LIRR Excursions

News of an Amtrak "rare mileage" excursion out of Philadelphia on 11/2 got me to thinking about something.

Way back when, the LIRR used to run excursion specials such as "Fall Foliage Tours" to places like Planting Fields Arboretum. Other than their promotion of "NYC Getaways," is it out of the question that they will ever promote these kinds of excursions again? What about fan trips?
When did the last excursion or fan trip to a LI point of interest take place?

It's hard to believe that LIRR's 175th anniversary is going to be coming up soon. Hopefully they will put on an excursion for that.

Went on one LIRR excursion.....the November 1986 trip to L.I.C., West Hempstead, Montauk and back to Jamaica. It was supposed to have two Alco C420's for power.....it showed up with two MP-15ac's. 619 was the HEP provider. My Dad thought it was an Oyster Bay-bound train due to the power. Needless to say, we WERE NOT happy and never went on another again. Never got an explanation that day either. We weren't the only irritated patrons that day. And going to L.I.C. via the Lower Montauk all 8 C420's were there, in Morris Park, on the ready tracks, not the deadline track.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:It's hard to believe that LIRR's 175th anniversary is going to be coming up soon. Hopefully they will put on an excursion for that.

I think the LIRR already had its 175th Anniversary back in 2009. It's 180th birthday's coming up soon, though!

So that means 2034 should be the big celebration year. I'll only be 92 years young then; can't wait!

Also, did some googling around, and came up with this about LIRR fan trips:

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrfa ... ntrips.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Guess the last one was in 2009.

Whoops I meant to say 180th birthday. It would be nice to have a diesel excursion on the Montauk. Maybe start it out in LIC and take the old Montauk, and add photo stops. Between Jamaica and Babylon, take the Main to the Central one way and the Babylon back.

Don't think they'll be anything happening with the Lower Montauk any more; wouldn't they have to get "permission" from NY&A?

So was the fan trip down the Bayridge from Fresh Pond to the Hudson River with NY & Atl power the last far trip on LIRR rails ?

Ocala Mike wrote:So that means 2034 should be the big celebration year. I'll only be 92 years young then; can't wait!Also, did some googling around, and came up with this about LIRR fan trips:
http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrfa ... ntrips.htm Guess the last one was in 2009.

Mr Rt, Ocala Mike, Folks: The fan trip web page is only reflective of what I can gather from all of you. For example: The "Bike Hike" material was provided by Brad Phillips who was in attendance; as was the "Farewell to the Doubledeck". It is a work in progress, for certain. Having stated that, it is not in any way the definitive resource on all trips taken and doesn't reflect the total history out there.

Thus the last one in 2009 is only due to the info sent me, and as far as "..Bayridge from Fresh Pond to the Hudson River with NY & Atl power the last far trip on LIRR rails ?.." I would not have that answer; sure wish I did!

I welcome all further info to add to this page. Thank you.

My dream of an excursion would be a steamer. Don't care about the logistics of how something like that could be worked out with the MTA but wouldn't that be just magnificent? Perhaps, since the Strasburg is restoring and operating 39 for the next 48 years, they send an excursion out to LI. That'd be a train- lover's dream, a photographer's dream and a historian's dream. Most likely NEVER to happen at least in our lifetimes.

I remember a "Sunrise Trail" sponcered trip on Metro North rails,with a L-2 as power and 1 of the "F-7" power packs,
routing was Jamaica,Hellgate,New Haven line to SoNo,up the Danbury Branch then the Maybrook over to CP Dyke,
a "sneek preview" of the "new" shop at Put Jct(Brewster),and a run over to Beacon on the Maybrook,return to Jamaica
via reverse route,about the same year as the " NH Tech" trip with the Chrome FL-9's to GY and return

"Steam-In" flyer 10/29/67 and 11/26/67 Archive: Brad Phillips

Seems to me I recall they had some problems with the locomotive on the 1967 steam trip and they couldn't keep the steam up. I don't recall the end result but I would bet it would be pretty difficult for the LIRR (or Metro North either for that matter) to run a steam trip at present, there are too many ifs on very busy passenger tracks. I can only imagine how high the ticket prices would be in the unlikely event that something like this happened.
Noel Weaver

I bet many people would be more than willing to pay the high prices!

BM6569 wrote:I bet many people would be more than willing to pay the high prices!

Might be but I wonder how much the MTA would accept in tieing up important commuter routes that are already stretched pretty much to the limit as things are now without a steam train to gum things up even more. A steam train could really gum things up at some pinch points. I doubt if you will see any steam powered trains on the LIRR anytime in the reasonable future.
Noel Weaver