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.