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New York Museum of Transportation

Volume 29, Number 4 Fall 2015

IT STARTED RIGHT HERE

The Rochester and upstate New York area has been a source of inventions and significant business developments for over 200 years. Creative ideas that blossomed here have brought improvements to lives around the world, not the least in the realm of transportation. Here are some of the men who have brought changes to how and where we move people and things.

Rochesterian John Harry Stedman seemed to have a way of coming up with products that were individually small and cheap, but would be consumed in large quantities. One of his claims to fame was as the father of the fuzzy pipe cleaner, known to smokers but also to millions of kindergarteners in their earliest experiences at arts and crafts.

But in the transportation arena, Stedman provided us with something that's been used around the world by the mega-millions: the transit transfer. In many cities, horse car lines had been established such that passengers could connect from one line to another in order to reach their final destination, for example coming into the city from the east side, then transferring to a car on a different line heading north. Paying a second fare to do this led to passenger complaints, and a local law was passed in 1884 stipulating a horse car passenger's right to make a transfer with the total trip not to cost over 5 cents. Subsequently, Rochester Railway Lines' streetcar franchise required a transfer arrangement to be in place by November 1, 1892. Stedman saw a need and in 1892 patented his idea for a small piece of paper that could be marked or punched to indicate time and date. These would be provided to passengers on request, allowing a brief time for the passenger to make the change to another car. Time and date were important to prevent free rides that would cost the transit company important income.

Stedman's idea arrayed numbers down the center of the transfer to indicate the hour, with times in 10-minute intervals shown to the left (for a.m.) and the right (p.m.). Around the periphery are months (across the top) and days of the month on the far left and right margins. His concept aimed to minimize the conductor's time and effort dispensing transfers, and he accomplished this by those peripheral numbers. Packs of transfers could be notched by a saw, and re-used on subsequent days. For example, for use on January 1, the transfers would have the "1" month and the "1" day cut out. On January 2, the notch for day 2 would be cut on leftover transfers, and it would be understood that the highest number cut would define the date. In this way, transfers handed out on, say, Independence Day would have months 1 through 7 and days 1 through 4 notched. Presumably the shape of the saw cut would be unique enough to avoid counterfeiting.

When a transfer was requested, the conductor would punch the hour and a number ten minutes after the current time (or twenty minutes if that was more appropriate to the line's operations). This gave passengers time to make a transfer but discouraged saving transfers as a "free ticket" for use later in the day. Note the four directions, North, South, East and West, indicated across the bottom of the paper. The conductor would punch the direction his car was traveling in, thus preventing passengers from using the transfer for a round trip.

A New York State Railways Rochester Lines conductor punches out a transfer for an attractive, fur-clad passenger.

Abuse of transfers was always a problem, either by passengers or by conductors punching too liberal a time, and many designs were tried over the years. They're still in use in all their many forms around the world, although ironically here in Rochester, with the inauguration of the downtown bus terminal, transfers are no longer provided. Riders arriving at the terminal needing to continue on another bus route pay a whole new fare. Fortunately, that fare is a reasonable $1 (and an all-day pass is available for $3). In John Stedman's day, the fare was 5 cents, which in today's money would be $1.34.

Rochester natives who have endured a lifetime of the region's famous cold and snowy winters can't be blamed for dreaming of warmer climes when the snow flies. Winter weather might have been the inspiration for another of the area's famous idea men, Henry M. Flagler. Born January 2, 1830 in Hopewell, New York, near Canandaigua, Flagler is known as the Father of Miami and Palm Beach, Florida. His story has a couple of interesting transportation connections.

In his mid-30s, Flagler was in the grain business in Ohio when he met John D. Rockefeller who at the time was in the same line of work. Oil refining was in its infancy, and when Rockefeller decided to get into the business, he arranged some financing through Flagler. The investment came from Henry's step-brother, Steven Harkness, and the three formed a partnership that became the Standard Oil Company. Anyone who drives a car can relate to that. But there's more.

