{"id":1775,"date":"2024-06-04T18:33:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T18:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/?p=1775"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:15:31","slug":"rochester-subway-documentary-gets-a-reboot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/2024\/06\/rochester-subway-documentary-gets-a-reboot\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester Subway Documentary Gets a Reboot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rochester subway documentary gets a reboot\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WeRhF6PPons?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/nys\/rochester\/news\/2024\/06\/02\/documentary-rochester-subway-film-transportation\">Article and video posted by Seth Voorhees, Spectrum News, June 2, 2024.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>See the video from Spectrum news <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WeRhF6PPons\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014 Two documentary producers in Rochester are looking for a little assistance in finding old images that will help them make a new version of a film they first created 30 years ago. The subject is an idea in Rochester that seemingly was before its time, which was once an integral part of how people got around the city.<\/p>\n<p>Any story that\u2019s worth telling is worth re-telling. For Fred Armstrong and Mike Champlin, it\u2019s the story of what Rochester once had. A subway system which was designed to reduce traffic on city streets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was lucky it was built at all, I guess,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cThe original idea of the subway was to be a motorway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is a story that starts underground, in a place Armstrong hasn\u2019t visited in quite a while.\u00a0 What\u2019s now a canvas for graffiti artists and a playground for urban explorers was once part of a once-bustling city\u2019s transportation system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was a marvel,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cThis was a modern marvel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1926,\u00a0 Rochester, New York became the smallest city in the U.S. to build a subway. What\u2019s left of it, under Broad Street, is largely hidden.\u00a0 Unnoticeable to those who never knew about it.\u00a0 Unknown \u2014 to those who pass above it.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty years ago, Armstrong, owner of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animatus Studio<\/a>, produced a documentary on Rochester\u2019s subway called\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/subway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The End of the Line.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just one of those stories I&#8217;ve never been able to put down myself,\u201d said Mike Champlin, who served as editor. \u201cIt&#8217;s just such an incredible amalgam of technology and nostalgia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because there was so much to work with, what was initially to be a 15-minute documentary ran 45 minutes. The End of the Line is fittingly named, documenting how Rochester also became the first American city to abandon its subway \u2014 in 1957.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just didn&#8217;t get the ridership,\u201c said Armstrong.\u00a0 \u201cBack in the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s when urban renewal was starting to take place, they really thought the city was going to grow.\u00a0 And the city did not grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Old rail cars were destroyed. Tracks were dismantled. A once-promising part of Rochester\u2019s history had faded away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBring up to anybody in Rochester that we had a subway, if they didn&#8217;t know, it&#8217;s like, what are you talking about?\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The original documentary came out on VHS and later, DVD. Armstrong and Champlin, who owns\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/debergeracproductions.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Debergerac Productions<\/a>\u00a0in Pittsford, both believe the story holds up well all these years later. But the technology, not as much.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s been bugging me for years to redo it,\u201d said Armstrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring COVID, we were all sitting in our own offices,\u201d recalls Champlin.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I said there\u2019s enough here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Which prompted something Armstrong never could have imagined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI thought that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two longtime friends are now working on a new version of an old story.\u00a0 A modern version in high def and high resolution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot that I\u2019m not proud of this, but it\u2019s time to make it better,\u201d said Armstrong.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easier said than done.\u00a0 The original interviews were shot on Hi 8, with folks who are no longer here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody except for one has passed on, including the narrator,\u201d said Champlin.<\/p>\n<p>Three decades later, tracking down all of the old photographs and film used in the original has been difficult.\u00a0 The documentary makers say they\u2019ll accept any old photos or film that helps them tell the story of Rochester\u2019s old subway.\u00a0 They hope to complete the project by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re realizing how much of this history is now scattered all over the place,\u201d said Champlin.<\/p>\n<p>History, and a story now getting a modern makeover.\u00a0 A tale of what was \u2014 and what might have been.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s part of it, I think,\u201d said Champlin.\u00a0 \u201cThe dream of what could have been is eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two men who believe the story of Rochester\u2019s long gone subway is still worth retelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a story that you can&#8217;t put down,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a story that continues to inspire, and it&#8217;s one that awakens new interests in anyone who sees it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article and video posted by Seth Voorhees, Spectrum News, June 2, 2024. See the video from Spectrum news HERE. ROCHESTER, N.Y. \u2014 Two documentary producers in Rochester are looking for a little assistance in finding old images that will help them make a new version of a film they first created 30 years ago. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1775"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2023,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775\/revisions\/2023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animatusstudio.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}