LIRR providing extra service to PGA tournament in Bethpage

The LIRR is actually providing quite a suite of extra trains for the PGA tournament in Bethpage next week. They are providing trains to/from Farmingdale to both Ronkonkoma and New York  before and after the event, and they are also staging a couple unscheduled extras to help bare the rest of the crowds.

The nice thing is with the way the Ronkonkoma Branch runs, they actually currently run a couple of equipment trains in the morning, in both directions, to deadhead equipment out to the yard in Ronkonkoma eastbound and to also deadhead a couple sets west to Hicksville and Westbury to represent local runs on the Main Line. 

The LIRR innovatively converted all of the eastbound equipment runs in the morning into revenue service, providing some very impressive headways into Farmingdale in the morning. The two westbound equipment runs also provide express service from Ronkonkoma (the busiest station on the line by far) to Farmingdale. This is very innovative. And, the best part is, since those two westbound runs originate on the Main Line, they won't affect peak hour passengers as those passengers wont get on until it gets to the Main Line.

Reverse-peak direction

• Train 1996, a 4:34am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:30am.
• Train 2006, a 5:13am departure from Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:06am.
• Train 1998, a 5:48am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:46am.
• Train 2008, a 5:54am deaprture from Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:50am
• Train 4906, a 6:36am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 7:35am
• And here's an interesting one, train 2128 (currently a shuttle that deadheads to Farmingdale for whatever reason), a 6:37am departure from Atlantic Terminal stopping at at Nostrand Avenue, East New York, Jamaica, and Farmingdale. 
• Train 4908, a 7:15am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Wooside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale.

Now, see a common theme here? All of these trains are actually scheduled deadhead equipment runs already, so essentially, the LIRR is running these for zero cost. 

Peak direction

During the peak direction, the LIRR doesn't directly add any service, and I don't blame them for this as the line is already pretty much at capacity at that time of the morning, and, by adding more service they'd be screwing the LIRR's most important market, westbound commuters.

• Train 2501, orginates at Ronkonkoma at 5:40am, runs express to Farmingdale stopping there at 6:09am, then runs to Westbury before resuming it's normal route making all local stops.
• Train 2103, originates in Ronkonkoma at 6:54am, stopping at Farmingdale at 7:19am (it orginates there), before resuming it's route making all local stops.

In the afternoon, the LIRR doesn't provide close to as a impressive lineup, but, in their defense, they also provide more service during the afternoon reverse-peak, and they do have some unscheduled extras that'll run. 

Reverse-peak direction

• Train 4955, a 4:57pm departure out of Farmingdale, making Jamaica, and Penn Station.

Peak direction

• The LIRR will add stops on the express trains, providing a very frequent service to points east on the Main Line. 

Weekend

On the weekend, the LIRR is only providing eastbound service in the morning to the event, (I find it supriisng that they aren't convering the very early westbound equipment moves to service but whatever) but my guess is that they'll run unscheduled extras on those days, too.

• Train 7934, a 4:15am departure out of Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, Bethpage, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:13am.
• Train 7936, a 4:39am departure out of Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:35am.
• Train 8008, a 5:30am departure out of Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:28am.
• Train 8012, a 6:33am departure from Grand Central, stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 7:32am.
• Train 8014, 8016, 8018, and 8020, 7:31, 8:33, 9:33, and 10:33 departures out of Grand Central, all stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 8:29, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30am respectively.

Now, we get the bad part, the LIRR strike is happening at what is probably the worst possible time, since, apparently they could go on strike as early as September 18, giving them only 5 days to restore service in time for the Tuesday morning rush hour/PGA tournament. 

In all, I think, for the most part, the LIRR mastered this plan, and as long as the strike doesn't put a giant fork in the plans, then this should work relatively well. I feel like the LIRR converting deadheads to service could be hopeful, since it shows their willing to do that. Possibly in the future they could actually convert these deadhead moves to revenue service, full time, which would be huge to provide even more reverse-peak service opportunities, something that would be a huge step forward.

I look forward to seeing how this service pattern plays out, and it's just great to see the LIRR using their deadhead equipment to their advantage to provide a very robust line of service. This is going to be a huge event, and getting people to and from it as quickly as possible is key, and this should be a huge motivation to not drive. 

