New Volunteers Open House - May 9

Ever wanted to work on the railroad? Here's your chance! The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum needs your help to preserve our local railroad history for the next generation. Attend our New Volunteers Open House!. If you've ever had an interest in railroads, equipment, or operation, then consider joining our team!

• Our fleet of historic vintage railroad equipment needs to be kept in top operating condition.
• We also have a collection of heavy construction equipment that helps us maintain and expand our facilities.
• It's not just trains! Learn how we build tracks, maintain our signal system and more!
• Learn how you can join our regular train crew or become a depot tour guide!
• Volunteer opportunities are open to all ages, all interests, and all skill levels (we ask that volunteers under the age of 16 be accompanied by an adult).

Attend our New Volunteers Open House on Saturday, May 9. We ask that you please register for this event, beginning at 9:30am. Tour runs from 10:00am until lunch is served at 12:30. Think you might want to join our all-volunteer crew and give something back to the community? We look forward to seeing you there!

Operating Rules & Air Brake Classes Sunday, May 3

The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will be holding its last annual operating rules and air brake/train handling classes for this year on Sunday, May 3, 2009 in room A-400 of the RIT Wallace Library (Building 5). The Operating Rules class will be held from 9AM to 11:30AM, and the air brake/train handling class will be held from 12:00PM to 2:00PM.

For each type of class (Operating Rules or Air Brake), you only need to attend one classroom session. You’re certainly welcome to attend all the classes if you like, but once you’ve passed a particular class, you don’t need to attend that same class again. So if you’re planning to be involved in operations in any capacity this year, you only need to attend one Operating Rules class and pass the required exams. If you’d like to become a Conductor and/or Engineer, you must also attend one Air Brake class.

All volunteers who plan to participate in train operations at the museum must pass the operating rules class. Engineers, Fireman, and Conductors must also pass the air brake/train handling class. Please bring a pen, paper, and your current rulebook or a three ring binder with rings no smaller than 1" to hold the rule books and bulletins that you will receive. If you have the current rule book, please bring your copy, but rule books will be available if you don’t. Class sizes will be limited, so if you plan to attend, please RSVP to opsdept at rgvrrm.org or 716-474-2833 as soon as possible. The best option for parking is in U Lot, located on the south side of the campus near the Library. RIT campus maps are available at http://facilities.rit.edu/campus/maps/.

Industry Yard, 1983

Some 1983 photographs from the Curt Boyer collection, supplied by Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum volunteer Mike Dow. This series of photos shows some of our early progress as our volunteers constructed the yard at Industry depot. Among the equipment already spotted on our property is Eastman Kodak #6, B&O baggage car #633, and our Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh caboose #280 (wearing B&O #C2631). The B&O baggage car has been spotted on Track 1, which has already been disconnected as volunteers are already busy building the switch lead. Thanks to Mike Dow for the interesting look back at our origins!