Interlocking Walkthrough: WANTAGH

Welcome back to our next Interlocking Walkthrough, with this one being WANTAGH interlocking. WANTAGH, which is located just east of WANTAGH station on the Babylon Branch is a small, simple little interlocking on the Montauk branch that mainly only serves a duty during the peak hours. This interlocking, along with ROCKY, PORT, and AMITYVILLE, really help to give the Babylon Branch its world-renowned “flexibility”.

Here’s a quick look at the interlocking:

Like ROCKY, PORT, and AMITYVILLE, really all there is to see is a really simple pair of crossover tracks. Going from west to east there is a crossover from Montauk 2 (the eastbound track) to Montauk 1 (the westbound track), and then a couple hundred feet later, another crossover from Montauk 1 to Montauk 2. 

This interlocking is definitely not used very often. Back before East Side Access, they’d sometimes throat on the Babylon Branch, for example, they’d run a Babylon-New York express on track 1, then on track 2, they’d deadhead a Wantagh-NY train to WANTAGH, where’d it would switch back to the westbound track in order to begin its westbound run. However, nowadays, that’s not an issue, and all trains (even westbound and eastbound deadheads to/from Massapequa Pocket Track and Babylon Yard) just run on their respective track. 

WANTAGH interlocking used to sport a classy PENSY-position light style signal, however, the LIRR updated all the signals at WANTAGH and AMITYVILLE to Tri-color light signals.

As far as control goes, when it was first put into service, it was controlled by either BABYLON or PORT interlockins, but when PORT tower was demolished, VALLEY became its master controller.

Anyways, that should wrap up this interlocking. Next time, we’ll take a look at the largest interlocking in New York, HAROLD interlocking!

How the MTA Prepares for Snow

Now that we have far entered the peak-of-the-peak for snow, and that we've also received some snow on a couple of occasions, I think it would be cool to talk about how the MTA does deal with snow across the network. I believe it makes sense to first talk about the LIRR, then MNR, then New York City Transit.

The LIRR alone has quite a snow-fighting fleet. According to the MTA, this is the LIRR's snow-fighting equipment ready for deployment:

• 978,000 lbs. of de-icing material
• More than 22,000 linear feet of third rail heater
• 262 portable snowblowers / throwers
• 250 cars equipped with ice scrapers / contact shoes
• 235 chainsaws
• 167 portable generators
• 28 front loaders
• 25 cubic yards of sand
• 25 torches
• 17 box trucks
• 10 dump trucks
• Eight truck-mountable snow plows / salt spreaders
• Four de-icer trains
• Five excavators
• Three backhoe loaders
• Three cold-air rail snow blowers / throwers
• 2 double-ended snow broom/blower machines 
• Two forklifts

The captions aren’t working, so here’s a snow broom:

And, a snow blower at work out east: (I wish I had my own!)

A snow fighter, credit to MTA Flickr for all of these images:

Metro-North, the more wintry of the two has an even more impressive fleet.

• 1,816 ice scraper railcar mounted contact “shoes”
• 635 track switch heaters / melters
• 220 portable snowblowers / throwers
• 196 portable generators
• 146 chainsaws
• 70 Truck-Mountable Snow Plows / Salt Spreaders
• 21 front loaders
• 20 backhoes
• 20 excavators
• Six dump trucks
• Six cold-air rail snow blowers / throwers
• Three emergency response trailers
• Two rail-bound snow brooms

Here’s a limited look at one of Metro-North’s Jet powered snow blowers: 

And, the “Darth Vader” snow spreader:

NYC Transit has all of this equipment to help fight snow on it's elevated lines:

• More than 236,000 lbs. of de-icing material
• 9,300 gallons of diesel fuel
• 4,300 gallons of gasoline
• 2,770 ice scraper shoes
• 259 third rail heaters / melters
• 249 track switch heaters / melters
• 230 portable generators
• 218 jet engine powered blowers / snow melters
• 129 portable snowblowers / throwers
• 126 chainsaws
• 60 emergency response vehicles or road service trucks
• 56 box trucks
• 43 forklifts
• 42 torches
• 14 dump trucks
• 11 de-icer trains
• Eight truck mountable snow plows / salt spreaders
• Six front loaders
• Five excavators
• Four debris-clearing trains
• Three backhoe loaders