If you'd like to view the full timetable including all service to the event, you can do so by visiting MTA.info.

Photos: Farmingdale (8/2025)

 

Interlocking Walkthrough: KO

Our next interlocking to be featured in this series is the well-known KO interlocking. Located at Ronkonkoma station, this is actually the easternmost interlocking on the Main Line located an ever-impressive 49 miles from Long Island City. KO is split into two separate interlockings, KO 1 and KO 2 with KO 1 west of the station and KO 2 east of the station.

Switches

KO interlocking begins just east of the Pond Road crossing. Just after the crossing, the certified north siding splits off Mainline 1. That siding doesn’t get all that much use, I’ve seen it be used to house tiny equipment trains, and that’s about it.

The certified north siding then merges back a bit later, then there’s one last crossover from Mainline 1 back to Mainline 2 before Mainline 2 diverges from Mainline 1 to enter Ronkonkoma’s 3 station platforms.

Almost right after Ronkonkoma’s station platforms is the start of KO 2.  Mainline 1 and 2 come much closer to each other, as a third track spurs off Mainline 2 called the WASH track. This track is essential as it houses the trianwash which is what they use to clean the trains. They have few of these left, only here, Babylon, and Richmond Hill. Following the end of the car wash, there’s a pair of two switches, first from Mainline 1 to Mainline 2, then from Mainline 2 back to Mainline 1. These switches allow trains on either tracks to go to the hard, or to continue on Mainline 1 east of Ronkonkoma.

We now reach Ronkonkoma Yard, also referred to as Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard.

I also forgot to mention that a 20 mph restriction is in place thru  KO 2 is restricted to 20 mph.

Ronkonkoma Yard has 23 tracks, broken into two clusters, in which 11 of them were added to support additional train service after East Side Access. It goes as follows:

Ronkonkoma Yard is fully electrified, and during the nighttime, for the most part is pretty much full of almost everything you can see, plenty of full 8, 10, and 12, and even some 6 car consists make an appearance being stored here for the morning rush.

I feel like it's easier to show a diagram of the yard, rather then to explain every little switch in the yard, so here's a diagram of it I found on Trains are Fun:

 

The eastern limit of KO 2 is right before Lincoln Avenue, and at that point, KO interlocking officially ends and the 20 mph speed restriction is dropped for a slightly better 45 mph speed limit all the way to Riverhead.

Well that concludes KO interlocking!

Interlocking Walkthrough: NASSAU

In today's interlocking walkthrough we're going to take a look at NASSAU Interlocking located in Mineola. It stretches east from Merllion Avenue to half way to Carle Place, and the Oyster Bay Branch splits off in the middle of this. It includes a fair bit for an interlocking of this length. 

Switches

Anyways, now lets take a look at the actual interlocking itself. Like many of the other recent interlockings covered, it's broken into 3 parts, NASSAU 3, NASSAU 2, and NASSAU 1. Let's start on the eastern side with NASSAU 3. 

NASSAU 3 starts a bit east of Mineola station, with a crossover from track 3 (the westbound track) to track 2 (the middle track), then another one from track 1 (the eastbound track) to track 2, then there's yet another crossover, from track 2 to track 1, followed by the final one from track 2 to track 3. Then, there's a very small siding that merges onto track 3. 

The North Side Track is a short rarely used freight siding that can hold four to five freight cars at its very best.

Now, we enter NASSAU 2, and come into the fun part, as we come into Mineola station, the Oyster Bay Branch merges into track 3. Now here's the interesting part. Originally, when there were 2 tracks Oyster Bay trains would merge onto the track that was in their direction (track 1 for westbound, track 2 for eastbound), but since the third track, all eastbound Oyster Bay trains must also leave for the Oyster Bay Branch on track 3, which is an irritating problem. This means that if an eastbound Oyster Bay train is late its gonna further cause delays then if it was merging from the eastbound track. 

