Steam Locomotive #35, which was constructed in 1928. It is the last steam locomotive to operate on Long Island, having been retired in 1955. Donated by the LIRR to Nassau County, it was on exhibit at Salisbury Park (Eisenhower Park) for years, but was later moved to the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum.

Photos/Archives: The Emery collection at SUNY Stony Brook,  the OBRM collection with the Craft family photos, Art Huneke, and Ben Jankowski.  Research/Author: Ben Jankowski 

G5s #35 on Yard Track at Osborne Ave, Riverhead  - View NE  7/1935 Archive: Dave Keller

Engine #35 Memo: Move to park  - May 7, 1956
Archive: Dave Morrison

  Engine #35 move to Westbury (team) siding week of
  May 13, 1956 from Morris Park yard
  May 21, 1956 loaded to trailers
  May 22, 1956 moved to Salisbury Park, East Meadow
  May 23, 1956 installation at Salisbury Park

Emery Westbury MP21-22 5/1958 Eng. #35 moved to Team Tracks 5/13/1956  location #7 Archive: Dave Keller

Old No.35 Takes to Road
NY Times 5/22/1956 Archive: Dave Morrison

G5s #35 Broadside view

Form 19 PD Tower Loco 35 12/25/32
"No. 4045 PRR Eng 8496 meet No. 10 Eng 35 at Patchogue. No. 4045 take siding. No. 4045 gets this order at Patchogue."

G5s #39 Railfan Extra eastbound at Manorville 6/05/55
Archive: Dave Keller

 
G5s #39 Roslyn 8/1955  Photo: Frank Zahn

Engine #38 (#39) move Friday June 1, 1956 from Holban Yard to Stony Brook
June 4, 1956 moved onto hauler
June 5, 1956 move to the Carriage House, Stony Brook Museum

The crib work for removal from LIRR tracks was about 800 feet west of Stony Brook station.  It was a siding already in place at the time, but quite old and very "weedy".  Richard Glueck

 G5s #39 4-6-0 with number plate #38 at the Carriage House Museum in Stony Brook 8/24/1958

Juniata Shops G5s no.39 builder plate 6/1929 no.4207
Carriage House, Stony Brook Photo/Archive: Richard Glueck

The original builder's plates were not swapped out in 1956. The locomotive stood for decades wearing the #38 keystone, but also the #39 builder's plates. Richard Glueck

The picture (above center) is of Engine #39, not #38, at the Carriage House Museum in Stony Brook. The railroad gave #39's number plate to the famous Brooklyn Dodger catcher, no.39, Roy Campanella. He was in a car accident on Veterans Memorial Hwy and was paralyzed from the waist down.  The LIRR gave him the number plate from the #39 as an honor and his photo of the presentation of the plate by the LIRR appeared in the Long Island Railroader magazine (2/16/1956). When the engine was subsequently donated, they slapped on the plate for #38. Zillions of photographs, even postcards, were made with the  phony identity! #39 and #35 are the only engines preserved. Research: Art Single and Dave Keller 

The "Steam Up LIRR 39 Committee" has had an active search for the original #39 number board since 2014.  We've communicated with the L.A. Dodgers, the Campanella Foundation and Roy's daughter in California.  Everyone we've talked to denies ever knowing of the existence of the artifact.  We had to show his daughter the picture above to get her to understand it was once his. She handled his estate and the sale and bequest of his collections and she stated she never saw the number board throughout the auctions and house cleanings.  She thinks the number board might have been given away by her father when she was too small to remember.  It might have been so, but because the Brooklyn Dodgers retired Jersey Number 39 - that number board should have significant importance in the sports world and someone should be a proud owner!!  Oh well, maybe one day they will admit to having it.

    An interesting side note to our search is we "found" the original LIRR No. 38 number board that was placed on the locomotive before it was moved to Stony Brook.  The number board remained on the smoke box for twenty-five years while it was on exhibit at the Carriage House Museum.  The owner wants $5,000 for it and has no interest in making a donation to RMLI as he see's it as part of his retirement fund!!  LOL

    As to future restoration efforts and a No. 39 number board, with the assistance of PRRT&HS "Keystone" Editor, Chuck Blardone, we will have the same Pennsylvania foundry that reproduced the T-1 number board reproduce a new No. 39 when the time comes.  It will be an exact replica made to PRR specifications, thanks to the research and archives of the PRRT&HS and their members. 
Courtesy of Don Fisher - RMLI

Quads are chalked out between specific points. A small area is ground down or sanded on both inside and outside of the boiler and ultrasonic testing is applied.  Thickness is read in decimal amounts, and the numbers are crunched to determine the thickness, of the steel according to FRA requirements.  So it's both gridding  and grinding. Richard Glueck

2010 Photos/Archive: Richard Glueck

Eng #39crown sheet outdoors 2019 at Strasburg, PA.
Photo/Archive: Richard Glueck

Here's the actual #38 pulling a train westbound over Plainfield Ave. into Floral Park.  The Creedmoor branch is curving off in the left foreground with the former
passing siding and house track curving off to the right directly in front of the photographer.  View is SE  c.1950.  Archive: Dave Keller