Help us save a local Lehigh Valley caboose from the torch!

Updated Oct. 6 morning: $9800 raised!

(Note: The caboose pictured is NOT the one we are trying to save)

Our museum has been presented with the opportunity to acquire a Lehigh Valley "northeastern" style steel caboose! Since the LV served Rochester, and this caboose has specific ties to the area, we feel it will make a great addition to our operating collection. It is our goal to restore the caboose to operation, and pair it with our RS-3m LV 211! The caboose is in very good structural condition inside and out, making it an excellent restoration candidate.

This opportunity was presented to us earlier this week, and we have half of the money needed to purchase and move this historic caboose to our museum in Industry. We have three days to raise $5000 to purchase this caboose and move it to our museum... or else it will be lost forever. That is 50 people each donating $100, or 20 people each donating $250, or 10 people each donating $500. Any level of support will help us meet our goal, but time is running out! Use the PayPal button below to make your donation instantly! The R&GVRRM is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational group, so your donations are tax-deductable to the fullest extent allowed by law.

LV 95110 at Sayre, Pa., in March, 1976. Photo by John Dziobko, Jr.

It is our goal to restore this caboose to full operation on our museum railroad where everyone will be able to enjoy it! Please help us save this important part of Rochester's railroading history! Use this link to PayPal below to donate today!

#1941 - Major paint work complete!

Unwrapped!   ex-Rochester Gas & Electric (nee General Electric Lynn, MA) #1941 sits in the R&GVRRM's restoration shop late on Tuesday evening, 9.27.2011.  The masking protecting the green and yellow from the black paint overspray has been removed as the black on the undercarriage was completed the day before, the trackmobile that has allowed the engine to be towed in and out of the shop for painting has been uncoupled for the last time, and the south footboards reinstalled.   More finishing details like sliding window painting, wood backer board install on the footboards, and the application of the replica RG&E decals to the engine's sides will take place during the upcoming work sessions.   Stay tuned for more updates, but this evening marks a major milestone in the restoration of #1941 as all of the major paint work is complete, and we soon hope to have it out of the shop running!

Progress on ex-RG&E #1941 - Last major painting step completed!

With continued work during just about every museum work session and beyond, we are pleased to report that the last major repainting step on the exterior restoration of ex-Rochester Gas & Electric #1941 was completed today with the repainting of the undercarriage.   With the fresh green and yellow masked with plastic to protect it, the undercarriage black paint was renewed today.   The engine is seen here early in the evening with the black complete.   Just after the photo was taken, the engine was shoved back into the shop by the museum's Trackmobile.   We hope the next time it leaves the shop it will do so under its own power with its exterior paint complete.

There is still some work to do.  We have some newly fabricated sliding cab window frames we need to paint and have glazed.  We need to unmask the engine.  We also have to reinstall the south switching steps, fit the wooden backer boards on the steps, paint, and install them.    And just a few other details like adding the RG&E decals to the sides.   We should be able to get a good start during the Tuesday evening, 9.26.2011 work session, and hopefully wrap it up over the next few work sessions.  The end is near!   We also always welcome new hands to help us and visitors are always welcome in the shop to see the progress.   We are also planning a night photo session with the engine when it is complete, and we will have details posted here and on our R&GVRRM Facebook page.

Ballasting the passenger car siding extension - 9.17.2011

With a fresh delivery of over forty tons of ballast, the R&GVRRM's heavy equipment crews went to work with the museum's backhoe and front loader to help the track department place the new ballast on to the recently completed extension of the west passenger car siding.   Once the ballast is place, the track will be leveled and tamped preparing it for service later this Fall.   Here are some photos from today's, 9.17.2011, work in placing the ballast.

 

To help the museum continue to make progress on the siding and to help defray the cost of the ballast, please consider giving to the museum's Donate-A-Ton fundraiser.   A $20 donation pays for a TON of ballast.  We have already had 150 tons donated, but we are looking for donors for the other 150 tons we have or need to purchase.   Can we please put your name next to one of more of those tons?   More information and the ability to donate online is available on our website here.

Latest newsletter available - September 2011

Interested in learning more about what is going on at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Please read the September 2011 issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    If you would like to read more, please check out our online newsletter archive.  We now have fifteen previous years currently available!

September meeting at Industry Depot

To take advantage of the enjoyable late-summer weather, we are having our September meeting at our Industry Depot! Come on out Thursday, September 15, and enjoy our museum grounds and a track car ride! This event is open to everyone and is FREE. A brief business meeting starts at 7:30 followed by rides and tours. Bring a friend!

Photo location id help sought

For many years, this image has hung in our volunteer office area inside the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's ex-Erie Railroad Industry depot.  

Over pizza after the Tuesday evening, September 7th, 2011 volunteer work session, a discussion was started amongst several volunteers as to where this photo was taken.   After lots of careful study down to carefully removing the 16"x20" print from its frame, an answer has still eluded us. 

There are four steam engines in the image.   On the left hand side, there appears to be a freight car lettered 'P&R' which could be Philadelphia & Reading.  Based on other contents, the image appears to date to somewhere around 1910 give or take a decade.   The R&GVRRM has received many donations from Rochester based General Railway Signal over the years, and we are thinking this may have come from them many years earlier.   Some have hypothesized that it may have been from around the Boston, Massachusetts area.   It has also been hypothesized that it is a SOCONY (Standard Oil Company of NY) storage tank at the left hand side of the image. 

With that said, we are looking for your help.   Do you know where this photo was taken?   If you have some idea, please drop us an note here or please feel free to make a post to our R&GVRRM Facebook wall.

Thanks for the help!