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  • **LONG ISLAND PRESERVATION NEWS**

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

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1503756  by MADDOG
 
***UPDATE****
FROM THE OYSTER BAY RAILROAD MUSEUM

Hi folks,
it's been a couple of weeks since our last update, however, there has been a ton of work going on.
We were fortunate to have received at the yard, a used forklift that we so desperately needed. We began to do some minor repairs to the body and the drive line. A carburetor rebuild was the biggest issue on the engine and a bit of metal repair and window replacement on the body.
We continued to strip the paint from the interior of the GE 25 tonner #398 and I am happy to report that we should have it all completed by end of March.
More electrical work on the turntable is being done as well as more metal work on the Ping Pong Coach.
Our biggest task at hand is the rebuilding of #35's cab, which is being done in earnest.
Our plans are to use it as another simulator and instead of creating another ground level unit, we have tossed around the idea of creating a platform at the rear of the actual #35 boiler and just re-attaching the cab and rebuilding the backhead.
Interesting thoughts.
You may see the ongoing work in photos on our Facebook pages for #35 and OBRM along with the story of our "kids" in St Marten who are working with the Rotary Club on fundraising for #35.
Maddog
 #1503894  by hondajohn
 
Despite the weather, the volunteers at Oyster Bay have made excellent progress on the #35 cab restoration. Here are some progress pictures of the metal replacement.
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 #1503895  by hondajohn
 
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 #1505273  by MADDOG
 
From the Oyster Bay RR Museum--
HI folks, just to bring everyone up to speed, we have been continuing the restoration of #35's cab in ernest!
The entire floor structire as well as the entire front has been restored/repaired/replaced.
In researching the cab at the RR Museum of Pa in Strasburg, we ahve found that all PRR cabs are of the same design on modern (post 1910) locomotives. Ours is now the strongest and safest of all remaining. many "field fixes" were removed and repired to stiffen up the cab and our frame is now boxed or channeled instead of just angle irons.
our primary focus these last 2 weeks have been on preparing for the repairs on the firemans side roof and the "roof hatch" that has the sliding mechanism for air flow into the cab.
We have noted that the engineers roof is in far worse shape than the firemans side.
This is due to the engineers side being the "North" side of the engine and more prone to the weather.
We plan on removing at least on of the sheets and repairing the interior ribs which have been rotted by water.
Thankfully, our master fabricators/welders, John and Fred have no issues doing this.
We also toook time to start laying out for our new Garden Railway. Thanks for help from the Long Islnad GardenRailway Society and to Dave Morrison for their interest and assistance along with their generous donations of time and materials. We hop tobe ready for installation in the next couple of weeks.
Along with all of the this work being performed, we still had a bit of work on our newly recieved forklift, which still need to be started on its own fuel system which needed cleaning nad new lines/filters/fuel. It also needed a new battery and a seat! all of which was addressed and the engine started. It purred like only a straight six engine could.
It runs but still needs a brake job, steering work and a clutch adjustment.
You may see their and all of our volunteers work at our Facebook pages for LIRR#35 and the OBRM page.
 #1507225  by MADDOG
 
From the Oyster Bay RR Museum---
HI Folks.
over the past weeks we have still been busy getting the electric hooked up atop the Turntables bridge. A new steel plate has been fabricated and installed with a 2 inch PVC box connector. Hopefully, if the weather allows this coming Saturday, we can get the bucket truck and our electrician up there to pull the 4 conductors into the collector box, cut and bolted onto their respective clamps.
Meanwhile, our 25 ton "Dinky" has been prepped and re-started for the spring. We have found a leak on the brake side and are looking to purchase a gasket set from Wabtec.
Both Fred and John are still going like gangbusters on the cab of #35. More rotted steel has been cut out on the roof on the fireman's side and also on the engineers side wall above the window. The drip rail over the window is a replacement and was just welded over the original drip rail which hid a line of rivets. the water leaked between the rivets and caused the metal to delaminate which in turn, ripped the steel. inside the cab was a channel that the 2 angle roof ribs were riveted down to using 4 "L" brackets. all of the this was cut out and a new channel was welded into place. We plan on "scabbing" new flat stock to replace the rotted out angles so we can once again, rivet the restored roof ribs down into the channel using the "L" brackets.
While this is going on, We opened for the season and am installing a Garden Railroad to the South/West corner of the property.
Lots of work and the photos are up on our Facebook pages.
MADDOG
 #1508078  by hondajohn
 
