Members of the volunteer carpenters group, The Shipwrights, have been meeting at the Riverhead RMLI site for the past three weeks to perform their magic on the wood interior, doors and windows of Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal steam locomotive 16. RMLI members had removed all the old, deteriorated wood frame work from inside the engine during the fall and early winter
New cedar door frames have been installed and new doors have been fabricated and test hung.
New Windows for 16 will be made next!
Work progresses in the RMLI Library
Throughout the winter, volunteers and interns continue to work on the artifacts and collections at the RMLI Library. So far all of our Riverhead railroad clothing has been inventoried, photographed and moved into a closet for storage. All of our books have been inventoried and sorted and those important to the RMLI mission have been shelved and are ready for reference. Photographs and blueprints have been viewed and sorted by subject and are ready for reference. (We do not allow artifacts, photographs, books or collection items to leave the library and office area but they may be accessed for research purposes by appointment.)
Currently we are working on newspaper articles. Here Krista and John, our interns, view, trim and categorize clippings and articles for archiving. This is a huge undertaking as we had many file cabinet draws full of newspaper!
RMLI member and past secretary, Ken Schaefer, sorts through RMLI Postboy newsletters going back to 1990 and Engine 39 Restoration Committee Newsletters going back to the late 1970’s. These important documents directly present the history of the Museums in Riverhead and Greenport.
Historic Lionel Layout Maintenance Continues
The Tuesday work crew of six to eight volunteers working on the Historic Lionel Layout in the Freeman North Exhibit Hall continues to make strides in maintaining the train layout.
Lenny Jeorg has been busy replacing red and green incandescent signal bulbs with cool burning LEDs.
Mel Dunkerley is working to remove one of two Lionel “lift bridges” on the layout. This unit is being changed out to a “girder bridge” arrangement to improve the visual vista to the Lionel Hells Gate Bridge inland on the layout.
John Peck and Al Mannella identify the stud walls between the west end windows of the Freeman North Exhibit Hall. On the floor is an enclosed bulletin board going up to showcase the story of the Lionel Layout’s historic move from Chesterfield, MI to Riverhead, NY in 2009.