Riverhead Railroad Festival

Riverhead Railroad Festival
The 2005 Riverhead Railroad Festival will be held at our Riverhead site on Saturday August 27 and Sunday August 28. This year's theme will be "The End of Steam Operations on Long Island". A part of this theme will be a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the End of Steam Ceremony. There will be exhibits about steam operations and the change-over to diesel. Also at the festival you can enjoy:

- a historic photo exhibit
- model train displays
- visiting historic LIRR cars
- kids can ride our miniature train
- mini-theater showing film/video footage
- collectible train and toy sale
- food, music and other entertainment

www.rmli.org

what about steam engine rides, speeder rides, a trip 'round the turntable... ok...maybe in 2006

What are the times of the event for both days?

Thanx!

now, i KNOW this is thinking WAY in ADVANCE, but can any one tell me if when 39 & 1556 can be used in excursion trains or just moveing on the sideing, would the LIRR alow cabrides to the general publis? will members of RMLI get rights to ride and or operate at some point? and will cab tours while in station be aloud where 2 people at a time can access the cab take pics in the engr/firemen seat and maby get a shot at blowing the whistel or clanging the bell? what i stated above would be very atractive to the general public and railfans alike.

can any one here answere them to the best they can based on current info?

Hello Fellow Forum Members,

The Riverhead Railroad Festival will open at 10:00 AM and close at 4:00 PM each day. The "End of Steam Ceremony" will be performed each day at 1:00 PM beside 1556 and #39. Interpretive actors will perform as follows: "Pullman Porter" at the 2900 cars on the hour; "Rosie the Riveter" at Engine 39's frame at 20 minutes past the hour; and "Diesel Engineer" at 1556 at 40 minutes past the hour. Presentations begin at 10:00 AM.

Regarding cab rides and cab viewings, right now - I don't know. But, I would like to think those experiences could be managed for an extra charge to the patron. I can't think of any reason, short of Homeland Security, that would keep the Museum from offering the experience. It would be an excellent form of revenue.

de Don, n2qhvRMLI

I actually just got back from the Amish country recently and of course I had to go to Strasburg. I can't believe how much money is required just to maintain a steam engine to run. It's been a long time since I took that ride to "paradise" but it was very short and I can't blame them.

Since steam engines are very unreliable to begin with I kind of wonder if it will ever be approved to do some kind of excursion to Greenport or wherever you guys were talking about. Imagine extra 39 east having to call Divide that they just broke down east of Southhold?

Plus, nobody is going to ride a steam engine if it isn't affortable. My ticket to ride that excursion costed me $11.75 for an open air car. I somehow can't see that being a realistic price if something similar were to open here on the island. Especially with the way prices are on the island, if it's going to be $30-40 dollars a ticket I don't know how successful it's going to be. The fan base really is a lot of younger kids.

Just my 2 cents.

Things would have to be done to make it cheeper, and most likely would not be much more then LIRR tickets as we will probly honor them on our "excursion train"

thoes are things that have to be discussed with the LIRR,

as for 39 crapping out. it all depends on what you are talking. about, is she derails thats probly going to close the line for a while, if she busts a driverod you can forget about that line being open for a day or two. but steam does if not ran right, looses enough presure to run the train, thus haveing to sit on where ever you are and wait how ever long it takes to make a new head of steam, but for the most part steam is reliable if done right.
BTW i dont see why that rail out there cant handle steam as some of it actully seen steam service.

TushyKushy

You've made some excellent observations. I doubt we'll be able to operate with tickets in the $11 - $12 range. Our trip will be longer and we won't be able to run the daily frequency the Strasburg and other right-of-way owning companies run.

What I can tell you is we will honor the LIRR Union craftspeople, it's our intention to operated as a special with LIRR personnel at the helm. At this time we imagine once out from Riverhead in the AM and once back from Greenport in the PM. Passengers would take in Greenport mid-day. Maybe a quick run out and back to Southold from Greenport mid-day if the team track is available for "run around" service.

Additional options include a stop in "wine country," Cutchogue or Peconic, with a connection to Greenport on the Greenport Scoot mid-day.

We imagine operations to be limited to weekends and holidays between Memorial Day and Columbus Day. Maybe a Santa Special or Easter Bunny Special, again a Saturday/Sunday run.

Another interesting twist is to wait and see what happens with State Legislator Fred Thiele's "East End Transit Authority" proposal. If the rails east of Ronkonkoma and Speonk are turned over to a new Authority we have no idea what demands will be made.

There are still many "what if's" at this time. Our focus for the moment is to see the restoration through. That's not to say we aren't thinking about operations, it just means we have to eat one slice of the pie at a time. Eat the whole pie and we may get a belly ache!

de Don, n2qhvRMLI

See you Guys at Railfest

Don't forget to stop by the Twin Forks table. And Twin Forks will have 2 cabooses open for the public including C-60 with its newly stripped and primed interior. See you this weekend

I'll be there also with Twin Forks, so for all of those guys I didn't meet, it will be a pleasure to do so

Ill be on or by the 2900 series Pullmans or 1556, Stop by and say hello!

i might be there but my club wont be.

On the subject of ticket prices for tourist lines, last week I was up at the Upper Hudson River RR (uhrr.com) in North Creek, about 45 minutes north of Lake George. It runs a diesel hauled tain (an ex-D&H Alco RS36 does the honors) 8.5 miles to Riverside Station with a 30 min layover then back again. It's about a 2 hr trip along the upper Hudson River, great scenery. (they also have ex-Alco plant switcher S1 #5 as a switcher & backup loco)

The tickets were $15 for adults (includes kids 12 & over), $14 for seniors & $10 for kids. We had 7 people & it was $99. Kind of expensive according to the above comments. I would think a steam powered train could charge something similar, especially for the longer trip to Greenport.

Also, one of the reasons we acquired #1556 was to have a diesel backup to #39 which the LIRR required (at least back then when early discussions were held with the LIRR).

M1 #bords,

see LIRR management, look at what would have had if you guys agreed to take builders plates #bords and cabcomponents and donated them to RMLI to sell, and or just set up a table there for them to sell them for you and the proceeds goes to the meuseum or 50/50 with the LIRR, hey its not too late to start, the money is somthing withc is better then nothing, recrute some rmli members to come down and get the parts and show us once waht needs to be done.. thats 1 idea. maby you can think of other ways of doing it.