turntable info

A recent post which I can't find mentioned the turntable in Oyster Bay at the Jacobsen shipyard. I think Dave Keller posted it. (I always thought that made a good trick question about Oyster Bay turntables.)

I once saw another turntable near Morris Park on a fantrip but never saw any other mention of it in books or on the web. Until I saw on ebay a plans sheet for Morris Park from someone in England. Anybody have info on it and if it's still there? (I have a copy of the plans on my PC but couldn't paste it in here)

How about info on past & present turntables?

Across from Morris Park Shops, north of the embankment of the Montauk branch lies the Richmond Hill Storage Yard (renamed now, I believe). Just to the east of the yard, before you got to the Trainman's building, there was another turntable located north of the tracks.

I used to walk past it regularly when I walked from Jamaica station to the storage yard but never gave it a thought that I should photograph it!

Go figure.

Anyhow . . . . that's the one to which you're referring.

Dave Keller

What equipment was turned on this turntable? Locomotives, observation cars?

I don't really know, and I never saw the table in use, but locomotives and observation cars are, indeed, a very good supposition!

There was no wye at the storage yard, so . . . . . .

Dave Keller

Good supposition, Dave.
From what I understand, the table, fuel dock and sand tower were built in the late forties-early fifties to service them new fangled diesel locomotives. (They'll never last )
The table, however, was the only thing ever to be used, but not for engines. Another example of how money can be wasted.
Combines, rear end parlor cars and any other type of car that needed turning would be turned on it.
Many times as I worked the switchtender job on the west end of the yard, it was my honor to give the car a spin on the merry-go-round.
It didn't have a brake. Just a controller that was reversed in order to stop it from turning.
When I became the conductor handling the car, it became the conductor's responsibility to perform this intricate maneuver
As parlor cars were retired and the mail contract was lost, the table was no longer used.

My turntable expierence came when I was on the NYSW at Little Ferry. They had a turntable that had a bad center bearing and it would drop quite a few inches when a SD45 was put on it. Unless you moved the engine back and forth to ballance the bridge, it would turn and stop when it lost traction or hung up. Many times I would go into the pit with a car moving stick to move the turn table by hand to the desired position. If the locomotive was dead and the air bled off, we would have a man on the hand brake and use the car moving sticks to get the engine off the turntable and on to the whiskers, then gravity would take over from there. One time the hand brake man was not paying attention and he shoved a locomotive truck through the side of the shop when an SD45 got away from him. I have never seen a man with as big a set of eyes as I did on that man when he realized he just wasn't gonna stop in time.
God I miss shortline railroading!

Anyone have any pics of the the pit for the old one that used to be in Bethpage park? There wasn't very much but some old bricks in a partially covered depression, and the spot was in a park where you needed permission and a guide to enter. TIA...

When I became the conductor handling the car, it became the conductor's responsibility to perform this intricate maneuver

JJ:
Ain't that always the case?

You were just too darn good at what you did! I can hear it now:''Hey, let JJ Earl do that! It use ta be his job."

(Of course, don't let another guy get the chance to learn.)

Great anecdote, by the way, as always.

Dave Keller

krispy,

About a year or 2 ago the turntable pit in Bethpage Park was cleared out by the Loco 35 group I think. Someone posted some photos online. I'll have to dig out the link and post it. They also got a historic marker put up nearby.

There are some photos of the pit at:

http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasoni ... l#bethpgbr

Not all of the pictures load, but if you scroll down you'll find a few.

The Bethpage turntable pit was in fact cleared out by the Friends of Locomotive #35 and a historical marker erected by the NY State Parks Dept. The Oyster Bay turntable does still exist, and will be restored this year as part of the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum. The Morris Park turntable is still in service, but will eventually be removed as the LIRR modernizes it's servicing facilities. The Greenport turntable is also still around, albeit minus trackage and is owned by the Village of Greenport. Finally, the Railroad Museum of Long Island has a very large turntable on thier Riverhead site that will eventually be installed for turning steam engine #39.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/morris ... ispark.htm

and http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/oyster ... ntable.jpg

Steve

Thanks AlcoAl and Johnny F