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 27 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.

Railfair Returns!

The Finger Lakes Railfair is gearing up for a return this November, 2010. We'll be holding the fair in a new, larger space and hope to have many new attractions. Check this page for details soon!
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 :
Leaky Valley Newsletters
Check out our new links to available books in the list at left!
  
Cornell Railroad Historical Society
P.O. Box 3886
Ithaca, NY14852
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We welcome your comments and suggestions.
(as below)
Cornell Railroad Historical Society

E-Mail: CRHS@lightlink.com
February Meeting Will Have Short Presentations from Chapter Members
The Cornell Chapter, NRHS, will have a variety of short presentations from members of the chapter as our February meeting. Included may be a slide show about Steamtown last fall, showing of curious items used on the railroads and more information about the Lehigh Valley Railroad's locomotives. Picture opposite is from our newsletter article detailing the beginnings of the Cornell Railroad Club in the late 1930s. Picture was taken by the brother of one of the Cornell Chapter's original members, Jack Perry, on a fan trip in 1939.
January Meeting Featured a Taste of Cargill Salt Operation
The January meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society had a visit from Mark Crandall and Albert Kunz, mining engineers from Cargill, operator of the salt mine at Myers on Cayuga Lake.. They showed underground salt mining techniques, rail (and other) transportation of the salt and detailed diagrams of the vast complex Cargill operates under Cayuga Lake. He also had pictures of the underground narrow-gauge railroad which served the Cayuga Mine until 1970. Crandall also discussed his previous career in various underground mining operations in the American west, including mines in Montana and Arizona. It was a fascinating presentation and we thank Cargill for bringing them to us.

December Auction Fuels Cornell Chapter
The December meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society was an auction of railroadiana and model railroad items. Members and the general public brought things for sale and there was spirited bidding on many items. It was generally a good time for all, and we thank the many people who brought merchandise and books. A percentage of the proceeds will go into the Chapter funds.

John Taibi's New Book is A Ride through the Countryside on the Syracuse & Chenango Valley Railroad

John Taibi, was to join the Cornell Railroad Historical Society for our November meeting to tell the tale of the Syracuse and Chenango Valley Railroad. This is Taibi's ninth book about railroading in and around central New York and his first collaboration with co-author Jim Georges. John owns and lives in a restored railroad station in Munnsville, while Jim's Erieville homestead abuts the Chenango Branch right-of-way. Unfortunately, due to a security snafu at The History Center, the meeting had to be canceled. Check John's website for more book information. http://tinyurl.com/yfwh9x2

 The successful building of the Syracuse & Chenango Valley Railroad during the post-Civil War era followed a previously failed attempt to bring rail transportation to the upland regions of central New York between Syracuse and Earlville. The inspiration and need for this railroad was provided by its lineside communities of Fayetteville, Manlius, Oran, Cazenovia, Rippleton, Ballina, Erieville, Georgetown, and Lebanon to enhance their prosperity by becoming directly connected to the larger railroad systems at Syracuse (New York Central Railroad) and Earlville (New York, Ontario & Western Railway).
October Meeting Featured Tom Stackhouse and the Hippo
Our October 2009 meeting at Ithaca's History Center on October 13 had guest speaker Tom Stackhouse from the Buffalo area. Tom spoke and showed slides on the effort to save and restore a Pennsylvania Railroad "Hippo" (Decapod-type) steam locomotive. The engine is now stored on a former Erie Railroad branch at Hamburg, NY. Members on a tour of Buffalo-area railroad interest in 2008 were able to see and photograph the engine, but finding out the problems of moving such a massive artifact and how they were solved made for an informative and intriguing program.
September Meeting Informs about Coal and Cayuga
At the September meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society, at Ithaca's History Center, September 8, 2009, we greeted John Cooper, Operations manager of the AES Cayuga power station. AES, a major international power generating company took over the plant from New York State Electric and gas Corporation (NYSEG) in 1999 as part of the deregulation of the power industry. Mr. Cooper described the operation of the AES Cayuga power station, on Cayuga Lake, which is a customer for the large trainloads of coal that travel through Ithaca to the plant. He showed pictures of the operation, and told how the coal went from the rotary car dumper through the stages of crushing and pulverizing to combustion as a "face-powder fine" spray into the 13-story high boilers. There, the burning coal heats water to steam, which is compressed and becomes superheated, finally driving huge turbines which then spin generators. The exhaust gases are also "scrubbed" of Sulfur dioxide, creating gypsum as a by-product. Oxides of nitrogen are also removed by catalytic converters, so the exhaust from the plant is largely water vapor. It was an interesting and instructive presentation.
August Meeting: Pot Luck, No Food
The Cornell Railroad Historical Society August meeting was held at the History Center, downtown Ithaca, on August 11. Members, since this is a casual summer meeting, brought items to show and tell about. We watched an older film (via video) on the New York 3rd Avenue elevated (El), as well as some maps brought from the Cornell map collection with detailed views of where the Elmira, Cortland and Northern ran from Elmira through Breesport and Erin to Spencer and Van Etten, NY. There were also photo items and discussion of our upcoming field trips including to the AES Cayuga Station (former Millikan generating station) and to Steamtown in October. (Reservation form is on this web page.)
Successful Picnic by the Lake in July
Our annual picnic meeting was held on July 14 at Stewart Park in Ithaca. Between the waters of the lake and the Ithaca Secondary tracks,was a good time with food supplied by individuals, train courtesy of Norfolk-Southern and plenty of time to spin yarns, complain about the weather or swap tales of past rail trips, and even watch as motorists play "chicken" with an oncoming diesel. (Please note: the photo is actually deceptive: the train was operating push-pull and the engine about to ram the car had actually just passed by.)
Show and Tell Makes for June Show
The June 2009 meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society featured a variety of short presentations by various members. Held on June 9 at the History Center in downtown Ithaca, we saw everything from detailed models built by Art Wilcox to a Journal Brass and a Whatzit Tool (later revealed to be a flattened hook for detecting cracks on the surface of a journal brass) shown by Bruce Tracy, to a photos slide show from Doug Flanagan. We also had a talk on "Steam Locomotive Types of the Lehigh Valley" by Greg Dickinson. All told, an evening of great variety and interest.
May Meeting
For our May meeting, we viewed two videos from the "Tracks Ahead" series. One, in particular, showed operations at the marklin model factory in Germany. Sadly, this company, a pioneer in the model railroad business, which originated toy trains (so reported) in 1892, has declared insolvency, and over 400 workers have been laid off.
Reports on CRHS Meetings of 2006-2008

Page revised by Gene Endres, February 5, 2010