Q&A: Linda Klein
Museum’s train ride shines light on Medina
By Teresa Sharp NIAGARA CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 07/06/08 8:18 AM
MEDINA — There’s just something magical about watching the scenery gently roll past the window while sitting on a passenger train.
What many recall as an old-fashioned thrill is still available on the Medina Railroad Museum’s “Falls Branch Railroad and the Erie Canal” excursion train, which books a number of trips throughout the year.
Most of the 34-mile round-trip, two-hour excursions depart from the Medina Railroad Museum — touted as the largest freight depot museum in the country. The building at 530 West Ave. was constructed in 1905 and is also considered one of the largest surviving wooden freight depots in the United States at 301 feet in length.
The depot served the New York Central Railroad until 1966, when it became home to the Village Square Furniture Store. Retired Batavia fireman Martin C. Phelps purchased it in 1991 and began the long process of turning it into the museum. Phelps opened the museum in 1997 and serves as its director.
The museum features one of the largest collections of train artifacts and memorabilia in the country and attracts railroad aficionados from around the world. A popular attraction is the 14-by- 204-foot HO scale layout and diorama, still under painstakingly detailed construction.
Linda Klein serves as promotions director for the museum and recently spoke with The Buffalo News.
Do the museum and railroad operate in concert?
The museum is a nonprofit organization with a board of directors, and it is operated under the New York State Education Department. The museum does own engines and passenger cars, which are currently being refurbished for future use. But this is an active railroad and Genesee Valley Transportation owns the track between Lockport and Brockport, and we use their engines. We lease the passenger cars from the Western New York Railway Historical Society, which also provides us with volunteer passenger conductors. Genesee Valley Transportation provides the engineers and head conductors, and they actually use this rail to run freight through the week.
You currently offer a “Winery Train” in conjunction with Spring Lake Winery in Lockport. Tell us about it.
We book special excursions through the year, but right now we offer the “winery train” tours on the last Sunday of each month [through fall] with Spring Lake Winery in Lockport. The Varallo family owns the winery and their vineyards back right up to the railroad tracks. They called us many years ago, before they had opened their winery, to talk about doing something with us. We decided to do a dedicated winery train, and it’s worked out perfectly. They built a loading platform along the tracks and people get off the train for lunch there. They offer a glass of wine, lunch on the grill and live music. It’s extremely popular. This is our second year doing this. Last year, we sold out three months in advance, and we can hold 260 people per trip. This year, we’re at 75 to 80 percent capacity all of the way through summer. It’s a great value, a fun day and people absolutely love it. Anyone interested should call the winery directly at 439-5253. These special round-trip excursions depart from the Lockport location at 24 Michigan St. and include admission to the museum.
What are some of the other special trips you offer?
Our biggest event is the “Day Out with Thomas” — which features Thomas the Tank Engine and friends. We hold this event on two weekends each May — a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We held our fourth annual Thomas event this year and we drew 20,000 people to town. We take the kids for a train ride and we have kind of a carnival atmosphere, with clowns, mazes, etc., all related to the storybook characters.
For our Fall Foliage and Santa trains, we get 400 to 500 people a day. We have Fall Foliage trains the weekends of Oct. 11-12 and 18-19, but we also offer them on three Tuesdays, on Oct. 7, 14 and 21. We get people from all over the U. S. and Canada for these, because New York and Vermont are the premier fall foliage spots. Our Santa trains start the Saturday after Thanksgiving and go until the week before Christmas.
You certainly have helped bring attention to Medina.
When we hold our “Day Out with Thomas” events, the whole town gets involved. It’s a wonderful boost to our town. This is a beautiful canal town, and we are introducing a lot of people to Medina. We’re only a 45-minute drive from Buffalo, Rochester and Niagara Falls and when people come here for the first time, they realize we’re not that far away. And we have a lot of repeat visitors. We have nice restaurants and nice attractions.
Where do the majority of your out-of-town visitors come from?
The majority of our visitors are from Pennsylvania and Ohio, but we’ve had people even come from Wisconsin for the Fall Foliage tour. On a daily basis, we get people from all over — Germany, Holland, Japan . . .
Coming up on July 21, we have a private party booked for the Lionel Collectors Club of America, which is having its convention in Buffalo. They’ll take a ride and have lunch at the Spring Lake Winery. Railroads are so popular and now with the Internet, people can learn all about us. We get tons of Canadian visitors. People might visit Niagara Falls or Toronto for a week or so and come and visit us. We used to say we were the best-kept secret here, but we have really expanded and we are always improving.
We’re no longer a secret.
Museum hours and train trip information are available online at www.railroadmuseum.net or by calling (585) 798-6106. Reservations are encouraged and must be made well in advance.
