The LIRR's Named Trains

A while back I received a couple of older Montauk Branch timetables from back in the 80s and one thing I realized is just how many similarities there were to our schedules in terms of service patterns.

I decided the best way to display these old relics is to list out each one's name, when it ran, and it's departure/arrival time. Now, there are two sets of trains I was able to group them into with the first one being trains that ran only to/or ended before World War 2, and the second group being ones that ran into the MTA years after the MTA was formed in 1966. I hope this makes it slightly easier to distrugish them.

Before I start, I’d also like to say that I cannot guarantee accuracy on these trains. While I tried to factcheck, I cannot guarantee that everything said about each of these trains, specifically pre-World War 2 is fully accurate. This is due to their being limited material to work with, and little timetable evidence. You must remember that most of these trains ran over 100 years ago. I included as much information about each train as I can find.

Named Trains - Pre World War 2:

"The Greenport Express" - Summer Friday-only from New York to Greenport, all parlor- car, left New York at 4:01pm, made Jamaica then ran nonstop to Calverton, before stopping at Aquebogue and all stops to Greenport arriving there at 6:48pm.

Inside parlor car from Greenport

"The Block Island Express" - Summer Friday-only from Long Island City to Montauk via the Montauk Branch with connection to ferry to Block Island.

“Cannon Ball” - “The Cannonball” is old remnant of the old Summer Friday-only all-parlor car “Cannon Ball” train which ran from New York to Manorville, where the train split in half with one portion going to Greenport and the other to Montauk.

“The East Moriches Special” - Summer Saturday-only train from Long Island City to East Moriches. Likely targeted for fisherman.

“The Fisherman’s Special” - April-October-only train from Long Island City to Canoe-Place and Montauk. Left early in the morning to allow a full day for fisherman. Ran to Canoe Place in April, then made an added stop in Montauk in May. Interestingly, on the return trip, they actually provided a dedicated railway express agency car to store and ice the newly-caught fish. Isn’t that neat. Another thing to note is that I didn't include the actual dates these trains ran as they’re so unreliable.

Fisherman's Special (Photo: Trains Are Fun)

“The Hampton Express” - Summer-only train from New York to Montauk, left Penn Station at 9:49am, arrived Montauk at 1:40pm

“The Long Island Seabreeze” - Sunday-only train from New York to Montauk with boat connection to New London

“The Montauk Express” - Summer-only train from Montauk to Long Island City

“The Montauk Special” - Summer Friday-only train from Pittsburgh to Montauk via New York (2:05pm) making Southampton and Montauk only arriving at 4:05pm. Return-trip left Montauk at 7:45am, made Southampton, before New York at 10:30am.

“The Moriches Special” - Summer Saturday-only train from Long Island City to East Moriches, later renamed “East Moriches Special”

“The New York Express” - Ran westbound from Montauk to New York, left Montauk 2:06pm, and made all local stops to Patchogue (besides Golf Grounds), before Jamaica and New York arriving at 6:12pm.

Interior of push-pull parlor cars (Photo: MTA)

“The Patchogue Express” - Summer-only train from Long Island City to Patchogue.

“The Patchogue Express (Brooklyn Section)” - Summer-only train from Flatbush Avenue to Patchogue, originally “The Patchogue Special”.

“The Saturday Special” - Saturday-only train from New York to Montauk/Greenport. It was then split into two trains, “The Peconic Bay Express” which went to Greenport and “The Shinnecock Express” which left Penn Station at 12:55pm, then ran non-stop to Speonk before making all local stops to Montauk arriving there at 4:25pm.

 (Photo: Richard Glueck/Trains Are Fun)

"The Shelter Island Express" - Summer Friday-only, extra-fare train from Long Island City to Greenport.

“The South Shore Express” - First-class, all-parlor car train from New York to Montauk

“The South Shore Limited” - Little is known other than it running from Long Island City to Eastport via the Montauk Branch.

“The Special Limited” - Summer Friday-only, all-first class train from Long Island City to Montauk. Originally known as "The Hamptons Limited".

The Sunrise Special in 1927

"The Sunrise Special" - Summer-only, all-first-class, extra-fare train from Long Island City to Montauk on Fridays, and back on Mondays. 

