The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has an opportunity to save an LV caboose! But they have only 3 days to raise the money to purchase and move it, otherwise it will be scrapped! (the caboose is sitting in a scrap yard as we speak) please see their blog post for the details:

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/09/help ... alley.html

(disclaimer - I am not a member of the RGVRRM, I am simply "spreading the word"..but I am familiar with the museum, they do great work! They have LV RS3m number 211 preserved, and operating! They have wanted a LV caboose for their collection for quite some time..please help if you can!)

thanks,
Scot

Is this the one, Lehigh Valley #95100 ?
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rspict ... ?id=601892

For those who don't read the rypn classifieds, here is a recent post on the fund-raising effort.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31938

That's the one! The caboose was moved to a scrap yard two weeks ago. Luckily, the manager at the scrap yard has been very nice and willing to work with us. We are cautiously optimistic that we will not only save this caboose, but return it to operation.

Luckily, she was moved safe and sound. This was taken last Saturday:



We are no strangers to caboose overhauls. Our collection can be seen here:

http://rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/index.htm

UPDATE: We have raised $8750 to date, we're very close to our fundraising goal!

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/09/help ... alley.html

Any support is appreciated!

-otto-
rgvrrm.org

This past weekend; on Saturday; we successfully moved the caboose to our museum!

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/10/touc ... 95100.html

We are working out the details of rehabbing it; and for the most part it is cosmetic.

Thanks for your continued support!

Timelapse video of the unloading:

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

Thanks, everyone, for your support! I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Your previous post showed the car without trucks. Did it come with or without trucks?

Later!
Mr. Ed

As someone who grew up in the Conrail era a long way away from the LV, I would like to see it restored to its Conrail scheme. Probably in the minority in that thought!

HA! Were just lucky it survived Conrail and is here today to be repainted LV.

It has trucks, they were moved to the museum a day or two before the caboose body was.

Ryan

The caboose came with trucks. The previous owner had them; but never mated them together. A few weekends ago we picked up the trucks ahead of time; which gave us a nice chance to clean up the journals ahead of time.

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.

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2011/10/touc ... 95100.html

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!

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2012/01/lv-9 ... -shop.html

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.

http://rgvrrm.blogspot.com/2012/02/exte ... ehigh.html

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.

http://www.rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/lv95100/index.htm

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

-Otto Vondrak
R&GVRRM Trustee

Some recent photos from our Restoration Building.







-Otto Vondrak
R&GVRRM Trustee

Wow! Otto, you guys are really going to town with it! Sometimes aquisitions take years before the project could start but there's momentum behind this one. Maybe one of these days I'll make it up there to see it.

Jason H, RMNE (currently neck deep in the B&M 1732 project)

Waking up this dormant thread just to let everyone know that progress has not stopped. While we have had to focus our attention in many different areas during the last two seasons at R&GV, we continue to make forward progress. We have been the fortunate recipients of two generous grants from the Tom E. Dailey Foundation, the first award for $1000.00 to complete the primer on the repaired caboose body, the second for $3000.00 to go towards exterior finish paint this summer.



Next steps include finishing up the exterior body work with a little feathered Bondo filler to hide where we made some repairs. We hope to get exterior finish paint on the body this summer. Meanwhile work continues on replacing the wood interior, which was completely stripped and prepared for new paint.

Your donations in any amount will help us complete this project. We look forward to placing this caboose in active service, pairing it with our LV RS3m 211, and carrying visitors around our museum railroad!

-otto vondrak
rgvrrm trustee