Fall 2010 - James Werner

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE RAILROAD MUSEUM OF LONG ISLAND
The
Postboy
Preserving Long Island’s Rich Railroading Heritage
Fall 2010!
www.rmli.us
Riverhead Railroad Festival 2010
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Railroad Museum of Long Island
and the
100th Anniversary of the Riverhead Railroad Station
In This Issue:
Page 2: A Message from the President • Page 4: Equipment Restoration Progress • Page 8: Lionel Visitor’s Center Update • Page 10: Scenes from Railfest
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A Message from the President
By Don Fisher
The cool breezes of Fall blow across Long
Island’s East End and thoughts of Winter begin to creep
into our minds. Another successful Museum Season
draws to a close at the RMLI and I reflect on all the
great moments I witnessed this year and all the
wonderful volunteers that keep your Museums open
and strong. It has been an outstanding year!
Your Riverhead Restoration and Visitor’s Center
opened on Saturday, April 10 and will close on
Saturday, November 20. Throughout the summer, the
site was open every Saturday and Sunday to the delight
of grandparents, parents and children who came to visit
our exhibits and ride the World’s Fair park train. Many
patrons enjoyed travelling to Greenport from Riverhead
on the LIRR Greenport Scoot to experience both our
sites during their visit. We saw a number of folks and
their young charges return to the Museums repeatedly
throughout the summer.
Matt Stagliano, Steve Sucic, John Thompson, and Stan
Urban.
Many times on Saturday, work continued on
one or more of the many ongoing projects in progress at
Riverhead. Volunteers seen hard at work included: Lou
Caruso, Tom Collins, George Faeth, Rich Feggeler, Neil
Feldman, Dennis Harrington, Don Hawkins, Bob
“Ducky” Kaelin, Scott McCarthy, Rich Miller, Bob
Mintz, Joe Misita, Bill Raynor, Al Schick, Al Schwartz,
Richard Sloan, Jack Smith, Fred Wilms, and George
Wybenga.
The Greenport Museum opened on Saturday,
May 22 and closed on Sunday, October 10.
The
Museum was staffed and open for all weekends except
one due to a lack of available docents. The New York
Transit Museum’s exhibit dedicated to the 175th
Anniversary of the Long Island Rail Road was well
received. Our two special exhibits of an original 1880’s
LIRR passenger ticket and advertising poster, on loan
from the Southold Historical Society, were exceptional
artifacts to augment the NYTM show. A beautiful
collection of railroad lanterns, donated to the RMLI by
Mrs. Lorraine Gargiulo and her son Michael, brightened
the west end of the Museum hall and will remain on
display through 2011.
George Summers conducts a tour for young patrons.
Thanks and a “Tip O’ The Hat” to our Riverhead
docents, tour guides, conductors and engineers: Francis
Amendola, Mike Arnold, Mike Babinski, Justin Bashe
and his Dad, Jon Bialstock and his Mom, Bonnie
Cornett, Joe Costa Sr. and Joe Costa Jr., Tom Davison
and his Mom, Anthony DeBellis and his Dad, Rich
Gorddard, Kate Horn, Richard Horn, Greg Kruszeski,
John Peck, Don Rollock, Joe Saullo, Dave Stagliano,
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Part of the 2010 NYTM Exhibit at Greenport RMLI.
Railroad Museum of Long Island
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Thanks and a “Tip O’ The Hat” to our Greenport
docents and guides: Joe Capuano, Dave Fisher, Evelyn
Fisher, Flo Monahan, Dorothy and John Rooney,
George and Lynn Summers, Jim Werner, and Bob and
Lil White.
A few of our active members have been under
the weather in 2010 and we keep them in our thoughts
and wish them good health this winter.
We look
forward to their return as soon as they feel able. Get
well wishes go out to Dennis Harrington, Elaine
Minnigan, Ken Schaefer and Stan Urban.
Special Happy Birthday Wishes go out to the
RMLI’s oldest member, Helyn Horn! Helyn is an active
106 years young this year! Happy Birthday Helyn!
On August 28th and 29th the RMLI was blessed
with outstanding summer weather for our twelfth
annual Riverhead Railroad Festival. Sunny, dry and
cool was the order of the weekend as 1200 adults and
more than 400 children attended the Festival
commemorating the RMLI’s 20th Anniversary. We were
please to be the recipient of two grants this year to help
support our efforts. Funding from the Suffolk County
Department of Economic Development Cultural Arts
Program allowed us to add music to the Festival,
Eastbound Freight Bluegrass Band entertained our
visitor’s on the Main Stage in the food court area and
the Riverhead Business Improvement District provided
funding to defray the cost of advertising the Festival.
We thank both of these entities for standing beside us as
we work to bring quality family events and educational
experiences to downtown Riverhead.
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The high point of this year’s Festival was the
rededication of the one hundred year old Riverhead
LIRR Station. Held at 2 PM on Saturday, August 28, it
was attended by Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter and
Town Board member John Dunlevy, Suffolk County
Legislator Ed Romaine, New York State Assemblyman
Marc Alessi’s staff officer and LIRR Vice President of
Operations, Ray Kenny. Following brief comments by
these representatives we unveiled a beautiful bronze
plaque that will hang in the station to commemorate its
100 years of service to the Riverhead community and
Suffolk County. Thanks go to President Rich Gorddard
and the members of the Twin Forks Chapter of the
NRHS for partnering with the RMLI for this important
occasion.
President Don Fisher & President Rich Gorddard unveil the
100th Anniversary commemorative plaque.