NYC Transit’s de-icer which constantly roams all over the system:

Now, that's quite an impressive fleet, and it does a good job. However, it doesn't mean service won't be disrupted if things get bad. So, if an awful lot does fall down, there really isn't much they can do to not have to curtail service while they attempt to get everything safely working again. The LIRR will suspend service if snow accumulations exceed 10-13 inches, and I believe the New York City Subway will first try to only run trains underground (i.e the Flushing Line will only run between 34- Hudson Yards and Hunters Point Avenue), and if things get too bad (blizzard conditions), they'll begin to really suspend service. Now, if they need to shovel the yards or keep trains underground during bad conditions, they’ll commonly keep trains parked in the express tracks, therefore, they are out of the way and don’t affect local service.

I think overall the MTA was an outstanding job keeping services alive during storms, because, all in all, people really shouldn't be travelling during storms unless it's absolutely necessary. 

I'm sorry this is late, I was hoping to get it out this morning, but I ended up being busy with real-life responsibilities.

If you need real-time information during a snowstorm, always check mta.info

A Rough Morning Commute on Martin Luther King Day

The first major snowstorm of 2025 just hit Long Island last night. We got at least 1-3 inches in most parts, some getting 2-4. I think a nice little snowstorm to really start us off. However, transportation in the area has definitely had a rough morning.

While the LIRR didn’t have to suspend any branches this morning, there was equipment trouble on the Montauk Branch, and switch trouble on the Ronkonkoma Branch, therefore really screwing up those who needed to go in today. Many Ronkonkoma Branch trains were delayed, including 2 in a row, and if this was on a normal weekday, I don’t think the LIRR would’ve gotten away with it, but since it’s a holiday, things were alright. One of my favorite trains, #7, which had already had a rough run between Montauk and Speonk, got even more delayed by having to receive substitute equipment at Speonk. It ended up arriving into Long Island City 50 minutes late.

All in all, The South Shore did a nice job this morning. And, the LIRR did a good job with communication, however, I definitely think for those unlucky people who do have to go in, it’s not a great start, however, I think the LIRR did a good job managing the chaos.

To make things even worse, train #1619 collided with a vehicle just west of Syosset, further screwing up the morning rush hour for Port Jefferson Branch riders. Multiple Port Jefferson trains got canceled at Huntington or Hicksville, and other trains racked up a lot of delay minutes. Another notable thing to note is that train #608, (the 7:53am from Jamaica to Port Jeff) ended up getting renumbered to #608CMBX and ended up making all the local stops between Jamaica and Hicksville.

As of the time of writing, service has pretty much gone back to normal, train #61, (the 9:40 from Patchogue), is cancelled because of #60 getting cancelled, but other than that, things have pretty much gone back to normal.

I’m hoping as people go back to work after the long weekend, things will go back to normal, and I hope the LIRR continues to do a better job managing all the chaos, especially at 6:00 in the morning!

Syosset Platform Gap

Syosset station on the Port Jefferson Branch’s location is quite a conundrum. On one hand, it’s an ideal location as it’s right in the middle of town, but on the other hand, it sits on a relatively sharp curve, meaning there’s a huge gap between the train platform.

The problem is, when a train with a straight side tries to pass the platform. If they don’t shave the platform back enough that the car ends can safely clear the platform, the train could collide with the platform.

So, the Syosset station platform has a enlarged gap at certain points because of the curve problem.

Not surprisingly, many of the door opening points at Syosset have platform gaps that range between 10 to 15 inches at the sharpest points. And, to make matters worse, the track is superelevated through the station to allow for faster operating speed and less wear and tear on the tracks. 

