Sunnyside Yard (Queens, NY)

On a recent visit to Sunnyside Yard in New York, while traveling in private car MOUNT VERNON, one of the yard Conductors told me that an old hand once told him that the apex of the Sunnyside Yard loop track (roughly where it passes underneath the LIRR main line) had been the easternmost point on the PRR.

Can any of you PRR experts confirm this claim?

I'm of the opinion this may be true, if you discount PRR ownership of LIRR and PRR/NH joint ownership of the NY Connecting RR.

Nearly, Steve Lynch has a 1946 map that shows the PT&T/NY Conn. RR border as being just a bit farther east at Woodside Ave. After 1932 the loop would be the farthest east operated by PRR's own crews however.

Bill

How Sunnyside has changed! The freight portion of the yard was torn up several years ago for the LIRR East Side Access Project to bring the LIRR to Grand Central (The NYC gods must be outraged that the PRR's bastard will one day soil their greatest station). The only freight you'll see in Sunnyside now are the daily New York & Atlantic Railway locals that switch the former LIRR Long Island City team yard next to 21st Street. They come down over the north leg of the Montauk Cut-Off and push their consists into the team yard's spurs. Years ago three or four LIRR Alco Century 420's (their heavy road-freight engines) would pull 80-100 car trains out of Sunnyside destined for points east on the system. Now, sadly, the C420's and the huge freight yard are gone.....

Hi All,

Last time I roamed the tracks of Sunnyside yards, my favorite hangout, they had just ripped up a whole bunch of tracks that were used to store passenger cars. At one time, Sunnyside Yards was the world's largest passenger car yard. At that time, GG-1's roamed the yard freely, B-1's were used for switching strings of passenger cars. And, the AEM-7's were just starting to show up.