Flagler's interest in Florida grew out of a trip to Jacksonville in the late 1870s for his wife's health. A wealthy man, he invested in real estate and a large hotel in St. Augustine. Then, seeing the need for better rail transportation for sun worshipers, he created the Florida East Coast Railroad out of a series of short lines. As the popularity of Florida increased, Flagler extended his line down the rugged wilderness of Florida's east coast, giving life to new towns along the way and further popularizing the state. His donations to fund schools and churches in what would become Miami led to the development of that city. He even provided the name, after an old Native American word, Mayaimi meaning "big water".

Not content with reaching the warm, ice-free end of Florida, in 1905 Flagler's attention turned farther south to Key West, which he thought could benefit from its proximity to Cuba and from construction that was soon to start on the Panama Canal. In a $50 million construction adventure that included 17 viaducts, 20 miles of causeways, and numerous engineering triumphs, Flagler's 128-mile rail line was completed to Key West in seven years.

While the "Overseas Railroad" was an immediate success and a contributor to the popularity of Key West, a strong hurricane in 1935 destroyed enough of the line that it had to be abandoned. Today the remains of the railroad bridges support a 2-lane highway to the southern tip of the United States. Few motorists probably know the story behind the procession of bridges, nor that of the man from Hopewell who built them.

Another early Florida developer who has roots in the Rochester area is Henry A. DeLand, born in 1834. He ran a highly profitable business in nearby Fairport, New York producing saleratus, or baking soda. His elegant house still stands at the corner of Main and Church Streets, most recently the Green Lantern Inn.

When he was 43, DeLand visited his sister in central Florida, liked what he saw, and decided to invest his fortune there. His generous real estate terms attracted many to the town, and as it grew, DeLand built a school and provided other amenities. In 1883 he established the DeLand Academy in a building that bears a resemblance to his home in Fairport. While the Academy is now known as Stetson University (for DeLand's friend, John Stetson, famous maker of Stetson hats), the town still bears the name of the baking soda manufacturer from Fairport, New York.

The steel wheel on a steel rail-a great combination. No railroad feat captures the American imagination like the building of the transcontinental railroad. Completed in 1869, the line made our nation one. The vision behind that great accomplishment was in the mind of Rochesterian Hartwell Carter who can rightly claim title of Father of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Carter, born in 1789, was a medical doctor. He sought government support for a railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and in 1832-very early in the development of railroads-published a series of articles in the New York Courier and Enquirer promoting his vision. Over the years, Carter honed his concept and tirelessly traveled the country, lecturing on the idea.

His role in bringing the line to reality awarded him a position at the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point where he was one to wield the ceremonial spike maul. Carter died in 1875, satisfied with what the transcontinental rail line was achieving and what it meant for the nation's future. He is buried in Rochester's Mount Hope Cemetery under a monument erected by the Union Pacific Railroad. The inscription on it reads, " Dr. Carver was the father of the Pacific Railroad; with him originated the thought of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by railroad. At 54 feet, the monument is the second tallest in the cemetery.

Wheels are a basic part of most land transportation, and it took some societies longer than others to figure out a way to use them. Thanks to Sharon Daggett, the Historian for the Town of Pulteney, two more area contributors to transportation come to light—Baptist missionary Jonathon Goble and wagon maker Francis Pollay. After a troubled childhood and two years in Auburn State Prison, Goble joined the Marines and accompanied Commodore Matthew Perry in his expedition that opened Japan in 1853- 1854. Back in the U.S., he became a Baptist minister and returned to Japan in 1860.

As the first missionary in Japan, Goble translated and published the first portion of the Bible in Japanese. While there, he realized the "sedan chair" carried by four men to transport his invalid wife was inefficient. Wheels were needed, he reasoned, and in 1869 he developed an idea which he forwarded to his friend, Pollay, back in Pulteney. There's some question as to how much was designed by either of the two men, but soon Pollay had completed a small buggy with two large wheels and sent it off to Goble in kit form.

