Why MP15's for passenger power?

You're not alone. A survey of riders found they preferred the old equipment for comfort and reliability.

The operating departments preferred it also, as did the taxpayers, I'm sure because the cost of the new stuff was twenty times higher.

I think "they" lost track of the old Pennsylvania's rule of thumb. Build it twice as big or strong as is required. Don't maintain anything, If you do someone is going to screw it up.

Ed

workextra wrote:As ragtag and battle worn the old stuff was, It still had class. It was your typical American train.

Amen, Workextra. Amazing the service the old stuff gave. When you realize that the P-72s and MP-72s arrived in the mid 1950s, and you just couldn't kill 'em no matter what you threw at them. The MP-72s and T-72s and MT-72s, after decades of hard service as MU cars, then lived a second life as push-pull cars in diesel territory. These cars were beautiful and impressive when new. If they had become shabby and worn after more than 45 years, it's only because the MTA didn't maintain them the way the PRR management had. The MTA slapped that sick looking blue and platinum mist paint job on them, which peeled immediately, showed dirt quickly, and didn't protect the cars from rust. But they had to spray the car interiors (between windows) with something that looked like "little flowers." Boy, that sure made things better. And how about those MP-70 double-decker MUs, homemade in Altoona by the PRR, and serving from 1948 until the mid '70s? Or the MP-54 fleet, not air-conditioned, a bit rough-riding, but they carried LIRR passengers hundreds of millions of miles between 1915 and around 1974. They were indestructible. Will the new equipement still be around and giving good service 40, 50 years from now?

Less to go wrong on the old stuff too, especially in the winter weather.
As "Uncle Harry" used to say the m-1's were transistorized spam cans.
(For you non-employees, Uncle Harry was a rather colorful Engineer who first worked on the New Haven, then the LIRR. I for one liked him and his railroad stories, as most did)
On a few occasions we would have to replace an air hose on the old stuff, no problem, there were either spares in the engine compartments, or on the ground at the eastern terminals. There were also wrenches on the engines.
One night in Montauk we ran the engine around and found the air hose was no good on the west end of the train, no problem, we took the one off the east end put it on the west and we were on our way.
Really a different RR back then, on another train we had a bad car on a port jeff train, we "kicked the car out" of the train, and put it on a spur track behind the fire house (in kings park I believe, I forget) recoupled the train and went to port jeff.. imagine a crew doing that nowadays?
Different RR ...

I've been a railfan for ages, but my firsthand familiarity with the LIRR really began in the early '90's - adfter a few rides in 1985. It sounds like I truly missed a better era.

Hello all,

Sounds like everyone's getting nostalgic. My dad had a book on his shelf titled, "The Good Old Days -- They Were Terrible!"

Yes, the LIRR diesel-hauled fleet (particularly the locomotives) was more interesting prior to the introduction of the DE/DMs and C3s, but riding those trains was not a joy, particularly before the circa 1984-1985 refurb program that added the carpeted walls and M-1 style seating.

Just for fun, I'll start a separate thread on them...

Cheers,
Al "dlandw"

Hello all,

It has always been my understanding that the Blomberg B trucks are what set the MP15 apart from "true switchers" (e.g., SW1500/1504 that immediately preceded them in the EMD catalogue), and thus enabled their "peculiar" use as road engines on the LIRR. I've always seen them as a successor to the Alco RS1, RS2 and RS3, which truly were "road switchers" and filled both roles on many railroads, including the LIRR. (Separate thread about them coming soon).

Cheers,
Al "dlandw"

Hello all.

I assume that you all know that the MP15's are now only used for Work trains, CE moves, YPD, rescue moves, and occasionally rescuing a New York & Atlantic.

I wish I was around to grow up with the good ol' days of Alco Rs-3's, C420's, FA Powerpacks, GP38's, FL9-AC's, and of course, the MP15's.

Sad to see what the mediocrity of the LIRR has let their fleets paint livery's become. From the MTA blue and white clean (sort of) to the current schemes where some look like someone took a bucket of coal dust and smeared it all over the engines

Taken at Stony Brook of 167 on a CE move glass out to Port Jeff

I believe that's because there stopped being a working paint booth at Morris Park, so they literally rolled the paint scheme onto the MPs in the early 2000s.

dlandw wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:20 pmHello all,Sounds like everyone's getting nostalgic. My dad had a book on his shelf titled, "The Good Old Days -- They Were Terrible!"

Nostalgia. 1966 WAS A TIME OF CHANGE ON THE RAILROAD
by Gene Collora “Semaphore” April 1991, pages 5-7 http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrAn ... f%20Change