Looking for new posts...

Please come and visit us at the blog for the
Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.

Attention please!

In the archives of the Rochester Chapter NRHS are several reel to reel tapes of Penn Central train announcements which were played in many stations across of the Penn Central and previously the New York Central System. The Chapter has transferred these and would like to share two of them here with you as MP3s.

'Attention please! Empire Service...' - A Penn Central Railroad train annoucement announcing Train 61 departing from Harmon Station.

'Atention please! A local train to NY...' - A Penn Central Railroad train annoucement announcing a local train departing from Harmon Station and headed toward Grand Central terminal.

We will share more of these announcements in the future.   We hope you enjoy them.

Air Brake Class Rescheduled, Rules Class Continues

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we will have to cancel the Air Brake class scheduled for 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, May 9. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. We will be re-scheduling the class to a date to be determined. The R&GVRRM Rules Class from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. will still be held as planned.

Latest Rochester Chapter newsletter available

Interested to learn more about what is going on with the Rochester Chapter NRHS and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Read the April 2010 issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    And if you want to read more, please check out our online newsletter archive.

Safety Wherever!

Safety has been something that railroads have tried to keep in the forefront for many years.    They have used many different methods to try to convey good safety practices which are typically spelled out by the railroads' rulebooks.   Here we have a few examples of New York Central Railroad safety posters from the 1950s from the Rochester Chapter's collection.

Latest Rochester Chapter newsletter available

Interested to learn more about what is going on with the Rochester Chapter NRHS and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Read the March 2010 issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    And if you want to read more, please check out our online newsletter archive.

Car illustrations from a 1928 MDT calendar

Merchants Despatch Transportation called East Rochester, NY home and most of its railroad cars were built there starting in 1898.   Here are several illustrations scanned from a 1928 MDT 12-month calendar showing some of the different cars and specifically refrigerator cars that were built by MDT for different purposes. 

Another trip from the past - Steam Power in Ontario on July 19, 1959

Another trip from the Rochester Chapter's past.  This time a trip behind Canadian steam on the Canadian Pacific Railway, Toronto-Hamilton & Buffalo Ry. and the New York Central on Sunday, July 19, 1959.   Motivepower...  Two CPR D-10 class 4-6-0 steam engines dating from between 1908&1913 pulling 14-16 cars.  The trip departed Ft. Erie, but bus service was available from Buffalo, Rochester & Jamestown.   Cost for the trip only: $7.50.   Cost from Rochester: $9.75.   As we have asked with other trips, we would welcome any recollections, photographs or other information about this trip from the Rochester Chapter's past.    Please contact us if you have anything to share.

Advertising for the new 'Empire State Express'

In 1941, the New York Central was preparing to re-launch its Empire State Express passenger train in its golden anniversary year.    Print advertising was critical to getting the word out about how this already famous train was about to become the "World's Newest and Finest Streamliner" when it was re-equipped with all new Budd built stainless steel passenger cars.   A sample of the advertising is shown to the left.   It is interesting to see the different points they used to sell the train including, "...historic murals and fluorescent lighting beautify its spacious parlor cars and coaches...".    The Empire was relaunched on December 7, 1941.     

The Rochester Chapter's Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum is proud to have preserved seven of the cars from the original 1941 Empire State Express.   The R&GVRRM has six coaches and one of the two Railway Post Office cars.   The cars are currently located at the R&GVRRM with work underway across all of the cars including the replacement of all of the window glazing; a job that was recently completed with the window modules completely rebuilt in the five in service coaches.   Additionally, NYC #2567 is currently in the museum's restoration shop receiving restoration work on both the interior and exterior.    

Ride the Auburn Road on October 3, 1965

On Sunday, October 3, 1965, the Rochester & Buffalo Chapters of the National Railway Historical Society ran an Autumn Leaf Special with a portion of the ride on the then freight only New York Central 'Auburn Road'.   The trip started in Buffalo with the route being the New York Central main to Lyons with stops in Batavia & Rochester then the Fall Brook to Geneva then the Auburn Road to Syracuse and then the main line all the way back from Syracuse to Buffalo.   Cost for this all day excursion?   $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for kids!

This flier was originally posted to our blog a few months back, yet we didn't receive any new info.   We would still like to hear from anyone that rode this trip.   Have any recollections to share?   What was the consist?  Any pictures to share?   Please contact us.

Thanks for looking.   And more to come... From the archives of the Rochester Chapter NRHS...

Take a trip on the Erie from Rochester to NYC on May 2, 1899

The broadside poster was once the staple of railroad special trip advertising.   Here we find one from the Rochester Chapter's archives advertising a May-Day trip from Rochester, NY to New York City for "Only $7.00 Round Trip!"   It helps that this poster is for May 2, 1899, and to get this price, you need to return before May 7, 1899.  Departures were 6AM or 5PM from Rochester, and you needed to see the Passenger Agent if you wanted to make Pullman accommodations.   Jump ahead 111 years, the cost as of 2/21/2010 for a coach round-trip ticket on Amtrak...  $110.00.

 

February (2/18/2010) general membership meeting notice

The Rochester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is pleased to announce that it will hold its February 2010 general membership meeting this coming Thursday evening, February 18th at the 40&8 Club.

The meeting will feature "A History of Dining Car Operations on the Erie, Lackawanna, and Erie Lackawanna" - a look at the origins and growth of dining car operations as well as how hundreds of meals were served every day through the end of service as well as the effort to recreate the dining car experience today by Tim Stuy.

Tim is currently the President of the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society (www.eldcps.org). He worked briefly for the Communications & Signals Department of Conrail. He was membership chairman of the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society 1985-1988. Tim founded the NYS&W Technical & Historical Society in 1988 and served as president for 5 years. Tim founded the New Jersey Midland Railroad Historical Society in 1994 and served as its president from 1994 to 2008.

Visitors are always welcome! You do not need to be a Rochester Chapter NRHS member to attend. The meeting starts at 7PM with some time to socialize and peruse the Rochester Chapter's book store. You can also check out our railroad library co-located at the 40&8 Club. A short business meeting will take place between 7:30PM and 8PM with the show starting around 8:15PM. The meeting is held at the 40&8 Club which is located at 933 University Avenue(Across from the Gleason Works between Culver Road and Goodman Street) in the City of Rochester.

We hope those in the greater Rochester area will come out to see this great program.

Latest newsletter available - February 2010

Interested to learn more about what is going on with the Rochester Chapter NRHS and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Read the February 2010 issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    And if you want to read more, please check out our online newsletter archive.

From the roof - East Rochester Car Shops

The Rochester Chapter NRHS and its Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum have worked very hard to preserve the history of the Merchants Despatch Transportation East Rochester Despatch Car Shops in both artifacts and images.   The R&GVRRM rosters two MDT reefer cars (one built in East Rochester) and one caboose built in East Rochester.   They also have an exhibit on MDT and the Despatch Car Shops in one of their MDT reefer cars, MDT #14053.    The exhibit features images and artifacts from MDT including the following photographs from the Rochester Chapter's collection taken in color from the roof in what we believe to be the late 1940s or very early 1950s.   Have a better idea of when they were taken?  Please contact us.

The Rochester Chapter NRHS and the R&GVRRM are always looking for additional images and artifacts to add to our collection and our exhibit.  We also welcome people to come and see the exhibit during our operating season.

Latest newsletter available - January 2010

Interested to learn more about what is going on with the Rochester Chapter NRHS and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum?   Read the January 2010 issue of our newsletter, The Semaphore, online in PDF.    And if you want to read more, please check out our online newsletter archive.