Train trip

Our ex New York Central Alco RS32 #2035. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“Those locomotives were built back when men were men, and women were men,” said one of our hosts on an Alumni train trip.
“Hardee-Har-Har-Har!”
I will only say our host was head-honcho at the Medina Railroad Museum in Medina, NY.
The so-called “Alumni” are the union retirees (Local 282, the Rochester local of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union) of Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, and environs.
For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit.
The Alumni was a reaction to the fact Transit management retirees ran roughshod over union retirees — a continuation of the bad vibes at Transit: management versus union.
Transit had a club for long-time employees, and I was in it. It was called the “15/25-year Club;” I guess at first the “25-year Club.” But they lowered the employment requirement, and renamed it “15/25-year Club.”
The employment requirement was lowered even more; I joined at 10 years.
My employ there ended in 1993 with my stroke; and the “Alumni” didn’t exist then. The Alumni is allied with our bus-union — you have to join.
The museum has two E-units, I think E-8s, painted in New York Central colors, stored unserviceable, I think. They were originally New York Central, but eventually became Amtrak.

New York Central lightning-stripe Es.

Then Medina Railroad Museum got them when they were retired, and painted them back into New York Central colors, mainly gray with the lightning-stripe scheme.
Our car was an old Chesapeake & Ohio dining-car, so they said, repainted into New York Central colors, outfitted inside with tables and chairs to be a dining-car.
We had assigned seating, me with retired union vice-president Gwindell Bradley and his significant-other. We also sat with a retired bus mechanic who said hardly anything.
The railroad is the original “Falls Road” from Rochester to Niagara Falls.
New York Central merged it in 1853 and it became its “Falls Road Branch,” diverting from the NYC main in Rochester.
Into Rochester was abandoned, but from Lockport still remains to serve an ethanol plant in Brockport, NY.
Falls Road had a gigantic station in Medina, and that became the Medina Railroad Museum.
Falls Road wasn’t very challenging. It’s pretty straight over flat land.

The Falls Road bridge over the State Barge (Erie) Canal.

Perhaps its greatest challenge was to get the railroad over the Erie Canal in Lockport.
From the bridge you can see the multiple locks to get the canal up the Niagara Escarpment.
At the bridge the railroad is 80 feet above the canal.
Medina Railroad Museum does dinner-train excursions, except ours was a lunch-excursion, sandwiches supplied by the museum.
Ours was also supposed to be a fall-foliage excursion, except local foliage was only about 30-40%.
My question was whether the E-units would be restored to operation.
The guy claimed they’ll pull excursions next year, recreating New York Central’s Twentieth Century Limited, it’s premier New York-to-Chicago train, using cars the museum already has.
Dream on, baby! Medina Railroad Museum is not a railroad shop. What’s done is done by volunteers.
You don’t just fully overhaul four giant diesel-engines (two per unit) with volunteers.
I predict those E-units will eventually be put on static display, cosmetically restored. —That is, repainted for outdoor display.
If they can get ‘em runnin’, great! But I doubt they’ll ever run.

The Levin Es. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

A few years ago I rode excursions from Altoona (PA) with E-units restored by the Levin brothers of Baltimore.
They were originally Conrail’s Executive Es, rebuilt and restored in Conrail’s Juniata Shops (“june-eee-AT-uh”); that is, they have new diesel-engines — two per unit.
Both were repainted in Pennsy colors, although I think one was originally Erie-Lackawanna.
The Levin brothers got locos in good shape. I doubt Medina Railroad Museum’s Es are anything other than wore out.
The Levins did an exemplary job to get those Conrail Executive Es back in service. But they had good locomotives to start with.
The host moved over to the table adjacent. He noticed the veterans hat on a retired bus-driver.
“Where did you serve?” he asked.
“Korea,” the driver said.
“That was back when men were men, and women were men.”
“Hardee-Har-Har-Har!”
The host then moved to the table across from us.
“That was back when men were men, and women were men.”
Again, “Hardee-Har-Har-Har!”
“I swear that guy said that to at least three tables so far,” I observed.
I could hear it being said again at a fourth and fifth table.
“Hardee-Har-Har-Har!”
Sadly, I think Bradley might have degraded some. He didn’t seem as sharp as I remember.
We’re all getting older. Bradley is older than me — I’m 72.
“This train goes any faster,” he said; “and we’ll be in Rochester soon.”
The Falls Road no longer goes to Rochester, and we were doing about 30-35.
Pretty good for a shortline railroad — that is, a cast-off from a much larger railroad.
The line was probably funded by government authorities to keep supplying rail service to lineside businesses.
I’ve ridden shortlines limited to 5-10 mph, bucketing this-way-and-that over rudimentary track.
Often an outside operator is brought in to operate the railroad, in this case Genesee Valley Transportation.
I guess the museum rented a locomotive and crew to come out and pull its cars. GVT also now owns the railroad.

• I had a stroke October 26th, 1993, from which I pretty much recovered. Just tiny detriments; I can pass for never having had a stroke.