, the museum's custom built ex-Army 6x6 flatbed truck was loaded with three bundles of ties and sits ready to deliver them to the work area once some additional grading is completed. Completion of the new siding will allow us to store our string of ex-New York Central stainless steel coaches and free up space in our museum yards.
While Lehigh Valley Railroad Alco RS-3m #211 had most of its lettering since its restoration, one small detail that was missing was a the 'F' on the sides of the frame at the end of the long hood. The "F" denotes what is the front of the locomotive. The practice dates to the transition from steam-to-diesel during the postwar years, when it was clear which end was the front of a steam lcomotive, but not always clear on early diesels. Based on photographs of 211 in service, replica F's were added to the engine to complete this detail of the locomotive's continued restoration. Knowing which end is designated "front" is important when communicating direction of movement between crew members and trains. Photo by Christopher Hauf
One of the largest ongoing projects the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has been undertaking in 2008 is the replacement of all of the glazing in all six of its ex-New York Central "Empire State Express" coaches. Here we see NYC 2571 which has had all of its windows completed. The results can be seen in the close up with the ability to see the other coach sitting on the next track through the windows on BOTH sides of the car. The museum still has many more windows to go and each window costs about $200.00 to rebuild. Want to Adopt-A-Window? Please consider a donation via PayPal today!
The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum owns a '39 Ford Railway Express Agency truck which has been slowly getting mechanical attention over the years. Now it was time to put all of the sheet metal together on the front of the truck to see how it fit. Some of the sheet metal is original while some pieces like the fenders are replacements. This truck is part of a multi-year restoration program, and eventually will become part of the Museum's farm-to-market interpretive display. Photo by Christopher Hauf
The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's ex-Wellsville, Addison & Galeton (nee-Boston & Maine) wooden Russell snowplow is getting some attention with new primer and one rebuilt window on the east side. This unique piece of equipment has been a project of the Charlie and Jesse Marks for many years now. Photo by Christopher Hauf
The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's ex-New York Central Pullman PS-4 flatcar #506102 sits south of the restoration building with its load of 90lb. rail ready to be pulled north through the building and "shipped" over to the new LA&L siding. The rail will be used to construct the siding and using the flat car was the easiest way to ship this large amount of material. Photo by Christopher Hauf
The last two shots of the night featured Car 161 alone at the crossing. Car 161 has seen extensive restoration by the NYMT including an all new canvas roof, new windows, and a lot of interior work as well. Thanks to the NYMT crews for a great night of photography! Photos and lighting by Christopher R. Hauf. 
With a rather wet summer, both the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum and our sister operation the New York Museum of Transportation have been fighting back the weed population along our two-mile demonstration railroad. Here we see the weed spray "train" keeping up the good fight as it departs Industry yard on its return trip to the NYMT. Vegetation control is important to maintaining a trouble-free right of way.
The buffing out of LV211's paint continued through July, and here we see the results shining in the summer sun. Even though the locomotive was repainted in 1990, the paint retains its original strength and lustre. An afternoon of buffing out the finish with automotive finish wax brings back the shine like it was painted yesterday.
With special event Caboose Day rapidly approaching, museum volunteer Dave Scheiderich power washes the museum's Penn Central transfer caboose #18526. This caboose proves to be popular with our museum guests, as the large platforms allow a greater number of people to safely enjoy an open-air ride along our demonstration railroad.
Lehigh Valley 211 departs south into the setting sun on a return trip to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum as part of the July Rochester Chapter NRHS membership meeting. On this evening, we find museum volunteer Mike Roqué at the controls of LV 211 as the train prepares to head south to Industry depot. During the summer months, Chapter meetings are held at the Museum, giving our members the chance to enjoy the results of their hard work throughout the year! Won't you join us?
In twilight, we find the New York Museum of Transportation's two former P&W Strafford cars nose out of the NYMT car barn as they prepare to be the subject of a night photo session which was held as part of the events for the July Rochester Chapter NRHS membership meeting. Our two-mile demonstration railroad is shared with NYMT, with almost one half of the line under wire.
Another Livonia, Avon & Lakeville road train pulled by their signature Alco Centuries heads south. The train had just passed over the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's newly installed switch which will lead to a new siding our volunteers are building. This siding on the west side of the LA&L mainline will allow us to store our stainless steel passenger excursion set.
And here we see the new switch the LA&L track department had just completed installing that day. The switch had been built as a panel back in January. This switch is located approximately 1700' north of Route 251 where the Industry depot is located. Now the hard work for the museum starts as it constructs the 1400' siding this switch connects to. Help is needed. New volunteers are always welcome and donations to the museum's 'Building Tracks to the Future' Capital Fundraising Campaign which has been providing the funds to install this switch and siding.
To allow for some crew training as part of the museum's monthly Railroad Operations Department meeting, we find Lehigh Valley 211 up near milepost 0.8 on the museum's demonstration railroad. The recently installed bracket arms on the poles for the electrification project being undertaken by the R&GVRRM's partner museum, the NYMT, can be seen overhead along with the moon rising in the distance. You can enjoy scenes like these! Plan a visit or consider joining our volunteers.
