LIRR GP38-2 257

I took this one late in the day at Port Jefferson,NY., January 29,1983. Too many shadows, but i still like the "mood" of it.

The red-white-blue livery was awesome, and should never have been changed.

Very nice. Captured the way only film can.

Teutobergerwald wrote:The red-white-blue livery was awesome, and should never have been changed.

The wave scheme was awesome either way, with or without the red stripe in the middle. Overall I wish they hadn't gotten rid of the wave. I thought the other engines in the fleet looked great in the blue and white from the same era also.

Bring back the Goodfellow paint scheme, with the orange "beam of light" pattern on the sides and the name "Long Island" superimposed on part of it.

Why aren't tracks 3 and 4 used in Port Jefferson anymore?

They are not used very much anymore because they Built a passenger yard east of the station.
They are still used by freights, work trains, track cars and the roustabouts, to run the engines around and switch things out, and the wye is still used for the same things.
But as a rule the passenger trains are layed up in the new yard.
When I retired there was one job that ran an equipment train back to Huntingtron after 9PM, and we used to go through the old yard, and up to the signal at the west end, while waiting for the eastbound passenger train to come in.
The fuel dock, to fuel Engines was still adjacent to the old yard, near the wye, at that time, I dont know if it still is.
So occasionaly one will see track cars, or a work train layed up there, but thats about it.

Thank you - great reply. You can see that was my first post... been lurking for ages and finally bit the bullet.

I grew up in Port Jefferson so many questions about the line...

As you say, they built the passenger yard (east of Columbia St.) - but wasn't there an old yard there that they just enhanced? I'm in my 30's, and I always seem to remember trains crossing over Columbia St - don't I?

Other questions -

* To the west of RT 112 at PJ Station, there are 6 tracks at one point... were those all used for storage at one time?
* I thought the ticket office was slated to close? I still see it in action.
* What gives with Greenlawn and Northport? At Greenlawn it is "All trains use platform A", while Northport used to have a 2nd platform that was eventually demolished. Was there more volume on the line that I can't recall that necessatated dual platforms at those locations? Further, if a train was running late and the passing occurred in Greenlawn, would the RR be able to let customers off on Platform B?

More to come!

Most of the Gp-38's used by the LIRR are still in service
complete list with photos
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoli ... LLPX&mid=3

page from above site 2242/257
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... x?id=65594
image from above page



2234: ex-LIRR 265 2246: ex-LIRR 253
2235: ex-LIRR 263 2247: ex-LIRR 258
2236: ex-LIRR 262 2248: ex-LIRR 259
2237: ex-LIRR 254 2249: ex-LIRR 266
2238: ex-LIRR 255 2250: ex-LIRR 269
2239: ex-LIRR 251 2251: ex-LIRR 250
2240: ex-LIRR 252 2252: ex-LIRR 273
2241: ex-LIRR 256 2253: ex-LIRR 275
2242: ex-LIRR 257 2254: ex-LIRR 277
2243: ex-LIRR 260 2255: ex-LIRR 274
2244: ex-LIRR 264 2256: ex-LIRR 272
2245: ex-LIRR 267 2257: ex-LIRR 276

ISP wrote:Thank you - great reply. You can see that was my first post... been lurking for ages and finally bit the bullet.

I grew up in Port Jefferson so many questions about the line...

As you say, they built the passenger yard (east of Columbia St.) - but wasn't there an old yard there that they just enhanced? I'm in my 30's, and I always seem to remember trains crossing over Columbia St - don't I?

Other questions -

* To the west of RT 112 at PJ Station, there are 6 tracks at one point... were those all used for storage at one time?
* I thought the ticket office was slated to close? I still see it in action.
* What gives with Greenlawn and Northport? At Greenlawn it is "All trains use platform A", while Northport used to have a 2nd platform that was eventually demolished. Was there more volume on the line that I can't recall that necessatated dual platforms at those locations? Further, if a train was running late and the passing occurred in Greenlawn, would the RR be able to let customers off on Platform B?

More to come!

Trains still run through the old west yard. Train 657, which originates in Stony Brook, waits for 658 to arrive so it can deadhead to Stony Brook. There are also a few deadheads that use it, including the one pooch mentioned.

Question 1-2: Those 2 tracks were mainly used for the prototype C1 Bi-Level train from 1991-1999, as well as usually 1 other train (662 I believe, as it usually was the only push-pull rush hour Port Jeff train with Geeps on both ends. Most only had 1 Geep and turned on the wye.). Then they moved all trains to the west yard while they built the current Port Jeff yard. The 2 tracks that end in a bumper west of Route 112 were rarely used, although I did see some MOW cars stored there in 2001.

I believe there was one passenger carrying train that actually used the south platform back in the 1990s, but I'm not certain. To this day it is kind of peculiar why they didn't remorte/control Greenlawn. And if a train was late, they would just hold it at Duke so the eastbound could clear. It saves having to get off, throw the switch(s), etc.