Let’s now take a look at trains that ran after World War 2. These named trains are some of my favorites.

Named Trains - Post World War 2:

Railfan Extra w/Parlor Cars (Trains Are Fun)

"The Hampton Express" - Summer Friday-only train from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk, left HPA at 3:24pm and arriving into Montauk at 6:13pm

"The Cannon Ball" - Summer Friday-only parlor-car train from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk, which left Hunterspoint Avenue at 4:12pm, made Jamaica, then Westhampton, Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, and Montauk arriving at 6:59pm.

“The Sunrise Special” - Summer Friday-only parlor-car train from from Jamaica, which left Jamaica at 6:13pm then ran nonstop to Westhampton, then making Hampton Bays and all local stops to Montauk, arriving at 8:50pm.

The Friday Hamptons timetables were revamped in the 1980s, and by the end of 1989, they looked more like this, 

"The Hampton Express" - Summer Friday-only parlor-car train from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk, which left Hunterspoint Avenue at 2:07pm, made Jamaica, before operating non-stop east to Westhampton before making all local stops to Montauk besides Southampton Campus, arriving in Montauk at 4:50pm.

 (Photo: Retired Railfan Horn Guy)

"The Montauk Light" - Summer Friday-only parlor-car train from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk, which left Hunterspoint Avenue at 4:12pm, making Jamaica, Westhampton, Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, and Montauk, arriving in Montauk at 6:38pm. This literally ran on the Cannonball's schedule and I guess this was the replacement name for the Cannonball during this time. It's unfortunate that such a great train name "The Montauk Light" had to be used to replace the most famous name of them all. 

“The Sunrise Special” - Summer Friday-only parlor-car train from from Jamaica, which left Jamaica at 6:13pm then ran nonstop to Westhampton, then making Hampton Bays and all local stops to Montauk, arriving at 8:50pm.

"The South Shore Express" - Summer Friday-only 7:05pm parlor-car train from Jamaica to Montauk making Bay Shore, Sayville, Patchogue, Mastic-Shirley, Westhampton, Hampton Bays, and all local stops to Montauk arriving around 9:40pm.

"The Cannonball" - Summer Sunday-only 6:30pm parlor-car train from Montauk making East Hampton, Bridgehampton, and Southampton, before Westhampton and operating non-stop to Jamaica arriving at 8:50pm. 

 

“The Beachcomber” - Summer Sunday-only 8:30pm parlor-car train from Montauk making East Hampton, Bridgehampton, and Southampton, before Westhampton and operating non-stop to Jamaica arriving at 10:50pm.

“The Wall St. Special” - And last but not least, my personal favorite, the Wall St Special which was the 7:00am Summer Monday-only parlor service from Montauk to Jamaica which made all local stops to Westhampton before Jamaica. This train still runs to this day except it’s not called this anymore and it makes more local stops unfortunately.

And finally, let's take a look at the current named trains that still exist to this day starting with the famous Cannonball train from Penn Station to Montauk.

Current Named Trains:

"The Cannonball" - Summer Friday-only from Penn Station to Montauk, departing New York at 4:07pm, arriving in Montauk at 6:56pm.

"The Cannonball West" - Summer Sunday-only from Montauk to Penn Station, departing Montauk at 6:21pm, arriving into New York at 9:10pm. Note that it's no longer noted as this on the timetable.

UNOFFICIAL -"The Advance Cannonball" - Summer Friday-only from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk, departing Hunterspoint at 1:11pm, arriving in Montauk at 4:14pm.

And that concludes the list. I hope that the LIRR will make an effort to bring back more of the old train names, especially as they get new diesel equipment and can improve service east of Babylon. It pays tribute to those who spent years working on the railroad, and pays tribute to all the expansive history the LIRR has had through it's three decades in operation! This is something I'll work in on my later versions on my Montauk Branch/South Fork reworked timetables.

While researching for this post, I realized how much I wish I could go back in time and see these all parlor-car trains flow down the Montauk Branch myself. If you study the actual timetables, you'll notice that a lot of the trains that ran back 100 years ago from today still run to this day under similar schedules. It's crazy to think that the same trains people rode 100 years ago still exist to this day. I don't know whether to say that's a good thing or not!