The cart only needed one man to pull it, and when Japanese saw it, they named it "jinrikisha", meaning "man-power-carriage". Manufacturers in Japan perfected the design with springs and a hood and the conveyance was an instant hit. At one point, there were more than 250,000 jinrikishas rolling around Japan, with many more all over Asia, all of them owing their heritage to two men from Upstate New York.

There probably aren't many people in Rochester who know who J. Vinton Locke was. Born in Massachusetts in the 1860s, Justus Locke got a degree in engineering and began work in the carriage business. Shortly after the turn of the last century, he had his own business, manufacturing bodies in New York City for high-end horse-drawn vehicles. With the introduction of the automobile, Locke moved into providing custom bodies for the more expensive marques, such as Packard, Stutz and Rolls-Royce. As the post-World War I economy grew, so did Locke's business.

Locke died in 1925, and with the business outgrowing the New York City factory new management soon moved their production facilities to larger quarters in Rochester. One-off, custom bodies were made here, but with the continued growth of the auto industry, the Locke company also produced bodies in quantity for "semi-custom" models of Franklins, Lincolns, Chryslers, Graham-Paiges, and many others. The firm produced bodies in aluminum, such as the 1927 Marmon line with three closed cars, a four-passenger speedster and a seven-passenger touring speedster.
This 1928 Lincoln model L Dual Cowl Phaeton has a body by Locke, crafted in aluminum. photo courtesy of Conceptcarz

While the Rochester plant was busy making new bodies, the New York facility concentrated on maintenance and body repairs. It's even said that they installed summer and winter bodies on chassis for customers, something like swapping summer tires for winter tires today. The "Roaring Twenties" certainly had its share of very wealthy people.

But the fun stopped with the stock market crash in 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The flow of money dried up, and the few who could still afford luxury automobiles chose to avoid flashy displays of their good fortune amid so much misery. The Rochester factory of the Locke company finally closed in 1932 due to lack of business, and while the New York plant held on, repainting and repairing cars, by 1937 the entire company called it quits.

The story of the James Cunningham Sons company, maker of top quality carriages and Cunningham automobiles has been told in these pages. Suffice it to say that the Canal Street factory produced what was considered the Rolls Royce of American cars, and they were sold to celebrities and royalty around the world. Somewhat "down scale", however, is another auto pioneer from this area, John North Willys.

Born in Canandaigua, New York in 1873, John Willys grew up at a time when the bicycle was all the rage. Practical transportation in an era of the horse and buggy, bicycles were also fun for recreation. Bikes offered a new freedom of mobility, and found their way into picnics, sports events, and promenading on Sunday afternoons. As a young adult, Willys found work as a bicycle salesman, but soon the mechanically clever man got into manufacturing his own line of bicycles.

Around 1900, Willys moved to Elmira, New York and in a few years began selling Overland automobiles. In 1908, after supply problems arose with the Indianapolis company, Willys bought the firm. He soon acquired the Marion Motor Car Company and a few years later bought a factory in Toledo from the bankrupt Pope Motor Car Company. In 1912 he named his company Willys-Overland, and was soon turning out cars at such a rate that he was the number two producer in the U.S.

Walter Chrysler was hired to run the company in 1919, but he led an unsuccessful attempt to take over the firm and left to form his own company two years later. Willys prospered during the 1920s, and like so many companies went into bankruptcy with the onset of the Depression. The firm went through reorganization and survived, but Willys died of a stroke in 1935 at age 62.

The company Willys left behind developed the famous "Jeep" and produced over a third of a million of them during World War II. In 1945 they began selling the Jeep CJ ("civilian Jeep"), and the product line expanded to include the Jeep Wagoneer, the Jeepster, and the ever popular Wrangler. Through the years the company became a part of Kaiser, American Motors, and (with some irony) Chrysler. The Jeep name is still big on the international auto scene today, and it all started with the dreams of a bicycle salesman from Upstate New York.

