History of stone train service on Long Island

When did stone train service begin on Long Island? Was it an LIRR service, or was it business that NYA came up with?

I don't remember details back before 1968, but my first run on the Greenport freight in May of that year involved a set off and switch at Prima.
We left loads on the eastbound trip and picked up empties the next day on our way west.

I think Legio meant the rock service from Maspeth to Prima, using the ore jennies. I don't believe this is the freight run JJ is talking about.

I can tell you it was pre-NYAR business, and NYAR inherited the last few years until the project was completed. You'd have to look and see when the watershed tunneling project began in that area to get a rough idea, but I would look around 1990.

From what I've heard, the sidings at Prima are some of the oldest existing freight sidings on the railroad.

Jay

1990 sounds about right on Maspeth water tunnel, Jay.
It was around that time that the LIRR bought the ore jennies to handle this service.
It was still run by LI when I was still working the YFD201 and followed the RF7 through Jamaica to Holban.
When they went by Richmond Hill, we commented on how one car was rocking. We never expected to hear about what happened at Belrose just as we came into Holban.
The main line was tied up for several days and the company put a severe speed restriction on those jennies after several tipped over.

Ahh, yes, I should've been more specific about the unit trains to Prima out in Holtsville. So the LIRR would service Prima with trains that were also servicing other customers, and not dedicated unit trains like the NYA does?

How did P&W get involved with service to/from Fresh Pond? Were they coming down back in the LIRR freight days, or did that only start after NYA got started? Was this run something Conrail did'nt want to do, and they granted P&W trackage rights, which CSX has continued?

The only crews that operated over LIRR trackage before NYA came along were LIRR crews.
Unit trains were ordered out if the consist called for it.
The stone for Prima didn't always come in one fell swoop.
Four , five cars here. A few there.
These went out on the local.
This was also true with Long Island Light at Island Park.
Twenty cars of coal called for a Southside extra while only a few went onto the local. The same was true for the stone for Prima.
For many years, that stone was floated in from NY Trap Rock into Long Island City and many a happy time was had by all trying to get these cars off of the floats and onto dry land.
Today it comes overland (Hell Gate) from Connecticut.

if I recall right P&W came a few years before the end of conrail in 98'. CR was pulling back from their new haven / danbury secondary operations and handed the stone traffic off to P&W. Mid 1990s?

After CR was bought by CSX & NS, part of the deal was that CP was granted rights to come down the hudson line as a means of breaking the monopoly that CR previously had on the line.

NYAR also brings stone to Prima in regular freight consists. While the Tilcon train is a unit train, the stone that arrives in the JTSX hoppers usually goes out with other freight.

The P&W service started pre-NYAR when Conrail granted trackage rights to Fresh Pond. The trackage rights are only good for moving aggregates however. No other freight is allowed under the agreement.

Jay

The movement of stone from Connecticut to the LIRR goes back many
years.
I can remember in the very early 1960's during my fireman days on the
NHRR that coming out of Cedar Hill on the head end of NG-5 in the
afternoon, we would often have a good size cut of stone on the head end
to be set off at Fremont.
Much of the stone came off the Air Line out of Reeds Gap although there
were other places where stone came from as well.
Noel Weaver