Postboy may07.pub
Transcription
Postboy may07.pub
June 2007 From the President’s Desk GREETINGS, Fellow Railroadians! The very first subject I want to address is that in this issue of the POSTBOY, we’ve printed the COMPLETE list of cash donors from 2006. Several members who made cash donations last year were not listed in the last issue due to a problem with the computer file sent to the printer. For some reason, part of the list did not wind up in print. We’ve corrected that (we think…we hope) in this issue. To those who were omitted from the last issue (I was one of them), we apologize. I’m very happy to report that the 2007 membership fundraising drive has been very successful so far. As of June 23, 2007, 74 RMLI members (just under 25% of our total membership) have donated a total of $10,025. Several members made donations of multiple hundreds of dollars, and four members sent in $1000. I want to thank all of the members who have given financial support to the Museum, regardless of the amount. More money equals more progress. Keep in mind that if you can put aside about $1.97 per week, you could make a $100 annual donation to the Museum. If all 302 members were able to do that, we’d raise $30,200. I set a goal of raising $20,000 this year from the membership alone, and we are just over half-way there, with six months to go, and just over 75% of the membership yet to be heard from. I know that many members include a donation with their dues renewals, so I’m confident we’re going to reach the goal I’ve set for 2007: $20,000, or at least come close. Other fundraising efforts that are coming up are the Riverhead Railroad Festival, the Maritime Festival in Greenport, Riverhead Polish Fair, the RMLI Hobo event and the Railroad Folk Music Festival in Riverhead. We also have a few grants being processed, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be approved for additional financial help. Keep your fingers crossed! Now some bad news. The RMLI Board of Trustees voted to raise membership dues because of rising costs across the board. Fuel oil skyrocketed, and postage went up, to name a few things. Our greatest single expense in running the two sites is insurance. The Museum has an ongoing search for a better deal, but it seems that our current policy gives us the most coverage for the least amount of money. Still, our annual insurance tab for Greenport and Riverhead is over $12,000. At the General Membership Meeting held in Greenport in May, RMLI treasurer Al Schick reported that fuel, electric, water, phone and insurance premiums cost us $2,000 per month just to keep the doors open to the public. If we want to paint something, repair a broken furnace, restore equipment, or order more merchandise for our gift shops, we must take in more than $24,000 per year. We’ve also raised the admission fee to the Museum to $5.00 for adults thirteen (13) and older, $3.00 for kids five (5) to twelve (12) years old, and under five (5) free. That will help a bit. A dues increase will also help, although I’m cognizant of the fact that for some, the increase will be the deciding factor in not renewing. Please stay with us! Together, we are preserving an important and fascinating chapter in Long Island’s heritage. My last subject is of utmost importance to the progress and running of the Museum. Folks, we need more volunteers, especially in Riverhead. Our current labor force is aging, and a few have died. We have some new volunteers, but we need more. Our biggest problem is staffing Riverhead on Sundays. It takes a minimum of four volunteers to staff the gift shop, run the six sets of O-gauge trains, run the Freeman Garden Railroad, and run the World’s Fair train set. There’s also a lot of grounds upkeep in Riverhead. Grass cutting, weed control, picking up litter are just some of the weekly chores that must be done. Check the committee chairs and project leaders list on the back cover and call them to volunteer. Restoration work on our rolling stock takes place on Saturdays, and we need more help in that area also. The focus right now is getting diesel 399 repainted by the time of the Riverhead Railroad Festival at the end of August. If you have limited physical capacity, perhaps you could run the O-gauge trains some Saturday or Sunday. You could also serve as conductor on the World’s Fair train, or learn to operate the locomotive. Do you have G-Scale trains of your own? Why not come out and run them on our tracks on the Freeman Garden Railroad? These jobs just require sitting and watching. Do you