NYA operations east of Hicksville on Pt. Jefferson Branch

Starting east of Divide Tower in Hicksville, what customers are served by NYA on the Port Jefferson Branch? If possible, what's the configuration of the spur, and what kind of rolling stock to they use?

The 3 main customers I can think of is Kleet just west of Park Ave in Huntington which the yard is accessed from the west end. Nassau Suffolk which is just east of Hunt 3 interlocking is entered from the east. The other Nassau Suffolk in Port Jefferson is entered from the new Port Jeff yard at Columbia Street Crossing. The switch is east of Columbia St. I know Gallo is in Hicksville, but I don't know if it is still used.

Anyone know about Gallo?

There is also a seasonal calcium chloride transload in Huntington, and a steel transload in St James.

The Gallo wine is lost to trucks. Business changed owners. located in Syosset.

9/8 @ 11:37am E/B @ Divide:
261/270 w/ 3 loaded centerbeams & 3 boxcars

Both Nassau- Suffolk ( Huntington & Pt.Jeff) and Kleet Lumber use boxcars and centerbeams. These two sidings get serviced a couple of times a week If they don't have any cars for customers east of Huntington the freight will run around its train in Northport ( Duke) and service Huntington heading west. Also there is a siding west of Huntington station that takes tanks cars. I noticed a bulkhead flat in that location last week. St. James gets serviced on the westbound trip also. If there are no cars for Pt. Jeff they will usually turn in Stony Brook. Ideal Steel takes loaded gondolas and steel beams loaded on bulkhead flats in the St.James team track just west of St.James station.Service there is fairly new and stated last year. Currently there are 4 gondolas in the siding. They don't seem to take cars too regularly. Nassau Suffolk in Port Jeff is east of the station and is serviced eastbound. Not many cars go to Port Jeff. Only about two loads a month on average. After switchung this customer the engines run-around the train by going through the wye so the engines turn and the same lead engine is used on the westbound trip. There is also a siding in Greenlawn that I think can be used as a team track. Too bad about Gallo. They would take BNSF boxcars from the wine country in Calif. Cars were placed inside their building about a half mile west of Syosset on the westbound run.

John the move out to Port Jefferson could also involve the train hanging out in the west yard. Caught them in Feb 2001 so the sun was at a pretty good angle. There's a crossing just west of the yard. The NYA was trying to get the steel unloaded at Greenlawn because of the unloading platform.

Was the switch for Gallo and the spur ripped out by the LIRR after NYA lost the business, or does it remain in place so they could return to rail at some point in the future, like during a gasoline-price crisis that drives up the cost of trucking?

It is still in existence, but for how much longer is not known.

Speaking of switches that are still in existence but not currently being used, the switch to the old American Tissue, ( previously Gaylord Paper Bag) is also still in place. Any leads as to whether that building will ever see another customer?

Last 15years was Gaylord Bag(rail service), Del Labs(warehouse), and American Tissue (rail service) and now ? Did a phase 2 site evualation on the site when Gaylord bag had left. Walked the track and found an old LIRR switch lock, two door handles, and a broken knucle coupler. Another freight siding in limbo or lost.

There was a CSX boxcar being unloaded in Greenlawn today. Does anyone know who it's for? I guess the LIRR decided to let NYA use the siding.

I witnessed evidence of the RS30 pulling their own weight" instead of something else Kleet had 5 cars in it. I believe 2 flats and 3 boxes. Nassau Suffolk had 2 boxes. There was also a handful of cars in Huntington Team and the Sperry car. If the cars were spotted at the right consignees it looked like a busy day.

That might have been a Velvet top in Greenlawn. They would sometimes take ice melt for the public school system.

The CSX boxcar is still on the team track in Greenlawn. The boxcars and centerbeams are still at Kleet, and there are two tankcars along with the Sperry unit west of the Huntington LIRR station.

mainline wrote:The Gallo wine is lost to trucks. Business changed owners. located in Syosset.

In this month's [strike]Snail[/strike]RailPace, in a article on the latest Pennsylvania rail-freight infrastructure improvement grants, one grant is for a new siding to serve a Gallo Wine distribution center in Scranton (I think). Are these centers independantly owned or run, so that one center starts using railfreight and the other ends it?