M3 Retirement, Scrapping

Phil Eng seems to be aware of refurbishing some M3 as M9 come online as reported. M3 will have even more life left in them. Added service capacity is a good thing. Eventually they can order more M9 options or a new model train to fully phase out the M3 altogether at some point in time.

I see the issue with the MARC cars as to why they are needed and it appears to be cheaper to lease than modify the M3. Eventually the C3 will be replaced and they will likely do the same, refurbish some C3’s, while the new replacements come in and phase out the MARC’s during the process.

newkirk wrote:

BuddR32 wrote:9745-6 Give to NYTM, but never taken.

Speaking of #9745. Look what I found while perusing slides. Photographed at Port Washington July 1982.

[click to enlarge]

Great picture. Interesting observation, 9745 doesn't have the blue vertical band going up over the cab window. Also, 9260 had already begun leaking where the stainless meets the fiberglass, as it has the railroad famous foil tape.

Something else about 9260 sticks out in my mind, but I cant remember what at the moment.

BM: Interesting picture "between cars" of M1s at Port Washington back in July 1982.
Hard to believe that this is 36 years ago this month - I like "detail" pictures such as this...

Sometime in 1982 the LIRR began to experiment on new M1 color schemes and would eventually
stop painting the blue side stripe. What caught my eye in this picture is the two shades of blue on
the vertical cab stripes on 9689 and 9260 - which has the lighter shade metallic blue that was the
regular color feature that the cab stripe had. At some point the LIRR discontinued painting the cab
stripes altogether as 9745 shows. Another painted-on feature that M1 cars had was the horizontal
two inch wide(?) stripe that ran across the top of the car above the "rain gutter" which would not
be replaced or painted back on - the M3 cars did not have this top stripe.

From this picture all three cars including 9745 look to have their original number signs replaced.
The original number signs were graphic numerals in fibreglass and the replacements were stick-on
numerals on white plexiglass that are slightly smaller then the original numerals were. Some M3
cars still have their original fibreglass numberboards to this day.

R32: 9260 was one of the cars that had M3 type "D Windows" installed as a test to replace the
drop sash M1 cab windows. That is one experiment that was not repeated outside the two pairs
that actually got them installed.

These are the type of car details that can be overlooked but are good to know for more historical reference - and for anyone who may want to model these MU cars...

MACTRAXX

adamj023 wrote:Phil Eng seems to be aware of refurbishing some M3 as M9 come online as reported. M3 will have even more life left in them. Added service capacity is a good thing. Eventually they can order more M9 options or a new model train to fully phase out the M3 altogether at some point in time.

I see the issue with the MARC cars as to why they are needed and it appears to be cheaper to lease than modify the M3. Eventually the C3 will be replaced and they will likely do the same, refurbish some C3’s, while the new replacements come in and phase out the MARC’s during the process.

Well since the RR is down effectively a whole train or almost of whole train of M7s that sit in Arch street awaiting legal clear ups,it'd be silly to retire m3s until m9s arrive fully. There are not enough m9s in the first order to replace all the m3s. The RR is already struggling with not enough EMUs as there continue to be passenger reports of short trains every day of the week consistently.

MACTRAXX wrote:BM: Interesting picture "between cars" of M1s at Port Washington back in July 1982.
Hard to believe that this is 36 years ago this month - I like "detail" pictures such as this...

Sometime in 1982 the LIRR began to experiment on new M1 color schemes and would eventually
stop painting the blue side stripe. What caught my eye in this picture is the two shades of blue on
the vertical cab stripes on 9689 and 9260 - which has the lighter shade metallic blue that was the
regular color feature that the cab stripe had. At some point the LIRR discontinued painting the cab
stripes altogether as 9745 shows. Another painted-on feature that M1 cars had was the horizontal
two inch wide(?) stripe that ran across the top of the car above the "rain gutter" which would not
be replaced or painted back on - the M3 cars did not have this top stripe.

From this picture all three cars including 9745 look to have their original number signs replaced.
The original number signs were graphic numerals in fibreglass and the replacements were stick-on
numerals on white plexiglass that are slightly smaller then the original numerals were. Some M3
cars still have their original fibreglass numberboards to this day.

R32: 9260 was one of the cars that had M3 type "D Windows" installed as a test to replace the
drop sash M1 cab windows. That is one experiment that was not repeated outside the two pairs
that actually got them installed.

These are the type of car details that can be overlooked but are good to know for more historical reference - and for anyone who may want to model these MU cars...

MACTRAXX

I like the blue stripes on these cars, I grew up on Staten Island, and the SIRTOA R-44 cars had them as well. Until I saw an old pic of my brothers and I at a train station, I forgot about the over cab stripe.

As for the replacement number boards, it doesn't surprise me. On the M1 cars, when new, to replace the incandescent bulbs for the number boards, you'd have to pull out the bead, and number board from the outside, and change the bulbs. At some point, I think AFTER the M3s arrived, an access panel was cut into the paneling inside to access the lamps. Why so many M3s have the replacement panels I cant figure out.

4 more M3s are at wheelspur, ready for shipping to the scrapper. Two of them were the final two M3s from the Arch street dead line, but there were two others that didn't seem in bad of shape. One of them, 9786, was apparently in use as recently as this spring.

DogBert wrote:4 more M3s are at wheelspur, ready for shipping to the scrapper. Two of them were the final two M3s from the Arch street dead line, but there were two others that didn't seem in bad of shape. One of them, 9786, was apparently in use as recently as this spring.

Yes, one of the two pairs is made up of two "B" cars, one of them being 9771.

9785-6 were recently sent, why I dont know. I don't recall it being a trouble pair, or involved in any accident

Hmmm... did a quick count and we're up to 23 M3s sent to scrap this year, plus the M1 pair and P72s. If I recall right the original contract was for 22 cars total.

Does anyone here know how many M-3's are currently in-service?

Officially, I'm assuming around 150, though I'm sure some are down for routine maintenance at any given time. 23 to scrap, two sandite conversions.

What becomes of spare parts, front facades, and other unique parts after the fleet is flushed?

Head-end View wrote:Does anyone here know how many M-3's are currently in-service?

142 is the current fleet count. As far as I know, all the unusable cars are gone.

What are the chances of a farewell to the M3 excursion being operated?

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:What are the chances of a farewell to the M3 excursion being operated?

I think the Long Island Sunrise Trail chapter has plans to run a farewell to the M3 fantrip but I am not sure when. From what it looks like the M3s may be around for a few more years than originally anticipated.

LINYARailfan wrote:

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:What are the chances of a farewell to the M3 excursion being operated?

I think the Long Island Sunrise Trail chapter has plans to run a farewell to the M3 fantrip but I am not sure when. From what it looks like the M3s may be around for a few more years than originally anticipated.

LINYA and Buff: Yes-LIST IS planning to have a farewell fantrip for the M3 cars at some point in
the future. This will depend on how much of the remaining fleet remains in service taking notice
that will only be a limited number of M9 replacements which in number are not enough cars to
retire all the rest of the M3s.
MACTRAXX