As we leave Mineola station, we enter NASSAU 1. Our first crossover is a couple hundred feet west of the station platform, where there's a crossover from track 3 to track 2 (this is what allows Oyster  Bay trains to come to/from the middle track, followed by a crossover from track 1 to track 2, and another one from track 2 to track 1 and another from track 2 to track 3. And that marks the end of NASSAU Interlocking.

Signals

NASSAU Interlocking now uses the color light signals.

Towers

Originally, there was a NASSAU tower right there in Mineola, but, it was demolished in 2020 and operations were moved to Jamaica Control Center (JCC).

Anyway, that should about do it for one of my more favorite interlockings, NASSAU Interlocking.

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.

Interlocking Walkthrough: PILGRIM

For this week's interlocking walkthrough, let's take a look at PILGRIM interlocking located in Brentwood. I apologize for this being such a brief post, there's just little to see. 

Switches

So as you can probably see from the photo above, all PILGRIM consists of is a small switch off a side track back onto the Main Line.

Signals

PILGRIM Interlocking consists of the more modern tri-light color signals. 

Towers

From what I'm aware, this interlocking has always been controlled by DIVIDE Tower.

Neighbors

This interlocking is bordered by JS Interlocking to the west and by PINEAIRE Interlocking to the east. 

I've been fairly interested in Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center recently, and I just saw while researching for this post that there used to be a Pilgrim State Hospital station spur on the Ronkonkoma Branch, and I thought I'd add a couple of photos of the spur to make this post more interesting.

Welp, this concludes this interlocking walkthrough.

What The Ronkonkoma Branch Could Look Like

It’s been a while since we’ve moved onto the next branch in this series of sample timetables, but today we are finally moving on, this time to the Ronkonkoma Branch. Be aware, as we move deeper and deeper into areas of the Main Line, things get even more complicated.

Anyways, ridership along the Main Line (particular the Ronkonkoma Branch) is huge. You may even n know that Ronkonkoma is actually the second busiest station on the entire railroad that’s not in New York City, after Hicksville. It’s important to note that the Main Line refers to the entire portion of the Ronkonkoma Branch between Greenport and LIC, however neither I nor the railroad referred to it as that and I like to say the Main Line runs as far as Hicksville when referring to it here. After the railroad electrified to Ronkonkoma, this resulted in a ridership boom along the branch. Since the opening of the third track, a lot of the major capacity constraints along the Main Line specifically got eliminated, however, there are still some capacity constraints along the Ronkonkoma Branch itself.

Still, when trying to manage sustainable levels of service using only 3 tracks when your trying to balance local and express trains from the Ronkonkoma and Port Jefferson Branches along with trains from Speonk, Port Jeff, and Oyster Bay coupled with the occasional local west of Hicksville can prove to be a rather difficult task.

For the purpose of these timetables, I gave the Ronkonkoma Branch the most track space of all the branches on the Main Line. I did this because ridership clearly reflects that, and as I mentioned in Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard, it also has the most storage space. However, so far, I’ve been successful at giving Huntington great service too!

Included in the linked PDF file below is the Full Sample Weekday & Weekend Ronkonkoma Branch Timetable. Peak, off-peak, extra, and special event trains are all included. Note that this is a new and improved timetable design.

The timetables have yet to include the deadhead/non-revenue moves, which will be planned out along with crew and equipment rotations as well using AI and will be written down on paper. They’ll be included on a separate page in the attached PDF. I tried to mostly minimize deadheading as much as possible, since it’s essentially wasted time, crew, and equipment hours, but in some cases it was unavoidable to make the most out of the resources available.

Key Assumptions

• My only real assumption is that with these timetables would the LIRR attempt to improve service east out to Yaphank, Riverhead, and Greenport. Turns out this post is well timed as recently the LIRR announced they’d be Yaphank station and I assume that with that they’ll at least make some effort to improve service out there, especially since they could provide better reverse-peak options for those going to the lab.

