Rail service to Calverton?

[Matty Vee]

Hey guys. I'm new to this site, but wanted to contribute an update to the Calverton spur. I was out there about a month ago to go fishing. I took a ride down Connecticut AVE. only to notice the trees and brush were being cleared away from the tracks along the ROW. As soon as I saw that I came home and googled the spur and found this thread and really got psyched because I didn't think they'd ever touch that spur again.

As of saturday, august 7th, I did a little more "snooping" around and found that the railroad construction company has come in and removed a large portion of the rails and ties. All of the road crossings remain the same for the time being. Here are a few pictures i snapped with my phone. the first picture is of the crossing at grumman blvd and connecticut ave showing the open gate to the property with the rails taken up.

[Matty Vee]

Here is the crossing at the entrance to the calverton enterprise park. This is looking east.

[Matty Vee]

An assembled switch at the second gated entrance to the property.

[Matty Vee]

looking at the spur as it continues into the property.

[Matty Vee]

looking back the other direction towards the lake.

[Matty Vee]

Last picture is a stack of rails and other goodies. I'll try and go out there next weekend and take some more pictures, phone started to die.

[Teutobergerwald]

Matt- great work! Keep it up, but don't get yourself pinched!

[Matty Vee]

Ehh I'm not too worried. lol there is literally no one out there. I might be going out there this weekend to see some more progress. I'll keep everyone posted. I'm excited about this.

[Teutobergerwald]

I presume this is being done right, i.e., new rail, ties, switches and ballast???? Any word on how many spurs will branch off the new trackage? Is there a schematic somewhere out there on the internet??? Thanks.

[Matty Vee]

Just to the right of the second photo I posted, is a huge stack of ties. I would imagine its gonna get the whole treatment. As for schematics or the addition of sidings, it beats me. We'll see where that pre-assembled switch goes soon enough, whether it replaces an old one, or its an addition. Wish I could get out there during the week.

[Ðauntless]

New switch has to be the mainline switch, its 136# rail (brandy new 2010 rail). Theres a stack of 1970s 90#ish sitting on the property, with the old switches and rail sitting in another. Dumpster full of scrap tie plates, etc. Interesting note is there going to be using steel ties in some spots apparently.

[Matty Vee]

Ahh thats cool, do you think that switch assembly was shipped there in one piece?

I went there on Saturday again and took some more pictures. I will post them as soon as I get a chance. It looks like they took out every single switch. I wish we could see if they were just going to re-do the same layout, or change it up a little bit.

I also was searching around by the mainline, and off in the woods next to the spur, I could see a slight path and actually found some ties. Now I know there wasn't a wye there, but why would there be ties there? Someone just tossed them in there?

[Teutobergerwald]

I think Camp Upton / Brookhaven National Laboratory had a wye, but one leg was cut out at some point.

[lala]

The medal ties are for the area around the Peconic River so that creasote doesn't make it into the river. It's curious why they would use 136lb rail on the switch. Everything else including the main is 100lb. That switch I'm sure is a replacement for something inside. The LIRR is resposible for the main track switch and I know they build their own. The entire project is supposed to take 6 months to a year to complete.

[dedm30junk]

If you check most of railroad crossing that just got redone they have 136lbs rail and main switches on the main line east of KO they also have 136lbs rail.