Ellison Avenue bridge replacement

Guess the Rail Road doesn't get an opportunity like this very often --- the mainline between Hicksville and Mineola completely closed down for 2 days! What a chance to do some major track/ballast jobs, etc.

REM3Night wrote:I was at Westbury noonish and there was a bus.
I wanted to see what they were working on but the stairs were closed. There was a "little giant" crane up there.
Next I went to Carle Place. There was a ballast vacuum working on the south track and more equipment on the north track to the west. There were several people waiting and they asked when the next train was - I said 2 days. I explained that the RR was closed for the weekend to remove the bridge.
I went to Mineola and there was a "convoy" of buses.
Ray

They should've had workers there making sure those folks on the platform were aware, or taped off. Pretty sure everything was taped off in Westbury & Carle Place. The bus you saw may have been an eastbound. Anyway today went much better. And where were the trains to Mineola turning? Could it be East Williston? Was at Jamaica and saw the Ronkonkoma DM's, they sounded like they were in E mode. I guess they could be using E mode to Babylon, switch to diesel for the Central, and then back to E mode after B tower?

The bridge is gone. LIRR posted some photos https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 314&type=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I was away for most of the day. I went by at 9 PM and there was no one around.
Ray
I was in the Deer Park area and caught a DM train at the station. Also had to pick up someone at Babylon - saw DMs there too. On my way home I caught an electric train turning at East Williston.

I was on the Westbury Station platform today and you can still see some sort of horizontal structure or beam above the tracks in the distance. So if the whole bridge is gone, what was I seeing?

Just a guess --- because I haven't seen it yet (but I'll guess anyway!) --- a utility drop?

took a very blurry photo from Carle Place station yesterday.....is it a walk-way for the workers?

(Guess I should take a ride on the train --- get a view through the valley there!)

Did anyone find out what they did at the School Street crossing since they said it was closed off?

MattAmity90 wrote:Did anyone find out what they did at the School Street crossing since they said it was closed off?

Also interested since School St has been a concrete crossing pad for a while now.

Slippy wrote:Piney, you've been complaining about the MTA for years on here. Why haven't you looked into other means of getting around if the MTA is as inept as you say they are.Th e work has to get done and there were public hearings about this. Use a little bit of common sense with this. If it's not one thing it's another with you.

Public hearings? Where and when were the public hearings? "Hearing" implies the public was heard, and there wasn't any of that...

There were several public information/hearing sessions - at several civic association meetings and at the Westbury Village Hall. They were well attended. Presentations were made by Village officials, LIRR officials and the contractor. After the presentation there were questions. There have been follow-up discussions at several meetings. There was also a news conference on the bridge site.
Ray

REM3Night wrote:The bridge is gone. LIRR posted some photos https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 314&type=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I was away for most of the day. I went by at 9 PM and there was no one around.
Ray
I was in the Deer Park area and caught a DM train at the station. Also had to pick up someone at Babylon - saw DMs there too. On my way home I caught an electric train turning at East Williston.

REM:

The Facebook LIRR pictures are only viewable by their members - and are behind a introduction wall...

Interesting mention of turning electric trains at East Williston - my guess is that both Main Line tracks were
de-energized just east of Nassau Tower making the use of this track segment on the OB Branch to turn trains
a good move...Back before the Mineola-Huntington elecrification extension opened in 1970 short run electric
local trains terminated there and today there is only one scheduled AM peak hour train #1501 which leaves
EW at 7:26 AM west making local stops to Floral Park - being one of the only trains using the north platform
that stop at FP...That train deadheads in for this run and I believe that this stretch of track between Mineola
and East Williston is the lowest used electrified non spur track on the LIRR which is used by just these two
runs each weekday...

MACTRAXX

Interesting mention of turning electric trains at East Williston - my guess is that both Main Line tracks were
de-energized just east of Nassau Tower making the use of this track segment on the OB Branch to turn trains
a good move...

MACTRAXX

Electric trains were turned on the Oyster Bay Branch utilizing Nassau 4. Main Line was oos from just east of Main Street in Mineola into Hicksville Station. They were turning trains on all 3 Hicksville Station tracks as well.

ThirdAvenue El wrote:
Public hearings? Where and when were the public hearings? "Hearing" implies the public was heard, and there wasn't any of that...

Since you don't know when or where they were held how can you possibly know what was said or heard or discussed or decided. (And I did go to one of the meetings. And people were pretty vocal and articulate about what they did and didn't want, and what their concerns were.)

Morisot wrote:

ThirdAvenue El wrote:
Public hearings? Where and when were the public hearings? "Hearing" implies the public was heard, and there wasn't any of that...

Since you don't know when or where they were held how can you possibly know what was said or heard or discussed or decided. (And I did go to one of the meetings. And people were pretty vocal and articulate about what they did and didn't want, and what their concerns were.)

If they happened, they were very poorly promulgated. There's no mention of them on the LIRR website...

As someone else mentioned, several public information sessions were held at Westbury Village Hall where a number of residents living adjacent to the bridge made known their concerns and opinions. I attended one such meeting.

Also I need to correct a previous post I made just after the bridge was demolished last week. I discovered today that the horizonal structure over the tracks visible from the Westbury Station platform was an optical illusion. I was actually seeing the pedestrian overpass at nearby Carle Place Station. My error.....