Fall Foliage at the Museum

The fall foliage is ablaze along the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's right-of-way. Locomotive 1654 heads north with our Erie and Penn Central cabooses in tow. Photo by David Scheiderich.

New volunteer open house - Sunday, October 25th 1PM

Interested in volunteering at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, but not sure where to start?   Here is a great chance to learn more about the many ways you can help us preserve Rochester's railroad history, our new volunteer open house.   During the open house, interested volunteers will get a tour of both the R&GVRRM and the New York Museum of Transportation with a trolley and train ride in between.   At the R&GVRRM, you will get a chance to tour both our Industry depot and our restoration shop.    You will also get to see both our railroad and heavy equipment collections.

We welcome anyone that is interested with any skill set and any skill level.   The open house starts at 1PM at the Industry depot at the R&GVRRM on Sunday, October 25th.  The R&GVRRM is located at 282 Rush-Scottsville Road (NYS Route 251), Rush, NY 14543.

Unable to attend, but still interested...  Please visit our volunteer page for more information on volunteering, and we always welcome people to visit and learn more about volunteering during our scheduled work session on Tuesdays and Saturdays.   Have a question?   Please contact us.

We look forward to seeing you at our open house!

Newsletter available online!

Interested to learn even more about what is going on with the Rochester Chapter NRHS and its Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Read the October issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    And if you want to read more from years past, please check out our online newsletter archive.

Looking back - RG&E #1941 at BeeBee Station

A few weeks back, our Motive Power Superintendent, Joe Nugent, came upon a set of prints taken during the inspection of our ex-Rochester Gas & Electric GE 45-tonner #1941 at RG&E BeeBee Station in downtown Rochester across from the world headquarters of Eastman Kodak Company. It was nice to be able to look back at the engine and the place where it served just before its donation to the R&GVRRM in September 1991.

RG&E #1941 is in the R&GVRRM's restoration shop getting the last touches on a multi-year mechanical and cosmetic restoration.    The museum plans to finish the last of the metal work this winter and finish paint the engine in the Spring of 2010 to have the engine ready for our 2010 operating season.   The cosmetic restoration on the engine is in part supported by grants from the Amherst Railway Society, but we would welcome your donation to help us further offset the cost of restoring this piece of Rochester's railroad history.

Siding excavation continues

The construction crews of the R&GVRRM have continued the excavation for the second phase of new siding west of the LA&L.    Along with the D7E, the museum has put its cable Cat D8 to work as well.   In this YouTube video, the two dozers work together toward the end of a Tuesday work session as they clean up the last of the dirt to move that day and backblade the excavation site to smooth it out.

The R&GVRRM hopes to be able to complete the excavation soon to allow for track construction to start.    We welcome new hands to help construct the siding and welcome donations to offset the cost of the tons of ballast and other materials we will need to construct the track.

West siding excavation under way

A panoramic view of the siding excavation site just before the digging begun.  The LA&L is to the right and the new siding will come from the north(right side) to the south (left side).  The museum already has over 400 feet of the siding installed to the north of this image.
Panoramic photo by: Christopher R. Hauf

 After a lot of hard work to clear the land that will hold the next 500+ feet of the museum's new siding west of the LA&L including the movement of RL&B 206 to the NYMT, it was time to get back into the dirt with the museum's construction equipment.   With the need to move over 800 yards of dirt, there is plenty of work to do for the museum's equipment including a 1968 Cat D7E.   On September 26, 2009, the museum's construction department got to work moving the dirt.  Here are some images and a video of the work that day along with another pan of the results from a few days later.

Another panoramic view of the siding excavation site on October 1, 2009 after a few days work.  The LA&L is to the right and the new siding will come from the north(right side) to the south (left side).  A good portion of the goal has been rough graded with the museum's Cat D7E and Cat D8 bulldozers and now waits for finishing with the museums road graders.  The museum will then start to install the track for the siding and welcomes your donations and/or your help.
Panoramic photo by: Christopher R. Hauf