As always, if you have any questions/comments/thoughts/suggestions/etc, feel free to leave a comment down below, I'd like to keep this list accurate so if I forgot any please let me know!

1998 Station Eliminations

Came the 90s came the modern-post 2000s era of the LIRR with sleek DE and DM locomotives with futuristic C3s hauling them, and gone were the ratty old MP15ACs which many of which still serve in freight service to this day. While EMD and Kawasaki were building the new equipment, the LIRR had to do some preparations for the arrival of this new equipment.

Much like how the M1s worked, the C3s would only be able to platform at high-level stations, therefore, the railroad would have to go around and convert the few remaining low-level stations to high-level stations.

By the 90s, all of the stations on the Port Jefferson Branch east of Huntington had already been converted as the C1 test cars had already begun service however many of the stations on the Main Line east of Ronkonkoma and on the Montauk Branch hadn't been converted.

Therefore, the LIRR sent out crews to begin building these new platforms.

While high-level platforms have many benefits, one of them isn't being cheap, and building more than 30 of them at once would cost quite a bit, therefore, the LIRR constructed many of these 1990s platforms at shorter lengths then seen on platforms at many stations. Platforms on the Port Jefferson Branch and at Bay Shore were constructed with a full 12-car long platforms however the stations on the Montauk Branch were only 4 to 8 cars and the cars east of Ronkonkoma were a measly one car length! That choice has come back to them as summer loading on the Montauk Branch at stations connecting to the Fire Island Ferries and at many of the stations in the Hamptons is very slow. 

And while they didn't go cheap and did construct high-level stations at most of those 30 or so stations, the railroad also did single-out a couple unlucky ones and shortened their platforms to 0 cars long.

A sign informing customers of Quogue’s retirement.

On March 16th, 1998, the LIRR abandoned service at 10 stations with many of those being on the Montauk Branch. Trains on the Montauk, Oyster Bay and Greenport branches made their final stops at Penny Bridge, Fresh Pond, Haberman, Richmond Hill, Glendale, Quogue, Center Moriches, Mill Neck, Southampton Campus, and Holtsville.

The first five of those stations were along the Lower Montauk Branch. The Lower Montauk Branch had long been struggling to keep ridership and it wasn't surprising they cut the cord for these stations.

Penny Bridge was located at Calvary Cemetery near Newtown Creek in Laurel Hill (map), and was a very small station with only a low platform and a shelter. It got it's name from a bridge of same name that linked Laurel Hill, Queens to Brooklyn. The station only had one daily rider when it closed so it's not at all surprising that it did meet it's fate.

Penny Bridge (Photo: Dave Keller Archive)

Haberman was another small station, this one located in Maspeth, Queens (map) like Penny Bridge, it also had a low-level platform. The station had opened in September 2010, and still had manual crossing gates, a guard shack as recently as 1973. It only had 3 daily riders when it closed in 1973.

The next station was Fresh Pond. Fresh Pond was another small station positioned with a low-level island platform that sat at the point where the Bushwick Branch diverged off the Montauk Branch (map). The station was west of Fresh Pond Yard, a major freight yard even to this day.

Next was Glendale, which easily was the smallest of these stations, only consisting of a stool to discharge passengers. As for ridership it only had two of them per day. No wonder this one got closed!

(Photo: LIRR History)

The next and last of the Lower Montauk stations was Richmond Hill, which unlike the others, had a long, elevated, high-level platform. Despite the station having a long, high-level platform, it was only used by one person and was closed in March of 1998. Even though it could have remained open for no cost, it just wasn't worth it considering it was the odd one out on this branch. As you can see the BMT Jamaica Avenue Line passed right over it (map).

When the remaining Lower Montauk Branch stations were closed, this branch was only served by just two Oyster Bay Branch trains, with one in the morning and one in the evening in the peak direction. Others travelled via the Lower Montauk, but none of them stopped at these stations. Train 507 was the final revenue train to travel via the Lower Montauk Branch on a daily basis before it too stopped doing so in October 2012 after Hurricane Sandy.

Mill Neck was the one Oyster Bay Branch station to be abandoned. The station was located between Locust Valley and Oyster Bay (map). The station had lower-level platform, and some 12 to 20 passengers used it before it was eliminated. The station actually survived through quite a lot, being burned down twice in it's history. The station building is now used as a town hall. 

