The- 5emaphareNovember 1997Volume 40, NO.3

Continued Oil page 3

The Deliv~ry of EK-9by J.E. Redden

Our recent acquisl1lon 01 Ute EK-~required some planning for the transpor-tation between Kodak and our Museum.Its home for the last 26 years. the KodakPark Railroad"- serves . ih;;- sprmvlftii(Kodak Park complex in the City. ofRochester and the TO\m of Greece. Ofcourse. our Museum is 15 or 20 milesup the River, in Rush.

The date selected for the move was thesevenlh of October, which was a Tues-day. It turned out to be a good date forthe Kodak Park Railroad, Conrail, andthe Livonia, Avon and Lakeville. TheConrail crew arrived at the Ridge Roadgate a little early, and were ready todepan by 9:00. The conducto( enleredthe yard office near Ridge Road andreceived clearance to head Sout1-.

They pulled out of Kodak Park at theRidge Road gate, closed the s\\1tch, andheaded south. The first leg of the tripwas on the former New York CentralBelt Line. The speed here was about 15m.p.h. and was uneventful. After a shonwhile, they reached Ames SI. Junction,

There's An Alco In YourFuture! by Rand Warner

More photos and history of EK #9 onpage 6.

This unit is a 120-ton, 1000-hp Alcopowered, running locomotive, completewith manuals and even some sparepans.

It is a great addition to our locomotivecollection and has already been up anddO\\n the line several limes underpower.

We will be doing paim touch-up andminor mechanical work as time andweather permit.

Thanks 10 KPRR for this fine donation,to John Redden, our Supt. of MotivePower, for coordination. and to localrailroads for logistics suppon.

Now the water is drained for wimer andthe unit is out of service -but wait tillnext Spring -- when we can have asex1uplet (6) header train. or a doubleheader Kodak powered train!!!

Railroad, we now own EKC #9, an Alcofirst-generation RS-1 diesel roadswitcher.

Newsletter of the Rochester NY Chapter, NRHSP.O. Box 664, Rochester, NY 14603;Published Monthly

Program lor Nay. 20-GED!XS OF' THE

~ST-by Duncan Richards

The next membership meeting willbe held at the ~O & 8 Club onNovember 20th.

The program for November, titled"Gems of the West", will be given byChapter member Duncan Richards.Duncan's slide program will prescma visual overview of railroading inthe West featuring, Tennessee Pass,Powder River Basin, and the loneliesttrain in Nebraska.

Fall Foliage Trip Wrap-UpFrom: Bob Miner, Trip Committee

Here we are in October. Where did thesummer and fall go? For me, working inSodus, to get the coaches ready for thefall trips, passed the time fast. Septem-ber and October rcally flew as !Iolarieand I staned filling ticket orders and thetrips to Newark were run.

On behalf of NRHS, Rochester. I wantto thank all the people who contributed,their time and e[fon, to the Fall trainrides, from Sodus to Newark. A specialthanks to those who came oUl more thanonce and a real big cheer to the few whocame out every time. /I.larie Miner for 6hours a day answering lhe ticket "HotLine" phone and sending oUl all lhetickets. Jan Dittmer for being chiefgo-for and getting all the snacks sold onthe train and the people to sell the Sluff.Dave Luca for also working late nights

Continued 011 page 3

Program CommitteeJack Matsik (Chairman) 442-6269Bill Limburg 586-9470Dan Cosgrove 352-6931Dave Luca (Boald hoi""n) 288.03 18

The Conunitlt:C welcomes suggestions andideas for futun: programs. Contact any ofthe CommitlL~members

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The Semaphore November 1997 Page 2 5

Concession Help

Upcoming Railroad-relatedShows:

Sunday, November 16Edgerton lIfodel Railroad ClubEdgerton Commurtity Cemer41 Backus S1..Rochester, NY 1460810:00 AM to 3:00 PMCall 865-6067 for information

Saturday and Sunday, December13 & 14The Great American Train ShowDome CenlerlMonroe County Fair-grounds11:00 AM to 5:00 PM both days

Rochester Chapter, NRHS will have adisplay' and Chapter Store set up,BElir is Deeded to staff lbese showsChris had a very successful table ,.recent Bata,ia show. Anyone tnterestJ!lll"in helping. or know of upcoming shows,please contact Jeremy Tuke at 359-8944.

Our Sympathy is c.xtendedto

Walter Morey and family in the tragicloss of his grand-daughter in an autoaccident.

George Bauerschmidt and family inthe recent loss of his mother.

Casimer Krul and family on therecent loss of his "ife.

NQI.E: Dues packages were recentlysent to chapters. Thus you should bereceiving your request to renew shortly.Consider inviting a friend to join; Chrishas newly printed Chapter membershipbrochures available. Be sure to pick upa couple and distribute.

Address Incorrect Send addresscorrections to: Dan Cosgrove, 48Hillside Dr., Spencerport, NY 14559,or leave message at (716) 352-6931.

