The second annual Schenectady County History Faire is returning to Robb Alley inside Proctors, Saturday, April 27th from noon until 4 p.m.
Among the many items on display will be the seven-foot wooden model of the steam locomotive, the Hudson, made in the early 1930s by Niskayuna’s Charles Lester. A New Hampshire native, Lester moved to Schenectady in 1911 where he began working for the American Locomotive Company, went to the company’s training program for draftsmen and actually designed real locomotives for ALCO until he retired in 1952.
While the actual locomotive was made by ALCO for the New York Central Railroad throughout 1927-1938, Lester’s model has been in Amsterdam at the Walter Elwood Musuem. It hasn’t been on exhibit in Schenectady since the ALCO Museum on Maxon Road, Ext., was closed in 2012.
Along with the model of the Hudson for the day, on loan from the ALCO Historical and Technical Society, the History Faire will have plenty of other things to interest local history buffs. Portable exhibits from the Schenectady County Historical Society, miSci, and the Empire State Aerosciences Museum, among others, and a half dozen or so local authors will be signing and selling their books on local history.
For more information contact Schenectady County Historian Bill Buell at bill.buell@schenectadycountyny.gov.