Service Guidelines

• During the morning rush hour, a hodgepodge of local and express trains depart Ronkonkoma throughout the peak. I’d say there’s no real consistency as to how service is run, and that is just how it is given the difference in service needed throughout the peak. Service generally emulates current service however additional trains have been added to provide better service to all terminals along with added express service. Additional trains have been ran from Central Islip, Brentwood, Wyandanch, and Farmingdale to complement this new service. I tried to avoid awkward gaps, but especially towards the start and end of the peak, there were some cases where that was unavoidable due to capacity restrictions. For the first time since East Side Access, I’ve provided valid peak service to Atlantic Terminal.
• During the evening rush hour, service is also quite scattered, however, more trains make all stops along the branch and express service has been reduced. 
• I truly believe I provided adequate service during rush hours. It was no easy task considering the limited capacity, specifically on the branch itself, however, I think ai did a good job thanks to a combination of things including East Side Access, the Third Track and Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard.
• I tried to concentrate service on this branch toward the height of the rush hour, in order to better complement Huntington trains. You’ll notice that service on this branch trails off slightly earlier then on many of the other branches due to its location being eastern and due to the yard running out of equipment.
• During the busiest travel periods, service has been upgraded to every 20 minutes to reflect ridership.
• In an effort to give even more additional peak service, I set up a system of Hicksville-Ronkonkoma scoots, similar to what the LIRR used to do when the branch was diesel. Equipment was badly needed in Huntington most, so having the few reverse-peak trains there’s room for go there, you can give everyone the most opportunities to get to their destination. In this approach, you only need one Main Line slot west of Jamaica, therefore eliminating the need for one more train to further clog up Jamaica. 
• I’ve yet to include service east of Ronkonkoma. It will get added in a future post about the North Fork.
• My main goal with this branch was to provide a fast, frequent, and reliable service for these customers into and out of Manhattan, while still providing ample-service opportunities for people travelling intra-island and going to other terminals, and despite all the challenges I faced, I think I did that.

Link to Ronkonkoma Branch Timetable

In my opinion and as The LIRR Today said it, Ronkonkoma can be viewed to as a monster. If you don’t constantly give it trains, it will turn around and gobble you up real quickly. The Mainline is already one of the worst routes for overcrowding, and during rush hours, the branch gets slammed with tons of people having to stand for the entire ride home.

During the morning rush hour, one thing I noticed with the LIRR’s new schedules has been the absence of most of the true express service from Ronkonkoma. I truly believe that given the branch’s setup that a couple of “super-expresses” to/from Ronkonkoma during the morning and evening rush hours would go a long way for crowding and would be well-travelled.  

Despite all the capacity constraints along the branch, over the course of the morning rush hour, I provided four one-seats to Atlantic Terminal and two to Hunterspoint Avenue. The first of them departs Ronkonkoma at 5:13am and heads towards Hunterspoint Avenue, making quite a few stops getting there. I think this will be well travelled by construction workers (note all the development in that area of Queens) who need to get an early start. The second of these runs on the same schedule as today’s only one-seat ride to Atlantic Terminal, departing at a bright-and-early 5:30am. If you were a regular commuter of the Ronkonkoma Branch prior to East Side Access, you may remember the 6:56am out of Ronkonkoma to Atlantic Terminal, and that train has been revived since it gets people into Atlantic Terminal in time for the workday. In addition, one final train departs Ronkonkoma for Hunterspoint Avenue at 7:49am. To some, this may seam like wasted capacity, however, intra-island travel along the Mainline is good, and also has quite a lot of potential. By keeping these trains, not only can they provide one-seat service to these stations, but they also can run more local providing more local options for riders.

In the evening, I tried to add more express trains and “flyers” to the schedule to help loosen crowding. It’s much more difficult in the evening since you have to balance eastbound trains out of two terminals oppose to just one.

During the off-peak, I provided service every 30 minutes to/from Ronkonkoma. Most off-peak trains run to/from New York as ridership warrants it. Despite Ronkonkoma growing a lot during the off-peak periods, capacity constraints keep me from providing better off-peak service. 

As always, if you have any questions/comments/suggestions/etc or want me to explain anything about these sample timetables, feel free to either leave a comment below or e-mail me at gavin.s.wilcox@gmail.com. 

View an index of all the other sample timetables, the post about those timetables, and revision history, right here.

