By Otto M. Vondrak/photos as noted
Upstate New York shortline Livonia, Avon & Lakeville has been serving customers and growing business along a portion of the old Erie Railroad Rochester Division since it purchased eight miles of track between Livonia and Avon from Erie Lackawanna in 1965. That territory expanded in 1996 with the purchase of the “Rochester South Cluster” from Conrail, extending from Avon north to the interchange at Genesee Junction. Today the LA&L family includes Bath & Hammondsport, Western New York & Pennsylvania, and most recently, Ontario Midland Railroad.
When several pieces of historic equipment were determined to be surplus late last year, the railroad turned to its neighbor Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, located up the line at Industry Depot in the town of Rush, New York. On November 5, 2023, the railroad delivered three pieces to the museum including work flat 4400, snow plow 4410, and most importantly, Alco S-2 72. This comes on the heels of LA&L’s dona-tion of caboose 2603 in July 2023. The equipment is in good company, joining LA&L Alco RS-1 20 donated in 2016.
ABOVE: Livonia, Avon & Lakeville RS-1 20 and wood-en caboose 2603 are seen in this 1970s view. The caboose was built in 1918 for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh. LA&L Alco 20 was donated to the museum in 2016. —LA&L Railroad Collection
Caboose 2603 was built by Mt. Vernon Car Co. in April 1918 as Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh 252, renumbered to C2603 in 1935 after acquisition by Baltimore & Ohio. The caboose went through a modernization and rebuilding at DuBois, Pa., in 1961. It was retired in March 1967 and sold to a private owner, coming to LA&L around the same time. Used on work trains and also occasional school field trip specials, it served for many years before it was donated to the R&GV Railroad Museum. The railroad graciously loaned the caboose to the museum for a special members-only “photo freight” event in September 2022, and formally donated the car in July 2023.
Work flat 4400 was rebuilt from a wooden refrigerator car of unknown origin. It was cut down to a flatcar, except for one end of the car that was retained as a tool shed and track parts supply, and it served the LA&L track gang for many years. It was painted red with yellow stripes and lettering to match the caboose.
ABOVE: LA&L snowplow 4410 was home-built by the Milwaukee Road in 1952 at its Milwaukee shops. —Otto M. Vondrak photo
Snow plow 4410 was one of dozens built by the Milwaukee Road in its main shops in Milwaukee, Wis. To combat snow drifts on lighter branch lines, the railroad was using large wedge plows attached to gondolas pushed by locomotives. In 1952, Milwaukee Road president John Kiley suggested replacing the gondolas with tenders from recently retired steam locomotives, taking advantage of their stronger frames to resist the force of “bucking” against snow drifts. Of four “Kiley Plows” that were acquired by upstate New York short lines in the 1980s, MILW X900242 was sold to LA&L in the 1990s and renumbered 4410, and painted in the same black-and-yellow scheme worn by the diesel fleet…