Group tours at the New York Museum of Transportation are often told that "Transportation is in everything we have". Sometimes the connection may be a stretch, but take note of Herman Hollerith and his inspirational encounter with a train conductor.

Hollerith was born in Buffalo in 1860, and after college began work as a statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau. Manually recording the nation's population was becoming more complex and time consuming as that population increased, and it was a supervisor at the Bureau who suggested one day to Hollerith that there ought to be a way to mechanize the job.

By 1882, Hollerith had moved on to lecturing in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, but the quest for a way to mechanize information analysis was still in his mind. Hollerith had a brainstorm one day when he realized he had been observing conductors on trains using simple hand punches to designate specific information such as destination, date, fares paid, etc. It occurred to him that holes punched in specific locations on paper could be sensed electrically, operating counters that would tabulate and accumulate numbers in the census.

Hollerith's initial use of a roll of paper turned out to have problems, but he soon turned to dollar bill sized pieces of card stock. Over generations of modifications, what became known as "Hollerith Cards" became a standard for key punched data entry. He formed a company to manufacture machines to read the punched cards and handily won the contract to equip the Census Bureau for its 1890 census.

In 1911, Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company was merged with the Computing Scale Company and the International Time Recording Company to become the Calculating-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924, C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machine Company (IBM). Today's personal computers are direct descendants of the early IBM computers fed by stacks of punched "IBM cards", probably familiar to older readers. Buffalo's Herman Hollerith and his idea sparked by anonymous railroad conductors have led us all into the digital age.

So much more can be written about transportation's links to Upstate New York people. George Pullman developed luxurious and practical sleeping cars; George Selden patented the automobile; Matthew Ewing and Hiram Everest created the Vacuum Oil Company (later, Mobil Oil). Eight makes of automobile were manufactured in the early 20^th Century in Rochester alone. It will all have to wait for a future issue, once again exploring the creativity and business acumen of the people of Western New York State, and their contributions to the world of transportation.

TIME TO RENEW

Please watch for an email, it's time to renew your museum membership for most members. We hope you will recognize our efforts by renewing your support.

Click here for the Membership Application Form
(in a new window)

Fall 2015

Dear Friend of the New York Museum of Transportation:

Another year of exciting progress is drawing to a close, as the word continues to spread about the only trolley ride in New York State. Our winter season series of "mini-events" brought in new audiences in the normally slow months; the summer ride season continued to thrill and enlighten families; a switch and adjoining track have been completed and overhead wiring has been started to house PCC car 7; an art exhibit of Rochester Subway scenes is installed in our gallery; a general clean-up of the museum grounds and painting of all the barn doors has brightened the appearance of the museum; and group tours and off-site slide talks have continued to serve the community and make new friends for NYMT. Our dedicated volunteers can look with pride on their accomplishments in 2015. It all happens through support from members like you-your membership dollars, additional donations, and valuable encouragement. Please take a moment right now to renew your membership with us, and consider raising to a higher level of membership and adding an extra donation to support our many worthy projects.

Remember too: The key to continued growth of our museum is in the active participation of volunteers-people like yourself-who come from our membership ranks. If you haven't yet discovered the fun of working on a restoration project, creating an exhibit, selling tickets, archiving, or operating a trolley or a track car, 2016 is the year for you to get involved! As can be seen from the many exciting activities described in this issue, our volunteer opportunities are expanding in number and scope, and there surely is something for every interest, time constraint, and skill level.

Thank you for the support and encouragement you have provided during this past year. It's a valuable expression of confidence in the vision we've established for the museum and the work we're doing to make that vision a reality. Please help us continue to grow, by selecting a generous level for your 2016 membership and by becoming an active participant in our exciting progress.

                Bob Sass, President

P.S. Remember, your membership contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law and entitles you to a 10% discount in our gift shop, a collectible museum souvenir gift, and four quarterly issues of HEADEND. Family level memberships and above entitle you to free family visits to the museum.

Thank you!