Work continues into the Spring on LIRR #35's cab. Over the last few months, the volunteers at Oyster Bay made extensive progress on the floor and walls. Now, with the completion of the engineer's-side frame and window, work has shifted to the roof. Here are some "before and after" progress pictures of the reconstruction.
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 #1508080  by hondajohn
 
We started rebuilding the fireman's side roof by patching a few rotten sections.
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 #1511236  by RGlueck
 
Are those actual rivets, or rivet substitute? I ask because certain applications, such as grab-irons must be riveted under FRA law. Not a criticism, just a comment. Restoring 35's cab is coming along well. You are to be commended for the active work.
 #1511284  by MADDOG
 
Hi Dick,
we are using bolts for now as we need to get the metal repairs done. then we will change out the bad staybolt covers with the ones we purchased from RMLI and will then build a platform at the back of the cab so we can mount the cab back on the boiler. We plan on putting everything back on the back head and then utilize it as another simulator.
 #1512523  by hondajohn
 
Despite adverse weather, the OBRM volunteers started repairing the last major rotten section of #35's cab. The engineer's side roof had suffered extensive corrosion, and large sections need complete replacement.

We removed the roof hatch and slide rail to access the underlying metal for work.
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 #1512602  by hondajohn
 
The extreme heat during Saturday's work session prevented the volunteers from finishing the roof patch, so they returned Sunday evening. The pieces were fully welded, bolted, and painted, and we'll now continue to the rest of the roof.
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 #1521909  by MADDOG
 
It has been QUITE a long time since I have made any updates, but that is just because I've been very busy at work.
SO! From the Oyster Bay RR Museum:
The 1904 installed electrically powered turntable has had its final electrical hookups and was reviewed by our insurance underwriters and the TOB electrical inspectors. Now, armed with a long list of things to get added/changed, we are continuing the work to get it running.
We can move it by hand now, so we are now just waiting for RR Construction Corp to come over and finalize the ring rail installation/adjustment and install the rails on top. Our volunteers have just added an extra wooden deck over the open area between the motors deck and the bridge (Insurance) so no one can fall in. We just received all new handrail components that will need to be added over the motor deck (again (insurance) and we have begun to electrically ground the entire bridge and handrail assemblies (electrical inspector). I'm picking up the new handrails on Wednesday at LI Pipe fabricators near Mitchel Field, our old stomping grounds. Once all of them have been completed, we will need to add expanded metal safety fencing attached to them so no one can get off the bridge deck and fall into the pit. (again, insurance)
Once these electrical and safety aspects are taken care of, we can have the inspectors back to go over everything and (HOPEFULLY) give us the green light to get the Nassau County Ride Inspectors up to view the turntable. Having not turned since the late 1970's, what's a few more months?? John still has a bit of testing out of the resistors as we have found out the ratings on what we were given to install are higher than what was called for in the spec sheet. Even though John moved to NJ, he will make monthly pilgrimages back to Oyster Bay to help out. Fortunately, he has a great girlfriend, Hanna who understands and enjoys what he does.
We took the time to sand the controller and painted it a smokey grey color which will need to be touched up next week along with the installation of all new cork gaskets to seal up the doors from water. We are having a custom fabricated brass controller handle made that would be similar to the now missing original. HMMM, I wonder who got the original one ??

Fabrication on the Cab has been completed except for the new window channels. We will install new upper and lower window rails after we get our new windows made up. We already have a new engineers front window fabricated and have the originals (while in Eisenhower Park) for the engineers side and rear wood frames to use as templates.
We have a great woodworker, Ed who has been enjoying his time working with Fred on the boiler of #35. They have recently taken to removing all of the large accessory studs which are either in very poor condition or have been previously cut off and will have to be custom made.
While all of this has been going on, we had the fine folks from the LI Garden RailwaySociety come over to help Dave Morrison, who kindly donated all of the items and trains, set up our newest exhibition. The kids (and us) just love watching the trains go around. Our volunteers dug out, set up the perimeter rail ties and trenched for the electrical system. This provides us with a separate 20 amp circuit just for the transformer and an extra circuit for our power tools, so we don't have to run extension cords..
If you 'd like to keep up with us and see photos of our progress, just go tour Facebook pages for OBRM and LIRR35. We even set ourselves up with a new YOUTUBE page.
MADDOG
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