MP54 and P54 coaches-Preserved?

Around 1970, the LIRR put a collection of about 11 MP54 cars on a siding in Babylon. I believe some were destroyed by fire, while others were culled for other purposes. Only one arch roofed car was saved to the best of my knowledge, while the others were tradional PRR designs. Can anyone post a list of what is left, and pulling no punches, what condition it's in? Has the RR itself tucked a few away for display? Furthermore, there is alot of talk about a pair of M1's being saved for posterity, but frankly, they don't belong in the NY Subway collection. Has a request for a pair gone out from a preservation group?

Those cars were under the care of the Long Island - Sunrise Train Chapter of the NRHS when they were in Babylon, and later in Calverton and Westhampton Airport. Some became the Bicentennial exhibit cars.

I'm not sure where they all are today, though I'm sure someone else can fill you in.

I believe the LIRR presently has one or two 54-foot passenger cars on their property but neith are for preservation purposes and are simply being put to some storage use and forgotten about.

I'm not sure if the Railroad owns any of the equipment at Riverhead. Again, someone can probably better answer that question.

There is an operating LIRR MP-54 at Warehouse Point Trolley Museum in Maine. It has a trolley pole on it, but I believe it still runs...

Clem

There is an operating LIRR MP-54 at Warehouse Point Trolley Museum in Maine. It has a trolley pole on it, but I believe it still runs...

There WAS an operating LIRR MP-54 at Warehouse Point (aka Connecticut Trolley Museum). 4153 has been out-of-service and gathering moss for nearly 10 years. As with any other railway museum, if there is no individual or group interested in preserving a specific car it will succomb to the elements as is the case with 4153.

The other LIRR MP-54 -- 4137 -- is up at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. It's been fairing a bit better, but there is still no serious resto project for it as far as I know.

BTW, I hate to burst anyone's bubble on this, but when it comes to catagorizing MU commuter equipment railway museums list them under 'rapid transit cars'. Some might find this offensive, but when you compare the electrical and mechanical components of MU commuter cars and subway/rapid transit cars, there is little difference.

By 1979, the cars at Westhampton were a B-60 baggage car, the #200 double-decker trailer, MU RPO-bagg, and an MU coach (clerestory roof) that may have been a commuter club car at one point. There might have been a 5th car-- it's been a long time..... When I was involved with the Project 39, we were given the cars by LIRR and had to prep them for a move to Riverhead. Repacking plain bearings in snowy 30 degree weather wasn't fun. The move went west to Hicksville and then east to Riverhead, all on one long night at 30 mph with an MP15 at each end. No hotboxes, by the way. A couple of the cars (#200 at least) had roller brgs. The cars all had faded stencils stating "Hold for preservation LIRR-Sunrise Trail NRHS-Do Not Scrap". By then, the MP-54s were pretty funky, heavily vandalized, few windows left, plenty of rust-out in vestibules, side sheets, etc. The 200 and the bag were the best of the bunch.

The deadline for the move was the installation of welded rail on the Montauk line, which was going to result in the Air Force base switch being pulled out, trapping the cars. I want to say this was in Feb-March of 1979. It might have been Feb-March of 1980, tho. When the cars got to Riverhead, work started on refurbishing the baggage car for a workshop. New heavy plywood doors, shelving, benches, etc.

The tourist info car along the LIE was out of that same LIST-NRHS batch, and I think it was one of the two Hertiage Train cars the LIRR painted red and refurbed in 1976.

To all:
I've contacted Richard already, and I too am interested in any details.
I've picked up a few dispositions from this forum that I didn't know about, and would like to hear from anyone who has information on these or other former LIRR cars, so we can exchange notes.
You may email me or send a P/M if you prefer.
Thanks! Tim Darnell

<i>There WAS an operating LIRR MP-54 at Warehouse Point (aka Connecticut Trolley Museum). 4153 has been out-of-service and gathering moss for nearly 10 years. As with any other railway museum, if there is no individual or group interested in preserving a specific car it will succomb to the elements as is the case with 4153. </i>

I've approached them a few times about it. Never got a reply. AFAIK, they could care less about the thing and would gladly let it rot. I'm sure we could get together a good group to fix it up and even get it rolling again, but they don't seem to be interested or even care about the car in general. It's ashame, it's only one of two complete MP-54s out there, and it likely could be made operable.

I say lets do it.

well would we be doing the work thre or at home?

YES, YES, I remember that "South Bronx" comment very well...it cracked us all up!! I laughed so hard I almost peed myself! There were a few of us Project 39 folks riding along with journal oil, coolax, jacks, tools, etc., "just-in-case". We were on the two engines and heard it clearly on the cab radios.