A colorized photo of Holtsville in 1959 (Photo: Trains Are Fun)  

Holtsville was another one of the 10 closed during the 1998 Station Eliminations. This one was located between Ronkonkoma and Greenport on the Scoot. It was located at Waverly Avenue (map). It originally opened in 1843 as Westerly but was then changed to Holtsville in 1897 as did the surrounding area. This station was little-used back in 1998 when it closed, but the area has grown quite a bit since then. I personally think that if they improve service out on the North Fork (not even electrifying), then there could be talks of reopening this one. The Suffolk County Traction Company's trolly line terminated south of Holtsville, after running south from Patchogue. They planned to extend it to Port Jeff, but never finished it as the company went bankrupt.

Center Moriches was located between Mastic-Shirley and Speonk on the Montauk Branch. The station consisted of one low-level side platform on the south side and that was about it. The station had two tracks because of MO siding. Like Bellport which would've been the 11th but faced a lot of local opposition associated with it's closure and ended up being saved, only saw a few riders and even fewer trains.

Some residents in the area have had some interest in seeing Center Moriches station reopened. The Moriches area has grown quite a bit in the past few years, and many believe it could sustain enough ridership to warrant service similar to what is seen at Bellport.

These final two stations were located on the second most remote part of the LIRR- the South Fork east of Speonk. 

Quogue station in 1997 (Photo: Trains Are Fun)

The first of these two was Quogue which was located between Westhampton and Hampton Bays. Quogue was yet another tiny, roadside shack with almost no ridership. Once they eliminated Quogue, most of the Hamptons stations were pretty evenly spaced from each other. I wouldn't say ridership would warrant this station being reopened as there's little development in the area of the original station (map).

And finally, Southampton Campus. This was another little-used, roadside station that opened in 1974, with the goal of serving LI University's Southampton College (map). As attendance at Southampton College declined, so did the station which closed like the others in 1998 (SUNY Southampton closed in 2005.) SUNY Stony Brook took over and is now called "Stony Brook Southampton", and Stony Brook Southampton has covered slightly but I don't think it would warrant it's own station again. Even if they were to reopen this station, they'd probably cheap it out and have it run like Bellport used to with only a limited number of the already limited number of trains that pass by it actually stop there, and you'd get cheaped out when you could go to Southampton which is only five minutes east and is more then plenty to serve this area and college.

At the end of the day, the main reason the LIRR even closed these stations was due to money issues. You'd be suprised at how much the LIRR actually saved by not having to close these stations. The LIRR told The New York Times in 1998 that rebuilding these stations would cost about $260,000 to $2.25 million per station, and to spend $2.25 million for a station which only serve 30 or so people at maximum daily is just not worth it. I'm sure the money the LIRR saved was much better used elsewhere. 

At this point, I think it's mega unlikely the Lower Montauk Branch will ever return, as there's really no good reason to reopen it. Ridership was low in the first place, and there's no good reason to reopen the stations in the first place, and with the IBX, thats even more unlikely. To be honest, if they electrify out to Port Jefferson and Patchogue chances are that Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City may close as well as sad as that is. If they ever improve service out on the East End and on the North fork, it may make sense in the future to reopen some of those stations and if the Oyster Bay Branch were ever to be electrified (not that I’m suggesting that), then maybe they could warrant a reopen of Mill Neck but I don’t know.

In conclusion, these stations will always be remembered in LIRR history.

What Happened to the C1's?

For those of us (myself proudly included) who live out in LIRR diesel territory have heard of the C3s- (or even better have not just heard of them) the LIRR’s cool-looking bi-level coaches that get pulled by diesel engines.

But what few know is that the C3s actually had a predecessor- the C1s. The C1s were prototype cars built by Kawasaki for the LIRR to tour around the railroad to show off these new, futuristic systems and amenities to see if it appealed to passengers and to see if it would “work” on the LIRR.