GIFT SHOP NEWS

This year's museum T-shirt features our former Strafford car of the Philadelphia & Western alongside our newest addition to the fleet, former Newark Subway PCC car 7. There are plenty of these great looking T's available in the gift shop!

You'll find lots of stocking stuffers for the holidays, with pull-back engines and trucks, key chains, mini-cars, pencils and train erasers, pencil sharpeners, and many other small items.

On a larger scale, there are railroad books for kids and adults, and even a few selected railroad artifacts. Come on out and do some shopping with us. We take cash as well as Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards.

Hey...Christmas is coming!

CONNECTIONS

So many of our visitors tell us they had a relative who worked on the railroad, and there are even some whose uncle or grandfather ran trolley cars on the Rochester Subway. Then there are the more distant connections to transportation history...distant but nevertheless worth remarking on.

The 1948 Greyhound "Silversides" bus at the museum dates back to the late 1930s. Its design is credited to the famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy who produced a "streamlined" appearance to compete with the newly introduced trains of the era. Design aficionados point out the way Loewy carried the fluted aluminum motif through to the marker lights and headlight nacelles.

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Recently we reached back in time when Bill Clune, of Scottsville, arrived and told us he was Mr. Loewy's chauffeur whenever the man was in residence in New York City.

It's like putting another piece in a puzzle when folks like Bill come by.

SOME NEW VOLUNTEERS

Our continuing search for new volunteers to help out with the many tasks at NYMT has "steered" this group our way. Thanks to members Ann Stevens and Bill Shattuck for noticing these escapees from nearby grazing land.

We're not sure whether East River Road stopped them, or if they just liked the lush field grass that we work so hard to keep under control. But here they are, giving us the once over. We'd sign them up but we don't know where they'd carry their member cards.

Hey! Seriously, we need more volunteers. You can help with mowing our fields and lawn areas, and if that doesn't suit you there's opportunity in the gift shop, at the ticket desk, on the trolley crew, and in general maintenance. Give us a call at (585) 533-1113. Thank you!

It's not too late to........Volunteer!

Yes, that's you we're talking to. You know you enjoy visiting at the museum, and you've seen all the great work done by the volunteers. You've seen the nice people who come from all over the area (and beyond) to see us and ride our unique trolley operation. And you've read about all the great things we're doing right here in the pages of Headend.

Wouldn't you like to increase your dedication to the museum's future by offering a little of your time along with your annual membership?

Do you like people? If so, you'll fit right in at the ticket desk as the one who greets our visitors, answers their questions, and takes their admission payments. You'll "cross-train" with the gift shop too, adding variety for your day with us and giving museum management a degree of flexibility we often need.

Have you always loved trains? Are you "train"-able? We need more trolley crew members...trained to handle both motorman and conductor positions. What a great way to spend a Sunday, operating the only electric trolley in New York State!

Would you just like to help out? We have grass to cut, things to repair, stuff to paint, and lots of "projects" you can contribute to. We have a Railroad Team, an Overhead Wire Team and the Thursday Afternoon Team, and any group will welcome your skills, energy, and common sense.

Do you want to work with kids or seniors? We host numerous weekday group tours of pre-schoolers, seniors, adults from group homes, and special tours. We'll train you to help with the guided tours that we tailor to each.

We know you want to help, so please check the appropriate spot(s) on your member renewal form, and we'll take it from there.

Thank you!

ROCHESTER STREETCARS......................... No. 76 in a series

© Charles R. Lowe

Readers of Trains may have noted in the November issue of that esteemed magazine the inspiration for ROCHESTER STREETCARS. Finally, after a long hiatus, there was "No. 195 in a Series" of articles seeking your subscription to the magazine of railroading. While hope is dim that ROCHESTER STREETCARS can ever reach such a lofty goal, since thirty more years would need to pass, all we can do is continue our review of Rochester's streetcars.