The original plan was to electrify east of huntington thats why greenlawn had two platforms. They had even selected sites for a electric passenger yard, but it all fell through for various reasons.
That is also why Green lawn was never interlocked.
Trains were layed up for years east of columbia steet, on what was left of the old main to wading river.
When the c-1's came into service, yes, they were generally layed up there.
When they went to one brakeman in the early 80's or so, some of the port jeff collector jobs had a note to stay with the crew and assist in laying up the train.
That is because on many of the crews they had to run the engine around at the wye, and either shove the train east of columbia street, or move it into the west yard.
They did more then just enhance the two main tracks east of columbia, they built a whole yard there.
here is a google earth image of the area , with the wye, fuel dock and new yard.
The two long tracks at the top of the yard are what is left of the old main to wading river.


close up of the yard

Wow, you guys are such a wealth of knowledge, thanks for answering all of that for me! I hope I'm not a pain for all these questions...

To recap, I guess it would be safe to say that tracks 3-4 on the east side of 112 and tracks 3-6 on the west side of 112 will never be used again (unless MOW storage is needed)? Seems like the new yard, in conjunction with push/pull technology alleviated a lot of storage issues. I assume the wye will never be used again either (except for the rare freight train requiring a turn)? I know they don't come out for Nassau / Suffolk lumbar anymore, can't remember the last time I saw a freighter out there. Seems like a lot of open space in the PJ Station area - might the MTA be willing to part with so much land? Makes sense now- when they installed the new concrete grade crossings on 112, only tracks 1 & 2 received it (and as mentioned, track 2 is still used for the DH to Stony Brook). Hate to see so many "empty tracks" though!

Some other thoughts / questions-

* Nobody answered about the ticket office - still alive and kicking - any updates?

* Something specific to the C3 fleet, not necessarily PJ - I was chatting with a mechanic who works the fleet in Richmond Hill. I asked the person why the automated announcements always work on the M7, but on the C3 the collectors always seem to announce the stations. I was told that there was a reliability issue after the fleet had aged, but now the automated announcements work. The collectors seem to have been "trained" to interrupt the announcements though. Has anyone else experienced this? I've seen proof recently that they do work as it seems they are started correctly at the originating station, but than the collector interrupts it. It frustrates me to no end!

* Don't want to turn this into a good guy / bad guy thing here (I support all of you on the front line so much, as a customer riding a ton I see what you do), but what is the policy on keeping cars closed? Don't see it during the day much, but I happen to travel late at night a lot. If a 4 car consist is only going to have 3 cars open their doors, what is the point of dragging the 4th car along for the ride? And no, it isn't to reposition the cars - because a certain train I take a lot is a shuttle and frequently comes and goes with 3 / 4 cars open. Just seems odd?

As a kid I always remember hopper ballast cars laid up in the west yard. Maybe even cars to or from Suffolk Materials in Setauket?

Late at night its safer to keep cars closed, its easier to keep an eye on whats going on with less cars open.
If they are not needed, its actually safer to go with less cars open.
Having said that, I realize there are some Conductors who dont open enough cars when called for, and they tend to jam people into less cars.
The Railroad put special instructions in the timetable, instructing minimum cars to be opened during certain hours.
As a retired Conductor, I understand why the RR had to do that, too many went with not enough cars open, and it became a problem.
On many occasions I would be deadheading home and saw Trains with not enough cars open, and would think, wow this guy is asking for trouble If I were the Conductor I would open more Cars.
On the other hand, there are early AM trains from brooklyn to Far Rockaway or Hempstead and back, where in reality, only two cars are needed open, there usually are only a maximum of 10 people on those trains.
When I retired 4 years ago, most good supervisors would not say anything if they saw one of those trains with only a few cars open.
They realized as well as the train crews that it was a safer situation to be able to see what was going on in the few open cars, rather then having many cars open.
The reason why you see trains late at night with what seems like too many cars being dragged along for the ride, is thats exactly what is going on.
The train is being sent east for the morning rush. The cars may be there for the following trains later in the day, and are not really needed on that particular train.
The wye in Port Jeff is not used as much as it was in the past.
Its used mostly now for freights running engines around, and for change of engines or roustabouts picking up engines or cars.
Last time I used it was in 2005 or so, we were sent out to Port Jeff on a roustabout to pick up some dead cars to bring them back to the shops in the storage yard.
They had left the bad cars on the wye, to get them out of the yard, and out of the way.
As I had said in another post, my Engineer on the roustabout liked to run short hood forward on the 1500's so we would turn the engine around on the wye.
Personally I liked short hood forward too, the visabliity was much better, nicer ride that way.
To me, the roustabout was the best of both worlds. One got to go out and see different parts of the RR every day, instead of being stuck in one yard on a drill crew, and the bonus was no Passengers to deal with.
The perfect RR job as far as I was concerned. It did not get any better then that.
When I knew I was going to retire soon, I bid in a Passenger job to put on the uniform one last time for my last few weeks on the RR, for old times sake.
All that did was get me out of there a month or so sooner then I had planned, I just could not handle dealing with the public anymore..

The wyes and the turntables used to serve another purpose.
When the LIRR ran frieght, sometimes the boxcars had to be placed with particular doors facing north or south because they were loaded with materials against one of the doors. Many times we dragged cars to the east end of a branch to turn them and place them when we went west. If there was a knowlegable Yard Master at Holban, the cars would be turned there, An easy move between the north and south yards. The conductors at this time were alot more informed than what followed them. Many times the Montauk, Greenport etc. would stop at Belmont to switch and turn cars. Long time ago.

Ed