I'd *love* to go up there on weekends and fix the thing up. Trouble is, the ^%#&%^& museum in CT never relpies to my requests for info or even offers to volunteer

Warehouse Pt is only a few minutes from Hartford, and the museum is right off '91. And seriously, getting there isn't that much of a trip - I used to be able to do it in about 2 hours from Glen Cove, outside the rush hour. Ok, that was on my Harley and the new haven - Hartford segment tended to be 70+ running (with sustained 80 - 90 but still, even in a Toyota, it's not that long...


4137 up in Main is in decent shape (everything's there, really), they were open to working on it, but that's a LONG trip up. I was hoping to land a job in CT or Mass and that would have given me the proximity, but it never happened

Guys, if any of you are serious about 4153, I'll contact Mr. T (who often posts at NY&A threads) to read the postings here. He is a member at Warehouse Point and a regular volunteer operator, so he'd be a good person to have as a contact for coordinating something with the museum.

The move out of Westhampton was in 1979; the cars were repacked around President's day, and I remember driving home in a nasty snowstorm. Being in an aviation fuel dump, we couldn't have a fire to warm up with, so someones car was always running with the heater on full blast.

There was a second MP-54 in addition to the coach, the parlor car "Rockaway", which was so badly deteriorated that we referred to it as the Rot-away. I remember the comment being made, in regards to eventual restoration, that there was "nothing left to weld to".

One of the MUs (either the coach or parlor) may have been a trailer, but the RPO-Bagg was a motor car, with rollers on the powered axles; I do remember topping off it's support bearings.

The move, maybe a few weeks later, was interesting. I remember renting five car lengths of 1" construction air hose so we could rig a hospital line between the two MP-15s. Then somewhere around "oh-dark-hundred" in the morning, while leaning on the electric cabinet in the lead MP-15, I dozed off and elbowed the fuel pump breaker off. (Dumb place for an electrical cab, right in the middle of the cab!).

We waited out the WB morning rush at Ronkonkoma, and I rode the 200 into Riverhead. Yes, the South Bronx comment was appropriate, that 200 was a whole apartment building by itself. Neat concept, though-

There was a round roof Ping-Pong, LIRR number 1, in storage at Morris Park at the same time: I remember being impressed by it's condition, after working on the five at Westhampton. I wonder if it is still around---

There are, of course, Ping-Pongs in Boonton and at Steamtown, but those pregnant roller skate trucks were known to come apart with little warning.

I visited Seashore last Spring, and the MP54 there has recently been entirely re-roofed. Her undersides are in need of immediate attention, being heavily rusted. She's used as a stoarge facilty at the moment, but in pretty good shape otherwise. Every window has been stoned out, but I believe every window remains in place. The car body itself is in good shape. I have images of the car, but not the place to stick'em (be good). She's in Goodfellow grey/orange, but will need total repaint. THere is still advertising in her interior display slots.
Remember what happened to the other cars and the Penn Central car at RRMofPa?

Ah, I was hoping you'd see that and chime in, EDM. Your memory is better than mine (or maybe you took notes-- I didn't). I thought there was an MU "parlor" in there-- the famed "rot-away", what a POS.

Remember how we warmed up the journal oil, so that it would flow in the 30-degree temps? Putting quart cans of the stuff right on top of running auto engines and exhaust manifolds!!!! And the frozen-into-the-journalbox lube pads.... Ah, sweet memories!!

I do recall that the Rockaway Club was the Railroad's only MU parlor car in the steel fleet age. It did have motors but no pumps (air compressor). The Rockaway Hunting Club members objected to the noise.

When the M-1's came, the club was offered one without seats that they could use as their club car. I believe the new price was too high for them, they had been paying the price of 21 "first class fares" for the old one, and the Company wanted more for an M-1.

The car ran on Train 2001 out of Far Rock every morning, laid up in Penn Station's "C Yard" and rode back in the evening. Yea, it was pretty rusty toward the end.

The double decker was america's first all-aluminium rail car and was advertised with some fanfare by Alcoa Aluminium when it was built. It was assembled with steel rivets, I believe, and the electrolysis between the metals rotted holes in partions of it. It was one of two short (60 foot) double-deck cars -- the majority of the fleet was built after the war and were longer.

The newer double deck cars (and the Zip Cars) were supposed to remain in service with the M-1's and one was fully reconditioned with M-1 type seats and interior panels. It was painted silver and blue. I suppose this was too expensive and funds were available for the later order of GE M-1's so the double deckers were scrapped and the Zip's converted to diesel coaches.

Clem.