MTA LIRR Double Track Project - Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale

MattAmity90 wrote:By the way, with Carll's Path officially being a two track crossing, does anyone know when the next weekend outage will be for Ronkonkoma Branch work?

This weekend, and I'm pretty sure the one after that won't be until 2018.

I saw a switch in between Carll's Path and Commack Road, was that already there, or is it part of an extension of JS Interlocking?

I came back from mta.info and you are correct the weekend of October 28-29 is a Ronkonkoma Branch work outage. No NTC machine, this is solely for switch installation work. My guess is completing the new interlocking West of the Peter's Boulevard crossing, and I'm not sure if they finished the crossover switch in between Pond Road and Ocean Avenue in Ronkonkoma. Then again, they didn't get the full insight, so I'm sure they will be doing work that won't have an effect on service during weekdays like what they are doing in Wyandanch, at the old Deer Park Station, Pinelawn, the second track where it goes through Connetquot State Park, and in between Central Islip and Brentwood with grading and ballast dumping.

By the way, I enjoyed my 27th birthday yesterday and I'm proud to be the youth and enthusiasm in the forum keeping up to tabs on history, and upcoming projects that have made me see unbelievable transitions and changes to the railroad I grew up with as a child, being a symbol of my childhood, and finding out that my visions actually existed before my time! To think I was only 7 and in an arm cast recovering from a broken arm caused by falling off a table when Herrick's Road was eliminated, and finishing up my senior year of high school when Roslyn Road was eliminated when I was 16-17. Solari signs, rehabilitated stations, the retirement of the M1, the birth of the M7 and soon M9, and everything since 1990 to now.

Matt, enjoy your youthful years while you have them. You have so much to look forward to in the railroad world alone. The completion of East Side Access. Double track to Ronkonkoma. Third track Mineola-to-Hicksville. And in your lifetime you'll see the next generation of EMU cars that will replace the M-7's maybe twenty years from now.

Being a retiree, I will likely not see all of that, but I got to ride the front window of the M-1/3's when they were still new. Now I'm just hoping to live long enough to ride the East Side Access! LOL Have fun!

Head-end View wrote:Matt, enjoy your youthful years while you have them. You have so much to look forward to in the railroad world alone. The completion of East Side Access. Double track to Ronkonkoma. Third track Mineola-to-Hicksville. And in your lifetime you'll see the next generation of EMU cars that will replace the M-7's maybe twenty years from now.

Being a retiree, I will likely not see all of that, but I got to ride the front window of the M-1/3's when they were still new. Now I'm just hoping to live long enough to ride the East Side Access! LOL Have fun!

I will, and in those 27 years I have been riding on the LIRR for 25. I've been in the old ping-pong/MP75 cars when they were converted to diesel service, M1's, M3's, M7's, C1's, C3's, I forget the engines they used in the 1990's prior to DC-30's and the DM-30's going into service.

I will however miss quite a bit of the symbols I've seen and smelled. The M3 cars (also the M1's) had that wonderful new car smell from the leather upholstery, I'm noticing that the mushroom lights are vanishing and being converted to salon dryer or those solar-powered black lights that have popped up at Merrick and stations along the Long Beach and Far Rockaway branches, and unfortunately I already miss the wire insulators on the power poles that were made out of metal/porcelain and looked like UFO's. Example being the bottom four wires on the Babylon Branch (which I grew up along). The two photos show otherwise, take a look at the four bottom wires on the low pier.

Looks like there will be a closing of Commack Rd at the Xing this weekend for track work. I saw the detour signs were up today on Carls Straight Path, advising that this is the way for the detour. (LI AVE, CSP, Grand Blvd to Commack Rd)

milepost39 wrote:Looks like there will be a closing of Commack Rd at the Xing this weekend for track work. I saw the detour signs were up today on Carls Straight Path, advising that this is the way for the detour. (LI AVE, CSP, Grand Blvd to Commack Rd)

That's going to a real traffic mess.

My travels this morning took me past Wyandanch station this morning. Work has begun on the new roadbed from the pedestrian overpass east of the station to the Straight Path crossing.

Saw pictures of what they did this past weekend:

-Grooming the ballast in between the two running rails of the new track in between Carleton Avenue and Peters Blvd.
-Work has started at JS Interlocking, where a few vehicles were.
-Rest of the new CI Interlocking has taken shape with the crossovers visible.
-New power poles have been erected to the South of the ROW West of Deer Park at the JS switch.

What are the plans for the Wyandanch and Pinelawn stations?

Milepost 39 wrote:What are the plans for the Wyandanch and Pinelawn stations?

I don't much about Wyandanch, but is the Pinelawn station to be eliminated, replaced by a new station where the Republic used to be ?

I read somewhere that a new Republic station is supposed to be an inter-modal, hooking up with Nassau and Suffolk county buses. Or is this plan now dead in the water ?

See pages 10 and 142

http://web.mta.info/capital/pdf/WEB2015 ... educed.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The plan for Wyandanch station is of course converting it from a one-track/one-12 car platform into your obvious two-track/two-12 car platforms. Cold Spring Harbor used to be that way before 1985 because from Amott Interlocking to the Western-most Huntington Interlocking was only single-tracked along the twists and turns of Cold Spring Hill.

Pinelawn they are either tearing down the current platform and putting one platform on one side of Wellwood and the other on the other side, or they will probably relocate the current one by moving it further South.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/Wyanda ... ndanch.htm Wyandanch

Wyandanch Station View NE 10/24/17 Photo: Dave Morrison

The silver shed next to the crossing signal is the signal box for the Straight Path crossing and was moved from the Dave's position to its current location on one of the weekend outages. Where he is standing is where the second track and second platform will be constructed. In addition to what is being added, the pedestrian bridge located beyond the East end of the platform will be razed, and in some renderings the new station will have a walkover bridge similar to Ronkonkoma's. I think there will be two, one that is handicap-accessible and the other just like the other Ronkonkoma Branch stations that you see at Deer Park, Brentwood, and Central Islip. Hopefully they can invest in some money and build a pedestrian bridge at Bethpage instead of having to cross Stewart Ave.

There will be another Main Line shutdown this weekend, 11/18-19.

Saw some new pictures that Edward Hand posted, and one key component is in Ronkonkoma they have the crossover switch in between Pond and Ocean has been installed with most of the new third rail installed to the pedestrian bridge. Other highlights in his photos:

-Commack Road and Islip Avenue are closed to traffic as they are being converted into two track crossings with the installation of it at those locations.
-Work is starting in between Brentwood and Islip Avenue, and the new interlocking in between Peters and Islip has been laid and evenly leveled.
-Wellwood Avenue is now a two track crossing.
-Grading and brush clearing has now reached opposite of the Wyandanch platform with the signal circuit shed moved to the North side of the ROW.

NOTE: All of this has been going on with service still in place. Commack Road and Islip Avenue had trenches dug where the new track will be placed. They have the concrete road sections at the sight.