Back a couple of decades ago, there was a storm of gap-related incidents. And, there was even a couple month span where their were loads of gap incidents. With gap incidents come lawsuits, and the LIRR got quite a bit of time in court following this. Syosset, got the heat of the news as it was the location of many of these incidents. In January 1996, there was one day where 3 different gap incidents occurred in the same day. What a coincidence. 

Now, a gap of 10-15 inches should be easily manageable by any able-bodied adult, right, but with the age of smartphones and more and more people staring at there cellphones while stupidly attempting to board a train, the gap incidents have gone on a sudden rise. You’d think that the gap incidents would’ve gone down, right, considering the station has been there for only 159 years!! However, people don’t pay attention, if they could take their eyes off their smartphones for a mere 12 seconds to confirm their foot is extending onto the train, this wouldn’t be an issue. And if people do “fall” into the gap, they enjoy suing the LIRR for any injuries they may recieve. In my point of view, why should the LIRR have to pay for a person’s stupidity and lack of common sense. 

Since then, the LIRR has significantly ramped up their efforts to alert people of the gap. They started a signage campaign and this consisted of “Watch the gap” announcements on trains, and reminders to watch the gap all over the platforms and trains.

And Syosset is the jackpot of the effort. The invaluable vlog, The LIRR Today’s creator, Patrick, had made a similar post and he had gone to Syosset and counted how many watch the gap warnings there were. Can you guess? Take a guess and then scroll down.

The answer is 258!

Yep, you heard it right, there are at least 258 watch the gap signs of all types and sizes plastered all over the Syosset station

Here is a montage of photos of some of the different types of Watch the gap “merchandise” at Syosset:

In addition to all of that, the LIRR poured in the money to station a special “platform conductor” to help with the boarding and alighting process at the station. His main role is to help those who may require extra assistance when boarding or exiting. He’s stationed on the westbound platform in the morning, and eastbound in the afternoon.

Millions of more dollars have been spent on studies aiming to solve the door gap problem. Some have proposed gap fillers as seen in some NYC subway stations, however that would be ridiculously expensive and the gap isn’t even that big. Others have proposed moving the station however I think that obviously isn’t going to happen any time soon.

Instead, I think the best solution is (tell me if I’m wrong)

Step over the damn gap.

Snow, Snow, Snow: Winter Storm Demi

Rumor has it that we'll receive some snow tomorrow morning. Over the last couple decades, transit agencies like the LIRR and even MNR have the adopted the practice of halting train service if snowfall exceeds a certain amount. Typically, once snow reaches above 10-13 inches, they will suspend service systemwide. In the old days, snow would never halt the trains, and if need be, they'd put a snow plow on the head end.

Why? One would think a 65-ton M7 or a 140-ton DM would easily be able to power through a couple inches of fluffy snow, and that very well is the case. The only problem could occur if snowfall exceeds the height of the third-rail, but even in that case preventive methods could occur before, and worst case they could just use the DMs.

But, that's not the issue here. The real problem isn't found in the LIRR's operating department, but instead in the public affairs department. In late December 2009, a huge snowstorm hit Long Island to close out the year, and a early morning Main Line train running with diesel equipment destined for Ronkonkoma became stranded just east of Wyandanch. Because the conditions were so bad, it wasn't safe to unload the passengers and were told to just sit tight. The passengers were then stuck on the train for hours, waiting for some train to come along and rescue them. The Standard Operating Procedure suggests that a rescue train should be brought up just along side the disabled one and the passengers should be transferred over to the new train so they could be on their merry way. However, at that point, it was single-tracked around Wyandanch and a spare DE/DM set wasn't possible. Therefore, the passengers had to sit there until they could either get a DE/DM going or send a rescue engine. Eventually, a MP15 got out there, dragged the passengers to Farmingdale where the passengers were set on a spare set. The protect set stationed in Hicksville was unable to reach the train due to frozen switches east of Hicksville, so they used an engine that was supposed to run on a snow extra to Greenport. 