Membership ReportChris Hau{. Membership Chairman

Welcome to Mm.- Member; •James Sartiewski124 Clay Ave.Rochester, NY 14613230-3546

by Janet Dittmer

Dave ShieldsSkip StinsonShirley SwackharnmerStan SwackhamerBob WelchRon Williams

Continued 01' page 8

Track Motor Car OperationsUpdate

Sunday, October 26th saw the last regu-lar joint museum operation on NRHSINYMT trackage. Thanks to the tirelessefforts of scores of our membership theseason was again a success. BetweenMay 18th and the end of October over3,000 people will have loured ourmuseum facilil)" and enjoyed riding thetrack car. This included numerous week-day "extra" runs involving variousgroup tours and other events. The"Roemobile", otherwise known as TC-3,was a reliable workhorse for the entireseason, up until the clutch gave outduring the second last Sunday of opera-tion. TC-2 had recently been put backon the rails following ex1ensive workand was able to help us firtish up theseason. Thanks 10 Bob Mader, NormShaddick and many' others for theirimpressive work installing a "new"engine in TC-2 and also converting it toall wheel drive. Hopefully the clutch

The pink hats were a surprise best selleras were the new whistles. If anyone hasan idea for a logo for the Rochester andGenesee Valley Railroad Museum to beprinted onto the whistles, be sure to giveDuncan a call. These were a great seller.

Thanks to the following people who helped in the CONCESSION stand on the FallFoliage Train Trips:

Barbara Mosher Dave ShieldsRalph Mosher Marge WarnerDec Mowers Sue WaterstraatBarb Propeus Carrie WelchElaine Redden Kelly Willianis

Doug BlackallDan CosgroveHanna EastJanet DittmerCharlie HarshbargerDave Luca

KaT)n CarpenterBobbi CorzineJohn CorzineCallie CripsJanet Dittmer

The Winner Is ...

Simon Tadio

TflANK >,OUfor fALL fOLIAGe HelpThe Fall Foliage Trips this year gener-ated record income with the sales on thetrain, as well as the ticket sales.

SaL, NI!l' II is '1J((orali thi '1Jtpot'1Jal

Janet Dittmer and Dave Luca are pre-paring to decorate the Depot inside andout for the Holidays on Saturday, No-vember 22 from I to 5.

So come join the party. Refreshmentswill be available, friends will gather,and we should have a great time puttinga grand Holiday Greeting face on ourprize Museum. Now, you'll come, youhear!

A special thank you to Val Richards forall her help with the ordering anddelivery of the whistles, hats, pins andpatches while Duncan was out of town.

Store Help

Thanks to the follm,ing people who helped in the STORE and who helped sellRAFFLE TICKETS:

Jack MatsikTed MillerMarie MinerMarie ParmenterMorgan PropeusNorm Shaddick

This year's winner of the Thomas theTank engine set with 2 accessol)' pack-ages is Simon Tadio of Fairport. NY.Simon is 9 years old and rode the trainon Oct. 5 with his mother, aunt and 2cousins. The train set was purchasedfrom The Train Doctor in Alton, NY.

Congratulations, Simon.

also knmm as CP373. At this locationthe Belt Line connects with the MainLine of the former New York Central.The crew requested clearance onto thewye, which was immediately given.After pulling around to a passing trackwhich parallels the main, the crewrequested permission for a trip to ChiliJunction (CP382). Surprisingly, this wasalso immediately given. They were ontheir way West dmm the Main Line.

This leg of the trip also had a number ofChapter photographers' and obsen'ersout in force. The movement had "highgreen" signals all the way from CP373to CP382, The engineer opened it up outin the Pixley Road area, and he latersaid that it was going over thirty milesper hour, Since the EK-9 bas nospeedometer, they had to time themileposts. The engine made at least onestep of transition OK.

• "Upon :arri,'al"- at . Chili". J~ctioli; theengine moved through the interlockingand waited for the switches to be thrO\\l!for a movement down the West Shoretoward Genesee Junction. After receiv-ing permission from the dispatcher, theyheaded East and South towards theinterchange "ith the LA&L,

•The Semaphore

Delivery of EK.9(COlllillued/rom page I)

November 1997

The trip on the West Shore was alsouneventful. As the representative for theMuseum, I had some concerns aboutmechanical problems on its trip, butSteve Walczak of the Kodak Park RRhad the engine well-prepared and itperformed flawlessly, according to thecrew, The engine arrived at GeneseeJunction at approximately 10:00 A.M..

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Afr. Andrew Lippa. Directorof Community Services atEastman Kodak Company(right), gives Dave Luca Ihereverser handle 10 EK #9 in(he dedication cermemony onDel J.J. Mike Byrne lookson.

After a short wait, the crewfrom the LA&L arrived andinspected the engine, It de-parted Eastbound toward Mor-timer, where the only othertrain of the day was mel. Itwas a westbound Conrail pig-gyback train "ith all emptyflatcars. After passing thistrain, the EK-9 turned south,on the last leg of its journey.The trip to Industry was basi-cally uneventful. There was adelay at Martin Road, whilethey waited for track work onour museum mitch to be com-pleted.

Our sixth engine arrived atapproximately 2:30 P,M, on Tuesday the7ili of O;tober. \Ve have had the oppor-tunity to run it several times, and arewell-satisfied "ith its performance.

Thank you to the Kodak Park Railroad,Conrail, and The Livonia Avon andLakeville. All the railroads involvedcoordinated the move vcr) nicely andgave us vcry good service.

Trip Wrap-Up(Continued from page 1)

to patch. paint, check out the airconditioning and many other things toget the coaches fit to travel.

