By Railfan & Railroad Staff
A veteran Alco S-2 is the latest vintage diesel locomotive to be preserved, thanks to upstate New York short line Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad. The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Rush, N.Y., took delivery of Alco S-2 72 on November 5, along with two other donated pieces of equipment: snow plow 4410 (ex-Milwaukee Road X900242) and work car 4400. These pieces join caboose 2603 (ex-Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh 252) that was donated to the museum by the LA&L over the summer.
One of more than 1,500 units built by Alco between 1940 and 1950, former LA&L 72 was built for South Buffalo Railway in July 1941. Equipped with a 539 prime mover generating 1,000 horsepower, these units helped usher in the diesel era replacing smaller steam switchers in yards and local service. After decades of serving the steel industry on Buffalo’s waterfront, it was acquired by LA&L in 1978 to help cope with heavier freight traffic on the Rochester-area short line. Following the acquisition of larger Alco Century-series locomotives in the 1980s, LA&L 72 could still be found in almost daily use as the switcher assigned to Lakeville Yard until it was stored in 2021.
Livonia, Avon & Lakeville snow plow 4410, at Lakeville, N.Y. —Otto M. Vondrak photo
To fight snow on its many branch lines, The Milwaukee Road used large wedge plows attached to gondolas, pushed by a locomotive. While effective, the gondolas were not strong enough to withstand the force of constant bucking. In 1952, Milwaukee Road president John P. Kiley suggested the use of tenders from recently retired steam locomotives to replace the gondolas, to great success. In the 1980s, a few “Kiley Plows” were purchased by New York short lines to battle winter weather and lake-effect snow. Former MILW X900242 was sold to LA&L in the 1990s and was renumbered 4410 and painted in the same striking black with yellow stripes and lettering to match their locomotive fleet.
Work Car 4400 began life as a wood-bodied refrigerator car of unknown origin. In the 1960s, this car was cut down to the frame with one end retained as a tool and parts supply assigned to the Track Dept.
Livonia, Avon & Lakeville caboose 2603 at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. —Otto M. Vondrak photo
Caboose 2603 was built by Mt. Vernon Car Co., in Mt. Vernon, Ill, for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway as their No. 252. When the BR&P was acquired by Baltimore & Ohio in 1932, the car was renumbered C2603 in 1935. Serving the coal-hauler for decades, it was retired in 1964 and sold to a private individual in 1967. Arrangements were made to move the car to LA&L where it was used in freight and work train service, as well as carrying the occasional group of local school children on a field trip. Stored for many years, the car was last used for a directors’ special in 2014, before it was moved to the museum in 2023.
Livonia, Avon & Lakeville began operations in 1965 on eight miles of former Erie Lackawanna track between Avon and Livonia, N.Y., and has since expanded to include Bath & Hammondsport, Western New York & Pennsylvania, and Ontario Midland. The Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum is home to the largest collection of historic trains in New York State and is celebrating more than 50 years of preserving Rochester’s rich railroading heritage hosting public train ride events May through October.
Editor’s Note and Disclosure: Railfan & Railroad Managing Editor Otto Vondrak is president of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum.