While it may not seam like a reason to halt snowstorm service, the news coverage on the incident was huge. Numerous news agencies covered the ordeal, and it wasn't good press for the railroad. The know-it-all Monday morning quarter-backing politicians were up in arms over the alleged "mishandling" of the situation. Ever since, the LIRR has been very skittish about operations in snow storms.

Nowadays, if snow totals exceed a certain amount they'll suspend service, therefore, if conditions do become bad, there won't be anyone on the trains to get stranded. Luckily, (well, for them), we don't get that much snow anymore, therefore, it's increasingly rare that this would be an issue. And, even if, they have lot's of snow fighting equipment.

Well, if we do actually get a decent amount of snow, which I hope, I'll definitely be shoveling tomorrow, and maybe even railfanning too, but I do have a nice post coming out tomorrow morning. Make sure to check back Monday as well, as I'll be elaborating further on the LIRR's snow operations!

The Belmont Problem

For years, there's been talk of providing full-time service to the tiny spur station known as Belmont Park. Even before the new UBS Arena, and the Belmont Park Redevelopment project, it's still been on people's wishlists as a park-and-ride facility.

Local officials from several levels of government— including the Town of Hempstead, and county/state legislatures have called on the MTA LIRR to establish full-time service to the spur station in the past. They have said it would provide more rail options for those who live in Elmont, Franklin Sq, and the unincorporated areas of North Valley Stream. These communities do not have their own rail stations, and parking at other nearby stations in western Nassau is limited and restricted to local residents, so if you live in these areas your largely shut-out from rail service, besides the one Elmont-UBS Arena Station which only gets 8 peak trains, and many of those go to Brooklyn.

By unlocking the large, underused parking lots at Belmont Park and allowing riders from both Western Nassau as well as Eastern Queens (where there are limited transit options as well) to park and ride on the LIRR, the MTA could expand access to a much larger potential ridership base in Eastern Queens and Western Nassau County, which both have very limited transit access, along with additional opportunities for those who drive to Manhattan.

For the retail and entertainment complex, Elmont-UBS Arena station is virtually useless. With most of the activity centered on the large south parking lot south of Hempstead Turnpike, the current Elmont station is nearly a mile-long hike from the retail complex. 

To add, both the retail shops and the UBS Arena are both reasonably closer to Belmont Park then to Elmont-UBS Arena, and while the LIRR does run shuttles during events, I think everyone can agree that it's much more sensible for people to be able to walk then to have to bare the burden of providing shuttle buses every event.

Therefore, I've concurred that it's much easier for people to get train service to Belmont Park then to Elmont-UBS Arena. I definitely think some rough form of full-time train service to Belmont Park spur station would be greatly appreciated in both the short and long-terms.

If the railroad does run a reasonably frequent service between Belmont Park and the western terminals, it could offload stops at Queens Village, Hollis, and Hillside (if needed), and all 3 of the Mainline stops (Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, and Woodside) onto trains to/from the spur station, that way the railroad could keep trains bound for other more important places moving, and it might allow the busy Ronkonkoma trains to drop Kew Gardens and Forest Hills which drastically slows down running times. 

Because of Belmont's close location to city terminals, improving service to the spur station might not need to many crew and equipment resources, trains that go out east can bounce back to Belmont Park for a second or third trip when they might not be able to make it all the way back to Babylon, Ronkonkoma, or Far Rockaway with enough time before the end of the rush hour.

A dormant spur

These calls for full-time service at the station have been ignored by the LIRR, which has never thought much of the spur. The "Manhattan & Ronkonkoma Railroad" seams perfectly content with letting Belmont Park wither and die by providing the bare minimum of service to the spur station for events, and by spending $106 million on a brand new mainline station that while is very nice, is literally in line of sight of 4 other stations, and isn't as close as Belmont Park is to these events. I would not be surprised if the LIRR seeks to abandon the spur in the near future.