Jim East spent lots of time signing up .and seheduling the car hosts, parkinglot; Janet Dittmer for souvenir car salespeople. Steve Huse for interfacing "iththe cold storage so we could get maxi-mum space in the parking lot. Therewere others who gave time to help makethis a very successful fall. Thanks again,we could not have done it "ithout you.

• This fall our profits were higher than inthe past ~ years. We sold 5503 ticketsthis fall. That was 300 more than lastyear, We were sold out for all but the

noon ride on the first Sunday. We gaveaway 50 tickets to pay for radio advertis-ing. There were 2 rides a day for 7 days.

There was no rain for the 5 weekends.No one even ran into the locomotive.

My records show that we first ran on aSanta Train in 1988. In 1989 we ran onthe LA&L that summer and Ol\fID thatFall. In 1990 we ran a "railfan special".That covered Ol\fID from Webster toNorth Rose to Newark, Summer and falltrips were run over OMID and we arestill there. Some summer trips were runout of Webster but I can not rememberwhich ones. From 1991 to 1992 we ransummer and fall trips, From 1993 to1997 we ran only fall trips.

They Shall Rise From TheAshes - Again and Again

Bob Mader, assisted by Nonn Shaddick,bas our track mOlor car TC #2 back insen'ice with a replacement engine and2-axle drive for more traction. We havetested it "ith very heavy loads on ourvel)' steepest grade and it works great.Thanks for a very fine piece of work!

And not a moment to soon -- for on aSunday in mid-october, we suffered amassive clutch failure (actually disinte-gration) on our ever-faithful TC #3track motor car. TC #2 is now carryingthe load and TC #3 has been tom downfor repairs and replacements.

Rand Womer

The Semaphore November 1997 Page 4.lI

0-4-OT

One Stop ShoppingDick Bean has given our trust)' JohnDeere tractor/mower an engine over-hauJ, a new mumer and various otherparts. •Talk about ~one-slop-shopping", Dickpicked up the unit and took it home onour trailer, puJled the KohJer engine,disassembled it to determine neededparts, picked up the parts, put it all backtogether, and delivered it back to ourMuseum, ready to go!

Thanks for a great job, Dick!

One Waiting Room to Go,Please

George Knab has cleverly built andarranged a steel frame under our Roch-ester, Lockport & Bl1ffalo interurbanwaiting room. so that it can be readilyrelocated as necessary.

The first move "ill be kitty-romeracross the street, adjacent to our turn-table (temporarily) so that we can grade,stone, and roll our parking lot.

The next move will probably be to aninterim location somewhere to the eastof the LA&L, on our lands, and north •Rle 251.

Thanks to George Knab & Co.

Containerization to followpalletization

For the last severaJ years we have ha.an e>.1ensive effort to palletize oursupplies of track parts, signal parts,heavy equipment parts and riggingparts, This has been greatly aided by theavailabilit)' of our outdoor fork liftmachines.

Now the Museum is acquiring severaJarmy surplus containers for weather-proof storage of some more sensitivesupplies and equipment. The first twocontainers are already on site and arebeing put to use as tltis is "Titten.

All of these efforts help us to betterorganize our supplies for use on ourprojects, and also help us to have aneater, better appearance Museum forour visiting public. Thanks!

We are already in the process ofre-arranging equipment and skidmounted structures to take advantage ofour new acreage.

New Building Site Prepara-tion

The layout "ill permit future e"lJaDSionof the building as necessary to accom-modate work.

Thanks to Joe Scanlon and Co, fordirection on tltis effort, and to our manyvolunteers who have participated inoperation of our shovels, dump trucks,loaders, graders, rollers, cranes, andbuJldozers,

We have a large col.ection of iuforma-tion and literature on several types ofbuilding construction and all tltis inputhas been reviewed in a series of Build-ing Committee meetings.

We now have severaJ sample bids andare re\ie"ing them and soliciting addi-tional vendors.

Over 1000 feet of land along the westside of the LA&L RR right-of-way hasbeen reclaimed over the last two years.

This effort entailed over 200 truck loadsof excavation, grading, ftIling, buJldoz-ing, and loading operations - all usingour Chapter's hea\')' equipment andChapter volunteer operators.

Thanks to all of you for making severaJadditional acres of land available for ouruse, and for improving drainage andeliminating snow drift conditions for theLA&L as well.

Land Reclamation ProjectCompleted

We are creating a level site approxi-mately 300' long x 100' "ide to accom-modate level tracks into, inside of, andexiting from. our approximately 60' x130' building.

Rand Warner, Manager, 425-8587

ROCH~R:EE~~NESt[«~ ?~~F>:";~,.,

Thanks to Bernie CubitI, Bob Miner,Chris Hauf, Bob Mader, George Knab,Dan Waterstraat and Rand Warner forproject leadership on tltis effort.

Thanks to Jim Johnson for extra coffeeand donuts and safety gear.

Thanks to John Redden and JeremyTuke for providing our volunteers "ith aride on the Kodak EKC #6 locomotivehauJed V.l,P. special train.

And especially our thanks to the fineKodak people who braved the weatherand found our Museum and put in agreat day of work for our projects.

Dan Waterstraat made it happen!

Volunteers Make-A-Difference Day

Kodak provided 8 volunteers for Satur-day, October 25th, and in spite ofthreatening weather, we were able toaccomplish a lot working together.

