Railroad Forums 

Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #28324  by Paul
 
There are many many oportunities for finding skilled workers who would be willing to donate time. My family have been in the construction trades in New York City and Long Island for five generations. I have three uncles remaining in local 638 of the Steamfitters Union. Also, four cousins and a nephew who are Journeymen with Local 638. My father is retired 638, his father and grand-father were all 638 men. Has anyone contacted the area's construction unions for assistance? How about the Carpenters, Electricians (IBEW), Machinists (IAMAW) about having apprentices train on the museum equipment? Do the area High Schools still have wood and machineshop classes? Try contacting Bergen Tech in NJ to see if they can help. If Jay or Don or any of the "officials" wish to contact me off line, I am sure I can give them contact names at Local 638 to see about mechanical assistance.

 #28471  by Lupo 10
 
Rich,

Thanks for correcting the typos. I thought that was a harsh statement until you said "now" should actually be "not"..LOL. And I figured out that you meant "..he listed" and not "her listed".

Anyway, as I ended my post "I'm one person giving his opinion". All organizations have those "devil's advocate" guys that everyone hates. Very often I'm that guy. But I have my counterparts and we work nicely together. There is one individual in my organization who says the same thing to my list everytime I ramble it off....."Details. These are mere details. Get it now and work out the details later". Sometimes it makes perfect sense.

 #28507  by Richard Glueck
 
Joe and all others in the discussion: Thank you for the broader understanding! Together, there is more we can learn and do for each other than we can pulling apart. This paticular discussion hinges on the unanswered question of what the current owner wishes to do with their combine. If it is up for sale/adoption, then I would say this is the time to grab her. Twin Forks has it's own project right now, and a fine one, in returning an RS1 to the LIRR. Looking at the projects I see as available, those first in line specifically focus on restoring two G5's, a fleet of MU cars, a BEDT steam switcher, laying track in Oyster Bay as well as a turntable, restoring the Greenport turntable, returning and restoring RS3 #1555, restoring Oyster Bay station, adopting, sheltering, and restoring a wooden combine, locating and recovering a gas powered doodle bug, recovering any number of P54 coaches, building shelter structures which include a repair shop..... need I go on? The point is, as I see it, to take advantage of opportunities and to get dirty with what is at hand in the present. Take your pick of any of these project and get to work. THere are plenty of worthwhile projects, and each requires immediate effort. May I also observe that if a schedule of repair date was available and all available persons could be rallied to Riverhead, Mitchel Field, or the Bay, on any scheduled date, focus on one car or locomotive, or building, things might progress faster than currently? This is a lot easier for me to say, living in Maine, but I think it's valid.

 #28521  by Paul
 
If I were not out here in not so sunny Southern California, where they are charging us for the rocket fuel they put in our milk (why else would milk be soooooo expensive) I would propose a "one year round robin" where as (and this takes planning) all the LIRR groups would spend say one heavy work month at the other's facility. One month at Oyster Bay, the next at RMLI, the next at Twinforks. Lay out the plan to accomplish tasks as a group effort well in advance of the round robin work days. Like I said, I am out here in La Land and I can't be apart of any of it. It may be worth a try.

 #28809  by Lupo 10
 
I'd love to have a "call to arms" to work on our equipment or RMLI's or Friends of 35's but the issue we have is with liability. We cannot have non-members working on equipment even if they sign a waiver. This complicates things a bit but I don't see a way around it. We can't take that risk and I think that RMLI has the same policies.

Now if everyone interested was a member........

:)

 #28945  by matthewsaggie
 
Not to horn in on the debate over equipment, since I am new here, but I was able to ride this car in 1972 on the MC&SA while a student at Tex. A&M. We had read about it in a Railroad Model Craftsman (I think- getting old) from about that time and my buddy and I made a bee line over there one day cutting class. It was pretty beat up then, and they didn't run it unless someone showed up to ride, but they were getting ready to leave out and they pulled it out from a side track, hooked it up just for us. It was about a 10 mile trip each way as I recall. Had about a dozen cars of lumber and the combine on the end. If I recall it was pulled by a GE 70 ton. I was interested as it was unique and I have LIRR relatives in my background.

 #28948  by matthewsaggie
 
Not to horn in on the debate over equipment, since I am new here, but I was able to ride this car in 1972 on the MC&SA while a student at Tex. A&M. We had read about it in a Railroad Model Craftsman (I think- getting old) from about that time and my buddy and I made a bee line over there one day cutting class. It was pretty beat up then, and they didn't run it unless someone showed up to ride, but they were getting ready to leave out and they pulled it out from a side track, hooked it up just for us. It was about a 10 mile trip each way as I recall. Had about a dozen cars of lumber and the combine on the end. If I recall it was pulled by a GE 70 ton. I was interested as it was unique and I have LIRR relatives in my background.

 #28950  by Richard Glueck
 
The four active organizations dedicated to the preservation of the Long Island's history and equipment might try this. How about pooling you active memberships into a single insurance policy, covering members of each group when working on designated projects on organized and supervised days. This would probably cut the premium costs for each of you and increase the supply of able-bodied workers available for specific projects. I think this is an avenue of stretching your resources that would allow for some substantial progress on our beloved preserved rolling stock. A single organized paint crew can do a great deal to refurbishing the condition of a designated car or coach on a single weekend. Better still, make a caboose liveable as overnight quarters, and some people could stay onsite all weekend and into the work week.