The railroad has generally just ignored these requests, but it has offered a handful of excuses, too. These have ranged from limited western terminal capacity (which isn't an issue now that we have Grand Central Madison/ESA), as well as risks of congestion @ QUEENS interlocking as trains slowly crawl onto and off the spur. The new station, Elmont- UBS Arena, on the mainline, is located nearly 3-quarters of a mile from the arena, and even further from the retail complex, and it will slow down the commutes of everyone who passes through the area.

While you can argue that by providing additional service to the spur station, you'd be effectively forfeiting a slot that could be used to serve more riders coming from stations' further east, I believe the idea is still plausible. While full-time service to Belmont Park would mean a slight sacrifice to frequency further east along the Main Line, I strongly believe that by offloading local stops onto Belmont Park trains would not only make these trains much more useful, but it would also allow for suburban trips (i.e Ronkonkoma, Hempstead, and Huntington trips) to be faster, since these trips would be able to dump stops at Queens Village, Hollis, maybe even Hillside, and far few trains on all the branches to/from Eastern LI would need to bother stopping at the local stops along the Main Line between Jamaica and New York.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that providing some sort of full-time service to Belmont Park would not only be beneficial for nearby residents, but also for the entire railroad. Not only would it provide better service for residents of Eastern Queens and Western Nassau, but it will also allow for faster suburban trips if used properly, and it will allow for quicker access to events at the nearby arena. 

Full weekday service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the LIRR

The LIRR is observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day at his year with a full weekday schedule, a change from some prior years where the railroad operated on a “Modified Weekday Schedule”. 

While not enough service is a frequent complaint, too much service is also cause for concern. Yes, by having the full suite of weekday service is handy for those that go to work, it means the LIRR can’t be operating at a profit. 

The LIRR had done a study taking ridership counts on trains arriving and departing Penn Station on MLK day since 2010, and while ridership had been more then on a normal Saturday or Sunday, it’s only 27% of that of a normal rush hour. 

I’d think that with so many people working from home nowadays, and the fact that people get off, they’d run a modified weekday at the best, I guess I’m wrong on this.

Martin Luther King, .Jr Day is a paid holiday for most of the railroad’s represented employees, and all of those whom are working to provide full weekday service are paid a time and a half beyond the one day’s pay that other holidays use. I have nothing against that- it’s right that they get paid extra, however it’s surprising considering the fact that the LIRR is on a budget.

I personally think it’s a nice thing that they do, (especially with the extra opportunities to railfan), however, by doing this, they are sacrificing a bit and it questions how they are spending their money. 

Interlocking Walkthrough: SK

It’s been a while since I’ve posted because I’ve been busy with school and other things, and I’ve also been putting the final touches on a couple of upcoming projects. Let’s discuss our second Montauk Branch interlocking, SK (aka Speonk). The interesting thing about this interlocking is that it’s the easternmost interlocking that’s actually more then just a siding.

SK interlocking begins just to the west Speonk station platform, and continues over North Philips Avenue. Speonk Yard is actually one of the few yards on the railroad that is remotely-controlled. Nonetheless, I personally think this is a nice little yard, and it contains a couple of tracks for storing diesel sets for The Montauk Branch.

For the most part, the yard is actually well-used and the yard tracks often will store trains overnight that will then represent the 5 peak runs out of Speonk in the morning. Longer sets such as the two DMs (the first one from Southampton deadheads out there early in the morning), can be parked on tracks 1 and 2.

In addition, Speonk is home to one of the very few wyes on the LIRR. The wye isn’t very long, so it’s not like they can turn a whole 4 car set (let alone a DM set), however, they could turn a MP15 or DE/DM if need be. The center of the wye/yard also houses a collection of trailers and crew parking spots therefore many crews report here.

As of May 6, 2006, new signals went into service and therefore splitting SK interlocking into 2 interlockings SK 1 and SK 2. SK 1 is the part leading to the yard and switches, while SK 2 is south of the tracks/ E. of station. By the way, the Speonk Freight Track, which runs south of The Montauk Branch, is not considered part of the yard.

