Railroad Forums 

  • LIRR NY&A Freight ops overview?

  • Discussion related to NYAR operations on Long Island. Official web site can be found here: www.anacostia.com/nyar/nyar.html. Also includes discussion related to NYNJ Rail, the carfloat operation successor to New York Cross Harbor that connects with NYAR.
Discussion related to NYAR operations on Long Island. Official web site can be found here: www.anacostia.com/nyar/nyar.html. Also includes discussion related to NYNJ Rail, the carfloat operation successor to New York Cross Harbor that connects with NYAR.
 #1189686  by train2
 
Have a trip to Long Island soon, can anyone describe the freight operations by NY&A on the LIRR? I have shot MU cars many times all over Long Island but have not crossed paths with freight. That will high on my list.

Can anyone give a little operating brief on what to expect, days of the week and hours (midday or at night) locations?

T2
 #1190051  by RRJS3
 
It's hard to give specific times, but they do follow a general pattern.

If you want daytime action, the RS40 is pretty reliable. It runs the Central Branch late morning/early afternoon, and switches Wellwood Siding and a couple of customers (stone, garbage, etc) south of Sunrise Highway. A good place to watch them is near the Grand Ave crossing in Lindenhurst.

The RS60 usually runs east from Pineaire, but I'm not too familiar with time estimates. Used to be a daytime run, then it was a night run, then it was a daytime run again...I'm sort of lost myself. There are other daytime runs on the mainline (extra stone trains and other stuff), but the movements aren't always predictable.

Night action is a little easier to track. The RS50 crew makes a round trip between Pineaire and Fresh Pond, usually leaving around 9-10 and coming back way later. The RS80 generally serves mainline customers in the Farmingdale/Wyandanch area, and usually arrives at Atlantic Coastal (C&D transload facility) on New Highway around 9:30-10:30.

Service on the Port Jeff and Montauk branches is as-needed and pretty sporadic, I wouldn't count on it.

Good luck!
 #1190154  by DogBert
 
In Queens you might catch the maspeth switch job around 1-2pm on a weekday. I believe they run there 2-3 times a week.

After dark on the bushwick branch the trash train seems to drop off and collect cars around 9 or 10pm. Rough looking area that isn't nearly as bad as it was years ago. Just keep an eye on the occasional crackhead wandering in or out of the yard applying their fix.
 #1191001  by jtunnel
 
I caught a glimpse of the NY&A switching the Interchange with NYNJ last Thursday morning around 6AM. Is that typical?