New exhibit at Railroad Museum on Oyster Bay Branch

The Oyster Bay Railroad Museum opened its doors for the season on April 29, presenting its newest exhibit on the history of the Oyster Bay Branch. Featuring interactive exhibits, historic artifacts and an operational O gauge model train, it offers new and interesting information on the history of Long Island’s rail stations and their importance to the community over nearly a century.

Every year the museum creates a new exhibit highlighting different aspects of Long Island and Oyster Bay’s train history. The exhibit runs from the end of April through November, and is organized by volunteers as well as train experts and historians.

This year’s exhibit was organized by local historian David Morrison, a local railroad historian and author who has written 10 books on the subject, as well as by museum board member Joel Friedman. The exhibit, “The Oyster Bay Branch Photo Exhibit,” includes copies of dozens of original photographs from different stops and stations of the Oyster Bay Branch across the 20th century. 

Morrison explained that the history of the station dates back to 1902, when the hamlet’s greatest resident Theodore Roosevelt first took office. When Roosevelt spent his summers in Sagamore Hill, it was paramount that he, fellow politicians and visiting dignitaries be able to travel quickly to Oyster Bay, making it an important political center for Roosevelt’s entire presidency.

“It’s the same location where Theodore Roosevelt used to board the train on his travels,” Morrison said. “So, it’s a very, very historic location here at the Oyster Bay train station.”

The station was originally built in 1889 by Bradford Lee Gilbert, the architect renowned for his renovation of the Grand Central Depot. Gilbert gave the old Oyster Bay station its iconic exterior stucco and oyster shells on the exterior, found only at the Oyster Bay and Southampton stations, which was also designed by Gilbert.

The line used to run from Mineola to Oyster Bay, stopping at neighboring communities like Sea Cliff and Glen Cove on the way. Photos of these and other old stations are prominently displayed throughout the museum, offering an interesting and rarely-considered picture of Long Island’s past.

Several of the younger visitors to the museum were particularly enamored with the O gauge model train layout, added for the exhibit, which allows three model trains to run at one time. DeWitt Lee, 3, was there with his mother, Laura Waldon, and aunt Alyssa Waldron, who traveled there from Plainview. DeWitt said he thought the exhibit and seeing the model trains run was “really cool,” although he had to be picked up to see it properly.

“It’s really cool, especially because he really loves trains,” his aunt, Laura, said. “The only problem is he wants to touch everything.” 

“I think it has a lot of cool things for adults, and also kids will find it very interesting,” Alyssa added. 

The volunteer-led museum is in the midst of a long-term station restoration project, which includes renovations as well as setting up a full track to display an old but operational steam train, Steam Locomotive #35. The work to lay the track took dozens of volunteers roughly a month of work according to John Specce, president of the museum’s board.

Visitors to the museum can also check out the station’s rail yard, which houses Locomotive #35 until its track is finished and it can be moved onto it. Additionally, the rail yard holds Caboose #12, an original wooden caboose dating from the 1920’s, as well as small locomotives and a fully operational turntable, which visitors will be able to ride on once the museum’s renovations are complete.

“The Oyster Bay Branch exhibit really takes you on a photo journey from Mineola to Oyster Bay,” Specce said. “The exhibit will be up for the entire season through November before we replace it for the following year, and it’s really informative and fun.”