To be honest, the C1s were basically just a scaled-back version of the C3s. They had the same basic general design, and the same basic features, with the C3 just including a more full “suite of amenities.” The LIRR and Kawasaki basically just collected input from passengers to create the trains we now call the C3s. They only built them for testing purposes and not to stay in the fleet, explaining why only 10 were built. Time for a fun fact? Did you know that the FRA changed it’s definition in the book therefore the way that some C1s were coupled would be considered a “married pair”, similar to what we see on the M3s, M7s, and M9s, therefore technically there were 5 sets of C1s roaming around!

Here are a couple of videos for if you’d like to see these cars when they were in service:

When the LIRR made one of it’s best decisions to purchase the beloved C3s, the C1s became the oddballs of the fleet with no real purpose. They could only be pulled by certain modified engines, and to add insult to the injury, they couldn’t even be paired up with the C3s. And why weren’t they you may ask? They’re literally supposed to be very similar cars? Well, it’s the LIRR and who knows why. The C1s had different couplers and the C1s couplers proved to be a big limiting factor for those cars. The C1s couplers were actually quite similar to those found on the M1s and M3s, however, they obviously couldn’t be coupled to them as those were MU cars and these were powerless coaches and they couldn’t be coupled to C3s (or their engines for that matter) as the C3s had more conventional couplers and the C1s had 27-point jumpers (like just about every other railroad in the world), meanwhile the C3s had 36-point jumpers, a very odd choice. The C1s were also known to be a pain maintenance-wise requiring heavy maintenance and being a pain to maintain.

So, in the end, it would’ve cost much more to retrofit these cars for service with the other cars then it would to just buy 10 more C3s, therefore the LIRR chose the sad but much more logical decision. While the C1s had a short life, it was a fulfilling one and as a matter of fact, the C1s were also the first cars to get to experience dual-mode technology as they were the first cars to run on the LIRR’s new dual-mode train from Port Jefferson to Penn Station on weekday and as you can guess, people really took a liking for these 1 seat rides as we now have 11 of them per weekday!

(Photo: s2vAA777 on YouTube)

But whatever happened to the C1s?

When the LIRR was through with the C1s, they sat collecting dust for a while before being sold elsewhere to various heritage railways.

These C1s belonged to the Saratoga & North Creek Heritage Railway in Upstate NY which as of July 2018, sadly closed its doors. 

These C1s have been found on the Rio Grande Senic Railroad, however I can’t tell whether or not those cars are still there.

And if you'd like to actually board the C1s, the Cape Cod Central Rail Road also has some in service and as a added bonus, they are pulled by FL9's as they were in LIRR service.

And, I may even be visting Cape Cod Central Railway this Winter to ride the Polar Express train and experience these cars for myself, something I never got to experience before.

If you’d like to see more photos of this train, there’s a website with them. 

In conclusion, the C1s will always hold a special place in my heart for being the prototype to my favorite railcars. 

The Great Port Washington Branch Terminal Mess of 2023

In today’s post, I will be telling a tale of LIRR scheduling— a story that is crazy on many levels (well, not really)

It all started when the LIRR noticed ridership feedback suggesting people wanted more express trains to Penn Station, so with the fourth round of major changes to the timetables came GO 203- which had quite a lot in store for the Port Washington Branch! The LIRR announced that based on “community feedback”, they’d be making several changes to morning rush hour service to provide more express trains from Nassau County to Penn Station.

They announced these changes on the Port Washington Branch:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service. 
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service. 
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later. 
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

Now, chances are, after reading this, your wondering whether or not this was really a good idea. And, I can assure you, it wasn’t.

The LIRR claimed they gutted all morning rush hour service to Grand Central based on calls from riders for more fast express trains to Penn Station. But, the truth is, the LIRR still cannot understand that commuters want more trains, not the reshuffling of existing trains. And as you can see, this made riders furious.

For riders traveling via the North Shore to Penn Station during the morning rush, this new GO offered 9 PEAK trains (8 direct, 1 transfer at Woodside, and 2 useless trains with no connections). For those unlucky travelers looking to get from the North Shore to New York via Grand Central, the November service plan offered riders from the busiest part of the Port Washington Branch just 6 trains— one of which only 3 of those were direct, and 3 of those require transfers. The other 55 were useless with no viable connections.

