All the talk about the potential return to service of Long Island 4-6-0 39 got me curious about her surviving sister, No. 35. I did check on the website for the railroad museum at Oyster Bay, but couldn't find any news on the locomotive more recent than a couple of years ago or more. This is not meant to detract from that group (their site suggests they are one busy bunch, with work ongoing on cabooses, passenger cars, and a turntable and perhaps even a reconstructed roundhouse, or at least one stall), but I am curious to know if anything more is going on with No. 35 since its measurements were taken for repair work. Is operation still being planned?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 729&nseq=2

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 715&nseq=0

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2052598

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2052605

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2052604

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2052606

PRR G5 5751 is at Strasburg in the museum....

Andy Pullen

My most recent understanding of the situation with 35 is:

Some of her parts have been sent to Scott Lindsay's company for refinishing. Others are packed in cosmolene awaiting shipment. The boiler, frame, and tender remain as Oyster Bay. Over one-half million dollars was raised and collected specifically for the locomotive. There have been some skirmishes amongst the hierarchy of OBRM as how to use those dedicated funds, and that has held up the 35's immediate work.

I don not see 35 as a "hanger queen", but some prefer to wax in the negative. She does need to be reassembled, and the sooner the better.

Didn't 35 have quite a bit of running gear work done in the late 70s? I seem to recall there was some plan by which 35 would go to BR&W and return to The Island once a year for some trips. The running gear work was done by a Long Island individual, if my memory is correct.

Howard P.

Howard,

35 received new tires on the drivers. Other than that, I am not sure there was other work done. Perhaps Mr. Hahn recalls and could elaborate.

Steve Piwowarski

I think you are confusing the two Long Island locomotives. Both were prepared for rebuilding in stages, but neither project reached the reconstruction stage. Both locomotives were intact when the groups first accessed them, but tear downs led to disappointments and near abandonment. We are all fortunate the current custodians have them today, for better or worse.

Yes, the BR&W had worked out an agreement to restore 35 for use on their line. I do not know the exact details of the plans but from what I have heard over the years is that the owner of the BR&W passed away and the project was not continued after that. Likely there are some people here who know far more on the subject.

A number of members of the local NRHS worked on getting 35 into running order. The running gear was disassembled, the bearings were turned and I believe new tires were put on, the work being done at Amtrak's Wilmington shops. I'm guessing that this is where they did tire work for the GG-1's so they had the facilities to do it. Bob Michelle (sp?) was the go to man for this work. I believe new or renewed shoes and wedges were also machined during this time.

At some point in the late 70's-early 80's, Strasburg looked into getting 35 but Nassau County, who owns it, didn't want it to leave the island. Perhaps someone from the SRR can give more info here. I do know it went as far as getting a boiler UT.

A group that went through several name changes but wound up as the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum started working on disassembly in the late 80's. It was fully dismantled and brought up to Oyster Bay in 2001.

After working with an infamous steam repair company for a feasibility study (think dog-legged stays) the group sought out Scott Lindsay and crew.

A fully assessment was done and a grant was obtained to restore the running gear.

After that, I really don't know anymore.

I wouldn't say I like to wax in the negative but I do like to deal with reality. I rallied hard to get the locomotive cosmetically restored, at least for the time being, so work could concentrate on the many other neglected facets of the museum. The majority of the board was persuaded otherwise.

I wish the OBRM the best and would love to be proven wrong that the LIRR will welcome it to their rails with open arms if and when it is restored to operation. I just think it is a big gamble and the funds could be better utilized.

One more point. All the G5's spent their final weeks of service running commuters out of the Oyster Bay yard and terminal, where the OBRM is located today. The MTA has since torn up the yard and replaced it with a far more modern facility, lacking the old-time charm, but no doubt serving the trains they are running today with more facility. The old turntable remains at Oyster Bay, now part of the OBRM, and almost completely restored. There is a problem in that none of the new terminal tracks connect to the TT, nor the Museum yard itself. This is problematic, of course, but it leads one to conclude the rail road is not interested in a direct connection, at least not without it being sponsored by outside funding.
Both 35 and 39 were victims restoration debacles at one time or another. In neither case did they involve the current groups with locomotive custodial management.
To the best of my understanding, the Long Island Rail Road/MTA has never specifically stated they would not allow a historic train to be operated somewhere on the system.

That may be true but for certain in 1983/1984, the Blue Mountain & Reading approached the keepers of #35 to work out a long-term lease for operation on the Hamburg-Temple former PRR Schuylkill Valley Branch, a place where G-5s operated and were still remembered 30 years ago. This was pre-R&N days. Hopes were high enough to warrant the production of hats bearing a patch with #35 on one side and some diesel on the other side. I don't know the official reason the lease deal fell apart but during the summer of 1984, Mr. Muller purchased #425 and that appeared to be the end of any #35 deal.

Rob

In the 1990's I was working on a power plant startup and while working with some folks from Combustion Engineering I tried to lean on them for a donation for a steam project. They gave me a quick and firm NO and told me about a donation of boiler tubes to Long Island that ended up rusting away or getting scrapped. I don't know which organization got the tubes but the deal sure soured CE on helping with steam preservation.

But, has either entity ever specifically stated that they WOULD?

Does it not make sense to have a written agreement to that effect in hand before a lot more money is raised and spent on the mere hope that either or both would?

Just saying...

Are you aware of the BA Concorde displayed on the Intrepid in NYC? Well, there is a better chance of seeing the Concorde (still under BA title) fly again....than there is of a steam powered fantrip on the LIRR.

BTW, the tab for restoring the Concorde to service is a cool 20 million bucks. Love those Brits...

DPK

While the New York & Atlantic RR, which runs the freight service, is not,
the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which owns the property and
runs the passenger service is a Government Agency, subject to the whims
and subsidies of the politicians of the particular time. Are any of the Rabid
Pennsy Fans registered to vote? And, do they make it know that they turn
out at the elections?

Jim Boylan
Judge of Elections
Philadelphia County

That's pretty much what the Conrail/NS officials told me in the 1990s about ever seeing steam on the Horse Shoe Curve again.

And that was completely true. At that time.

I was explicitly told by an official high up in Amtrak's track/infrastructure department in Washington, DC in the early 2000s that there was "no way in Hell" a GG1 would be permitted on the Northeast Corridor, even pulled light. No way, end of discussion.

Then the "powers that be" told him and his co-workers that they were bringing 4935 down from Strasburg for the 100th anniversary of Washington Union Terminal, and the same guy that told me that line got to oversee its movement.........

Now, I have no reason to believe that the LIRR would be welcoming to steam excursions, but at the same time I've not heard anyone alleging to be anywhere close to LIRR/MTA management saying that they have explicitly nixed the concept.

(Aw, great, now someone's going to re-launch the "bring 4876 back to Track 16!" campaign... [eye roll] )

Hasn't the NYC subway system sponsored several trips with antique equipment within the last few years? I think that's also MTA at some level.