The interiors of two exhibit cars werecleaned, and the interior lamps andreflectors in our Pine Falls passengercar lounge area were cleaned andpolished,Book shelves were dismantled and re-moved from the Depot north waiting. Over 100 truck loads of dirt have beenroom and the haggage room was excavated and relocated to fill in ordercleaned out as well. to create a large land site for our newThe Rochester, Lockport &' Bl1ffaIo:' -restoration',bUilding; The-fill'has-lieeninterurban waiting room was scraped, , graded "ith our road graders and rolledprimed and painted. "ith our road roller.Residual mitch timbers were clearedfrom the rehab project.The clutch and transmission were re-moved fro our TC-3 motor car.Closet interiors on the Penn-Centraltransfer caboose were painted.

The Semaphore November 1997 Page 5

The Link-Belt Rota-Hoe,donated to the Chapterthrough the efforts ofScott Gleason and SteveSingley has been gettinglots of use, and is awelcome addition to ourfleet.

Construction & Equipmentby Joe Scanlon, Supt.

Since last writing, the heavy equipmentgang has been busy.

Art Mummery has removed the enginefrom the lower unit of the Army truckcrane to work on it. One of the recentlyobtained Seneca Army Depot storagecontainers is going to be set up as "Art'sEngine Shop" for engine rebuilds overthe "inter. Art also has the pony motoroperational on the DiFiore ConstructionCat 212 grader, and has the Galionthree-wheel roller running and working,among others.

George Knab, Dan Waterstraat. ScottGleason and son are the regular mem-bers of the "up on the hill (not over the

hill) dirt moving gang"ably assisted by manyvolunteers includingRand Warner, BobMader, Charlie Harsh-barger, Joe ScanJon andothers.

We are very grateful to our manysupporters, and with the ThanksgivingHoliday soon approaching we givethanks for the few mentioned accom-plishments noted here. along with somany unmentioned kindnesses we re-ceive t.'rroughoutthe year. To all ofyou, we give our Thanks!

Christmas Comes Early ...... for the R&GV RR Museum andespecially for Rand Warner. Fulldetails will appear in the nex1 issue.BUT, if your curiosity is up, there is ahint in the form of White's code placedelsewhere in this issue.

Industry Lead-in SwitchRehabbedOver the past six months, we have beenworking with LA&L RR to identify andprovide good relay replacement S\,itchlumbers for our Museum lead in s\\itch.LA&L RR provided missing timbers notavailable from our supply.

During the first half of October, theLA&L's contractor replaced all the badtimbers and respiked the rails usingtheir production maintenance of wayequipment.

The first piece of 'railroad equipmentthrough the upgraded mitch was ournew-to-us EK #9 diesel locomotive be-ing delivered light from Kodak ParkRailroad.

HappyThanksgiving

to All

Contractors replacing switch timbers at the R&GV RRMuseum yard lead to LA&L main. Interesting to see thistie puller in operation. Gale Smith photo____________________ Joe ScanJon's Cat D-2The spent timbers have now been bulldozer is now working oul at thecleaned up and the area is ship-shape museum, thanks to a lot of hard work byonce again.' members George Knab and Art Mum-Thanks to LA&L RR and our Museum mery.volunteers for a great cooperative ac- Mr. Wayne Morrison of Soottsville, whocomplishment. has long been a supporter of the muse-

um's preservation efforts, has put anex-US Army 2.5 ton cargo truck out atthe depot on loan for our use. In goodrunning condition the "deuce and ahall" is a real workhorse.

Spaghetti Warehouse Car #409 is nowon display to our visitors indoors.

Acquisition of trolley truck sets is beingaggressively pursued.

Electrification ProgramAdvancers

Joint NYMT/NRHS Project

One mile of overhead #2'{) "ire is onhand ready to put up.

We have bracket arm assemblies for onemile and six are already restored, readyto mount on poles.

Ears and insulators to hang "ire are onhand for over a mile.

Guys and anchors are ready for first sixpoles.

First six poles are up. Twenty more areon hand, more on the way.

Line truck "ith auger is on hand andhas been used to set first six poles.

Bucket truck with lift is in procurement!acquisition now.

Several diesel generator sets are beinginvestigated for tag power and substa-tion power.

Tag unit chassis to support a dieselgenerator are being investigated.

Wire and mitchgear for substation arein acquisition.

Three phase commercial power avail-ability;, feasibility and hookup are under.discussion and we are talking withcontractors and Niagara Mohawk.

Rail bonds, bonding techniques andequipment are under investigation.

Two operable trolleys have been ac-quired and are on the property.

Two trolley bodies have been recentlyacquired and one is already on theproperty: Rochester City Car #437.

Trolley electrical, mechanical and brakeequipment is being inspected and cata-logued.

Electrical equipment is being assembledfor R&E Car #157.

Roof repairs are under way for operableP&W Car #161.

