To Frank Hicks: VERY nice article on the New York Museum of Transportation. Only discouraging part was the picture of the Gandy Dancers tools. At small museums like ours, these are still used and most members have used them at one time or the other. HO scale track work was a heck of a lot easier!

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

midlandblb@cs.com

Les,

As a volunteer for both the NYMT and the museum at the other end of the tracks from the NYMT, the Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum, I can assure you the tools on the display are the ones we have worn out!

Our two mile demonstration railroad was built the old fashioned way and is still maintained that way! My back can attest to that along with our extensive collection of broken spike maul handles.

I do have to admit we did have have a surfacing contractor work our line about 3 years back with a torsion tamper and a ballast regulator. We were able to hire them for a day and half while they were surfacing the short line we connect to. Between the 700 tons of stone we spread and the contractor, it was the best money we ever spent as two guys and two machines did what 25 volunteers and five years would struggle to do by hand. Wish they would come back soon!

And kudos to Frank on his nice NYMT write-up.

Until later,
Chris

P.S. The pic is from 1995 of the former R&GV RR Museum manager taking his turn at driving the golden spike which connected the rails which were built from each museum toward a center point. We joined the museums in 1995 after many years of railroad construction. Our right-of-way never held tracks before so it was all new excavation and track construction!

> To Frank Hicks: VERY nice article on the New
> York Museum of Transportation. Only
> discouraging part was the picture of the
> Gandy Dancers tools. At small museums like
> ours, these are still used and most members
> have used them at one time or the other. HO
> scale track work was a heck of a lot easier!

> Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad
> Museum/North Judson, Indiana)


Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum

crhauf@frontiernet.net