Two locomotives?

Does anyone know which trains on the Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson branches that operates with a locomotive at each end of the train?

probably because if one pukes on the way one can push? or ferrying an engine back to the terminal. its pretty lame that they have a 10K mile MTBF.

I work near the ML in Jamaica and take a class at Ballys 2 days a week so I can railfan pretty much anytime, but the state of the LIRR's diesel fleet is pathetic. I know they've reversed the firing order in the DE/DM's to stop the engine mounts and body from cracking but that seems to have made them into chronic oil pukers. Its not the engine, the 710 is probably one of the best diesel blocks around.. the C3's are filthy on the outside, especially on the roofs, which are discolored due to bizarre stains and of course diesel exhaust.

any of Dual mode trains have to have a DM on each side of train, if its not a DM train they may be short cab cars ??

Dual mode trains that operate to or from New York have two DM's, one on either side of the train. Additionally, trains that operate with more than six cars typically have two locomotives.

Cab car shortages are also quite common, as they are short of essentially everything in the diesel fleet. There are only 23 C3 cab cars and they need roughly 18 for daily service, so there is always a chance of them coming up short.

lirr42 wrote: Cab car shortages are also quite common, as they are short of essentially everything in the diesel fleet. There are only 23 C3 cab cars and they need roughly 18 for daily service, so there is always a chance of them coming up short.

isn't it odd that there aren't enough cab cars to go around? wasn't prendagast in charge of this procurement?

It seems kinda expensive to run two engines on a 5 car consist (6000 hp?) on a lightly trafficked OB branch when say the PJ line could use it (although it probably wouldn't have been much good, one of this eve's trains had 3 cars).

the promise of one seat ride from Montauk, Greenport, or Port Jefferson has never really materialized (what one a day on the PJ?). its funny (and sad) because the only reason electric service is "better" (reliable and frequent) is simply because there's more equipment (and better MTBF) to cover a schedule than say one train a day to GY. If you subscribe to the mainline email list, equipment failures are quite frequent. If you can't run even one train a day in your schedule it kinda infers to larger problems no?

The sheer lack of diesel equipment is a very big problem on the LIRR. They ordered too little equipment back in the 1990's, and that was at a time when demand in diesel territory is much less than it is today. In the last 20 years, demand on the Port Jefferson and Montauk Branches has risen significantly, and the lack of equipment capacity really rears its ugly head quite frequently. More equipment is badly needed, but it looks like any additional diesel equipment is still several years off.

In the meantime, the odd consists that show up are just a fact of the lack of equipment, and there's not much the LIRR can do to avoid it. Last night my train had two DE's pulling just 3 C3's.

Despite the limited application of the dual modes (two to/from Port Jefferson, one to/from Oyster Bay, two from and one to Speonk), they are pretty successful. They are the heaviest traveled trains on each of their respective branches, despite very few of them traveling in the peak of the peak. Greenport and Montauk were never really on the table for dual-mode service, as the demand just isn't there. Of the handful of people that board my train east of Speonk in the morning there isn't one person who goes to New York on a daily basis, so the dual-mode equipment would be wasted.

De402, I take it you base your opinion of the Diesel fleet's reliability with your vast working knowledge and personal experience with them? The fleet is actually performing quite well compared to when they were new. Common issues are with the 500's involving changeover. The sled cracks were an issue years ago. Any 2-stroke EMD is going to blow oil. BTW, "equipment problems", if that's even the real reason, could mean a whole variety of things usually not having anything to do with the locomotive.

lirr42 wrote:The sheer lack of diesel equipment is a very big problem on the LIRR. They ordered too little equipment back in the 1990's, and that was at a time when demand in diesel territory is much less than it is today. In the last 20 years, demand on the Port Jefferson and Montauk Branches has risen significantly, and the lack of equipment capacity really rears its ugly head quite frequently. More equipment is badly needed, but it looks like any additional diesel equipment is still several years off.

In the meantime, the odd consists that show up are just a fact of the lack of equipment, and there's not much the LIRR can do to avoid it. Last night my train had two DE's pulling just 3 C3's.

Despite the limited application of the dual modes (two to/from Port Jefferson, one to/from Oyster Bay, two from and one to Speonk), they are pretty successful. They are the heaviest traveled trains on each of their respective branches, despite very few of them traveling in the peak of the peak. Greenport and Montauk were never really on the table for dual-mode service, as the demand just isn't there. Of the handful of people that board my train east of Speonk in the morning there isn't one person who goes to New York on a daily basis, so the dual-mode equipment would be wasted.

Your train had two DE's which means the cab car wasn't available or was the cab car behind one of the locomotives? In the rarest moments one of the two locomotives could be in a consist just to replace one unit that is needed on another train.

There were times on the greenport scoot we had an engine, a car and an engine since they were short of cab cars.

I thought you had to have 2 DMs on a train because of the gaps in Penn.

as for poster concerned about 6000 hp on train!!, just because you got 6000 Hp does no mean your using it.
An engine will only produce power when your demanding it, plus the acceleration is set to a max value, that will not get better no matter how many engines you couple together.

There were times on the greenport scoot we had an engine, a car and an engine since they were short of cab cars.

The Scoot was double-ended for a few weeks awhile back because of the snow drifts out east.

Yes Crab, any DM going into NY requires an engine on both ends to avoid gaping. They still however occasionally gap going into west side yard, and the Engineer just switches it to diesel mode to get up the hill and into the yard. When I worked the drill crew there it seemed to happen every few weeks. On one occasion the fumes set the fire alarms off in the tower and the FDNY showed up.

that they have a 10K mile MTBF.

. What is mtbf?