LV replica "Sayre Shops" builders plates.

[scottychaos]

Recently I saw a LV builders plate on ebay:





The auction is now over..(no, I didnt bid, or win!
The plate sold for a reasonable price, if a real plate..
but a somewhat inflated price, IMO, for a replica..

The seller quite clearly and fairly stated, in the auction, that he didnt know if it was real or a replica.
he did not try to pass it off as genuine...

Three things lead me to believe this is very likely a replica plate:

1. its FAR too pristine to be real! a real plate would be much more beat-up..even if freshly painted.
2. no builders number..the section for the number is blank.
3. It is known that someone created replica plates at some time in the past.

The Valley Railroad Museum in Sayre had a replica plate, just like this, back in the mid-80's..
(should still be in the collection of the new Sayre Historical Society)
and the Medina RR Museum currently has one on display, clearly labeled as a replica..
and I think the LV historical society in Shortsville has a third replica..

Question..
who made these replica plates? and when? and why?
they are very well done! they look very nice..
are they plastic/resin? or metal?
I dont recall ever handling the one at the Sayre museum, so I dont know its composition..it was tacked up on the wall.

Anyone know the story behind these plates?

thanks,
Scot

[Lehighton_Man]

I dont know about your other questions Scott, but as far as i know, the only builders plate we have, (LVRRHS) is for a EMD SW8m "Pup" unit. But, dont take my word for it.. i may be wrong.

[Lehighrrgreg]

Scot,

I think these came from the Valley Railroad Museum. As I was sorting out VRRM inventory several years ago, I noticed one of these that and it had a blank spot for the date below "n-6" but the only difference between this and the other ones floating around was that the back was flat and had a special casting serial number into it. Im guessing it was a sand cast template. I even found one of these at an antique store in Ulster, PA a few years ago that I bought for the hell of it.

Greg

[scottychaos]

Scot,

I think these came from the Valley Railroad Museum. As I was sorting out VRRM inventory several years ago, I noticed one of these that and it had a blank spot for the date below "n-6" but the only difference between this and the other ones floating around was that the back was flat and had a special casting serial number into it. Im guessing it was a sand cast template. I even found one of these at an antique store in Ulster, PA a few years ago that I bought for the hell of it.

Greg

Thanks Greg,
but im 90% sure these didnt come from the Valley RR museum..
because I helped start up the museum, when it was in the store front next to the Packer ave bridge..before it even moved to the station..about 1985..and the plates existed by then.

although...perhaps they came from the REALLY early days of the museum, the early planning stages..its possible someone from the museum cast the plates as a museum fund raiser, before the museum technically even existed..if so, I might have missed that and never heard about it...I didnt get involved until 84/85 when I helped start up the first museum as part of my Eagle scout project...im not actually sure how long the "planning stage" went on before that..I always thought it was a short time, but it could have been a few years!

hmmm..if that did happen, I know who would know!
I will send off an email and report back..

thanks,
Scot

[scottychaos]

I had the answer within reach all along, but just didnt know it!

I sent an email to Frank Evans..
Frank is one of the founding members of the Valley Railroad Museum in Sayre back in the early 1980's..
(Frank also owned the LV caboose, 95113, that was at his hobby shop on Keystone ave in Sayre..today the hobby shop still exists,
but the caboose is gone..now in Groton, NY)

Frank replied and said the replica plates were cast by himself and Robert Barry, and were given to people, as gifts, who were instrumental in getting the museum founded..

so techincally there were not made *by* the Valley RR museum..because the museum did not yet exist when they were made.
but they were made "in the name of" the museum, while the museum was in the planning stages..they were given out as gifts to the early proponents of the museum, people who worked hard to get the museum founded..

Frank says most were plaster, but a few were cast in metal at a Sayre foundry.
he doesnt recall exactly how many were made.

Dates made would probably be (my guess) 1980-1984.
I know for a fact it was before 1985, because that was when I first saw one at the early museum.

Scot

[dsiegfried]

Not to confuse things even more, but I have an LV, N-6 (no engine no.) metal builder's plate (flat back) that I bought at the the Sayre Station museum in the late 1980s. There were several on sale for, if I recall correctly, $10 each. Did I get lucky to get one of the cast metal commemorative plates? Seems so. I couldn't get any information on it at the time. It was located with several wooden foundry casting forms for engine parts. I just assumed it (and a few others for sale ) was the real deal, and was being sold to raise revenue, since the N-6s were long gone. Thank Frank for the info.