First off, last Thursday we received a visit from Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto. Mr Venditto has long been an avid supporter of the OBRM and his visit was well received. On HIS watch, we worked with the Town of Oyster Bay (TOB) to establish the museum and expand our endeavors as well as our standing in the Oyster Bay community.
The Supervisor also wanted to let us know that the TOB will be entering into a 10 year deal with OBRM to continue our efforts and triumphs. This is GREAT NEWS!!
This coming Monday, Senator Charles Schumer will be hosting a press conference at the historic Oyster Bay Station.
At the conference, the Senator will announce his intention to petition the National Park Service to initiate a source survey to determine the station's eligibility for designation as an affiliated area of Sagamore Hill. This could result in significant technical and financial assistance from NPS for the station's restoration and rehabilitation. The senator will provide more details at the conference.
This can ONLY be of value to us and the community. Imagine, if this goes through, there will be access to funding sources and technical assistance from the Nation Parks Service. Not something that can be taken lightly!
Keep your fingers crossed on this one. We have been helped by Senator Schumer in the past and I feel that he is the real deal. A good man with a passion for his people-all of us in NY.
TODAY-we embarked on a beautification program at the yard.
ALL of the staircases at the displays have been stained and sealed. We also took down one of the vinyl fence pieces and built a planter out of old turntable ties. Dodds & Eder provided the topsoil and flats of plants which were planted and watered. It does kind of make the place a bit more "pretty".
We also did a bit more work on the staircase to the M1 Simulator. And speaking of simulator, last week we found that there was some computer equipment still installed in the simulator. Today we opened up every cabinet and installed an electric line and started testing everything and came up with the conclusion that we only seem to be missing the programming for the simulator and all of the external equipment/wiring that the LIRR used on the outside of this unit.
This means that if we can get a program into a laptop, then we can have the simulation portion working.
Still a work in progress:
Also, We ran the exterior electrical conduit with the connectors and clamps under the turntable and now the wiring is totally encased until it comes to the area where the control stand will be. When that is installed, we will, of course, enclose all of the wires there too.
We picked up a new intern from Barry Technical School. Nick joined us and we think he'll fit right in.
James is working with him to finish up the roof corners. The second corner is done and hey should have the third one done next Saturday.
While all of this went on we also took a paint roller to the back of the worlds fair cab. We had a sign hung there that was finally removed and we had to scrape off the residue of the double sided tape. We wound up peeling a bit of the grey paint off and decided to re paint those portions in preparation for the final grey coat.
We have always strived to be recognized and seen, so we approached the owners of Duke Supply corp, who have been supporters since we started and inquired if the scrub trees on the side of their building could be removed. They told us if we want them gone, they're gone!
They were removed today and it opened the sight lines dramatically. Nothing is hidden now and we plan on doing some small repairs to their building and then a new paint job will be added to enhance both Dukes appearance and ours.
More to come next week and we hope that you come on up to spend some time at our Railroadiana Sale at the historic Oyster Bay Train Station on Sunday May 15th. We'll have lots of things for sale that day. It should be a fun time and yes!, the museum and display yard will be open for viewing.
Gary
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