The Ronkonkoma Problem

I wasn’t busy today (yep, a Monday in Feburary), so I’ve been writing a bunch of posts that’ll be coming out in the far-future and getting them ready now. Aside from New York, Brooklyn, and Jamaica, Ronkonkoma station is actually the busiest station on Long Island, with Hicksville right on its heals. You may be lead to believe that Ronkonkoma’s popularity is something that is a great thing, however, once you dig deeper, you see it’s actually a problem.

The Hamlet of Ronkonkoma, a place I live near and visit often, probably seams very dense due to its ridership, however, there’s barely more people who live in Ronkonkoma then that use the station. The problem is, the vast majority of those who board at Ronkonkoma are actually not from Ronkonkoma, or even the surrounding communities, but are instead from many different points east, north, south, and even west of Ronkonkoma. 

In order for commuter rail to work as it supposed to, service should be consistent proportional to population density, all the way out to the end of the line. At no point should there be a steep service dropout (unless the population similarly drops off, which hasn’t and won’t happen on Long Island). Service may be relatively proportional out in Greenport, however, Riverhead for example, has about 30% people living there, but sees an 85% drop in service. Many of those who could use Riverhead station (or any other station along the North and South forks), just drive to Ronkonkoma and park there for free.

These riders fly past their local stations because the levels of service in many cases is just laughable. The lack of service on the East End is much worse considering there are very few alternatives (if you want decent service). A prime example of this is the West Hempstead Branch, which gets much, much better service then the East End, but doesn’t get service proportional to Western Nassau County population, or better, to its peers over on the Far Rockaway, Hempstead, and Main Line branches.

Not only do the desperate riders on the Ronkonkoma-Greenport section of the Mainline flock to Ronkonkoma, so do many riders along the North and South forks. Many riders that live closer to the Montauk and Port Jefferson branches often find themselves driving, and parking at Ronkonkoma. I feel like there’s lot to be done to peak service on the Montauk and Port Jefferson branches which have room for more, and many riders would rather just drive to Ronkonkoma to get the direct and frequent service out of there. Many times, when my mother needs to go into the city for an appointment or what not, she’ll drive to Ronkonkoma even though our local Montauk Branch station is just up the block! My dad normally takes the Montauk Branch though.

The truth is only 34% of Ronkonkoma ridership actually comes from the nearby area. Roughly two thirds of riders who use this station are driving from a community elsewhere in Long Island that is locally served via a different station. It’s possible to determine from the LIRR’s 2012-2014 Origin and Destination Survey where the MTA asked riders to obviously provide their origin and destination, all bc with their home ZIP codes so they could chart a more overall picture of riders’ overall choice. I’ll give the breakdown:

• About only 34% riders come from the local area, while the most 18% of the riders drive south from communities along the Port Jefferson Branch.
• 17% of the riders backtrack east from Brentwood and Central Islip (specially from Islandia which is more understandable given the location being closer to Ronkonkoma.)
• 15% of riders drive north from communities along the Montauk Branch in the towns of Brookhaven and Islip. 
• 12% of riders drive from areas along the Main Line in eastern portions of the Town of Brookhaven (instead of using Medford or Yaphank stations which is highly understandable given the poor service there)
• 3% of riders drive west from the North Fork (areas in Town of Riverhead and Southold)
• 2% of riders drive up the island from the South Fork (areas in the Towns of Southampton and East Hampton)

If this doesn’t get the point across about just how many people use this station, then I don’t know what does. Many of these people are diesel branch refugees, and the rest are riders backtracking from Central Islip and Brentwood which surprised me, however, considering some of the best trains skipped these stations, you can kind of understand it more. While I expect this has changed quite a bit since commuting patterns changed because of COVID-19 and ESA, and many of these people who used to take popular trains to New York such as: 

• The old train 2013 (the 6:24am from Ronkonkoma), which ran nonstop to Hicksville
• The old train 2015 (the 6:39am from Ronkonkoma), which ran just before the old train 2017 from CI that skipped Jamaica and this train possibly carried local passengers and passengers to alternate terminals. 
• The old train 2021 (the 7:04am from Ronkonkoma) which ran nonstop to Deer Park.
• The old train 2019 (the 7:19am from Ronkonkoma), which only maked Ronkonkoma, Central Islip, and Brentwood before running nonstop to New York. This is one of the busiest trains for these stations, therefore those who live close to the border would likely chose eastbound. 
• The old train 2061 (the 4:46pm reverse-peak from Ronkonkoma), which used to skip Brentwood before the double track. 

