To All Forum Members

The Trustees of the Railroad Museum of Long Island are pleased to announce that both Riverhead and Greenport Museum sites will reopen this weekend, June 28th and 29th.

We have been in the process of changing insurance carriers and that fact caused us to close the Museum last weekend. Fortunately, all administrative work has been completed and we are happy the closing only effected one weekend. All RMLI programs and events for the 2003 season are “on track” and we are looking forward to your continued support.

Please consult our website at www.rmli.org for current and official information regarding the Museum and our upcoming events. We thank you for your concern and interest.

For the Board of Trustees
Don Fisher, Trustee/Secretary Pro-Tem



n2qhv@arrl.net

Way to go. Congratulations.

glueck@maine.edu

I would like to address Mr. O'Shea's allegations regarding the asbestos "dumping" by Steve. I am the person to whom he refers and I am also President of friends of Locomotive #35 Inc. Our group was incorporated in 1994 and is the successor to the Locomotive #35 Restoration Committee formed in 1990. The Committee was a loosely knit band of volunteers for the County of Nassau Parks Department and held no formal position regarding the locomotive and no assets.

The incident to which Mr. O'Shea refers regards the disposal of about three bags of what was beleived to be asbestos. Most of the material had been long since removed and disposed of when we came onto the scene. What little we found came from the cylinder heads and some pipe wraps. The material was bagged and left for employees of the County (since retired or deceased) to deal with. They were the ones who claimed to have placed the bags in scrap police cars and dumpsters. This has been referred to in the past as an example of how thigns were done and how rather unorthodox methods had been employed. In retrospect, this is not a great example to use, but it must be understood that with no funding and under County control, these things did happen. But it must also be noted that it was not our people who did it.

Regarding the switch and caboose incident on NJT, I did in fact work for Conrail for three years as a Conductor. Many things were done in very unorthodox ways and many stories were formed (and some embellished) in that time. However, The only cabooses I moved were with locomotives attached and the only switches opened were in the course of duty. Anyone who knows anything about signal systems knows that mainline switches can not be opened without not only a key, but at least ten minutes to wait for a timer to count down. This would cause all associated signals to display stop and would alert the dispatcher to the open switch. In essence, the police would be there before you could get the switch open. I left Conrail in 1996 for the LIRR with a clean record. It remains so to this day.

As stated by "Richard", the Friends of Locomotive #35 operates in as professional a manner as possible and would do nothing to jeopardize our efforts to form the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum. Anyone who knows me would agree that nothing is more important to me than this project.

We have all made mistakes in the past and we have all done things we later regreted. Mine obviously was to confide in this individual with information he obviously misconstrued. However, to inaccurately attack an individual, or a group based on events of some twelve years ago is little more than childish gossip from someone who chooses not to be involved. If you feel that things are wrong, get involved and make a change. Till then, sit on the side and keep your mouth shut unless you know the facts.

All this inaccurate and misleading information, whether about FOL35 and asbestos or RMLI and insurance, serves no other purpose than to demoralize those who really want to see one or both of these museums succeed. Wanna see things change, get involved and vote!



http://www.lirr35.org

> I would like to address Mr. O'Shea's
> allegations regarding the asbestos
> "dumping" by Steve. I am the
> person to whom he refers and I am also
> President of friends of Locomotive #35 Inc.

OK, this thread stops here.

Mr. O'Shea's original post making certain comments about things he heard from one member of a Long Island preservation organization made me very uneasy, but since Mr. O'Shea was careful to state only his personal observations from direct experience it falls, albeit barely, within our guidelines. Besides, I just don't like to delete posts.

The object of Mr. O'Shea's remarks has now stated his point of view on the issues rasied, and as far as the Interchange goes that ends this matter, unless someone wants to return to a general discussion of asbestos, comparative experiences on other projects, tips, etc.

What we do not need is any further he said/he said regarding this specific group and engine.

Mr. O'SHea did post some responses to "Steve's" post, but I have removed them, as they were in the nature of a poin-by-point rebuttal which would more productively be discussed between the two parties.

The gentlemen are obviously known to one another, and I encourage them to continue this dialog offline if they wish--not in this forum.

eledbetter@rypn.org