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The Semaphore November 1997~Page 6

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Chris Haul photo

on its

EK.9 readily climbs the R&GV RR hill "ith consist.

hased in Chicago which had about a dozen RS.lsroster. This railroad's most notable work was that ofsnitching Dearborn Station in Chicago. The stationserved the Erie Railroad, the Santa Fe, the Wabash,the Grand Trunk, and several smaller roads. So ourengine has undoubtedly performed snitching choresfor such trains as The Erie Limited, The Chief, andThe Cannonball. Its original paint scheme was a darkgreen \\ith yellow trim and lettering. Many DearbornTerminal photographs from the 1950s and 1960sshow C&WI A1co RS.ls just like ours in thebackground. However, to date, the author has beenunable to locate a picture of the 260 in thisassignment.In 1971, the C&WI sold the 260 along with the 262and they found their way to the Genesee andWyoming Railroad. The 260 became G&W number44, and the 262 was used as a parts supply for their

fleet of S.2, S-4, and RS.I engines, which had manyinterchangeable components. Genesee and Wyoming quicklysold the .w to the Kodak Park Railroad in late 1971, and it ".re.numbered EK.9. Sister 262 continued to be cannibalized for

years at Retsof, and was finally cut up severalyears ago.

The EK.9 has continued in steady use on theKodak Park Railroad right into this fall, S\\itch.ing loads of coal for Kodak's o"n power plants,as well as a variety of raw materials for itsmanufacturing. In recent years, it served as ahackup to its three General Motors yard s"itch.ers. It was a reliable pinch-hitter during the timesthat the other engines were disabled, and it hasbeen popular "ith the KPRR crews.

The EK.9 still has its original six-<:ylinderAleo539 prime mover, which was a sturdy design thatwas very well liked by the railroads. This engineruns well and the locomotive's major componentsare in velY good shape. The brake system hasbeen updated to the modem 26.C system. It'squite possible that we have the only RS-l somodified. The short hood still has most of a

John Redden gently guides our 'new' EK.9 to a stop in the Museum yard on its Vapor steam heat generator, which would havearrival. Gale Smith photo been used to heat the passenger trains at

Dearborn station. However, some parts havebeen discarded, and it is not currently functional. O.volwlleers have done cleanup work and minor repairs to t1."iring and other components shortly after its arrival.

Thanks to the efforts of Kodak Park Railroad employees JackMacMullen and Steve Walczak, Eastman Kodak agreed todonate number 9 to our museum. It was delivered on October 7.and was formally donated to us on October 14 by Andy Lippa.who is the Director of Community Sef\ices for Kodak. Thisdonation adds to the ever-gro"ing list of equipment that Kodakhas given our museum. This includes our first locomotive.EK.Q, the tamper, the snow broom, and the tank car. We havebeen, and continue to be very fortunate to have friends at theKodak Park Railroad.

Our EK.9 was built in 1951 for the Chicago & WesternIndiana Railroad as number 260. The C&WI was a shortline

by John Redden

As most of our members are now a"are, Kodak recentlydonated their locomotive number 9 to our museum collection.

It is an A1co.GE model RS.I, rated at 1,000 horsepower andweighing 120 tons. The RS-I model was a pioneering designand is considered by many historians to be the originalroad.s"itcher. It is a truly multi.purpose diesel locomotive,being equally able to handle passenger, freight, or yard-snitching duties. RS-Is were first produced in the early 1940sand many were "drafted" during WWII for use on Alliedrailroads overseas. General Motors, Bald"in. and Fairbanks-Morse did not produce a direct competitor to the RS-l untilseveral years after its introduction.

A Short History of the EK.9

The Fleet, Fleeting - a Fleeting Glimpse. By Dan Cosgrove

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The Semaphore

Chances are you know nothing of fleets andthe term fleeting, so here goes.

The term fleeting refers to the practice inautomatic signaling territory of leaving sig.nals cleared so that the signals wouldautomatically cycle through the aspects re-flecting the condition of the territory thesignals controlled. For example, if a trainpassed, the signal would drop to red untilthe train cleared the block the signalprotected, after which it would display ayellow over red wmch is read as proceedpreparing to stop at the next signal. Whenthe train cleared the block ahead of the blockthe signal was protecting, the signal wouldthen go to top green wIDch indicated a clearblock.

On the New York Central, most signaltowers had their signals set for green andthey automatically went through the eycle asthe trains passed. The difference was thatthe dispatcher could call a tower and tell theoperator to "PalmYTa• hold on 2 and let meknow when he hits" and the towerman thenwould pUI the signal on track 2 to stop.When the train hit his approach, wmch wasactually the block before the train ap-proached the rear home signal, a light wouldlight on the circuit board on track 2 and abell would ring continuously lUlul the tower-man killed the approach light button, andinunediately he would call the dispatcherand say: "Palmyra, on the bell on 2". Andthe response might well be: "Okay Palmyra,is the man on I on the bell?" "Yes, he is.""O'kay, after the man on I is by, put theman on 2 over on 4." "Okay." And theoperation would go as plaIUled, and once thecrossover is made, the operator would re..store all his signals to proceed and thesignals would again begin their automaticfleeting operation. Now that is fleeting.

The Fleet is quite another thing. The f1eel"''as the concentration of passenger trainsthat OCCWTedas the various trains criss-crossed the railroad operating from theiroriginal terminals destined to their finaldestinations .Working on the SYTacuseDivi.sion as I did, we saw a good nwnber oftrains on the afternoon and night tricks, asthe trains left terminals like New York andAlbany at convenient times for the travelingpublic, many leaving in the early afternoonand evening and arriving at cooo,'enient timesin Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis.So during the afternoon and evening, trainsfrom far places stopped and went on. someof the trains did not make passenger stops atterminals save to change crews, others

November 1997

dropped off mail and newspapers, and sometrains had additional sections of a particulartrains to handle mail and express only.

