Passenger Equipment
The active excursion equipment owned by the museum consists of two table cars that provide first class service. One is an ex-Chesapeake and Ohio dining car built in the 1950's. Much of the interior is the same as when it was built as the Botsford Tavern. It is a classic example of the early lightweight cars that started appearing after World War II. The second first class car started life as a Lackawanna Railroad coach, was gutted by a previous owner and was rebuilt by the museum as a table car. It was designed to give the feel of the older heavyweight cars from the 1920's, but using lighter woods as opposed to the more common mahoganies and other dark woods of that era. The rest of the current excursion fleet is made up of leased ex-New York Central 56 seat coaches that were built almost entirely of stainless steel in 1947.The museum also has several pieces of equipment that are stored out of service. The most notable of these are two ex-New York Central Railroad diesel passenger locomotives built by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors. They are designated E-8s are were the premier passenger locomotives for most railroads until retirement in the 1970's. Additionally, there are two coaches stored out of service and a cafe car.
New Car Rails
Four passenger type cars were purchased in late 2007. A 52 seat Passenger Coach, a Pullman Sleeper, a Café Car and a baggage/power-generator car arrived from Canada by early August 2007. They were part of the St. Jacobs and Waterloo dinner train. The cars are presently undergoing restoration for the eventual return to service here at the museum.
The E-8's
E-8 experts Roger and Dwayne Fuehring (sons of the late Bill Fuehring who was instrumental in forming the national Rail Passenger Car Association) were on hand to check them over and fire them up. However, having not been operated in the previous 3 years, the E-8’s needed a good deal of maintenance and service. The units were stored in Lockport for a couple of years and are now stored in Medina, where they are undergoing restoration as time and funds permit.
In early August 2007 the Fuehring brothers were back in Lockport assisting with the servicing necessary to bring these units up to FRA maintenance standards for return to active duty on the “Erie Canal Excursions” between Medina and Lockport, NY. New motor brushes and a pair of bolster shims have been installed. One replacement governor has been installed and checked out. Most of the FRA 92-day inspections have been completed.
The Museum purchased a pair of historic New York Central E-8 diesel locomotives (NYC 4068 and NYC 4080) from Michael Fox of Kansas in 2007. The Units were transported via CSXT from Nashville, TN arriving in Lockport, NY in early April 2007.