Rochester and Genesee Valley RR Museum - part 2

 Restored Equipment on the Upper Level....by Don Janes

     We continue our tour at the upper shop area where there were a lot very well restored pieces of equipment on display.  These included several cabooses, locomotives and other rolling stock.  If you ever get a chance to visit this great museum it is well worth the trip.  The staff is very friendly and welcoming.   

One of the more interesting locomotives at the museum was this RS-3 with a high short hood, which housed a steam generator, and was referred to as a "Hammer Head".  I believe there were only five built. This unit has been re-engined with an EMD prime mover 

Another interesting locomotive was this Fairbanks Morse switcher.  I have never seen a FM engine before.  This engine is operational and is occasionally fired up

The musrum owns several really nicely restored (both inside and out) cabooses, one being this Penn Central transfer caboose

This is a very nice looking Lehigh Valley caboose.  Fully restored inside and out.

This BR&P wooden caboose is in great shape.  

This display of various signal and interlocking devices was housed in an old RPO car that sat beside the shop.  I found the interlocking machine with all the handles very interesting

This old ALCO S-2 is in good shape and I believe it is operational.

I found this old Erie milk car interesting as some of these cars ended up on the B&M in milk car service

Rochester and Genesee Valley RR Museum - Part 1

 A Visit To An Operating Railway Museum....by Don Janes

The museum office and some display pieces are located beside the highway at Rush, NY, the station was actually called Industry   

    On Sept.23 and 24 George and I attended a regional NMRA convention in Rochester, NY.  One of the activities we took in was a tour of the Rochester and Genesee Valley RR Museum in Rush, NY, just outside of Rochester.  The main museum building is in an old Erie Railroad station in which they have many displays and a small gift shop.  Outside there are several old pieces of equipment including an old Lackawanna baggage car that had a very nice display of old railroad artifacts.  Railroad Model Craftsman editor Otto Vondrak is one of the officials at the museum and we had a nice visit while he explained the workings of the museum.  

     The museum also has a whole other area up on the hill behind the station that has the shop building and a large number of great old railroad rolling stock and locomotives.  Most of the equipment in this has been refurbished and is excellent condition.. The large, modern shop is well equipped and there were several pieces of equipment inside undergoing restoration.

     There was a small train operating between the station and upper area of the museum consisting of a GE 80 tonner, an open air covered flatcar and an ex Erie steel caboose.  Once we were done at the station we took the train to the upper level and toured the facility.  Instead of a wordy description I will just let you look at the photos with their descriptions.

This RS-1 was being readied to be fired up to be used on trips the next day. It is in excellent condition.

This tank car was owned by Eastman Kodak who once had a large facility in Rochester.

This old Lackawanna baggage car had some great displays including a lot of old railway station name signs from the area and a large number of old railroad timetables from railroads all over the country

An old caboose and Lehigh Valley boxcar are also on display by the station

This GE locomotive was pulling the train up the hill on this day and made several trips to the upper area for guest to see the displays up there

Museum members were riding on the rear platform of the caboose on this trip.  That is RMC editor waving to us

This old RR structure, likely an old phone box, was being used as a switch tenders shelter. The switch tender lined the turnout on the switchback into the upper museum area.

This photo shows the train stopped at the upper museum

Here it is heading back down for another load of passengers.

This old B&O wagon top caboose is being restored in the shop.

Restoration of this old New York Central caboose is just about done and it really looks good

George always dreamed of being an engineer and his dream finally came true

   

 Stay tuned for part two of our museum tour.

Throwback Thursday - Komoka Junction

This is the CN Operator’s office at Komoka as it appeared on July 02, 1989.

 By Peter Mumby. 

Today we will take a look at the CN Operator’s office at Komoka Junction.  This photo was exposed in the early evening looking towards the south east.  The trackage in the foreground is a portion of the junction switch between the double track Strathroy Subdivision which heads west towards Sarnia and the Chatham Subdivision which branches off towards Windsor.  The track in the background is a siding which connects with both the Chatham Sub and the south track of the Strathroy Sub.  The office is actually a trailer - the trailer tongue can be seen just in front of the parked automobile.  At the lower left of the photo can be seen the trackside platform used by the operator when he or she is passing orders up to head end and tail end train crews.  Today, of course, the junction is fully automated, so this office has been relegated to the history books (or at least the blog posts!)