Depend on it at all times there were trains,but we learned that there were certain trafficpatterns that rarely changed. Around teno' clock in the evening, a stream of east-bound trains started coming out of Buffaloheaded for the eastern seaboard. No. 14, amail train. left Buffalo near 9 PM. closelyfollowed by No. 46, the Interstate Express;No. 44 the New York Express; NO.6 TheFifth Avenue Express; No. 48 the Detroiter;No. 28, the New England States in rapidorder, than came No's 12, 2, 68, 8, 26 . allsolid Pul1man trains, >vithprestigious names:the Pacemaker, Commodore Vanderbilt. TheWolverine, The Southwestern Limited, TheTwentieth Century Limited, The Ohio StateLimited. These name trains were handledcarefully and every move made was closelymonitored. In the meantime, the westboWldswere hitting SYTacuseharder and harder asthe night went by. A fleet started formingaround 8 PM westbound and this fleetpersisted till midnight, when the pace slack.ened a bit until about 5 AM when the pacewent up with a rush that lasted through 7AM.

Daytime in SYTacusewas thought of as reallyquiet and low key. which in comparison tothe rest of the day was probably accurate.But the quiet was broken somewhat by a fewtrains that came and went. However. in thisquiet day, we had 3g and 40 and 90,excellent trains from Chicago and St. Louis.and then of course we had 43 and express 43and then NO.9 around noon and No's 95 and96, the Advance Empire State Expresses andthen 50 and 51, the Empire Slate EX1'resseach ''''y. No. 35 ran really early in themorning, but follo\\i.ng 35 we usually had amail 35 and newspaper or express 35 andthey did a lot of work at SYTacuse.In fact ifmail 35 was going to be late we had toadvise the post office of this as they had tohave extra people on hand to handle thetrain when it did come in.

In these times of nwnerous trains, we werealways notified in advance of what to expecto\'er the holiday seasons. We would get al)Jled page, usually quite full, advising whattrains would have sections, and it was not atall unusual to fmd that most of the nametrains would ha\'e second and third sections .Sometimes the dispatchers were told to notrun freights on the passenger tracks whenthe fleet was running. but this was far tooarbitrary and the dispatchers fought to havethis restriction lifted and it usually was.

Page 7

Standard practice was to have relief enginesplace strategically at terminals ready to takeover 8 train that was having trouble withtheir locomotive. At S)Tacuse. the enginewould come up from the enginehouse, >vithahostler crew on it. to SS48 at MidlerAvenue tower, just tv.'O miles east of thestation, where a lead to the wye allowed theengine to be dispatched headed in wfulteverdirection was called for. If the passengertrain blew for an engine at the designatedtowers. the crew had ample time to get theengine up and ready to couple on when thetrain arrived. Crews tended not to blow foran engine nuless they were really in trouble,so decisions were quickly made once wefound out what was VrTOng.

So, the design for the day went as follow~:from 5 AM till 7 AM, much activitywestbound, then a slight flurry east, thenrelatively quiet for most of the day, after all8 couple of trains an hour was no exercise.Then a pid:up in the afternoon, then a realflurry of business from 7 PM till nearlymidnight. then a busy time east and west tillmid.morning, and the day was done. As amatter of fact, there was a slightly blurredview of the day as one tended to move in tothe other in a rather rapid manner and abusy afternoon would extend to a rather busyevening and night 'was on you, and it wasvery busy for a very long time. The reliefengine would show up at Midler Avenueearly in the evening. If there was no call forthe engine, they would drift back down tothe enginehouse around 7 in the morning.On busy day~, the hostler would give theirengine to a train in the station and thenwould nurse the crippled engine to theenginehouse if it was capable of moving thatmuch. Then they would acquire anotherrelief engine and retmn to their post Wllessthe morning was coming on and the trainsappeared to be holding up well, which wasusually the case.

When fleets were considered, some attentionhad to be made of our fast freight fleet aswelL At night, we had eastbound NY.8s,NY.Q, SB-2 ('X' indicating a stock train, 'B'for Buffalo), XN.2, JS-2, westbound we hadLS-I, NC-I, MC.I, NC.3, Me.7 - I neverunderstood why CC.I and MC.3 were hottrains, but Me.7 was a fast train yet it WetS

not considered to be a really hot train. Somesymbol trains were not hot trains and in factwere drudgery traIDs. DRS.7 worked every.\\'here and went everywhere, as it's nametells the story somewhat. 'D' stood forDewitt yard in SYTacuse,'R' was Rochesterand'S' indicated Suspension Bridge yardjust above Niagara Falls.

(Continued on page 8)

The Semaphore November 1997 Page 8

The Fleet (Continuedfrompagae7) Track Motor Car OperatIons Update (Continued from page 2)•

I'll write somelltingabout SymbolFreightsat a later date but we did have fleets offreighttrainsas well as passenger.

~nks to ...Dave Monte Verde for info on rolling

stock.Malcomb McKinnon for donation of

PRR wool blanket for sleeping berthin passenger car.

Charles Harshbarger for donation ofgasoline fuel.

Rand Warner for donation of books,tools, hardware & supplies.

George Knab for donation of largemetal baskets for warehousing.

Dick Bean for donation of grab hooksfor lifting timbers.

Joe Scanlon for arranging donation ofhea\j' equipment and constructionmaterials.

Dan Waterstraat for donation of log-ging locomotive catalogues.

