New deck, new paint for ex-Army 6x6

New deck... New paint... The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum owns several former military 6x6 trucks. Two are setup as dump trucks and this truck has recently been setup by volunteer Dan Waterstraat with a new flat bed deck for moving items around the museum. Along with the new deck, the truck has received all new paint and new museum logos. These vehicles are used to support our various construction projects at the museum.

Seeing double... Trackmobiles!

Seeing double... Along with its collection of locomotives, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum rosters two operating Whiting TM-5 Trackmobiles. Capable of running on the road or the rail, the Trackmobiles provide the museum great flexibility in moving its equipment since they can drive themselves to where they are needed and then lower themselves on to the rail to act as a small locomotive.

Fireless Hiesler at R&GVRRM

Waiting for shop time... The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's ex-Connecticut Light & Power Heisler fireless steam locomotive is seen through one of the door's of the museum's restoration building. The engine is waiting some shop time to continue its progress toward operation. To date, the cylinders and valve gear have been rebuilt amongst other components. The locomotive is similar to switchers that were used by Kodak at its Kodak Park manufacturing facility.

RG&E 1941 muffler repair and more

Rebuild continues... The rebuild of Rochester Gas & Electric GE 45-tonner #1941's #1 primer mover took further steps today with more components reinstalled. The oil pan and manifolds have been cleaned, painted, and reinstalled amongst other engine accessories including the air cleaners.

Muffler repair... In the process of rebuilding the #1 prime mover, it was discovered the bottom of the engine's muffler had rusted away. Here volunteer Kevin Klees brazes a patch on to the bottom of the muffler to repair it and prepare it for reinstallation.

Plymotuh BL sheet metal and electrical work

BL restoration progress... Our Plymouth Model BL gas-mechanical #1 continues to see work. Additional cab and hood sheet metal has been installed along with the hinges to hold the engine side covers.

BL restoration progress... More wiring has been done and the instrument panel inside of the cab is nearing completion. The small wheel at the bottom center of the image moves the drive flywheel to the left or right to adjust the locomotive's direction, speed, and starting torque.

Boy Scouts visit the R&GVRRM

Another Scout visit...Railroad Merit Badge time... The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum hosted another troop of Boy Scouts today to help them complete the requirements for the Railroading merit badge. The Scouts were given a tour of the museum, instructions on different parts of railroading and a train ride. Here are the Scouts gathered up on R&GV #1654 prior to departure.

Here we see the Boy Scouts switching between the locomotive and caboose prior to returning to the R&GVRRM so all of them could ride both the engine and the caboose. Do you have a Scout Troop interested in obtaining their Railroading merit badge? We can help. Please contact us.

Fixing up, cleaning up, putting away

Clean-up continues... The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has been working hard to tidy up around the museum. Part of this project has been sorting through our holdings of track parts and scrapping out those parts that are no longer usable. Volunteer, Jeremy Tuke, hauls one of the filled scrap bins by the restoration building using the museum's Ford forklift to position it for pick-up.

Grading... With the rail yard installed north of the R&GVRRM's restoration building, it is time to start grading south of the building for additional track installation. Volunteer, Joe Scanlon, is at the controls of the Huber-Warco road grader as he works the dirt south of the building.

Time to sleep... With freezing weather looming, it was time to put the museum's larger, water cooled locomotives to bed for the winter. Here Eastman Kodak Company #9 is having its coolant water drained into its winter storage tank. With a few other small items to do, the locomotive will be set to weather the cold Rochester winter.

Engine side cover fabrication... As part of the continued restoration of Plymouth Model BL #1, new engine side covers are being fabricated to match the what the engine would have had originally. Here is one of the new panel frames made of pressure treated wood set into place on the engine for final fitting and hinge installation.

Switching... To reposition some of the museum's cars closer to the restoration building to work on them, a switch crew was assigned to work the restoration building north yard with USA #1843. Here they are moving over to Track 8 to drop off the museum's N-5C caboose, PRR #477822, prior to making some additional moves.