Behold, then, an example of one of the least commonly photographed styles of cars once used on the streets of our city. Double truck city cars with railroad roofs numbered just forty in the long march of Rochester streetcar history. Cars 700-724 and 800-814 comprised the entire group. ROCHESTER STREETCARS has already covered the low 700s, but since we have never touched upon the low 800s a correction to that problem is in order.

The low 800s were a 15-car order of cars numbered 800-814 and built by the G. C. Kuhlman Co. in Cleveland, Ohio. The cars were built under shop order 494 in 1911 and featured four 50 horsepower motors, seats for 46 passengers, and a 30'-11" car body. Following closely on the low 700s (Kuhlman, 1910; S.O. 440), the low 800s featured the then-new "pay-as-you-enter", or PAYE, system of fare prepayment. The low 700s had been the first PAYE cars in Rochester. On PAYE cars, the conductor was stationed at the rear platform where passengers entered and paid their fare; passenger exit was at the front door and under the supervision of the motorman. The most important advantage of these cars was that the boarding and alighting passenger flows were separated, reducing time spent at stops. Previously, streetcars almost universally used rear-entrance-rear-exit (RERE) operation, the result of which was jostling of passengers by conductors collecting fares, crowding on platforms, and delays of all sorts.

The powerful low 700s, low 800s and two of the 600s pulled trailers. Our car 809, for example, was known to have pulled steel trailers 1100, 1109, and 1124 in the 1920s and 1930s. As the Great Depression took hold in the early 1930s, however, streetcar riding lessened, and use of trailer trains decreased. The last trailer trains in Rochester were the "Sunshine Special" trains between the Four Corners in downtown Rochester and Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte via the Lake Avenue line. The last year for these was 1938. Their usefulness at an end, the low 800s were all scrapped at Blossom Road Yard in August 1939, barely a year and a half before the demise of Rochester's last surface streetcar line.

Taking a look at our photo of 809, though, we are reminded of happy times for the car. It is seen here in the mid-1930s, probably in the car yard behind East Main Station, proudly displaying a PORTLAND DEWEY route sign. Miraculously, we can see 809 again, if only fleetingly, through the pages of HEADEND, the journal of transportation in New York State.

GRANT AWARDED

The Board of Trustees of NYMT is pleased to announce that the museum is the recipient of a grant in the amount of $15,000 from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation. The grant is for unrestricted support as part of the Foundation's Arts and Cultural program.

The Board is now reviewing the museum's needs and will be sure to put this money to good use-to enhance the visitor experience and to preserve a viable future for the museum.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

No, volunteers at NYMT don't have to have transportation in their background somewhere, but we always seem to find a link, and this issue's subject has a few too. Here's your chance to get to know Taylor Reed.

Taylor is a life-long Rochesterian, born here in 1936 and raised in the close suburb of Brighton. He talks of growing up with his cousin, Rick Holahan, another active volunteer at the museum. Like so many kids back then, Taylor had a Lionel layout in the basement, but that was probably at least partly to satisfy his father's interest in trains as well as Taylor's. In fact, Dad often took his son to do some serious train-watching on Sunday afternoons. Remember, this was a different time, when families had fewer commitments on Sundays, no TV,

video games, etc., and simple pleasures like a family picnic or a drive in the car were frequent diversions before the work week began anew.

In the Taylor household, the huge New York Central facility at Wayneport, east of Fairport, NY, was a destination for father and son. Locomotive coaling and servicing was done here at the massive structure built right over the mainline. There was also a nearby icing platform where refrigerator cars had large blocks of ice added, to keep their contents of vegetables and meats fresh. To top it all off, the New York State Barge Canal was adjacent to all this. World War II was raging, and the whole complex was a busy and exciting place to be.

Taylor and his father, often joined by young Rick, would stand on the wooden bridge that spanned the tracks, glorying in the sight of steam locomotives heaving to a stop to receive fresh loads of coal in their tenders, then storming off with long freights and passenger trains. Taylor recalls how the family dog, a boxer, reacted to all this. "When a train passed under the bridge, steam and smoke blasted up between the bridge planks, and that dog would leap with all four feet in the air", he says. With trains coming and going, and tug boats towing multiple tankers on the canal, it must have been great entertainment for the boys.