Scott Gleason for coordination offer onvolunteer crew to erect trolley over-head wiring.

Bernie Cubitt for info and photos onrailroad equipment.

Art Mumme!)' for donation of toolsand supplies.

Jim Johnson for donation of tools andsupplies.

Eugene Redden for rectifier info fortrolley power supply.

Dave Shields for diesel generator datafor trolley power supply.

Joe Scanlon for prime movers andpower supply information.

George Knab for donation of steelgirders, steel wheels and rigging.

Bob Cowan for donation of pre-Iut.epump, filters and hoses.

Ted Strang of NYMT for info onantique heavy equipment.

Jim Dierks of NYMT for coordinatingfurnishings donation to our new Li-brary facility in Webster.

Charles Harshharger for yet anoUternice new cabinet to put in our NorthBaggage room.

problem wiUtTC-3 will not be anythingserious.Approximately thirty five members gaveof their time as track car operators andworked to make the 25 Sundays possiblefor operations. In addition there wereover thirty weekday group events at themuseum. As anyone who has visited the .museum will attest, the track car ride isclearly the highlight for many of ourmuseum patrons, especially the children.and is a vital part of our joint operation.Thanks go out to all who made theseason such a success! Thanks go outalso to all of the NYMT volunteers whotirelessly staffed the Museum. and thosemembers who handled track car opera-tions for TC-l, especially for the week-day group tours.

As the season winds to a close from themuseum operation standpoint, the main-tenance and upgrading activities are justgetting underway, and those involvedare already looking towards Ute 1998season. TC-2 will be needing a freshcoat of paint in addition to additionalmechanical work prior to ne", year, and

WantedSmall, operable skid steer bucketloader, e.g. Bobcat.Diesel generator set. 100-200 kw fortag power unit for trolley.Diesel generator set 200-300 kw fortrolley power substation.Cantilever car jacks for work on pas-senger cars.Low profile aluminum track jacks forballasting work.

Here is an interesting tidbit. Thenation's oldest reguiatOl)"agency, Inter-state Commerce Commission went out ofbusiness on New Year's Eve in 1995,and it was replaced by the SurfaceTransportation Board (STB) within UteDepartment of Transportation. Its firstaction in 1996 was granting trackagerights for Livonia. Avon & Lakeville toserve the Rochester area. [Trains Maga-zine, Dec. 1997, pg. 361

the NRHS trailer car will also need.fresh painting. Please consider helpingout at the Depot on Saturdays this falland winter in getting our track carsready for nex, year's cenain to be busyseason. Weather-permitting there is alsoplenty of trackwork to be done to ensurecontinued safe operations.

Announcements concerrting next year'straining and qualifying sessions willappear in following issues of the Sema-phore, and anyone interested in becom-ing involved is welcome to contact mein Ute meantime. There were a numberof folks who went through training thisyear who did not get qualified or operateon Sundays, and oUters who expressedinterest. We look forward to your par-ticipation in the 1998 season. As TrackCar "superintendent," I would like tothank everyone who participated andwithout whose tireless dedication theseason would not have been possible.We are all looking forward to ne",season. and I hope to be able to wor.li....iUt.all of you again. •

Charlie Robinson was the "VolunteerSpotlight" selection in NYMT's Sununerissue of Headend. Charlie is a devotedtraction fan. with an e",ensive modelHO traction layout, fed wiUt live over-head. in his basement.

At NYMT, he has taken under his wingUte restoration of Northern Texas Trac-tion interurban parlor car 409 (rescuedform Ute former Spaghetti Warehouse).

With degree in electrical engineeringfrom MIT Charlie will be a valued assetin current objectives of both museums.

The Empire Slale Express, newsletter ofthe Niagara Frontier Chapter, has beenfeaturing articles on historic area sta-tions. Sounds like a good historicalobjective for us. Any takers among localmembers? For example, the three NYCstations in Rochester, maybe with 1100•••••or site plans? •

•••••Our neighbors in Buffalo will be 'train-ing' to Toronto on Sat., Dec 6 forshopping.

-'

Editor'sCorner

• • • • •UP is said to be offering surplus SPexecutive-train cars for sale, including106 (Oregon) rebuilt from Pullmansleeper-Iounge-observation CentralPlains [Trains online via The LakeShore Timetable, July 1997]

* • • • •

Page 9

Thanks to this issue's contributors:Rand Warner, John Redden, Janet Diu-mer, Chris Hauf, Jeremy Toke, BobMiner, Dan Cosgrove, Joe Scanlon.

Waiting in the 'wings' are several ofWilliam Heron's reviews.

No More Marlboro Train

Old news by now, wben Philip Morrissold for scrap its $50 million superlmillry train to Rader Railcar of Denver.This firm was the original builder, thenwas 'fired' for sundry reasons. Now thisfirm is cutting up the cars, salvaginguseful components.

The cit)' of Cincinnati developed plans tobuild a Paul Bro"n Stadium complexnear the present Cinergy Field (formerRiverfront Stadium). Overlooked was aseldom used railline that Norfolk South-ern had agreed with the city to abandontwo years ago.

However Indiana & Ohio, a RaiiTexCorp., bought from Canadian Nationalthe former Detroit, Toledo & Irontonalong "im trackage rights to this line.

