Special Trains to Mark Railroad’s 50th Anniversary

In honor of the 50th birthday of the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad, the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will sponsor special excursion trains.

Two-hour train rides between Lakeville and Henrietta, N.Y., will operate on May 9, leaving Lakeville at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for seniors and children. For more information, go to www.rgvrrm.org/lal50.

The trains will have 1940s era streamlined coaches pulled by LA&L diesels. The LA&L is known for its Alco locomotives.

The railroad was started after officials in Lovnia sought to save a spur to Avon that the Erie Lackawanna wanted to abandon.

The community raised $13,000 to buy the 13-mile line. The LA&L later grew to encompass 400 miles of track in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

The railroad today operates in Livingston and Monroe Counties, south of Rochester. B&H Rail Corp. serves Steuben County, northwest of Corning.

The affiliated Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad extends across southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania from Hornell to Meadville and Oil City and north and south of Olean, N.Y.

Historic Tank Car Donated to Buffalo Museum

A Buffalo, N.Y., museum has saved an historic North American Company tank car from the scrapper’s torch.

The Western New York Railway Historical Society and its Heritage Discovery Center acquired the car from the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad, which donated the car.

“The issue was the car needed to be moved offsite quickly, or the car would be scrapped,” said historical society President Joseph Kocsis.

The tank car was moved to the museum grounds by truck with the museum and the donating railroad sharing the costs. Located on the site of a former chemical company, the museum has nearly 45 pieces of rail equipment. The museum said the tank car will fit well with its collection, which has no similar piece of equipment.

For much of its career, the tank car was leased to Pennzoil, which used it to transport lube oil and petroleum additives to area industries and refineries.

Later, the car was used as a weed sprayer car on the Tioga Central Railroad before eventually landing on the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad in Wellsboro, Pa.

“The car as it sits is still in its original paint as built in February 1960. For the time being, we may just power wash to remove dirt and grime, leaving it in its weathered livery.” Kocsis says. “Our first priority is to get the display tracks built.”

The museum is talking with Norfolk Southern about gaining access to two active siding tracks along its property to allow rail access to the museum and to provide a permanent display for many of their railcars.

Fall Foliage Trips Set in Western New York

The Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad in conjunction  with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will operate a series of fall foliage trips in western New York on what is usually freight-only trackage on former Erie Railroad tracks.

The trips will run on Oct. 18 and depart from Lakeville, N.Y., at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The station is the parking of the Conesus Lake Sportsmen’s club.

The trains will be pulled by Alco diesel locomotives owned by the railroad and will operate between Lakeville and Industry.

The rolling stock will be refurbished Budd stainless steel coaches built for New York Central’s Empire State Express in 1941.

Currently, volunteers are working to prepare the coaches, which are stored on a siding alongside the museum property and the LA&L main line, for use in October.

Tickets for the Fall Foliage can be purchased at Wegmans supermarket service counters.

“We’re really looking forward to operating these trips, and we are very grateful to the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville for their cooperation,” said museum President Mike Dow. “Our volunteers have been working round the clock, and we can’t wait to welcome the public aboard once again.”

For more information, visit www.rgvrrm.org/fallfoliage