like to putter in the garden? Come to Riverhead and putter in our gardens. The crew in Greenport could also use some help, so if Greenport is a better option, then help out there. We have many events coming up and we always need extra help. Feel free to contribute some of your spare time to help us out. Keeping our doors open to the public and still having enough cash and volunteer help left over to work on or improve exhibits has been a constant challenge to RMLI. You all have an open invitation to help us meet that challenge! Dennis Harrington, President. POSTBOY Model Railroading Update By George Faeth First, the Atlantis Aquarium car has been shipped from China to Lionel. Lionel will ship to us in early July and we will ship to our customers by mid July. Order forms for the North Fork Bank car will be sent out after the Aquarium cars are shipped out. Orders for this car will run until Jan. 8, 2008. The other news is that we received a donation of two train sets. One set is an MTH Subway Set - stainless steel cars representing the D-Train. The other is a K-Line set with aluminum passenger cars (set of 2900 series coaches) and dining car Mattituck. These are heavy duty cars and beautifully detailed. To pull the cars, an MTH diesel also was donated. They're all brand new and bear the LIRR paint scheme. We now have enough trains at the Museum so that any operator can run trains without bringing his own. Thanks to John Rooney for pursuing the donation of these two very nice sets of O-gauge trains. John saw some model trains when he and Don Fisher went into New York City to get the "Many Hands" exhibit, and found out that there is a foundation that donates model trains to museums. So, John inquired further and secured this donation for RMLI. New volunteers are needed to run the train layouts on Saturdays and Sundays. The current group is starting to feel the burden and will need to take some time off. Please help out with this popular attraction. Delivery of the Atlantis Aquarium car expected in July. 2007 EVENTS August 25-26 Riverhead Railroad Festival, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM September 28 Folk Music Concert at Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, Riverhead, 7:30 PM September 29 Railroad Folk Music Festival at Riverhead, 11:30 AM to 9:30 PM December 1-2 Open House and Santa Visit at Greenport The Railroad Museum of Long Island (the Museum) was founded in 1990. The Museum is chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York, and is an IRS 501(c)3 non profit organization. The Museum is run by a Board of Trustees made up of members throughout Long Island. The goal of the Museum is to preserve and display Long Island’s railroad heritage. All of the work of the Museum is done by volunteers. The Museum operates two locations; Greenport, NY on Fourth Street at the tracks, and Riverhead, NY on Griffing Avenue north of the tracks. The Postboy is the official publication of the Museum and is published bi-monthly. 2 June 2007 SPECIAL THANKS The following individuals and organizations contributed over $10,000 to our Museum in 2006. Many people donated material that was not included in the dollar total. Still, these were well needed donations and saved the Museum from having to go out and buy the material. Bruce Abel Edward Babor Cyrus Bacchi Richard Bishop Franklin Brehmer, Jr. Tony Capobianco Louis Caruso Albert Castelli Art Christian Paul Christiana, Jr. Thomas Collins Audrey Conlon Bonnie Cornett Dennis DeAngelis Josephine Diss Larry Dittmeier Robert Dusel Frank Eames Fred Enrico Joseph Esquirol, Jr. Frank Field Sydney Finkelstein Dave Fisher George Fleming Dennis Fryer Joseph W. Gagne Richard Gorddard Joseph Hagan Gordon Hanson Dennis Harrington Robert Hauschild Eli Hecht Albert Heiserer, Jr. M. Richard & Kate Horn Norman Hosler Joseph Huttle Roy Karajian Pierre Lehmuller Charles Levien Peter Mastropoalo John McCann Edward McKernan Charles Menagh Peter Meyer Robert Miller James J. Moore Jr. Dave Morrison Harry Mugler Peter Nagle Joseph Orsino, Jr. Joan Overton Bradford Phillips Vincent P. Priore Gerald Roberts John & Dorothy Rooney Sam Rubin Artie Sanwald Paul Schiappa Al Schick Walter Schuffenhauer James Shimer Edward & Asthea Sidao Walter Stewart Henry Storm Suffolk County National Bank James Teer Eugene Timmes Patrick Vaccariello, Sr. Bob & Lillian White Thank you all for your support of the Railroad Museum of Long Island 3 POSTBOY 2007 FUNDRAISING DRIVE The 2007 Fundraising Drive is off to a good start. Thanks to the members listed