Save LV 95100! (Cabooses of Manchester)

PROGRESS UPDATE!The caboose trucks were moved from the scrap yard to our museum this past weekend!

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum - Trucks arrive! The start of the movement process of ex-Lehigh Valley Railroad caboose #95100 was started on Satuday, October 15, 2011 with the arrival of the caboose's trucks at the R&GVRRM. Here the second truck is waiting to be unloaded by the museum's 6x6 wrecker truck. The caboose body will be next and final preparations are underway to make it happen in the coming weeks. Once at the R&GVRRM, we will mate the body to the caboose to make it whole once again and begin the restoration process. Photo by: C.R. Hauf 10.15.2011

We are currently seeking donations to help cover the cost of restoration... Any amount is appreciated!

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/10/cont ... 95110.html

Touchdown! Lehigh Valley caboose #95100 was mated back with its trucks at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum this morning, 10/29/2011. Now safe from the scrap yard and on the museum's property, work will shift to its restoration once it can be moved up to our shop in the coming weeks. Congratulations to our R&GVRRM move team, and a HUGE thank you to the many people who contributed funds to allow us to save and move the car!



We now need to focus on raising the funds for restoration and information on how to donate can be found by clicking here.

More info and higher res pics available on our museum blog. We hope to have more photos and video coming soon as well.

-Chris
R&GVRRM

Good job guys! Glad to see that everything came together, it will be well worth the effort when it's fixed back up nice. That's got to be the railroad equipment's equivalent of the phone call from the governor coming just as the warden was about to throw the switch for the chair!

Nice!

Timelapse video of the unloading:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTYYAwA1Qg

Too cool.

BR&P wrote:Good job guys! Glad to see that everything came together, it will be well worth the effort when it's fixed back up nice. That's got to be the railroad equipment's equivalent of the phone call from the governor coming just as the warden was about to throw the switch for the chair!

In no small part, thanks to you sir, for alerting me to the opportunity that made this possible... Now to stabilize the car for the winter and begin restoration efforts. There's lots to be done to make this car ready for "prime time."

-otto-

Thanks Otto - it was a team effort. I may have hiked the ball but it took a large group effort to make the score. It's a testimony to the quality of what's done at RGVRRM that enough people had confidence to make the investment - your past performance showed that this will in time be well cared for rather than left to sit and decay. This project brought together members and non-members, from a wide area, with contributions big and small. You can't save them all but this one made it!

Thanks to the hard work of several volunteers, LV 95100 now has functioning air brakes once more! See this blog post for photos and video:

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/11/air- ... 95100.html

We're always looking for volunteer help, and more importantly, we're collecting donations as we move forward with the restoration process. Every little bit helps!

-otto-

On January 15, 2012, caboose LV 95100 was moved into our Restoration Shop where work will commence this winter.

We are depending on outside donations to complete this work. All contributions towards restoration are appreciated! Cash, materials, time, anything you can spare...

-otto-

We have started preparing the metal exterior surface of our Lehigh Valley caboose for repair and refinishing. Volunteer Jim Bridgen uses a borrowed needle scaler to begin the process of removing the old and flaked Conrail paint in preparation for grit blasting and priming this coming spring. The R&GVRRM is currently working on acquiring several additional needle scalers to aid in the work on the caboose and several other upcoming projects. We can now support several air tools at once due to our install in 2011 of a new 80-gallon Ingersoll Rand air compressor/drier system in our shop.

During this first phase of restoration work, we are trying to raise $2000 to cover the costs of materials for the steel body repair and refinishing. You can donate immediately via PayPal by visiting our web site at http://rgvrrm.org/support/index.htm (note "LV 95100" in the comments section), or you can mail your contribution to us (P.O. Box 23326, Rochester, NY 14692-3326) -- make sure you note "LV 95100" on your check. We're also seeking donations of materials and paint to help complete this restoration. Every little bit helps! Thank you for your support!

Photo by Chris Hauf, Feb. 4, 2012

Lehigh Valley Railroad Caboose 95100: Fundraising Phase II: Spring 2012

Thanks to the generous and enthusiastic support of many private donors, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum was able to act quickly and purchase Lehigh Valley caboose 95100, thanks to cooperation from the scrap yard in Manchester from where it was rescued. In a matter of two weeks, we were able to raise $12,000 to cover the purchase of the car as well as the cost of cranes and trucking to the museum.

The caboose was trucked to our museum on October 22, 2011, and immediately our volunteers set to work to make the car safe for movement over rail up to our restoration shop. An initial investigation of the caboose’s brake system revealed that water had gotten into the pipes, so the brake cylinder was disassembled, cleaned, and repacked. A new crossover hose was also fabricated, which allows the brake pipe to move independently of the air brake equipment. After new valves were swapped in, the air brakes were once again functional by the end of November!

On January 15, 2012, LV 95100 was safely moved up to our restoration shop, the first movement on its own wheels since it was trucked to Manchester in 2005. In February, our volunteers set to work needle scaling the exterior body to remove rust and loose paint in preparation for making any repairs to the steel. Inside, we removed the obsolete oil-burning stove and fuel tank. The oil tank will be inspected, cleaned, and reinstalled, along with a replacement stove we already have on hand. By mid-February we had removed the ice chests from inside the car so that we could make repairs to the rot that was caused by condensation build-up over the years.

At the beginning of March, work had shifted to the interior as we begin to strip paint from all of the walls and fixtures to check for signs of rot and make any needed repairs.

The April 2012 issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine hit the stands, featuring a short article by our vice president Joe Nugent about how we acquired the caboose, and all of the twists and turns that we encountered along the way. We made a visit to our friends at Central New York Chapter NRHS, where they graciously donated to us many parts that we can use to restore our caboose, including a sink, cup dispenser, paper towel dispenser, wind visors, window guards, grab irons, and more.

As we approach the beginning of April, we must raise $2000 to continue the next phase of work on the caboose. This includes purchasing lumber to construct the missing interior fixtures and doors, as well as continuing with paint stripping both inside and out. It is our goal to have the caboose ready for sandblasting and exterior primer by the end of this spring. We have volunteers standing by ready to construct and install the missing interior fixtures, which includes storage benches and new exterior doors. Several volunteers have stepped up to help with needle scaling and paint stripping. But we cannot move forward until we have cash in hand.

The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum would appreciate your help in funding this next phase of restoration. It is our goal to restore this caboose to its 1970s appearance as it operated on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. It will become part of our operating fleet, where our visitors will be able to enjoy riding in this caboose as they travel from one end of our museum railroad to the other.

Donations to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. You can make your donation to the LV 95100 project online via PayPal at http://rgvrrm.org/support (make sure you put “LV 95100” in the comments or notes area) or you can mail your check to R&GVRRM, P.O. Box 23326, Rochester, NY 14692-3326. Please make sure to put “LV 95100” in the memo area of your check. Thank you for your support!

See also: http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2012/03/help ... ehigh.html

Thanks to generous donations made over the weekend, we were able to update the Caboose-O-Meter! We are one quarter of the way towards our fundraising goal! Please follow this link to make your tax-deductible donation today...

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2012/03/help ... ehigh.html

-otto-
R&GVRRM Trustee

Any contributions towards this project would be appreciated. Meanwhile, work continues inside to strip the old paint off the interior woodwork.



-otto-