Wordless Wednesday No. 598

 

 

At the Hemlock Train Show

Don and I viewed a nice looking three rail diorama which probably is part of a club or home layout. The detailing was very well done...George Dutka

  

Glencoe Station

Glencoe Sept 3, 2024

After seeing the Glencoe station sign last week in Michigan made me think of a recent visit there this year. I have taken a lot of train station photos lately...many are ones I had stopped at in the past but some have changed a bit. This photo I took of the Glencoe station on my way back from Don's, there is a Tim Hortons next door which is a good place for a coffee...wish it was there when I was working those jobs that came through Glencoe. We had a night job that ran there dropping off lifts which ran via St. Thomas and the Paines Sub. The station has been moved away from the tracks and totally restored. It is used for town functions. There is a CN caboose and small section shed there also but I don't remember this one as the one that stood next to the station...George Dutka    

October 2024 - Update

A CP WB freight is about to pass under the wooden Denfield Rd. bridge on Wednesday Oct. 2 2024.

A bit of an update for this month as I am traveling a bit at the beginning of the month. The month began with our railroad modeling groups railfan day at the Denfield Rd bridge where one can see both the CN and CP on the same bridge.  

I just came back from two days in Michigan were I visited with a friend did some shopping and railroad exploring. I am off today out east to places I have not visited before in Ontario and a few old railfan spots. I will be home before Thanksgiving as we have family events to take in. As you can see I will not get much modeling in till later this month...with the weather being great why not be outdoors still...George Dutka.

VIA 73 comes into view before passing under Denfield.

The gang that spent the afternoon at Denfield talking trains and taking photos. We actually saw a good amount of trains.

This was this weeks Wordless Wednesday. I should give some credit for the photo. Peter Mumby sent along this view that he got from his friend Robin Long of a train passing the Port Hope station recently with a wonderful sunset. The photo was taken by Lee Higginson.

The Hoods creamery diorama is placed about were Bill Moore will use it on his B&M layout.

Bill Moore operating his new Rapido engine on his staging tracks.

When I pulled into the Lapeer, Michigan station parking lot I was surprised to see the CN Glencoe station sign on the back of a home. Note the owner has a switch broom out back also. Once I left I drove past the front of the home to see what else decorated the home. Nothing else was found. CN Glencoe is not in Michigan but in Ontario not far from were I live on the line to Windsor and at one time a junction point with the Panes sub...not sure how the sign found a home here.

The Lapeer, Michigan station is in very good shape and is an Amtrak stop between Pt. Huron and Chicago.

More Brass

One of the two Rutland Ry. milk cars Don was willing to let go. Don Janes photos.

Don was clearing out some more of his brass collection that he has not been running for sometime now. He asked me if I might be interested...they now have a home for a bit...George Dutka  

All three models are Railworks brass.

I was unaware that the B&M built some cabooses from milk car bodies. Have to do some digging in my B&M books to follow up on this topic.

Rapido - CN NSC Combination Door Boxcar

Lightly weathered, mainly just paint fading done to the sides finds my boxcar rolling along the WRD.

I recently picked up a CN Rapido combination door boxcar. They are a nice looking model that all I had to do was add some weathering. Once a coat of flat finish is applied to the car I began with the roof. The roof got a coat of India ink and alcohol. I then applied PanPastel raw umber shade, Vallejo rust texture and AK dark rust deposits on the roof edges and seams. A simple process that makes the car look weathered even if nothing else is done to the car.

I added a few rust spots using Micron black 03 pen with the dots dragged down with a damp brush. I kept these to a minimum. The car is newer as modeled. Sides are done with PanPastel blender to fade the boxcar red a bit followed by raw umber shade near the bottom and roof edges. Paynes grey extra dark (an almost black color is applied to the door, ends and lower areas lightly. A small piece of paper is used as a placard on the door.

Trucks are painted AK winter streaking grime and the wheels are cinnamon brown with PanPastel paynes grey extra dark next to darken them up a bit.

These National Steel Car's were built in Hamilton exclusively for CN in the late 1970's. The CN cars were in revenue service until being retired in the 2000's...George Dutka

Just out of the box and looking way too glossy.

The door is lightly weathered as it is newer. As it ages the yellow forklift door bar is really rusted and beat up. This detail one has to add to the model...the only part that is not attached to the model. The edges of the doors and center areas are rusty from being hit by the forklift repeatedly leaving the paint removed and rusting. I added a paper placard also.

The roof is coated with flat finish and I have just added India ink and alcohol which gives an interesting and weathered look to the roof. In this view the roof is almost dry. The dark areas are still a bit wet. The coloring goes on dark and dries much lighter. One can leave it at just that, but I like to take it a bit further.

Some AK and Vallejo coloring and PanPastel raw umber shade are added to the roof.