Another train watching spot on the Central was Brighton Station, at the junction of the Auburn Branch and the mainline. With a slight grade for west bound trains to manage, some of the freights with heavy, wartime tonnage would stall. A pusher would be called out from the Rochester yard, adding an extra feature to the spectacle of passing trains. Taylor recalls going to Brighton Station when his dad boarded the late night train to Washington on the Auburn Branch. And, one of his earlier memories of that part of the Central's operations was seeing a derailed steam locomotive on its side, all of its underbody features and brake rigging exposed, near where Highland Avenue crossed over the line.

Taylor's father owned a small Chris Craft boat, and one day in the spring of 1947, they took a ride from their cottage at Manitou Beach over to the mouth of the Genesee River, where scrappers were lifting parts of a steam locomotive from the muddy depths. Back in February, the engineer of a freight train on the Hojack line failed to see a signal indicating that the swing bridge across the Genesee was open and not lined for the railroad. The engineer died when his locomotive plunged into the river. Taylor says the parts of the engine being lifted out by the giant crane looked like huge pieces of mud, barely recognizable as a steam locomotive.

Taylor's dad worked at the local Reed Glass Company on Maple Street, and Taylor worked there for a couple of years in his younger days. He had a position in the test lab, analyzing glass for strength and clarity, but his preferred work was at the massive melting tank, tracking temperatures and keeping the process on plan.

He always liked working with his hands, doing mechanical repairs, and Taylor moved on to a 40-year career at Tapecon near River Street in the Charlotte section of Rochester. The company had grown during the war printing water slide-off decals for the military, and in the post-war era, moved to pressure-sensitive labels. A big customer was Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotions, but the business soon grew to encompass conductive adhesive labels for electronics. Kodak, Xerox and IBM were important customers in this line. The need for high precision printing and die cutting in this work offered plenty of challenges for Taylor and his fine mechanical sense. Taylor notes that the complex Swiss equipment at Tapecon had strict procedures for set-up and maintenance, including a "lock-out" system similar to what the museum employs on its substation.

While at Tapecon, Taylor witnessed many derailments on the nearby Penn Central tracks that carried coal trains destined for Rochester Gas & Electric's power stations. One in particular, in the early 1970s, had coal hopper cars and diesels tipped over on the curve north of the old station building there.

Taylor first met his wife, Mary, in the early 1960s when he was dating a friend of hers. Several years later, they ran into each other again at the Pittsford Inn, a singles hangout at the time. They married in 1965 and had one daughter who now lives in Brighton. Taylor points out that he and Mary took their honeymoon out west, and the trip included a ride on the Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge tourist railroad.

With his mechanical skills, Taylor has always been interested in cars. He got involved in auto racing, first in "asphalt modified" (that's pronounced in the Rochester way--"ash-phalt"), then later in "dirt modified". He particularly enjoyed working on the engines, keeping them in tune and squeezing the last ounce of performance out of them. Taylor bought his first car when he was only 12 (we told you life was different back then). It was a 1933 Chevy coupe that he bought with $65 that he had saved from his paper routes. With fenders and in fact most of the body removed, the car was a precursor to the ATV action we know today, and Taylor and his family and friends enjoyed bounding around in the old car.

Mechanical talents are always welcome at NYMT, and Taylor has exercised his with us, contributing to repairs and doing maintenance work. He's also "Mr. Weed Whacker", spending hours on the important work of taking down the "fringe" of grass that accumulates around the buildings and outdoor exhibits. He says he's always liked a finished look to everything he does, and that counts at NYMT.

His hope at the museum is to see the rest of the loop track electrified, and we all agree that's a priority once our one-man overhead construction team, Charlie Lowe, is able to complete the line over track 23 for PCC car 7. Meanwhile, Taylor is with us to do just about anything that needs doing. That is, when he's not still fulfilling his love for trains. He and Mary recently returned from a trip out west to enjoy the Rocky mountains aboard the "Rocky Mountaineer" and the "Canadian".

