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 Post subject: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:19 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
My home base is Youngstown, Ohio, geographically centered between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Within perhaps 100 mile radius are quite a few small to mid sized rail museums and heritage operations. I do get around to many of these sites on a somewhat regular basis, so I thought that I would start this thread as a way to keep the rail preservation community apprised of some of the good things taking place at these places.

We have quite a selection of rail heritage facilities in the region. Here is a list of those that I can name off the top of my head. I am sure there are more.

Northern Ohio Railway Museum
Midwest Railway Preservation Society
American Steam Railroad
Conneaut Railroad Museum
Lake Shore Railway Museum
Greenville Railroad Park
French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society
Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association
Beaver Lawrence Railway Historical Society
Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

So as I travel around, if I see things happening of a positive nature that should be recognized I will post them here.

To start this off I will report on a worthy project in the former hometown of the Atlantic & Great Western.

The French Creek Valley Railway Historical Society in Meadville, PA has been growing over the past couple of years. Their first piece of equipment was an Erie Lackawanna bay window caboose, followed by an Erie ALco S2 and last year was joined by a Union Railroad/Bessemer & Lake Erie wooden boxcar. The boxcar should have its restoration completed this year.

The organization also has acquired a DL&W double track snowplow which will be coming sometime this spring or summer, necessitating the construction of a second display track. The boxcar is on loan from the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, PA. The B&LE did have a branch that extended into Meadville, making it appropriate for display here.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:23 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
Last week I stopped by the Midwest Railway Preservation Society's roundhouse in Cleveland for a visit. The long awaited repairs to the former B&O roundhouse have begun in earnest.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:28 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
Just west of Middlefield is a former C&O steel caboose at the Sheoga hard wood flooring plant, and in Cleveland at the Steelyard Commons commercial development is a 150 ton Pollock hot metal car and an ingot mold buggy.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:31 am 

Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:41 am
Posts: 3911
Location: Inwood, W.Va.
Gotta add the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, with older diesels, cars, and an occasional visiting steam engine.

https://www.cvsr.com/

Although it might be outside your "rust belt' area, and it's not open to the public, there is also Mr. Jacobson's Age Of Steam Roundhouse:

http://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:36 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
Many of us remember seeing a Porter fireless at a scrapyard in Sykesville, PA. Well that Porter finally was sold and moved to Dr. Doolittle's Roadside Cafe & Creamery in Dubois, PA.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:56 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
Yes thanks! Certainly add the CVSR and AOSR. At CVSR their Alco FA 6777 is now back running again after a complete rebuild. I visited on Sept. 23 and while 765 got some attention outside the shop I took a peak at the 6777 up on jacks getting some underbody work done.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 12:13 pm 

Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:07 pm
Posts: 705
The Porter fireless was originally #5 at Westover Tanning Co., Westover, PA, NW of Altoona. Was always kept indoors there and was pristine when it went to Kovalchick in the 1970s. Porter b/n 8161. Glad to see its gotten a better fate than to rust forever at Sykesville.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 12:29 pm 
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Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:30 am
Posts: 1231
Location: Eagan, MN
Hot Metal wrote:
Many of us remember seeing a Porter fireless at a scrapyard in Sykesville, PA. Well that Porter finally was sold and moved to Dr. Doolittle's Roadside Cafe & Creamery in Dubois, PA.


Rick, could we perchance have your permission to use this photo to illustrate this locomotive on http://www.steamlocomotive.info? Our page for this locomotive is http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=1682

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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:41 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
Doug,
Yes feel free to use that photo. I am glad to be able to help!

Rick

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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:45 pm 
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Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:30 am
Posts: 1231
Location: Eagan, MN
Hot Metal wrote:
Doug,
Yes feel free to use that photo. I am glad to be able to help!

Rick


Thank you! Already up on the website.

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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:56 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:24 am
Posts: 298
Location: H2O-town, CT
While AOSR isn't fully open to the public they do offer tours during the summer months. They prefer doing groups but if you're not showing up as a group it's possible for you to join and tag along with another group for the tour. Check in advance and plan accordingly.


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 Post subject: Re: Rail Preservation in the Rust Belt
PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:30 pm 

Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:12 pm
Posts: 204
Thanks for posting about the Midwest Railway Preservation Society. I've been following them on FB and I find it interesting how much they do; and yet we never see hide nor hair of their accomplishments on this forum (understandable as they themselves stick solely to FB). Some other updates would be - GE donating them a full paint booth, being donated 440,000 pounds of OTM and 250 sticks of rails by Ford, and the continued paying of the bills by doing locomotive and railcar repair/painting. The fact that they are moving on to rebuilding and restoring the roundhouse is great news and I take it as a sign that they are doing well. I say let them take their time on 4070 as there are only a few people that work on it at any given time.


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