Summer museum update

It's been a fun and exciting summer season at the train museums! Here's a few photos from the last month or so of activities around the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. For the latest news and information, please "Like" our Facebook fan page!

As part of our special Baseball Day celebration on June 30, we had a visit from Spikes, the official mascot of the Rochester Red Wings baseball team! Spikes has just stepped off the trolley from NYMT and is about to board our diesel trains for the ride down to Industry.

Spikes rides our restored Penn Central caboose with our visitors on the way down to Industry Depot to tour the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.

Volunteer Jim Moore gives visitors a tour of our MDT refrigerator car, along with a brief history of the Despatch Shops carbuilding facility once located in East Rochester.

Our diesel powered train, consisting of two restored cabooses pulled by R&GV 1654, departs Industry and heads up the hill towards Midway Station.
  
A young visitor takes a picture of our departing train. Our museum is fun for kids of all ages, and provides a fun experience you won't find anywhere else.

Visitors wait at Midway Station for the trolley to take them back to the New York Museum of Transportation. The station at Midway was once an unmanned station located near Brockport serving the old Buffalo, Lockport & Rochester interurban trolley system.


Volunteers Rob and Bill weld new steel to the sides of our historic Lehigh Valley caboose, currently under restoration in our shop.

New steel has been welded to the west side of our Lehigh Valley caboose, now the process will continue on the east side. You can help by sponsoring a rivet! Rivets are $10 each, and we need about 250 to complete the job. Please dontate today...



Boy Scout Troop 210 from Kirkville, New York, came out to visit us on June 29. They helped out with many service projects around the museum, and also worked on requirements towards earning the Railroading merit badge.

 More progress was made on our display of railroad markers at Industry Depot. Next will come black paint for lettering, and small signs to explain each marker. From left to right: Erie milepost for Industry indicating 12 miles to Rochester and 373 miles to Jersey City; New York Central milepost for Wesbster indicating 92 miles to Pulaski Jct, New York; New York Central milepost for Victor indicating 87 miles to Syracuse, and a "whistle" post letting the engineer know he was approaching a crossing and needed to start blowing the whistle.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, our track gang is out making repairs to keep our railroad in top operating condition! Want to join them, or help out with any of our other projects? We're always looking for new volunteers. Come on out and try it!

Boy Scouts invade Industry!

On June 29, Boy Scout Troop 210, from Kirkville, New York, paid us a visit. They spent the day touring our museum, contributing to service projects, enjoying train rides, and learning how we keep the museum running week after week. Volunteer Otto Vondrak, a former Scout leader himself, took the troop around our museum for the day, organizing work parties, and taking them on behind the scenes tours. Volunteer Ray Howard, also an active Scout leader, helped several Scouts earn requirements towards their Railroading merit badge! The Scouts camped out overnight in our cabooses and enjoyed a train ride on Sunday morning before departing for home. We welcome Scout troops and have many opportunities no matter what age. What are you waiting for? Photos courtesy Mark Dashnaw/Troop 210.

Scouts try their hand at the levers that control the semaphore signal outside (don't worry, it's disconnected).

Scouts got a behind the scenes tour of our Restoration Building, where Lehigh Valley caboose 95100 is currently being repaired and rebuilt. A donation in any amount will help us complete the work and put this historic car back on the rails!

Volunteer Otto Vondrak explains how certain machines help us maintain the museum railroad.

Volunteer Ray Howard helped several Scouts earn their Railroading merit badge.

Using the waiting room at Industry Depot as a classroom, Ray Howard helped several Scouts earn their railroading merit badge.

Several Scouts helped clean up our new railroad marker display, despite the light drizzle that morning.

Scouts and adult leaders alike helped clear pine needles and debris off our tracks (There were no trains operating this day, and everyone was protected inside the work zone.)

Some lucky Scouts got to ride in the cab with volunteer Rich Fischpera on Sunday morning.

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