RMLI Steam Team

Riverhead Railroad Festival CANCELED

August 29 at 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
August 30 at 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

The Railroad Museum of Long Island sadly announces that due to the COVID-19 pandemic our “Twenty-First Annual Riverhead Railroad Festival” is CANCELED for 2020. Initially scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, August 29 and 30, the Festival will be postponed until August 29 and 30, 2021. We invite you to mark your 2021 calendars now, we look forward to a fresh and healthy start next year.

New - Long Island Duckling Stock Car for 2020 delivery!

The Railroad Museum of Long Island's twenty-third LIONEL "O" Scale Collectible Toy Train Car - Order NOW through Friday, FEB 24, 2020!

In the early 1870’s the first Chinese Peking Ducks in America were imported to New York City. From that initial stock, a drake and three ducks were bred in Connecticut and found to be a hearty breed for the New World.

The streams and creeks of Eastern Long Island were ideal for providing clean, fresh water for ducklings to grow and thrive. Thus, in the 1880’s a tremendous enterprise of duck “ranching” began on Long Island. The succulent Long Island Duckling became the height of fine dining on steamships, railroad dining cars and restaurants in New York City. Our Duckling’s fame and tender meat spread across the country and World-wide - as far away as China!

Railroads built specialized stock cars for the transport of poultry. The cars were similar in design to pig and cow cars but held shelving along the inner perimeter for the placement of cages holding the feathered stock. A small room or shanty was built inside the car and a caretaker would ride with the fowl, caring for them, providing fresh drinking water and feed as they traveled to market.

At its earliest, the Long Island Duckling traveled live to market in New York City. Eventually, a growing demand and improved technology lead to the harvesting of the ducks right at the ranch, their feathers were saved for down and they were dressed and placed in barrels for shipment to market. Today’s Long Island Duckling is harvested, dressed and flash frozen, packaged and shipped to western markets in modern refrigerator trucks.

As an early “duck rancher,” ship your live ducks to market in this accurately road numbered stock car. Serve succulent Long Island Ducklings to all the passengers on your layout’s “Broadway Limited” and “20th Century Limited” passenger trains! Use this link to download an order form, thank you! https://rmli.org/toy-trains/collectible-cars/