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The Lehigh Valley Railroad was the chief line serving Ithaca, home of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society
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The Cornell Railroad Historical Society became a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1981. In the 30 years since that time, we have grown and prospered. With recent membership levels of nearly 130, while we may be one of the smaller NRHS chapters, we are an active one, with great enthusiasm for the subjects of railroads, rail history, rail photography and other aspects of the railroad hobby.
        The City of Ithaca lies at the foot of Cayuga Lake, and is surrounded  on three sides by steep hills. It is also home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, meaning its population practically doubles when school is in session. In former years, most of these students arrived by train, but with the changes seen in the 20th century, the two main railroads serving the area, the Lehigh Valley and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, faded away. Nonetheless, our chapter holds both dear, especially the Lehigh Valley, sometimes known affectionately as the "Leaky Valley", which is also the name of our newsletter.
CRHS Badges and Memorabilia
The Cornell Railroad Historical Society Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the History Center, 401 East State Street, Gateway Plaza, Ithaca, NY. From NY Route 13, take Green Street (NY 79 East), three traffic lights to East State Street. After third light, turn hard right into Gateway Plaza parking behind 401 (large building with two pizza shops on ground floor). If westbound on Rt. 366 or 79, make left at foot of hill to 401 (Gateway Plaza). Doors open at 7:00 PM, meetings begin at 7:15 PM, and generally last until about 9 PM We have other yearly activities, most notably our RailFair, and meetings are open to anyone. Our mailing address is :
Check out our new links to available books in the list at left!
  

Cornell Railroad Historical Society
c/o Ron Koger 116 Candor Hill Road
Candor, NY 13743

 
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Cornell Railroad Historical Society

E-Mail: CRHS@lightlink.com
Special Meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society/
Public Lecture
Robert Archer
Author of
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Route of the Black Diamond
Mr. Archer will be speaking about the
Lehigh Valley Railroad
and also about the Erie Railroad.
Friday June 08, 2012 7:30 PM
The History Center
401 East State Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
Directions to The History Center:
Coming into Ithaca on Route 13 (from Elmira south or from Auburn/Syracuse (north): Take NY Route79 East up Green Street. At the last traffic light through downtown, take an immediate right into the parking area behind The History Center.
From NY Route 79 heading west (from inghamton): Look for History Center before getting to traffic light at bottom of hill, signal and turn left and follow around into parking area.
From other routes: All can lead to NY 79 East (Green St.) with turn into History Center parking at last light before heading up and out of town.
 
May Meeting Welcomes Richard Palmer
The May meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society will feature Richard Palmer, familiar to many members from our meetings and the Central New York NRHS chapter in Syracuse. He will present:
"Within our Memory: the Lehigh Valley and Erie-Lackawanna in the Southern Tier," a slide program.
Palmer was a newspaper reporter and editor for more than 40 years and still remains active in writing.
He has written 17 books on local history topics (mostly local railroads). He is archivist and librarian for the Central New York Chapter, NRHS.
April Meeting Will Feature Track Cars with Greg Dickinson
The April Meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society will convene at Ithaca's History Center in downtown Ithaca on April 10. We expect to have a program from Greg Dickinson on "Travels by Track Car". Doors will open at 7 PM and the meeting should start promptly at 7:15 PM. Check elsewhere on this website for a map to The History Center. Parking is behind the History Center building and is free but make sure not to take any of the spaces allotted by specific signs.
March Meeting Viewed Pictures from The History Center, Ithaca
The March meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society, at The History Center in downtown Ithaca, was another session evaluating pictures from the museum's collection. The pictures were from mostly paper prints and were projected using Steve Peck's clever video camera arranged to act as a projector pickup. The meeting took place on March 13, 2012.
February: Steve Peck's Reconstruction of Trumansburg Lehigh Valley
Trumansburg High School Class waits for the Black Diamond in 1947

Steve Peck's historically accurate modeling of the entire Trumansburg station area of the Lehigh Valley was featured at our February meeting. It is set in August, 1941.
The February meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society welcomed our Vice-president, Steve Peck, who told how he unearthed the pictures, maps, diagrams and details of the structures at the Lehigh Valley Railroad's station site in Trumansburg so that he could reconstruct the complete location in HO-gauge detail. His work also features an exquisite backdrop printed by Jay Hart of EarthPattern.com in Trumansburg.He had previously given this lecture to an audience of over 130 at the Ulysses Historical Society in Trumansburg. Several members of the audience had been on the class trip in 1947, and could name others who were in Steve's pictures. Subsequently, Steve gave an open house at his large layout, and invited members of the audience and our CRHS to come and view it in operation.
 
Another January, Another Fine Program from Trencansky

Our January program brought back Tom Trencansky, with pictures of the start-up of the new tourist railroad the Saratoga and North Creek and a number of pictures taken over the past 25+ years on expeditions with members of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society. Tom has photographed railroads all around the state, the United States and Canada and even in China, and was in instrumental in starting our society and NRHS chapter. The photo shows an Arizona Eastern diesel which is being returned to that road, and will be replaced by E-Units obtained from the Central new York Chapter, NRHS.
Reports on CRHS Meetings of 2011 and previous years

Page revised by Gene Endres, April 25, 2012