Negotiations are underway. [The LakeShore Timetable, October 1997]

'" ....BC Rail's II ROC's are to disappear byMay 1998 as they are sold off. [TheSandhouse. ,ia The Turnout, Oct. 1997]

EdiJ.llr.: Wouldn't be nice to have anRDC? I) Run Spring and Summer tripSon L4&L to Livonia's park; 2) ConnectWebster to Sodus to transport passen-gers for Fall Foliage trips (for extrafare. of course).•• •• •

• ••••

"Trains Unlimited" comprises of 13episodes, each a hour long, detailingvarious aspects of railroading history.The shows were to have started inSeptember on the iiislOry Channel,scheduled for Monday nights at 10 P.M.Eastern time. [Model Railroader, Dec.1997, pg. 152.J

The Washington DC Cbapter, NRHSwas to host a three day, two night tour toPittsburgh featuring their 1930's Pullman,Dover Harbor on October 24. [TheHagerstown RO'indhouse News/etter,Sept. 1997J

• •• • •

November 1997

Leaky Valley, newsletter of the CornellRailroad Historical Society had reviewsof Mary Hamilton-Dann's new book andalso listed our Fall Foliage trips. [LeakyValley, October 1997]

Articles wanted for BulletinEditor Frank TatnaJl is in need ofarticles of railway history subjects forfuture issues of the Bulletin. So localwriting talent - arise!

Here S There(Excerpts from other newsletters)

Dues KitsNational NRHS states that the 1998Dues Kits should shortly be in the handsof chapter membership chairpersons.Thus, you will should be receiving your'invitation' to renew both National andRochester Chapter memberships verysoon, if not already.

And while you are holding your requestin our hand, how about inviting a friendto join? Chris has new membershipbrochures available to pass on.

La'1:e RR Collection being sold: JohnJ. White, an appraiser and historian, isin charge of selling Mr. Pratt's $105,000valued railroad collection. This is not abid. but priced sale. A catalog isavailable for SASE "ith 55 cents post-age from John White, 1616 17 StreetSuite 267, Denver, CO 80202 Phone:303-{j28-5590. [Enclosure "ith Inter-mountain News}

NRIISNEWS(Mostly from October 1997 issue)

Dr. Raymond A. Wood, immediatepast president of National Railway His-torical Society. died in September at age72. Dr. Wood served as NRHS Presi-dent from November 1987 to November1994.

The Semaphore

•Railroad Merit Badge

Coastal Plain, and illster and Delawarechapters are actively participating inBoys Scouts Railroad Merit Badge pro-grams. In addition, this program had amajor impact at the recent NationalJamboree in Virginia. Of the 31.000Scouts attending, 1,530 Scouts (a recordnumber) earned the badge during theJamboree, and more than 1,000 "ill beable to finish the badge requirements attheir home troops.

Three and a half hours are required tocomplete the requirements which coversmany facets of protot)pC railroading andalso model railroading. BNSF, Arnuakand Operation Lifesaver were ar..ong thefour-<lozen protot)]Je, corporate andhobby sponsors for this year.

Also to interest our 'young folk', theCentral NY Chapter is developing ateenagers program.

Rail Camp at Steamtown?

Several years ago, Jim Phillips, CoastalPlain Region VP, proposed a "railcamp". The concept was discussed at arecent regional vice presidents' meeting,and Larry Eastwood. National Sr. VP,has issued a letter requesting input. He .and Bruce Hodges have contactedSteamtown National Historic Site andthe University of Scranton to operate apilot/test railcamp in July of 1998.

Proposed "Curriculum": classroom andhand-on experience and training di-rected towards restoration, as well asrailroad operations.

Cost is projected at $300-$500 including_ dormitory lodging and meals. Proposed

••. - class size is 20 to 40 teenagers in grades9-12.

Contact: Railcamp, NRHS, PO Box58547, Philadelphia. PA 19102-8547.

•

The Semaphore November 1997 Page 10

20% -.J,'40%60"/080"/0

$50.000

100%I

1200",

Tbe status of our Restoration Building Fund. The engine is in the 'enginehouse' This graphic is changed to represent the amount in the "Fund"percentageof the 'original'goal{one that was designedto 'pour the foundation'.to add the roon

interNet (World Wide Web) address:http://.www.rochester.ny.uslrailmuse-urn. hun!

Trustees: Charlie Harshbarger, ChrisHauf, Steve Oagley, John Redden, JoeScanlon, Rand Warner,

The Semapbore Staff:Editor: Gale SmithPrinting: Dave Luca

Tbe Semapbore is published monthly by the Rochester, NY Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. It is mailed free to allChapter members. Non-member's subscriptions are $5.00 and run from January I to December 31. Chapter meetings are heldthe third Thursday and the Board of Directors meets the first Thursday of each month. •

Rocb t Ch t NRHS om. Contributions to The Semaphore are welcomed and encouraged from all readers.es er ap er leers. h uJ be 'Ied Gal E S.th, Se kP 'd D L They sod lIl3l to: e.' nu 299 neca Par Avenue, Rochester, NY:/Sl/nt:'

dave

J;:: Webe 14617-2433. Phone: (716) 544-6221. Contributors using a computer are asked to

Ice reSI ent~h r send their submissions on any MS-DOS diskette in ASCII format, as well as aTreasurer: Ira en printed copy. Deadline: First Day of Each MonthRecording Secretary: Jeremy TukeCorrespondence Sec.: Don ShillingNational Director: Bob Miner

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