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  • Float Flat, Reacher Cars, Idler Cars, OR??

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1513745  by nyandw
 
Below is the info I have on Float Flat, Reacher Cars, Idler Cars, Float Reacher Cars, and even flat car as a "hump visibility" car, but was listed on the MOW roster as a float reach.

Float Reacher Cars: W-23, W-27, W-29, W-39, W-70 from MOW rosters and
Float Bridge Reach-In Cars 434903, 497983, 497993, 497999

Questions:
ONE: perhaps a 5th number I'm missing in the 4xxxx renumber series?
TWO: Could you folks chime in on the appropriate car type names, their function, and other info?

Image
Reacher Car- W-27 with Gondola W-5, Welded Rail Flats R-3, R-34 in background at LI City 1/1973Photo/Archive: Art Huneke

Image
LIRR #416 with float reacher car LI City view W 1976 Anyone ID the Photographer/collection?

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The Long Island used its five reacher cars at its Long Island City and Bay Ridge float bridges. A reacher car was coupled between the switcher and the freight cars to be loaded or removed from the cars floats. LIRR #497998 c.1927 float reacher car Archive: Bill Mangahas

J.J. Ear wrote: I would rather think that that was NOT a reacher car for the floats. The float flats, as we called them, had a little shanty on them that had a pot belly stove and benches for the crew to get out of the cold.

This one without the shanty would have been used on the east end ladder job as a car to improve vision for the engine crew while rolling the hump. That job continued for some time after the floats stopped operating. Freight came in from Fremont that needed classifying. The car in question, however, WAS referred to as a float flat. JJ Earl

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LIRR #421 S1 LI City with Idler MOW car taking delivery of Subway R32 cars. c.1964 More on this: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/workingyard%20A.htm "Working Yard A" by Joe Falco, JJ Earl, and Mark Smith

Finally:
LIRR at Long Island City 12/1962 Matthew J. Herson, Jr.
LIRR at Long Island City 12/1962 Matthew J. Herson, Jr.
LIRR at Long Island City_12-1962_Matthew J. Herson, Jr., .jpg (97.36 KiB) Viewed 2437 times