Over 2 years of hard work payed off today at RMLI Riverhead, when Mrs. Ron Freemen cut the ribbon officially opening the restored Historic Lionel Visitor’s Center Layout formally of Lionel Trains in Chesterfield Michigan. It all started in the late 40’s when Lionel had a showroom layout at their offices in New York City. When Lionel moved it was tragically lost and thrown away, an icon of the era lost forever. Moving forward a little more into history Lionel can be found in Chesterfield Michigan. In the early 90’s a group of volunteer employees constructed a layout similar to the one that had previously been seen in New York City. It would be open to the public for 15 years before Lionel would again move, ironically back to New York City. When the museum found out about this and the fate of the second visitors center layout could meet the same as the first one, we stepped in and asked Lionel if they would be interested in saving the layout. Of course they would later go on to say “Yes” that would lead us on this long saga of moving a 7,000 pound layout from Chesterfield to Riverhead.
This seemingly impossible task was done as a labor of love by over 100 RMLI volunteers over the past few years. The layout had to be boxed up, cut up, moved, put back together and unboxed. 1,000’s of volunteer man hours were put into the project with well deserved end results! The layout is a masterpiece and an amazing attraction for the museum and the East End of Long Island. On Saturday April 9th, we celebrated the hard work that Vice President George Faeth and his crew of volunteers put forth going above and beyond the last couple of years on this project. The historic layout is a new permanent attraction at the Riverhead site to be enjoyed by all! VIPs who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony included President Don Fisher, Vice President George Faeth, Tom Nuzzo Of Lionel Trains, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walters, Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine, Jodi Giglio, Riverhead Councilwoman, Mrs. Ron Freemen and Edgar Goodale’s daughter Laura VanHouten, of Riverhead Building Supply. Cake and Coffee were also served after the ceremony with actual Lionel trains as the cake toppers! Everyone also had the chance to get a ride on the World’s Fair Train and tour some real trains. The Long Island Rail Road track crew was even out working, another treat for visitors. High Rails trucks and the Sperry Rail Car went past the museum through out the day.
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to come and see the new layout. The museum is now open every Saturday from 10am-4pm through Memorial Day. After Memorial Day the museum is open Saturdays and Sundays 10am-4pm through Columbus day. The layout will be open and ready for your viewing. The 1964-65 World’s Fair Train is also available for rides weather permitting.
