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Unbeknownst to many, Rochester has two transit museums that celebrate the many trains and trolleys that once zig-zagged across Western New York.
The New York Museum of Transportation and the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, located just two miles apart and connected by a train track, come together once a year during the Rush Fall Festival to highlight the region’s transit history to festival-goers. This year’s festival took place on Sept. 27.
During the festivities, the two museums partner to transport tourists from one museum to another, with attendees switching from a trolley to a train in the middle as only half of the track’s distance is electrified.
Otto Vondrak, former president of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, says that since 2015, the museums have mostly kept to themselves when it comes to collaboration.
“We just occasionally come together when it makes sense; we do a joint (train) service,” he says, noting that the town asked to be an added attraction for the festival.
During this year’s festivities, the transit museums offered a 90-minute tour, where tourists could purchase a ticket for $15 and then be ushered onto an old 1940s trolley, riding until the track was no longer electrified. They transferred to a diesel freight locomotive, which is operated by the RGVM. Then, riders disembarked and explored part of the museum’s space where they could see and go inside a variety of old train cars and learn about their different uses.
Visiting the railroad museum feels like being thrown back in time. Museum volunteers posed as conductors, dressed in period outfits, and collected tickets as the trolley clanked down the tracks.
Stepping inside the restored rail cars provided visitors with a sense of what it was like to experience transit during the golden age of rail. On display was the last remaining Rochester subway car, which the museum is currently restoring.
John Talty, a volunteer and student at Genesee Community College, explains that the restoration of this subway car has been happening for the past 26 years. He enjoys helping visitors with the experience.
All of the trains on display have some connection to Rochester, either because they were built in or served the city.
Ordinarily, the museum offers rides on its trains throughout the year. However, unlike last month, the trains depart from the museum’s Industry Depot annex, a restored Erie Railroad station built in 1909, and take tourists a mile up through the woods until they reverse directions, stop at the museum so visitors can see its exhibits, and then loop back.
The museum does more than just offer train rides throughout the year, Vondrak explains.
“While trains are great, people don’t want to see (just) trains,” he says. “So we’ll do things like ‘Princess and Superheros,’ ‘Rails and Ales,’ and pumpkin patch train rides.”
Offering a variety of programs helps draw the community to the museum.
“We try to highlight local history,” he says. “Trains are great, but it’s about community connection.”
Teddy Almond is a student at the University of Rochester.
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