To the new siding...

On Sunday, January 15th, 2012, the R&GVRRM in cooperation with the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad moved the museum's ex-New York Central Empire State Express passenger train set to its new siding after two years of work by the museum's volunteers excavating, building, leveling and tamping the track.

 The R&GVRRM's ex-U.S. Army Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 #1843 has two of the museum's passenger cars already switched out of Industry yard and on to the LA&L mainline.
Photo by: C.R. Hauf

With LA&L crews in charge and working in cooperation with the R&GVRRM Operating Department, all seven cars were moved to the new siding west of the LA&L across this Sunday.   The museum's ex-Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose #95100 and NYC flat car #506102 were moved back to the museum from storage on the new siding.

 USA #1843 sits with NYC #506102 and LV #95100 in front of the Industry depot.  These cars were returned from storage on the new siding to the R&GVRRM so that restoration work could begin. 
Photo by: C.R. Hauf
 

 R&GVRR GE 80-tonner #1654 brings another coach down the R&GVRRM's restoration shop where they have been stored and worked on.   The car will be switched out on to the LA&L main to a waiting USA#1843 and two of the ESE cars.
Photo by: C.R. Hauf

All seven cars sit on the new siding.  The R&GVRRM's Industry depot is in the distance on the far left of the image.
Photo by: C.R. Hauf

The R&GVRRM would like to thank the LA&L for their continued help and support!   We would also like to thank everyone who has donated money toward our Donate-A-Ton fundraising campaign which was used to purchase ballast for the new siding.   While we still need a few more tons donated for some more ballast to complete some leveling work on the siding in the spring and for future extensions of the siding, the great support we have received has allowed us to "move in" to the siding and achieving our goal!   Thanks!!!

A look inside LV #95100 - Before restoration

With Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose #95100 now in the R&GVRRM shop, we thought we would share some pre-restoration photos of the interior of the caboose shot from our first work session on the car during our Tuesday, January 18, 2012 evening volunteer session.   The car is remarkably complete inside and is in good shape overall.   There are some missing parts and fixtures which we will need to replicate and construct, but it is nothing we can't handle or haven't tackled already on other projects.   It will also need all new windows, and all new paint.

We also have lots of questions about the caboose.  We are searching for information and photos of the interior and exterior to help aid us in doing the restoration right.   Please contact us if you have something you can share with us.   You can also visit us on Facebook and post right to our wall.

Here are some additional photos with have posted to our R&GVRRM Flickr site. 

LV 95100 enters the Restoration Shop

The newest addition to our museum's historic fleet of railroad equipment was moved into the Restoration Shop on Sunday, January 15, thanks to the hard work and dedication of many museum volunteers as we rearranged the location of many pieces on our railroad. Lehigh Valley caboose 95100 was built in 1941, and served through the Conrail era. Purchased by a private individual, it was moved to Manchester, New York, in 2005. In 2011, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum rescued this historic car from a local scrap yard, thanks to generous donations by individuals and volunteers, and thoughtful cooperation from the scrapper. The car was trucked to our museum in October 2011, and the brakes were repaired in November to allow for safe movement up to our shop.

This caboose is a significant addition to our collection of railroad equipment that is relevant to Rochester's railroading history, as the LV served the city directly with a branch line that terminated at Court Street (now home to well-known Dinosaur BBQ restaurant). It is our goal to restore this car to its mid-1970s appearance as an example of a Lehigh Valley caboose, to pair with our perserved LV RS-3m 211. The car will be restored through volunteer labor. We will be depending entirely on outside donations in order to complete the work. Please visit www.rgvrrm.org/support to help us return this car to the rails!

Or make a donation via PayPal here:

Thank you!

—Photo by Joseph R. Nugent

Latest newsletter available - January 2012

Interested in learning more about what is going on at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Please read the January 2012 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!

Happy New Year!

From the archives... AFT at Rochester's Regional Market

In 1975 and 1976, the American Freedom Train toured the United States behind steam power.  Rochester was a stop and the train was on display at the Rochester Regional Market in Henrietta, NY.    The AFT was at the Market from May 7-12, 1975.    The engine #1, ex-Reading T-1 #2101, is seen here in an image from the Charles Belt Collection of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.

According to this timeline, the train traveled to Cleveland, OH following the Rochester stop where there was finally time to give the engine, "a proper paint job."  The auxiliary tender seen behind #1 above appears to be in primer.   The timeline also states that at Cleveland, "Artist Bob Lorenz gives the former #2101 the second of three paint schemes she will wear during her Bicentennial journeys."

And more to come... From the archives...