Great News!

The Railroad Museum of Long Island (RMLI) is pleased to announce the successful awarding of contracts on April 8, 2005 to begin work using an $800,000.00 ISTEA grant to continue restoration of LIRR G5s Locomotive #39. Suffolk County, New York is the local government sponsor and is responsible for 20% of the grant.

Work commenced Friday, April 29th at Riverhead, NY by the successful bidder, Boilermatic Welding Industries Corp. of Medford, NY. Work on 39's boiler and tender will take place at their shops. The Railroad Museum, under the direction of Project Engineer Rob Mangels, will complete restoration of the drive train and oil burner at RMLI's Riverhead Restoration site. Rob will also oversee the work being done by Boilermatic. The Strasburg Rail Road Mechanical Department has been retained by Boilermatic to consult on the restoration project, provide engineering services as needed, and fabricate any unique parts that may be needed.
Restoration of Engine #39 is the Museum's primary project. Museum volunteers at Riverhead had put forth considerable effort in cleaning, polishing, and stabilizing elements of the locomotive. As of April 2007 only the work on the tender has been completed. The boiler is still at Boilermatic where a variety of technical and other issues have brought the restoration effort to virtual standstill. There is currently no scheduled completion date for the boiler work.The remainder of the locomotive is pieces at the museum site in Riverhead. Unfortunately, lack of funds has prevented the Museum from pursuing the other necessary work not covered by the ISTEA grant including restoration and re-assembly of the running gear, conversion to oil firing, repair of the cab, installation of the speed control required to operate in LIRR trackage, re-assembly of the tender, and overall re-assembly and checkout of the locomotive. The museum cannot project a date when Engine # 39 will be operational.

Monetary contributions toward the Engine #29 restoration effort are greatly appreciated. Contact info@rmli.org for more details on how you can help get her running again.

Watch this page for updates as the restoration work progresses.

The following e-mail from museum trustee Don Fisher is an update of work done on Tuesday May 10, 2005 to move the boiler and tender to the Boilermatic facility:

Dear RMLI Reader,

IT HAS HAPPENED! The boiler and tender of Engine 39 was moved today from the RMLI Riverhead Restoration Site to BoilerMatic's shops in Medford. Work on these two locomotive components will proceed there. Work on the drive train and running gear will continue at Riverhead.

At 7:00 AM, workers began setting up the 240 ton capacity crane on site. By 9:30 AM the tender was secured to the flatbed tractor trailer truck. By 11:00 AM the boiler was secured to the lowboy tractor trailer truck and we were off to Medford. Kudos to the men of Bay Crane, with the right tools and equipment, and with great knowledge, they made the job look easy and the move was made with surprising speed.

Don Fisher