below for their contributions. CONDUCTOR Franklin Brehmer, Jr. Dave Fisher John Kiffer Vincent P. Priore GANDYDANCER Anonymous John Ackermann Edward Babor Alan Baer Christopher Benincase Jonathan Bialstock Herman Bowman Tony Capobianco Roc Challender John Conklin Jonathan Diaz Fred Enrico Thomas Felten Dennis Fryer Robert Heath Eli Hecht Albert Heiserer, Jr. Andrew Kravic George Krekeler Gregory Kuszeski Richard McGorty James McPhillips Charles Menagh Peter Meyer Jr. Joseph Misita Florence Monahan Joseph Orsino, Jr. Richard Rodi Joel Romaine Alan Ryder Paul Schiappa Albrecht Schindler Neil Scholl Robert Schroter Walter Schuffenhauer James Shimer Kevin Stansberry Kurt Wegelius Emil Weichand Ronald Welch ENGINEER Patricia R. Byrne-CitiBank Mitchell Williams FIREMAN Dennis Harrington Pierre Lehmuller George Wybenga BRAKEMAN Bruce Abel Cyrus & Josephine Bacchi Paul Christiana, Jr. Frank Eames Scott Firestone Walter Hilsenbeck Helyn Horn M. Richard Horn Norman Hosler Joseph Huttle Dave Morrison John Oliver John Peck Artie Sanwald Michael Sica Robert Simonson Walter & Betty Stewart Connor Sullivan James Teer Anne Marie Tetrault John Thompson III Stanley Urban Bob & Lillian White George Woitas 4 June 2007 LIRR’s Volkswagen Track Inspection Cars By Al Castelli The Long Island Rail Road had several unique pieces of equipment over the years. One such example is the Volkswagen bus turned track inspection car. There was a fleet of six of them used in the 1960s. The inspection cars were known as “gandy-wagons” and numbered as such: GW-1 through GW-6. This number appeared in white on the front door on both sides of the car. They also were numbered 1036 through 1041, with this number (also in white) located above the front windshield. Painted a dark green, both sides of the vehicle had a Dashing Dan herald below the middle window. The method of operation on the rails was an interesting feature. The rear tires provided traction on the rail itself while Hi-Rail wheels supported the vehicle on the track. The front and rear bumpers were fitted with the Hi-Rail wheel assemblies. The front wheels were not used and were lifted off the railhead. Underneath the chassis was a “turntable jack” that was operated electrically. This jack was used at a highway crossing to put the car on the rails. The driver would jack the VW up, manually turn the body to position it over the rails, and then lower the HiRail wheels. The rear tires/wheels actually were mounted in reverse. Due to the shape of the wheels, mounting them this way widened the tread so that the rubber tires fit nicely on the rails. Gandy-Wagon #GW5/1040. Note the rear wheel mounting and the extended fender. Collection of A. Castelli For more information and photos on these inspection cars, visit Sam Berliner’s website. He has a great shot of the turntable jack in use: http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/lirr9etc.html#livwrbus If any member has more information or photos on these vehicles they would like to share, contact me and I’ll pass the information along in a future Postboy. Two new books of Long Island area railroading now available . . . Two new books dealing with railroading on and around Long Island are available. The New York Connecting Railroad by Robert C. Sturm and William G. Thom is published by the Long Island-Sunrise Trail Chapter of the NRHS. The hardcover book is over 100 pages with many color and black and white photos. The Museum gift shops have this book available and signed by the authors. Or, to order from the Chapter, contact them at: LIST-NRHS, P. O. Box 507, Babylon, NY 11702-0507. The other book is Trackside Around the Big Apple 1964-1973 with Al Roberts by Allan H. Roberts. This hardcover book covers all five boroughs of New York City with many great photos and information. It is available at various book and hobby stores as well as online retailers. 5 POSTBOY Model Caboose Presented to James Dermody By Don Fisher The Museum presented the #14 Presentation Hack to former LIRR President James Dermody. The hack is a hand made - super detailed - #14 Caboose built by our Master Modeler Bob "Ducky" Kaelin. The presentation took place at the Many Hands opening Friday evening, May 11. Thanks to George Faeth for the presentation case and photos. Some of the displays from the Many Hands exhibit now at the Greenport Museum. 