Please remember that our Fall Membership
Meeting and Election of Officers will be held on
Saturday, October 23rd at 1:00 PM in the Education Hall
of the Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main
Street, Riverhead, NY. Located diagonally across the
parking lot from the 100 year old Riverhead LIRR
Station, the Society building is easy to access and there
is ample parking for cars in the lot. Unfortunately, the
MTA has suspended weekend LIRR service east of
Ronkonkoma so for the first time in memory our
members can not take the train to the meeting! Please
do make an effort to attend the meeting, hear reports
from your project managers and vote for your officers, I
look forward to seeing you there.
Eastbound Freight Bluegrass Band at the Festival.
Railroad Museum of Long Island"
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Equipment Restoration Progress
by Anthony DeBellis
Presidents’ Aide de Camp
Long Island Rail Road Caboose C-68
Since the last report, Caboose C-68 is nearing
completion. It has gotten a third and final coat of
Orange paint with many other detail touch ups. On
both ends of the caboose all of the yellow handrails and
black trims have gotten fresh coats of paint. Currently,
all exterior paint of the caboose has been applied and
that aspect is complete. By the end of the Fall, we a plan
on reapplying the LONG ISLAND, C-68, and Dashing
Dan decals on the side of the caboose. This will
complete phase one of the restoration. Over the winter,
the next step is to redo the interior of the caboose by
applying new paint and doing any additional repairs.
Many objects such as file cabinets and other unrelated
exhibit pieces will be removed, from the days when
C-68 was the office in the restoration yard. New exhibit
cabinets and displays will be installed on the walls of
the caboose to make it a premier exhibit for families to
learn about the job of the conductor and the impact the
freight train had on railroads. Special thanks goes to Joe
Saullo and Anthony DeBellis for all their hard work.
4"
Railroad Museum of Long Island
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BEDT 0-6-0T 16
The next step in the restoration of Engine 16 is to
place the locomotive back on its own wheels and off
the I-beams she has sat on for almost a decade. Since
the drivers where a little way from the engine step, it
was needed to provide a place for Engine 16's drivers
to rest while it is lifted up so the wheels can easily be
slid along into place. Now that may sound like a
simple solution, but what do we actually place the
wheels to the locomotive on so it is easy to roll them
under the engine? As it turns out, there are tracks that
are still in the ground that use to be in service by the
LIRR that start across Griffing Avenue and stop
under Engine 16. The second step was to unearth
these rails in preparation for the large 4-ton wheels.
Special thanks goes to Anthony DeBellis and Joe
Saullo for removing 7 wheel barrels of dirt for Engine 16's wheels!
Now that we had a place for the wheels, here comes the exciting part. Enter the crane, provided by North
Fork Welding & Supply. Now we moved Engine's 16 three large 4-ton drivers over from the front of the
museum over to the rails in front of the Engine. Each truck was marked for the location it went which made
work go quickly. Engine Side 1, Firemen Side 1 are examples of how the move was done. We moved the
wheels on top of our
crane truck, first one
then two drivers. We
also moved closer to the
locomotive the journal
brasses that will be
applied to the axles on
the locomotive. Work
went by quickly and was
done very safely. From
the Museum side we had
working Don Fisher, Joe
Costa Sr. Joe Costa Jr.,
and Anthony DeBellis. A
special thanks go out to
North Fork Welding &
Supply for donating the
crane for this move, and
to Rich Clark of North
Fork Welding who
donated his time to help
us make the move and operate the crane! We could not have done it with out Rich, and we are grateful to
him for his help!
The next step for this project is cleaning up the drivers and frame of the locomotive so the wheels can be
placed under them. We also plan to start paint removal on the engine and wood work in the cab. The cab
will soon have all new opening doors and windows with steps so the public will be able to walk in the cab,
ring the locomotive’s bell and see what it was like to run a steam engine.
Railroad Museum of Long Island"
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Our Sister Organization, Twin Forks NRHS W93
Snow Plow Update
While the plow is not in the Museum's collection it
is still in our yard and is a part of our visitor's
experience. People hear grinding and volunteers
working, and the plow is getting some care.
Currently, members of the Chapter have taken off
a lot of old paint, so new paint can be applied in
one smooth layer. The Chapter plans to paint the
plow black, the way it looked when it was
delivered to the LIRR. Metal work has also started
on the plow, with Bondo applied to the rust spots.
The main blades of the plow has also had all of its
paint removed, and volunteers are preparing it for
new coats of black paint.
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RIP Track Answers
From the Summer 2010 Crossword
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Lionel Visitor’s Center Update
The construction of the former Lionel
Visitor’s Center layout is progressing
very well. Here, volunteers assemble the
layout and structural supports.
In front of the building, concrete will be
poured and a handicap ramp will be
constructed.
Interested in volunteering?
Email the Museum at info@rmli.us for
more information.
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Lionel Visitor’s Center Update
RMLI Runs Trains at Longwood Estate
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Scenes from the Riverhead Railroad Festival 2010
10"
Railroad Museum of Long Island
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Scenes from the Riverhead Railroad Festival 2010
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Railroad Museum of Long Island
P.O. Box 726
Greenport, NY 11944
631.477.0439 • 631.727.7920
www.rmli.us
THE POSTBOY!
Fall 2010
Dates to Remember
Fall Membership Meeting
RMLI Annual Holiday Open House
Saturday, October 23rd at 1 PM
December 4th and 5th, 12 PM to 3 PM • Greenport
Suffolk County Historical Society
300 West Main Street, Riverhead
Moving?
Don’t forget to send us your updated address!
Email your contact information to Dick Horn at dhorn@rmli.us or mail us at:
Railroad Museum of Long Island
P.O. Box 726
Greenport, NY 11944