Nowadays, those trains are gone with East Side Access (for the better in some cases). Nowadays, I expect that number has gone down as service patterns on the branch have gotten much more simple, however I assume that the smaller percentage of back trackers would do it for these trains:

• Train 2017 (the 6:29am flyer from Ronkonkoma) This train can get relatively crowded and I wouldn’t be surprised if some Brentwood riders would backtrack to guarantee a seat. 
• Train 1917 (the 6:36am from Ronkonkoma) Another well-traveled train.
• Train 2019 (the 7:10am from Ronkonkoma) This train is probably the busiest train on the entire branch, and I assume that there would be many standees for anyone who didn’t board at Ronkonkoma. 
• Train 1921 (the 7:28am from Ronkonkoma) Another well-traveled train. 

Coupled with the diesel riders, all of this puts extraordinary stress on poor Ronkonkoma. While capacity improvements have improved greatly since the Third Track project opened, there’s still capacity constraints, and Ronkonkoma just cannot keep up with the loads. It’s crazy to note that some trains out of Ronkonkoma in the morning already have standees before even making their first station stop.

As you’ve seen with my timetable project, I’ve been trying to balance the loads around, and with the recent unveil of my Montauk Branch timetable, many of you hopefully saw the improvements that were made to diesel peak service, in hopes of improving peak commutes on the Montauk Branch.

I believe the worst of the problems lies in off-peak and event service. Trains after big events on the Ronkonkoma branch consistently have all 8, 10, or even 12 cars filled to the gills with the standees, and even some weekend off-peak trains during the busier travel periods can get rough. 

The Ronkonkoma Branch timetable will release this Monday at 6:00am, so stay tuned!

Mid Suffolk Electric Yard

One of the main problems with the Mainline is its capacity, even after East Side Access + The Third Track. If you follow this website, you probably know that there’s a huge train layup yard in West Islip that’s used for storing many of the electric trains used on the Babylon Branch, but, did you know that there’s an almost equally prevalent yard all the way up in the middle of the island too? Well, many of you will guess it’s called Ronkonkoma yard, but it’s actually called Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard and I’m here to tell you about it.

The Ronkonkoma/Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard (however you prefer to call it) now has 18 tracks, meaning it can store a decent amount of train sets. And, while it’s definitely not been full when I’ve been there, it definitely has more trains there then at Babylon Yard, but again, I’ve been to both of them the most during middays when you don’t expect eastern yards to have the most stuff. In addition to the yard, there’s also the “Ronkonkoma Pocket Track” as I’ve named it. It used to be known to store the old and missed train #2017 from Central Islip to Penn Station, however, with the East Side Access train annulments came this trains funeral/final run. I’m not to sure what is stored in that track, as my only guess, #2103 (the 7:19am local out of Farmingdale for NY) appears to come from KO (radar). I’d definitely like to see the LIRR use that siding to possibly fit another peak round-trip out of Central Islip or Brentwood, and I could definitely find some ideal slots.

I believe Ronkonkoma definitely has enough storage space. However, the main problem is Huntington. There’s essentially almost no storage space for trains at Huntington. There’s the North and South Side tracks, but the combined capacity of those tracks is only equivalent to the storage space seen at Far Rockaway, which only sees a third of this branch’s ridership. 

Back when it was first introduced, the term “Mid-Suffolk” made little sense to many. The term “Mid-Suffolk” wasn’t specific and it could be used to describe a yard in Yaphank, Medford, or Ronkonkoma, however, as we found out it turned out out to be Ronkonkoma.

When finalized, Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard consisted of 11 new storage tracks, along with work on an “Employee welfare building”, new substations, yard lighting, comm and security systems, new drainage systems, new service roads, and new walkways.

