On Saturday December 17th Christmas came early to the Railroad Museum of Long Island, when we traveled to the Long Island Rail Road’s Hillside Yard to pick up a new exhibit for the Riverhead Site, a GP-38-2 Cab Simulator The Simulator was originally used by the LIRR for the training of new locomotive engineers to recreate life like situations on the railroad before they were able to take trains on the mainline. The GP-38 was replaced in light of new technology and equipment on the RR, that is much more modern and efficient for the purpose of training crews on the current LIRR Locomotives fleet. The GP-38 is no longer on the LIRR Roster and was no longer needed. Currently in Hillside the new state of the art simulators include a DE30, M-7 and MP-15, all of which are currently used on the RR. The museum is extremely grateful and appreciative to the MTA Long Island Rail Road for recognizing the historical significance of the no longer used simulator, and for preserving it for future generations to come and enjoy, and learn about what it takes to run a locomotive. Special Thanks also goes to Bob Pfluger of BP Wreckers, Southold, NY, Don Fisher, Anthony DeBellis, Greg Kruszeski, Steve Sucic, Rich Gorddard, Elliot Courtney and Mark Lacari for making the move from Hillside to Riverhead possible.
Future Plans for the simulator include reinstalling a train simulator program using Microsoft Train Simulator, where a route between Riverhead and Greenport will be used. A computer will be set up in the cab to do this, with a new seat and control stand being built. The new exhibit will be extremely interactive, where patrons will be able to actually sit down and operate the locomotive on an imaginary route between Riverhead and Greenport. This will give people the chance to learn what it takes to operate a locomotive. The windows on the side of the engine also open, which will give an excellent photo opportunity to all that wish to pretend they are running a GP-38! The museum is very excited and happy to have the simulator, giving our visitors one more thing to experience.
