The railroad museum is open for all ages, and can be accessed more easily with the new TRAR app (Photo provided by the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum)
The Oyster Bay Railroad Museum is one of four historic sites that received an Award for Excellence from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network.
The historic sites were given the award at the GHHN’s “Embracing Innovation” conference last month. The railroad museum is recognized for implementing new technology with the Digital Tapestry program.
Digital Tapestry compiles “13 different historical sites and museums,” said Ann Balderston-Glynn, a railroad museum board member.
All the sites and museums are located on Long Island and aim to deliver an immersive educational experience, she said.
The Digital Tapestry program has three different augmented reality apps, including the 1776AR, 1502AR and TRAR.
The railroad museum is a part of the TRAR app, which stands for the Theodore Roosevelt Augmented Reality experience.
The TRAR app launched about a year ago and is the first step in the museum’s modernization, Balderston-Glynn said.
The TRAR experience provides virtual tours and scripts from the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center, Meadow Croft and Montauk Historical Society as well.
“In our museum, it is a total outside experience,” Balderston-Glynn said.
She said the app will allow visitors greater access to the museum’s resources.
The museum is open seasonally from April through November. The app will allow visitors to “experience a bit of the museum year-round,” Balderston-Glynn said.
The app is a “supplement to visiting” during the museum’s off-season for a “totally different experience,” she said.
The app offers anecdotes and stories that visitors would not get on site, Balderston-Glynn said.
It’s “kind of its own exhibit,” she said.
Balderston-Glynn said her favorite story from the app is about a dog named Roxey.
Roxey was a well-known dog that rode on the railroad during Roosevelt’s time. On several occasions, she said, the dog traveled with Theodore Roosevelt in his private car to Oyster Bay and visited Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s “Summer White House.”
Balderston-Glynn went on to say it is “really important to be recognized by an organization like the Greater Hudson Heritage Network,” which focuses on programming, conservation of objects. and interpretation of collections across the state.
She said the additional resources will be offered for locals “in hopes that they’ll come back” to the museum.
Balderston-Glynn said the app is the “first and biggest attempt” the museum has made to modernize.
She said the museum has also added an M7 simulator into the museum yard. Long Island Rail Road employees use the simulator to train and allow visitors to act as a conductor.
She said the museum hopes to bring in the younger generation with the new additions.
The TRAR app is available on both Android and Apple devices. For more information on the museum and its programming, visit www.obrm.org.