(rshsdepot) Oyster Bay, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Northender.
 
Link to photos:
_http://www.northender.com/thumbnail_view.jsp?sid=1343_ 
(http://www.northender.com/thumbnail_view.jsp?sid=1343) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast

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The Railroad Museum: Chugging Along
By Brian Brennan

Posted: February 1, 2008

On Saturday, February 2nd at noon,  a ribbon cutting ceremony will inaugurate 
the “preview center” of the Oyster Bay  Railroad Museum. 

The center is located at 102 Audrey Avenue in Oyster  Bay Hamlet, less than a 
block up from the museum site, which is the station  house that served the 
hamlet from 1889 to the late 1990s. It is the station that  regularly made 
headlines a century ago, as President Theodore Roosevelt passed  through on his way 
to Sagamore Hill, "the Summer White House", an event that was  always 
heralded by major newspapers. 

The museum trustees intend the  center to showcase their vision for the 
museum, and to honor their commitment to  making the museum planning process a 
transparent one. 

“We just basically  want to keep ourselves at the forefront in Oyster Bay and 
the region; and we  want to make sure people know that we are continuing to 
strive to bring a first  class rail museum to the region,” said Ben Jankowsky, 
chairman of the museum’s  board of trustees. 

The center's creation was the suggestion of Liz  Irwin, the museum’s director 
of development. Her job was created as part of the  agreement by which the 
Town of Oyster Bay donated the museum site. Fortunately,  the museum has on its 
board of trustees Josh Stoff, curator of the Cradle of  Aviation Museum in 
Garden City, who oversaw the setup of the center. It is  designed to appeal to 
young and old and to serve as a monument to Oyster Bay  history and to railroad 
history in general. "It's going to try to tell a story,"  Mr. Stoff said. 

Exhibits at the center consist largely of authentic  train equipment from the 
early 20th century, period photos and storyboards, and  renderings of what 
the museum will look like. 

The group driving the  museum effort began life in 1994 as “Friends of 
Locomotive 35”, its mission to  restore the 1928 Long Island Railroad (LIRR) engine 
by that name. A railroad  museum was part of the Oyster Bay Chamber of 
Commerce plan of 1995 and the  Hamlet Plan of 2002. The cause was taken up by the 
locomotive group, which in  July of 2006 was reincorporated as the Oyster Bay 
Railroad Museum. The museum's  board of trustees will manage the museum, under 
the jurisdiction of the Town of  Oyster Bay. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had already  transferred the 
station house and the station’s former turntable to the  nonprofit in 2005. 
The turntable was built between 1900 and 1910 and will be  restored to working 
condition. 

Included among the museum’s exhibits  will be several historic train cars. In 
addition to Locomotive 35, these will  include a cab that was part of a 
display unit at the 1964 World's Fair, two  classic cabooses, two 1950’s passenger 
cars, a baggage mail car, and a boxcar.  The cabooses were purchased from a 
museum and from the Pennsylvania Railroad,  while the rest of the cars were 
donated by the LIRR. 

Paying  piecemeal 

The varied restoration work has been completed  piecemeal, as grant money, 
donations, or the know-how of volunteers has made it  possible. 

There are 150 members of the museum, and many have pitched in.  Board member 
Steven Torborg says that volunteers are hard at work most Saturdays  on the 
station house, the train cars, or the preview center. Some of the cars  that are 
going to be part of the exhibit will be brought to Oyster Bay as soon  as a 
member has finished giving them new breaks. Members have personally  replaced 
the ties, pit and concrete of the turntable and have stripped it of  parts to 
be discarded or replaced, and cleaned and lubricated it. And it was  museum 
volunteers who gave the preview center new floors and plumbing. 

A  professional will be coming in later this month to evaluate what remains 
to be  done to the turntable; and contractors will come in to sandblast and 
paint it.  The electric motor has been sent out for restoration. 

Some work has been  paid for by a New York State Quality Communities Grant 
that the museum and the  Oyster Bay Main Street Association (OBMSA) applied for 
together. 

The  grant comes with three requirements. The first is for a topographical 
study of  the museum and turntable sites. The second is for a Historic 
Structures Report,  a prerequisite to restoring a national landmark. Jablonsky 
Associates of  Manhattan was hired for $17,000 by competitive bidding process to write 
a  detailed analysis of the station's condition. This assessment can be used 
in a  structural engineering review once the museum has raised the funds to 
commission  one. Mr. Jankowsky expects the study to cost between $75-100,000. 

The  third requirement is that the museum plans incorporate a strategy to try 
to use  the station house's central location to enhance the connectedness 
between Oyster  Bay’s downtown and waterfront. According to John Speece, 
president of the board  of trustees, the plan for the museum's parking plaza will be “
attractive but  utilitarian”. This will be a challenge, he notes, as the plaza 
has a steady  stream of through traffic and is prone to flooding when it 
rains. The first  meeting on the topic was held earlier this week. 

The museum looks close  to receiving $524,000 out of funds from the Nassau 
County Environmental Bond Act  set aside for park improvements. The funds would 
go toward restoring Locomotive  35, which has a total estimated price tag of 
$1.3 million. 

The cost of  the museum project as a whole is expected to run from $2.5 to $4 
million. “That  number can scare a lot of people,” Mr. Jankowsky said. “The 
more I do this – and  I’ve been at this for 9 years now – the more it doesn’
t scare me; the more I  believe that this can be accomplished.” 

Outreach  

Last week, several trustees went to Albany for meetings with a  slew of 
elected officials. They met with assemblymen Chuck Lavine (D-Glen Cove),  Joe 
Saladino (R-Massapequa), and Rob Walker (R-Hicksville); and with senators  Kemp 
Hannon (R-Garden City), Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Charles  Fuschillo 
(R-Merrick). They met with staff members of Senator Carl Marcellino  
(R-Syosset), having already seen the senator in person on Long Island. In the  fall, 
they met with staff members of US Senator Charles Schumer (D-Brooklyn) and  in 
person with Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford). Nassau County Legislator Judy  
Jacobs (D-Woodbury) met with trustees at the center on Wednesday night; and  
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto is expected at the ribbon cutting.  

The purpose of the meetings was to sell the hamlet as a destination  address 
for daytrippers, with the museum as one important element. The museum's  
proponents see it as a benefit to both the hamlet and the region. Ben Jankowsky  
estimates between 10-18,000 annual visitors to the museum, not including special 
 events. 

The ribbon-cutting will be open to all, with free food and  beverages. The 
preview center will be open limited hours beginning in March and  it is hoped 
that local volunteers will step forward to staff it. There will be  no charge 
for admission, though the museum board is planning to raise funds by  selling 
merchandise. 

“Our whole goal is to make the community and the  region aware that we 
exist," Mr. Jankowsky said. "We’re here to make this  community viable in our own 
small and special way and we just hope that  corporate and private individuals 
will see the merits of what we’re doing and  lend a hand.” 

The trustees say that feedback from the public has been  overwhelmingly 
positive. 

“I think most people are very, very interested  in seeing this come to 
fruition,” Mr. Speece said. “People are looking to see  that forlorn building 
restored to its original grandeur....They like the idea of  it being a museum, an 
attraction, rather than just a building sitting there in a  state of decay.” 




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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1670
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org