One of the main issues of that service change was the fact that of these trains, 7 don’t even have viable connections! If your going to run more trains to one terminal, at the least almost all those trains should have viable connections to the other terminal. The fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t pass through Jamaica had actually been celebrated until East Side Access, when it became a big problem. Without Jamaica, Port Washington Branch riders have many less transfer opportunities. In many cases, their only options are to either drop back to an earlier train on the Port Washington Branch (i.e drop back to a local train at Great Neck or Bayside) or make a very irritating up-and-over at Woodside. The first case is normally the better option but it adds lots of travel time since not only do you have to sit through all those annoying local stops, but you also have to wait out in the cold, snow, rain, sleet, heat, etc.

Soon afterwards, the LIRR riders noticed how badly things were getting and demanded changes. A Change.org petition was started on October 26, 2023 to run more trains to Grand Central and got over 1,000 signatures. However, the LIRR ignored this and my guess for this is that they wanted to see the damage being done before they decided to correct it.

One frustrated rider recorded the nonsense and frustration onboard the 7:19am train right after the November 2023 service changes began. Feat. a trainload full of cold and pissed passengers disembarking onto the cold platform at Great Neck to wait for the local while their 12-car train that was nearly empty pulled away. If you’d like to view the video, here’s the link.

Now, for the part of the tale that will keep you on the edge of your seats (not really). The LIRR decided to schedule two express trains from Port Washington to Penn Station 5 minutes apart!!!!!! These trains, 315 and 319 would depart at 7:14 and 7:19am respectively, and only the second one had a 6-minute wait for a Great-Neck local connection. When’s the next train you ask? 36 minutes later. And yet the LIRR boasted about how it’s new schedules would make wait times more consistent across the rush hour.

To make matters worse, this second 7:19am train still ran with 12 cars and barley averaged 15-20% loads after people got off at Great Neck to transfer to other trains. And spoiler, even to this day, I still quite often see this train with barely anyone on it thanks to how close they are.

@LIRR congrats, you’re running a virtually empty 12 car westbound 7:19am express train from PW to Penn just 5 minutes after another Penn bound express departed! This as the GCM bound is packed after the GN xfer. This is absurd. Please explain your rationale. pic.twitter.com/vF5wTY4zM7

— Biz (@ebisman) November 13, 2023

After mounting pressure from local officials including one of the NYS senators, the LIRR finally reverted two of those trains to go back to Grand Central. 

Of those changes, these are the ones that have been modified or reverted:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service.
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service.
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later.
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

In conclusion, if this was happening in 2025 it would be a huge problem, and even then, I believe it was poor service planning, but considering the LIRR was still a bit disoriented after the opening of ESA with all these changes, complaints, comments still going around, I think it should be a lesson learned. 

The rest of the posts this week will focus on the Port Washington Branch as we lead up to unveil of our first timetable!

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 LIRR's Darkest Day

Today, December 7, marks the 31st anniversary of one of the LIRR’s darkest days. On December 7, 1993, the 5:33pm LIRR mainline train from Penn Station bound for Hicksville was soon to be making its routine station stop at Merillon Avenue when Colin Ferguson opened fire on the train’s passengers. By the time he was stopped by the other passengers, six people were dead and nineteen were injured. When the train made it to Merillon Avenue, passengers began to spill out (many people in the adjacent cars didn’t know what was going on until Merillon Avenue). 

Luckily, an off-duty police officer who was picking up his wife apprehended Ferguson when the train reached Merillon Avenue. The incident occurred on M3 pair #9891 and #9892, and after the incident these cars were held out of service for years, before re-entering service and these cars are still roaming the rails these days, despite the M3s thinning out.

Traditionally, wreaths are placed at Merillon Av
around this time of year in memory of those who 
died.

As of recently, all of the train's crew is still alive, but all but the engineer have retired.

Legend has it that Ferguson, after boarding the train at Jamaica, waited until the train crossed over the border into Nassau County out of respect for then-outgoing Mayor David Dinkins and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. During his trial, Ferguson insisted on defending himself and he cross-examined the very victims he injured himself. Luckily however, at the end of the trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to 315 years and 8 months to life in prison, and he's not eligible for parol until August 6, 2309, so most likely he'll never see the light of day again.