6 June 2007 Once a Hobo . . . By George Wybenga Our very first cross country caboose hunting trip was in the fall of 2002. In September we found ourselves in Othello, Washington, to photograph the two Milwaukee Road cabooses located at The Old Hotel which is a cooperative art gallery. Though the gallery was officially closed we were invited in by the members who were conducting a meeting. We were allowed to tour the gallery and one of the members told us about Monte Holm who lived in nearby Moses Lake and owned two cabooses located at his salvage yard. The gallery member actually was kind enough to call in order to find out if Monte was available, but regrettably there was no answer so we decided not to make the side trip. Upon our return home I wrote Monte to ask for a copy of his autobiography, Once a Hobo . . . He sent me a signed copy of the book along with a letter: Dear George, I want to thank you for your nice letter. I think it is wonderful the interest you take in cabooses. The (enclosed) picture shows 2 little cabooses (,) the one on the steam locomotive I made it, the one on the mini train is the only one I ever made. The train was the Mini train of the Burlington Northern and I talked them out of it. I have it in my museum(.) I gave a caboose to the Cashmere, Washington Museum. It was an old wooden Great Northern Caboose about in the 1920’s and I do have a couple of other cabooses. I sure do hope you come out and visit my museum and me. You are always welcome at the House of Poverty, your friend, (s) Monte Holm. In 1930, when Monte was 13 years old, he was kicked out of his home by his stepmother. In the middle of the depression, he became a hobo and started riding the rods. His autobiography is a great read describing the trials of a young lad. Eventually he started a salvage business on the grounds of Moses Lake Iron & Metal and started a museum which he called The House of Poverty. On the grounds he started the Home of the Mon Road Railroad. Last week [March 2007] I received an e-mail from a member of the RRcaboose Yahoo group notifying me that to my dismay Monte Holm passed away [May 9, 2006] and his entire collection is on the block. The collection can be seen at http://projects.wasatch-rr-conractors.com/?page_id=36. I deeply regret that I never had the chance to take Monte up on his invitation to visit him and partake of his Hobo Stew. However, to me he lives on in his autobiography, Once a Hobo, Proctor Publications, LLC, Ann Arbor, MI 1999. Milwaukee Road Caboose, Othello, WA Painting by George Wybenga 7 OFFICERS President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Dennis Harrington Tom Collins M. Richard Horn Al Schick BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman Open Bruce Abel 631-589-7345 Art Christian 631-226-4605 Frank Field 631-477-2433 Rich Gorddard 631-588-1931 Bill Raynor 631-727-6090 COMMITTEE CHAIRS Accessions Buildings & Grounds Exhibits Events Postboy Press Releases Education Long Range Planning Mechanical PROJECT LEADERS Riverhead Turntable Car #200 2900 Cars BEDT #16 Model Railroading 631-261-0104 631-325-0630 631-757-5577 631-924-8319 djhrmli@optonline.net eastportfd@hotmail.com secretaryrmli@aol.com amtrain@att.net babel@optonline.net artrc@earthlink.net pcmrr@msn.com rgorddard@aol.com braynor916@yahoo.com Don Bender Tom Collins Don Fisher Dennis Harrington George Wybenga 631-730-3888 631-325-0630 631-765-2757 631-261-0104 631-878-0206 dgbender@optonline.net eastportfd@hotmail.com n2qhv@arrl.net djhrmli@optonline.net george@cabooseart.com John Rooney Bill Raynor 631-798-3202 631-727-6090 Retail Sales Riverhead Gift Shop (open) (open) Rich Gorddard Al Castelli Dick Horn Ken Schaefer 631-588-1931 631-884-7318 631-757-5577 631-567-1797 Art Christian 631-226-4605 Riverhead Tours Riverhead Training Greenport Operations Membership Web Site Fund Raising Stan Urban Don Bender George Summers Dennis Harrington Bruce Abel Dennis Harrington 631-589-6176 631-730-3888 631-298-8319 631-261-0104 631-589-7345 631-261-0104 Bruce Abel Rich Gorddard Jay Eichler Paul Strubeck George Faeth 631-589-7345 631-588-1931 631-909-1229 631-648-3140 631-765-2208 WF Train Operation WF Train Maintenance Computer/Tel Install Dinky #399 Bob Simonson Tom Collins Dick Horn Bill Raynor 516-378-2090 631-325-0630 631-757-5577 631-727-6090 Visit our website: www.rmli.org 7 Once A Hobo 6 Many Hands Exhibit 4 2007 Fundraiser List 3 2006 Contributors 2 2007 Events 1 From the President Riverhead Site 631-727-7920 Greenport Site 631-477-0439 P.O. Box 726 Greenport, NY 11944-0726 Greenport, N.Y. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Bulk Rate Permit No. 14 U.S. Postage Paid NON-PROFIT Organization
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