Preserve Rochester Subway Car 60

Rochester Subway Car 60

We need your help to save Rochester Subway Car 60! Rochester Subway Car 60 is part of a fleet built by the Cincinnati Car Co. for New York State Railways in 1916. The unique design was an early attempt by car builders to create a lightweight car that would cost less to operate and offer faster service. The cars were first assigned to the Utica Railways division until that system shut down in 1936. The cars were transferred to the Rochester Railways division in 1937 to upgrade the Subway fleet. The Subway became the responsibility of Rochester Transit Corp. in 1938, operating the line on a contract basis with the city of Rochester.

Rochester Subway Car 60

The last streetcar line in Rochester was converted to bus operation in 1941, leaving the Subway as the sole trolley operation in the city. When passenger service on the Subway ended on June 30, 1956, the entire fleet was scrapped, except for Car 60, which was donated to the Rochester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. After being loaned out to the Rail City Museum and the New York State Museum, the historic trolley car was retuned to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in 1998, where it awaits its triumphant return to the rails.

We have many of the volunteers, tools, skills, and experience needed to see this restoration project through to its successful conclusion. But we can’t do it alone. We need the help of professional sheet metal workers, woodworkers and carpenters, painters, electricians, historians, writers, artists, photographers… Anyone with an interest in preserving history! While the task may look overwhelming, there are many components that can be refurbished individually to help the process along. Each bit brings us closer to our goal of saving this significant piece of Rochester’s history. Won’t you help Save Car 60?

Contact Us to Learn More!


 

Restore our Lehigh Valley Caboose

Lehigh Valley Railroad #95100. Work is well underway!
Built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in February 1941, LV 95100 was one of 105 “Northeastern” style steel-bodied cabooses built by the railroad between 1937-46. This car is a significant addition to our collection, as the LV served the city of Rochester with a branch line that terminated at Court Street (now home to well-known Dinosaur BBQ restaurant). We rescued it from a scrap yard in October 2011, thanks to generous private donations. It is our goal to restore this car to its mid-1970s appearance, to pair with our preserved Lehigh Valley RS-3m 211. The car will be restored entirely through volunteer labor. We will be depending entirely on outside donations in order to complete the work. Please help us return this car to the rails!

Update June 2014… We have completed welding and riveting on new steel to replace the section that had rotted out. We are also nearly completing the interior paint removal work. Soon we will be priming the exterior and getting ready for paint! We still need your help to reach our goal. Donations will help pay for exterior paint prep, sandblasting, and primer. Please help us today!


 

At the end of 2010, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum achieved a milestone that we had been working toward for over ten years.   We poured a portion of the concrete floor in our restoration shop!   We now have hard flat surfaces over a portion of our shop where we can work on some of our equipment out of the dirt with much greater ease, efficiency and safety.   In just over two years of use, our new floor has started to pay big dividends.

With our shop measuring sixty feet wide by one hundred forty feet long, the portion of the floor we poured only represents just under fifteen percent of the total shop floor we plan to install.   If you add our goal to install an inspection pit in one of the tracks to give us access under our railroad equipment for maintenance and restoration, we have a lot of work left to do.   With the momentum from our pours in 2010 and additional engineering work done in through the start of 2013, we are very motivated to do that work and get as much accomplished as we possibly can in 2013.   Our museum is in a great position to make it happen, but we need your help to raise the funds needed to Pour the Floor this year.

The funds from our campaign will allow us to do two things; complete the entire flat floor and completely install our inspection pit with all of its necessary components including stairs, railings, power and lighting. The faster we reach our fundraising goal, the sooner we can complete the job and the sooner we can reap the additional benefits of having both a complete floor and a pit. From allowing us to permanently install machine, electrical, and wood shops to finally giving us easy access under railcars and locomotives to service traction motors or change brake shoes, a complete floor will give us yet another quantum leap in our capability and in our efficiency; putting tools and materials in easy reach where and when we need them.

To date, we have raised more than $33,305.00, but we need more help! So will you help us Pour the Floor?   Donations to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. On behalf of the Pour the Floor Committee, the volunteers, and officers of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, we thank you for your generous support of our Museum. We look forward to rock solid 2014 as we work to Pour the Floor!

Donate Online

Make a donation online using using your credit card or checking account securely via Paypal:

Donate By Mail

Make your donation check payable and mail to:

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
P.O. Box 23326
Rochester, NY 14692-3326

Thank You!

Donations to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law.