Welcome back from your travels, Taylor, and thanks for all your many contributions to the museum!

SHOP REPORT

Railroad: "gandy dancer" team of Rich Fischpera, Rick Holahan, Taylor Reed, Tony Mittiga and Carter Brown have been meeting regularly for full Wednesdays of track work. One key contribution was reconstruction of Reid's crossing, using discarded crossties and ballast.
Tony Mittiga, Carter Brown and Rick Holahan at the crossing.

With additional help of Justin Micillo, the crew has also been removing excess ballast from crossties on the mainline. This improves drainage to extend the life of the ties and provides ballast for areas needing fill.

Genesee & Wyoming Caboose 8: With the completion of the roof on the caboose, attention has turned to the siding, making repairs at the bottom edges and scraping down to prepare for painting. Contributors to the caboose effort are Justin Micillo, Carter Brown, Don Quant, John Ross, Jim Moe, Bob Pearce, and Jim Dierks.

Philadelphia and Western 161 and 168: Bob Miner, Bob Achilles and Bob Sass tracked down another pesky air system leak that had developed on 161 this fall. After a diligent hunt on October 29, the leak was repaired and the car brought back to a reasonable level of operation.

Overhead and bonding:Rail bonds for tracks 21 and 23 were installed by Bob Sass and Dick Holbert in July and September.

Charlie Lowe gives our tower car a workout.

Trolley Operations: Carter Brown has become a trolley conductor, badge no. 25, and is in training to become a motorman as well.

Buildings and Grounds: This summer saw a dramatic improvement in the exterior appearance of the main barn and milking parlor, as all the wood doors were scraped down, primed and repainted. Rick Holahan, Taylor Reed, Carter Brown, and Jim Moe were all party to this great work. Repainting the door portion of "trolley mural" that decorates the main barn wall will await warm weather in the spring.
Taylor Reed, Rick Holahan and Carter Brown get into it with the tall doors at the end of the main barn.

North Texas Traction 409: As part of preparations for overhead installation over track 23 inside the main barn, house electric lines are being rerouted and updated. One key result of this will be sufficient lines for space heaters in car 409. Birthday parties and other events are held in the car, and reliable heat is important in the colder months. Led by Charlie Robinson, the trucks for this car were tarped securely in a way that lets the trucks "breathe" but keeps rain and snow out of the motors. John Ross and Don Quant assisted Charlie.

Exhibits: Progress has been made on re-activating the vintage traffic signal to add interest in our automotive aisle. A tall pedestal was constructed by Bob Pearce who also prepped the signal prior to attaching to the pedestal with the aid of Don Quant, John Ross and Jim Moe. John is currently readying the electronics that will control the lights.

EVENTS

Kudos to Doug Anderson and his team for putting together a great "Halloween Trolley Express" event. The spooky decorations were abundant, and the pumpkin patch at BOCES crossing handled the crowds, dispensing cider and donuts and overseeing pumpkin decorating. Nice job, all!

Photo by Rich Fischpera

We're planning another series of "mini-events" to bolster attendance this winter season...slide talks, book signings, kids' activities, etc. Watch for news on our website (www.nymtmuseum.org) and plan to be with us! We'll be looking forward to seeing you over the holidays too.

Holly Trolley Rides!

Sundays, December 6, 13 and 20

Santa will be on hand, the model railroad will be operating, and the trolley car will be running every half-hour starting at 11:30. We close at 4 p.m.

See you there!

HEADEND is published four times a year by the New York Museum of Transportation, © 2015. All rights reserved. No portion of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. www.nymtmuseum.org (585) 533-1113

Editor and photographer - Jim Dierks
Contributing Editor - Charles Lowe
Printing - Bob Miner
Publication - Doug Anderson, Bob Miner, Bob Sass