Sand mining and the LIRR

While evading ne'er-do-wells keeping me from my beloved striped bass, I came across what must have been some of the old sand mines at Pt. Wash/Roslyn, and some of them had rail, long abandoned. Were these ever connected to the LIRR? I know most of the Pt Wash sand was barged, but now am curious if any of it traveled by rail. How about other mines, such as the one were the seaplane base was at Montauk? I know the LI took a chunk out of the hills east of Syosset to build Jamaica - how about any info on moving the sand?

Thanks in advance...

From Arrts Archives: http://www.arrts-arrchives.com/FARMINGDALE.html

"EAST OF THE STATION (Farmingdale), NORTH OF THE TRACKS AND JUST WEST OF ROUTE 110 WAS A SAND MINE
FROM THIS MINE THE RAILROAD OBTAINED SAND FOR LOCOMOTIVES AND FOR FILL AND BALLAST."

Also, I recall from Scala's "Diesels of the Sunrise Trail," the second group of Alco Century 420's, the 222-229, were bought for freight service, and geared as such, specifically for hauling unit trains of sand west from Bridgehampton on the Montauk Branch for ???

The Pt. Wash sand pits were not connected by rail for LIRR service, though at one time there was a small rail line in the pit with some form of engine. Sand was barged from this location. Newsday printed an article on this in the last several years.

Around the current Amott Interlocking is where all of the sand for the Jamaica station and elevation project was mined. Look north of the tracks and you will see what remains of the excavation.

Sand traffic was plentiful with the carrier in the 1960's into the early 1970's. Most of this was destined for Manhattan. From a retired freight clerk, I learned there was to be a dedicated unit train of sand on the Montauk Branch (Bridgehampton?). The hoppers were purchased from the Erie Lackawanna for the service. Whether the last L-2's were purchased for the train is uncertain. The usual mix of railroad politics and the shipper playing one mode of transportation against another killed the operation. The hoppers were used extensively into the late 1980's.

There was another attempt at sand traffic at Bridgehampton in the 1980's, but was short lived. Other places sand was mined on the branch with rail service included Quouge and just east of Speonk station.

Sand is once again riding the rails of Long Island, and is shipped out of Brookhaven Rail Terminal to a customer on the Bushwick Branch.

jayrmli wrote:Sand is once again riding the rails of Long Island, and is shipped out of Brookhaven Rail Terminal to a customer on the Bushwick Branch.

Was there a Newsday article about this Brooklyn customer? Thanks.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/brookh ... rminal.htm

BRT view SE 01/01/2012 Photo: Glen Johnson

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the abandoned tunnel in Port Washington from the mining company?

LongIslandTool wrote:Why hasn't anyone mentioned the abandoned tunnel in Port Washington from the mining company?

That tunnel was for conveyor belts that ran from the plant to the water where the barges were loaded unless there was another tunnel. Part of the tunnel has been preserved and incorporated into The Sandminers Monument. http://www.sandminers.com/index.html

Where is the tunnel and where was the mine?

Crabman1130 wrote:Where is the tunnel and where was the mine?

I'm assuming the mine in question would be found in this link http://www.sandminers.com/history.html . If correct it's quite a sizable mine, shame it all ended by 1989.

I remember reading somewhere (so no source) there was a mining tunnel under Sands Point Rd. If you wander along Ashwood road (which parallels Sands Point Rd.) you can see the tunnel portal back behind one of the houses near the end of the road. My sister used to live in that neighborhood and I remember seeing this.

"Was there a Newsday article about this Brooklyn customer? Thanks."

There have been some Newsday articles about BRT, but I'm not sure if any were about the sand move specifically. The customer receiving the sand is Kings Materials.

Jay

4behind2 wrote:The Pt. Wash sand pits were not connected by rail for LIRR service, though at one time there was a small rail line in the pit with some form of engine.

http://www.pwpl.org/localhistory/sandmi ... f_port.htm
Scroll down to see two photos of "Standard gauge rail operation at the sandbanks, 1952"

Setauket LIRR RS1 #468 Tripleheader 1970 Photo: Richard Glueck

I was born too late to recall the sand mining in Setauket. That had stopped by the late 70s/early 80s. The site was used for transloading road salt for the Town of Brookhaven and, for a brief time, transloading bentonite to seal off new landfill construction. There was also some loading of flyash in gons (covered in plastic) in the late80s/early90s.

John