Air brake work on LV #95100

With the planned upcoming move of Lehigh Valley caboose #95100 from the museum's passenger car siding west of the LA&L Railroad to the museum's restoration shop east of the LA&L, the caboose's air brake system needed to be returned back to full function after years of storage.   To do so has required the rebuilding of some parts and the replacement of some parts.   Here is a video of the #95100's first brake application after the rebuild work by our museum volunteers was completed along with some photos of the recent progress leading up to the successful test and operation on Sunday, November 27, 2011.

Air brake system test using one of the museum's Schramm air compressors as an air source.
Video by Luther Brefo

The brake cylinder(top) and piston(bottom) were opened/removed and cleaned.   The piston is show with a new rubber packing cup installed on the top, and is ready to go back together which it was on Sunday, November 27, 2011.

New air hoses were installed on either end of the car.

Under the car, the museum had a new crossover hose fabricated and installed.   This hose connects the brake valves and cylinder to the hard piped brake line that runs from end to end.   New parts do not come cheap as this hose was nearly $170.00 so donations are still welcome to offset the cost of restoration which is only just beginning.   The work will really accelerate once the car is inside the museum's restoration shop in the coming weeks.
All photos by: J. Nugent

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has had a lot to be thankful for in 2011! And the year is not over yet... We would like to thank our members & volunteers past & present for all of their contributions along with all of our visitors and supporters for making our 40th anniversary at our ex-Erie Railroad Industry depot so great!

We hope you have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Latest newsletter available - November 2011

Interested in learning more about what is going on at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Please read the November 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!

RG&E #1941 - Restoration update

Work has continued is earnest on the continued restoration of ex-Rochester Gas & Electric GE 45-tonner #1941.   Over the past month or so, the attention has shifted to work on repainting the cab interior which is now nearly complete sans some small touch-ups of the newly applied dark Brewster green across the cab & ceiling, lighter green on the window band, and gray on the floor and horizontal surfaces.

#1941 cab interior repaint in nearly complete seen here sans some small touch-ups.

With the interior painting drawing to completion has also let the completion of another project, the total re-glazing of the cab with all new glass and newly fabricated sliding windows on both sides of the cab.   While most of the cab glass had been installed a while ago, the install of the new sliders had to wait until they could be painted, glazed, and assembled and the cab interior repaint was done.   Well... Both things came together on Saturday AM, 11/12/2011, and the windows were installed as seen here.

Newly installed slider windows on the engineer's side.

This completes the re-glazing of the cab, and the R&GVRRM would again like to thank the Amherst Railway Society who funded the work through a grant.  Hopefully within the next work session or 2, we will have all of the cab paint work complete which will bring the entire repaint of #1941 to completion after many months of hard work.

RL&B waiting room roof complete.

With the last few shingles installed in the fading evening sunlight on Tuesday evening, November 8, 2011, the R&GVRRM's former Rochester, Lockport & Buffalo Railway interurban waiting room sits with its new roof complete!   Thanks to the R&GVRRM volunteers that made it happen including Mark Wilczek, Steve Wilczek, Steve Huse, Rob Burz, and Dan Waterstraat.   The next step for the building will be a total repaint in the spring when the warm weather returns.   For now, however, we have a solid roof to keep the weather out for many years to come.

Photos taken over the course of the project can be see in the album below from the R&GVRRM's Flickr site:

Re-roofing our RL&B waiting room begins...

With the 2011 joint operating season over and winter snows just around the corner, the R&GVRRM decided to undertake the replacement of the roof on our ex-Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo Railway interurban waiting room, seen here this past summer, that acts as our 'Midway' station where we transfer people from the New York Museum of Transportation's trolleys to our diesel powered trains.

Here are some photos posted to the R&GVRRM's Flickr site of the tear off work which took place today, 11.2.2011.

We hope to have more updates soon on the progress which is planned to continue during our upcoming volunteer work session this Saturday.   The new shingles are already on the property and our crews are ready to go.   New hands are always welcome!