MTA LIRR Double Track Project - Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale

I was kind of surprised to look at the Wyandanch pictures and not see any work; is this part of another phase? I used to ride occasionally from Deer Park and Ronk.

mkm4 wrote:

Amtrak7 wrote:I've been told Eldee siding

"LD", Isn't that in Riverhead?

Eldee siding (PC Richard) is a siding west of Deer Park station. It is located 1875 feet east of Mile Post 37.

the old pc richards switch was removed

Didn't NYA have an active customer there, who received hoppers of gravel? Will it get reconnected ?

Jeff Smith wrote:I was kind of surprised to look at the Wyandanch pictures and not see any work; is this part of another phase? I used to ride occasionally from Deer Park and Ronk.

The ground has been cleared of brush, flattened, graded, and ready to have the track laid on it. The busy part was at the former Deer Park station, where they literally created land using sound walls and beams. Every single mile in this project has been prepped, it's now just a matter of time for them to lay the second track down.

Wyandanch is going to be tricky because LI Ave and Straight Path are directly within arms length of the track. Just like Wellwood Avenue they are going to have to reconfigure that intersection South of the tracks when they eventually convert Straight Path from a 1 to 2 track crossing. Aside from that, all the other crossings will be easy to convert or have already been converted.

Second track construction will take place next weekend September 9/10 and September 16/17,
http://web.mta.info/lirr/Timetable/KO-2 ... 7-2017.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the pc richards switch that was removed was just east of the farmingdale station

tahawus84 wrote:the pc richards switch that was removed was just east of the farmingdale station

You mean the lead to the old Price Parkway loop trackage, I presume? I guess after Strober Price moved in the 1990s, there were no potential freight customers left (Lowes retail store, P.C. Richards, discount furniture stores, party rental places and so on don't really count).

Crossed over the Carl's Path crossing today. East of the crossing just slightly past where the old Pinter Brothers switch was there is now a segment of track (couldn't tell how long) that has been laid on the south side of the new roadbed but using what looks like wooden ties not concrete.

Well with the outages on the September 9-10th and September 16-17th weekends, I'm guessing more second track will be laid by the NTC and I know they will be converting probably Islip Avenue/Rt. 111 into a 2-track crossing. Second track will probably be laid for the rest of the stretch from the N Peter's Blvd. crossing all the way to BRENT Interlocking. They have two crossover switches installed so that will most likely have the second track connected on the South side and have the ballast put in.

Are there plans to place the Ronkonkoma to Central Islip section in service anytime soon (Governor Cuomo declared the segment complete about a year ago), or will they wait until the entire project (Farmingdale to Ronkonkoma) is complete to implement service? As for signaling, do they plan to convert to the 3 color system or maintain position lights? Was capacity added at the sub-stations for the additional power required by a second track?

The signalling equipment contract for the complete Farmingdale - Ronkonkoma stretch was awarded just a couple of months ago or at least substantially later than all other works for Phase I. Therefore, I doubt Central Islip - Ronkonkoma will see 2 track operation that much earlier than the rest of the project. Cf. MTA LIRR board materials from this and last year

Good size LIRR MOW crew working on the Straight Path crossing today. Crew was working on the existing track. Crossing plates were removed and what looked like a very large tie tamper was working the crossing. further back by the 18th st. crossing on the siding were 2 other pieces of track equipment. No sign of work yet on begining a second crossing track.

It's only the beginning of this kind of work because next weekend will also be an outage. From what I heard they are rehabilitating some grade crossings which means converting them into 2-track crossings like Islip Avenue, and Straight Path from what I'm hearing. After next weekend's outage, I'm guessing the next one would be the same weekend as the outage to replace the Post Avenue bridge?

Very late Friday night I caught 3 MP-15's (2 up front, 1 behind) slowly hauling a long welded rail train up the grade between Wyandanch and Deer Park.
This morning on my way to work I saw a LIRR MOW crew was laying a set of welded rail up the grade from Wyandanch to the Deer Park Ave overpass. The rail train lead the way followed closely by a LIRR Little Giant crane on its rail wheels and a rather large equipment truck on its also on its rail wheels.