I personally believe Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard was an ideal and great solution to a large problem. Ronkonkoma had long had capacity issues, not being able to run enough trains out of there to meet demand during rush hours, and this allowed them to run more trains without having to deadhead equipment out there. Not only does Ronkonkoma Yard serve the namesake branch, but it’s also been used to store trains beginning in Hicksville and Westbury, providing better service on more western parts of the Main Line.

Interlocking Walkthrough: DIVIDE

Welcome to the interlocking walkthrough I've been dreading for days now. I can assure you this one is gonna be a wild ride. DIVIDE, not that it's a weird interlocking, just has a lot to it's name and is difficult to understand/explain due to it's complexity. I'll do my best though.

DIVIDE Interlocking, known as DIV for short, is one of my personal favorites, is one of the larger interlockings in this project, spanning 3 miles from west to east. Due of the size of this interlocking, I cannot take one photo of it, therefore, you can follow along using Google earth. Here’s a bird eye view of the location.

DIVIDE Interlocking gets it name due to it's apparent form. As the name suggests, the interlocking "divides" into two after Hicksville, with the Port Jefferson Branch splitting up towards Huntington and Port Jefferson, while the Main Line goes down towards Ronkonkoma, Greenport, and Montauk via the Central. 

DIVIDE has always existed at this location since the Port Jefferson Branch was built all those years ago. When they elevated Hicksville, this interlocking got a new look, and an elevated viaduct above it's former location. 

Switches

DIVIDE Interlocking begins almost halfway between Westbury and Hicksville. If your approaching the interlocking from the west, it begins just east of the Wantagh Parkway Overpass. 

Now, the first switch we encounter heading from the west to the east (eastbound) is a crossover from Mainline 2 (the eastbound track) to Mainline 1 (the middle "third" track). That switch is rarely used by passenger service, however, it's not uncommon for freight to use it to access the next switch.

Following after that, there's another crossover, this time from Mainline 1 (the middle track) to Mainline 3 (the eastbound track).  

Next, the North Track branches off the Main Line. The North Track is rarely used, especially after East Side Access, however, it's used every once in a while to store a train during peak hours that begins or ends its run in Hicksville. But it's mainly used to store an MP15AC or two camping out there to get out of the way of other incoming Main Line traffic. The North Track is electrified by third rail, therefore an M7 can camp there if need be.

From the North Track splits of the Runaround track. The Runaround track is used to "runaround" engines in the rare case that it's "necessary". "Runaround" is a railway term used to describe run an engine around a train, so, back in the days before cab cars, once a train reached it's final destination and wanted to change direction, they literally had to physically uncouple it from the rest of the train, pull it forward, reverse it onto another track, then "run around" the train it's coupled to, then go past another switch, then pull it forward onto the track with the train on it and recouple it. But then somebody invented one of the best inventions in modern railroading, cab cars, and the need to turn around (runaround) engines at every end point went away (imagine if those things were stuck on the 42nd Street Shuttle). During regular LIRR operations these days, it's quite rare to see the need for a runaround, however, in a location so busy with so much work action, I personally think it's nice to have just in case. The runaround track does not have third rail.

Roughly halfway down this runaround track, the lead track for the Hicksville Team Yard splits off. The Hicksville Team Yard is home to two customers from what I understand: Eastern Wholesale Fence which receives covered hoppers with polyvinl, and Consolidated Edison (known as Con-Ed), which receives Di-Electric Fluid (no idea what that is) in tankers. Further down the runaround track there's a small stub track that splits off. It currently serves no purpose and pretty much just sits there.

It's important to note that we've now entered milepost 24 (meaning there's 24 miles to Long Island City)

At around this point, the speed limit drops from 80 mph (the maxium allowed speed on the railroad... period) to 40 mph. 

After that, the North track continues for a short distance before merging back into Mainline 3, then goes for roughly a couple hundred feet, before merging off again and then going east for another couple hundred feet before ending again with a bumper block. Meanwhile, shortly before that siding ends for the second time, there's a crossover from Mainline 2 to Mainline 3, and while that's going on, there's another crossover between Mainline 1 and Mainline 3. This is followed by both Mainline 1 and Mainline 3 merging into one track along with Mainline 2 crossing over.

