National Train Day Saturday May 8th 2010 @ OBRM

[MADDOG]

This Saturday, May 8th, is National Train Day! 
It also happens to be our Open House at the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum.  As a reminder, we will have the Museum Preview Center, Historic Train Station and Display Yard with all our equipment on site, all open for visitors.  As a special event, the World's Fair Cab unit will be dedicated at 2pm to the memory of three of our dedicated volunteers, James Carley, George Hunka and Pete Taormina, who passed away over the last few years.  We will also have a flea market of framed photos, beer steins, HO trains, toys and collectibles in the train station, much of which belonged to Pete Taormina.  Please note that this will be a CASH ONLY event.  All sales will be final.  The Open House will run from 10am to 4pm, rain or shine and all are welcome to come down, bring the family and see the progress we are making. 
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
MADDOG

[MADDOG]

This day turned out to be FANTASTIC!
We were greeted by a hearty group of members from the Electric Railroaders Association and the NY RR Enthusiasts who spent the day in Oyster Bay enjoying the museum, the town and a great lunch at a local wateringhole where the food is outstanding.
Joining them at the museum were hundreds of people, many who took the train in for the day as well. We had the historic train station set up for a flea market and at 2pm we held our dedication ceremony for the finished Worlds Fair Cab Alco display. This ceremony was to honor 3 of our fallen volunteers who helped to restore the cab unit over the years.
Pete Taormina, George Hunka and James Carley.
I worked along side these men and will shortly be marrying into the family of James Carley, so this dedication was bittersweet for me and the 10 members of his family who were present to witness the ceremony.
I read the  newspaper account just this afternoon and was told about it by a member of the NYRRE just last night at the monthly LIST NRHS meeting.
Today was the last day of the inspection visit by Scott Lindsay and his men from Steam Operations Corp of Birmingham Alabama.
They were in town for 5 days to document the running gear of our steam locomotive #35 for  restoration. They took thousands of measurements of the drivetrain and tender to compare against the blueprint records for deviations. Once they return to their offices, they will compute the values and deliver a report to us outlining what will need to be done, a timeframe for restoration and  a value of said restoration to us.
Then working with the town of Oyster Bay and the county of Nassau, we can schedule the restoration of these pieces.
MADDOG