If you'd like to learn more about this terrible tragedy, the wikipedia article is an excellent source of information.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of this event, a documentary has also been made telling the story of the victims and families. If you'd like to see it, they have released it recently opposed to a DVD, so you can see it here

In conclusion, I think it's important to remember this event due to it's significance and for those Long Islanders, it's the worst crime on Long Island. Rest in peace to all that died on that terrible day.

11th Anniversary of 12/1 Spuyten Duyvil Derailment

If you live in New York or even the United States, you probably remember the unfortunate incident that many people woke up to 11 years ago. On Sunday, December 1, 2013, Metro-North Hudson Line #8808, the 5:55am from Poughkeepsie that violently derailed just north of Spuyten Duyvil station. This train was a through-train that made all stops to Ossining, then Tarrytown, Harlem-125, and Grand Central Terminal.

              

Crazily, all seven cars and the locomotive of that maxi-bomb set derailed and some even came dangerously close to the water!

In the end, four passengers were killed and 60 were injured, making this the worst MNR incident in history.

From the beginning, the press hounded the scene. As usual, they weren't accurate one bit to the point where they said that there were cars in the water, but there's no shortage of breathtaking photos of the equipment sprawled across the right-of-way.

It's story time and let's start at the beginning. It all started at 5:55am when train 8808 left Poughkeepsie and made the traditional (i.e not Breakneck Ridge nor Manitou) for Croton-Harmon, then stopped at Ossining, and Tarrytown. After Tarrytown, the next scheduled stop was Harlem-125th St, except it never got there. The train was traveling south on The Hudson Line, on track 2, and as it approached the curve just north of Spuyten Duyvil, it toppled off the tracks and began barreling toward the Harlem River.

It's important to note that the curve has been there since the days of New York Central, and the tracks run along the river in most cases, so there are quite a few decent curves in fact some are much worse.

The speed limit in this section of track, CP 10, is 30 mph, but reports from the trains event recorders report the train was going 82 mph when it flicked off the tracks.

According to the NTSB, the throttle was set to idle six seconds before the locomotive derailed, and the train dumped (i.e "dumped the air" or began emergency braking) five seconds before the locomotive derailed.

So, I think it's relatively obvious what's involved with the physics. The train was going way above the speed limit, therefore, it derailed, like physics dictates.

So, why was the train going 82 mph? Well, we got to talk about the engineer, William Rockefeller, a 15-year old Metro-North veteran. So, he had recently begun doing morning shifts after doing afternoon shifts, a change he later told investigators he had made reluctantly. This required him to leave his home in Germantown, approx. 27 miles north of Poughkeepsie, at 3:30am for work! To make sure that he had adequate rest for his shift the following day, he had gone to bed at 8:30pm the following night. On the day of the crash, he had arrived at work on time, after which he bought a cup of coffee and a hard roll, he then filled out the paperwork and attended a standard safety briefing. The main conductor, Michael Hermann, who in his limited time working with Rockefeller praised his "very smooth" handling of the equipment. 

Now, like I had said earlier, everything went fine until about 1.5 miles north of Riverdale station, when Rockefeller should have begun to slow down for the curve, but he later said this: 

"I don't know how to explain it... it was sort of like I was dazed, you know, looking straight ahead, almost like mesmerized. And I don't know if anybody's ever experienced like driving a long period of time in a car and staring at the headlights in front of them, and you get almost like a hypnotic feeling of staring straight ahead ... I was just staring straight head" 

Rockefeller, largely unhurt, got out and began aiding passengers. Linda Smith, who had boarded in Beacon with her sister to go see a choral performance in Lincoln Center, was one of those 61 injured souls, as in the incident she had become trapped under seat cushions and unable to move.

The New York City Fire Department sent over 125 firefighters to the scene to assist in rescue

but EMS workers were delayed as they waited for the third rail to be de-energized. As a result of the incident, all service on The Hudson Line was suspended, but Amtrak trains picked up service by 3pm. All the cars were righted back onto the rail and were towed to Highbridge and Croton-Harmon yards for further inspection by the NTSB.

On Wednesday, December 4, limited service was restored on The Hudson Line, using combined trains in order to make this possible.

Here are some photos from the wreck from a variety of sources:

I think these photos really shed light on this disaster, and while I don't have the time to analyze it any further, you can definitely read up on it on Wikipedia.