Right after the speed change, there's a crossover from Mainline 2 to Mainline 1, then there's another crossover from Mainline 1 to Mainline 3, then Mainline 3 goes to the left of platform A. Then, there's another crossover from Mainline 1 to Mainline 2, and those tracks become Station tracks 2 and 3. (confusing, I know).

The tracks through the station are considered Mainline 3 at top, Mainline 1 middle, and Mainline 2 being the southernmost.

Here's a quick fun fact while we talk about Hicksville: Did you know that platform B is tied for being the second-longest platform in the entire system? Platforms E, F and G in Penn Station take the cake for being the longest at 17 cars, then both Hicksville and Bellmore tie at second with 14 car platforms. However, the LIRR doesn't run any trains longer then 12 cars (from what I know the M3s and M7s can't, and while the M9s have, they would never be in revenue service, and if we were to see a 14-car diesel set (quite useful on #6005, wouldn't it be?, it would probably require 3 engines!)

Once we get east of the station, that's where things get real complicated. Beginning with Mainline 2, immediately east east of the station, there's a switch, so you can either stay straight on Mainline 2 and head towards Ronkonkoma, or you can diverge to the left where your lined up with Port Jefferson 2 towards Huntington.

Mainline 1 is directly aligned with Port Jefferson 1, therefore a Port Jeff westbound has a straight shot through the station. Mainline 3, however, merges into Mainline 1, and just as that is happening, there's a diamond/double slip switch allowing for a train from Mainline 3 to either go straight over the diamond and head east on Mainline 2, or make a left and go east on Port Jefferson 1 instead. Most westbounds from the Ronkonkoma Branch use this switch to stay on Mainline 1 through the entire interlocking then platform on Mainline 1 (the middle track), this would also explain why many of the trains from Hicksville platform on this track because they come from the Ronkonkoma Branch. [exhale then deep breath] Complicated, huh, well it’s just getting started.

Mainline 1 then goes east a bit more before there’s another diamond/slip switch that allows for a train on Mainline 1 to either straight onto Mainline 1 or to go left onto Port Jefferson 2. Followed by that, at this switch, the switch that first broke off my Mainline 2 before towards Port Jefferson 2 meets here, and allows trains  from Mainline 2 to get to Mainline 1 if a train wanted to go from the eastbound to the westbound tracks @Hicksville. 

At this point is where both branches part ways as the Port Jefferson heads up towards Syosset, Cold Spring, Huntington and Port Jefferson, meanwhile the Main Line heads down towards Bethpage, Farmingdale, Brentwood, Central Islip, Ronkonkoma, Riverhead and Greenport. 

On the Port Jefferson side, towards the very end of the interlocking Port Jefferson 1 goes to Port Jefferson 2. The speed limit then upgrades back up to 80 after that final signal bridge is passed. 

Meanwhile, on the Main Line, there’s a crossover from Mainline 1 to Mainline 2. If your like me and your wondering why there’s not crossovers between Mainline and Port Jeff 2 back to Mainline and Port Jeff 1 on these lines, that’s because that dirty work should’ve been taken care of in the peak of the interlocking.

At this point, the interlocking finally ends! Finally!

Signals

DIVIDE Interlocking consists of those old Pensy-style position light signals as you've might have guessed. As you've seen, the interlocking is huge and there's all sorts of signals (gantries, pedestals, you name it), and explaining it would make me crash out.

Towers

DIVIDE Interlocking is home to DIVIDE tower, which controls all the smaller interlockings east of here on the Port Jefferson Branch and Main Line (this consists of KO, AMOTT, HUNT, DUKE, FOX, POST, STONY, JEFF, BETH, FARM, JS, PILGRIM, PINEAIRE, and CI if your keeping score.)

Neighbors

DIVIDE interlocking is bordered to the west by obviously NASSAU, and as for the east, since DIVIDE is a junction, it's bordered by AMOTT on the Port Jefferson Branch and BETH on the Main Line. 

Hew! Well, that was long! Way longer then I expected, anyways, this wraps up DIVIDE. Next up is PILGRIM interlocking in Brentwood (That's nice and easy!)