Neighbors:

SK is quite a lone interlocking, with HB bordering it to the east and JJD interlocking bordering it to the west in Mastic-Shirley.

Also, since it's Flashback Thursday, here's a excellent photo I found of Speonk Yard:

Anyways, that’s about it for SK interlocking. While there’s not too much to say about this interlocking, it’s quite an important one!

Late Friday Links 1/3

Happy New Year! It's difficult to find relevant links right now, because there's not much in the news, but we might be getting some snow this Monday, which would be nice considering I go back to School on Monday for the first time since 12/20. 

• Car Hit Central Islip

Unfortunately last Saturday a car was hit early at Central Islip.

• Mastic-Shirley Rider Enraged

So apparently this Mastic-Shirley rider is enraged with construction going on at the station which I somehow didn't know about.

• Year In Review 2024 

I also forgot this one, I'm adding it later while working on another post, the MTA released this article and it's definitely interesting and nice to see.

I know neither of those articles are very interesting, but I felt like getting something out. I'm not looking forward to this weekend, as I know I'm going back to School on Monday but hopefully they'll be some snow and SNOW DAYS to look forward to. 

The Weekender

If you pay attention to the MTA, chances are you've heard of "The Weekender".  As service changes grew, it became difficult for subway riders to keep track of all the service changes going around in the system so what did the MTA do? They came up with this!

Basically, what The Weekender is is this newsletter that is sent on Fridays roughly between 1 to 3pm. There's also a website version of it. It lists all the subway service changes for the upcoming weekend and lists travel alternatives.

However, as The LIRR Today said it, "a little bit of sibling rivalry develops here." How come the MTA's other agencies don't get one? I live in Sayville so I don't give a hoot if R trains are or aren't running between Bay Ridge and 36 St. I personally enjoy looking at it for the lines I do like such as the 7, 4, and A lines, and it's important to note that they do offer an additional email that lists service changes for only lines you select (it includes railroads).

I'm not complaining about the current Weekender newsletter or website, however I am saying that I think they should implement railroad service changes into it so people who live on the railroads (such as myself) can also make use out of it and everything will be in one central place so it's not an eyesore to try to find everything.

I also like that they normally add a little gif  to the emails, which I think is quite a funny thing to see from a transit agency.

Interlocking Walkthrough: AMITYVILLE

Happy New Year! To kickoff our first post of 2025, let’s discuss our second interlocking, with that being Amityville, which is not actually in Amityville itself, it’s actually in Massapequa, but it’s right next to Amityville station, hence it’s name.

If you look carefully, you’ll see that all it is is a right-hand switch followed by a right-hand switch, and you’ll also notice that while Amityville station sits in Suffolk County, AMITYVILLE interlocking actually sits on the other side of the county border in Massapequa.

Switches 

AMITYVILLE is a very simple interlocking. It only has two switches (going east to west:) from Montauk 1 (the westbound track) to Montauk 2 (the eastbound track), and from Montauk 2 (the eastbound track) back to Montauk 1 (the westbound track)

These switches are barely used, especially nowadays as trains don’t terminate in Massapequa Park much anymore, therefore, it’s only used to switch a couple of trains during rush hours, but other than that, they don’t see much use.

Signals

AMITYVILLE has the modern, tri-colored signals, found in similar interlockings such as WANTAGH and PD. Here's a photo of the signals from a friend of mine, MrMaster767:

Towers

There’s no switch tower at AMITYVILLE interlocking, instead all movements are controlled from VALLEY tower, a bit west to Valley Stream.

Neighbors

AMITYVILLE is neighbored to the west by WANTAGH interlocking (a very similar interlocking), and is neighbored to the east by BABYLON interlocking, a much more complex interlocking in and around Babylon and yard.

This should do it for AMITYVILLE. If you have any questions, comments, or things you’d like to see covered in the future, please contact me at gavin.s.wilcox@gmail.com