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By Mike Governale

The Rochester Subway stopped passenger service on June 30, 1956. To mark the 60th anniversary of the subway’s closing the New York Museum of Transportation will host a two-day weekend event filled with talks, trolley rides, demonstrations of the Subway’s fully restored “Casey Jones” speeder, food, and vendors…

Unlimited rides on the museum’s railroad will bring back memories of travel aboard electric trolley cars of the Rochester Subway. Or for those of us under 60, just squint really hard and imagine what it must have been like.

The museum will also hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open a new track at its trolley barn. A brief ceremony and comments from Bill Carpenter, CEO of RGRTA will take place at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, June 25.

The product of several years of volunteer effort, this new track will provide space to refurbish the museum’s newest trolley car and enhance the trolley ride experience for museum visitors.

The New York Museum of Transportation is entirely run by volunteers and is normally open Sundays only, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Train rides are offered on the only electric trolley operation in New York State. Rides depart every 30 minutes beginning at 11:30. The museum contains numerous trolley cars, a steam locomotive, horse-drawn and highway vehicles, several model railroads, and a gift shop.

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will also mark the anniversary with their own special “subway” bus tour this Saturday. Passengers will ride RTS’s restored 1957 GM transit bus along the actual route of the Rochester Subway. The tour will depart from Pittsford Plaza visiting key historic sites along the way including Rowlands Loop, Court Street station, the filled in Subway at Lexington Avenue, and the site of the car barn at General Motors.

Unfortunately the bus tour is sold out, but there are no reservations required to enjoy the festivities at the New York Museum of Transportation this weekend. So don’t miss out!

Details

WHAT: Rochester Subway Event at NYMT
WHEN: June 25 & 26, 11am – 5pm
WHERE: 6393 East River Road
ADMISSION: $12 adults, $10 seniors 65+ & kids (3-12)

Related

The last remaining Rochester subway car, Car 60, is available for viewing at Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum on the following weekends this summer:
July 16-17
August 20-21
September 17-18
October 1-2
October 15-16
October 29-30

Tags: Bill Carpenter, Casey Jones, New York Museum of Transportation (NYMT), NYMT, Regional Transit Service (RTS), Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, Rochester NY, Rochester Subway, Rochester subway car 60, vintage bus

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 23rd, 2016 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Events, Rochester Destinations, Rochester History, Rochester News, Rochester Subway, Rochester Subway Stories, Train/Railroad Stuff, Transit + Infrastructure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.