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Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

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 #1544535  by nyandw
 
RS3 lash-up of units #-1556, #1552 with westbound REX Train Montauk 1959 Photo: Bob Lorenz Archive: Dave Keller

An entire train of Railway Express Cars! What was the purpose of such a train and no idea what it could be needed for at Montauk??
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RS3-1556_1552_WB-REX-train_Montauk-1969_BobLorenz-DaveKeller.jpg
RS3-1556_1552_WB-REX-train_Montauk-1969_BobLorenz-DaveKeller.jpg (105.16 KiB) Viewed 2363 times
 #1544560  by railfaned
 
Possibly for Montauk Air Force Base. The radar station was upgrading its equipment. Also base personnel changes. It is now a NYS Park.
 #1544660  by 4behind2
 
Not a REX Train. It was a bicycle train at MY. Condominiums are now where the engines are for the last forty years.
 #1544676  by MACTRAXX
 
Steve:

This looks to be a train either on a busy summer Sunday or as 4/2 mentioned a train
with added baggage cars for a special move or group - bicycles make sense...
After another look it is actually hard to tell the exact season with the lack of
foliage - except on the hill - if this was in color there could be a clue...

I noticed that the picture is a good distance from the west end of the old low Montauk
platform (before it was relocated to build the high-level platform) with the extra cars.
The space between tracks is where the high-level platform would be constructed 40
or so years later for the C3 fleet.

The 1959 date is correct - I notice the C Liner on an adjacent yard track - and with the
angle looking north easterly the Montauk Manor on the hill would be off to the right
just out of view. This would be more RMLI archive research to see if this was any type
of advertised fan or other special trip over the course of 1959...MACTRAXX
 #1544823  by railfaned
 
Far to many cars for the bike excursions.
Montauk AFB was 1-upgrading it's equipment and 2- they were bring up their Texas Tower which was in service until 1963. It was decommissioned then after a hurricane sank and killed the staff of the New Jersey Tower.
 #1544866  by nyandw
 
railfaned wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:14 am Far to many cars for the bike excursions. Montauk AFB was 1-upgrading it's equipment and 2- they were bring up their Texas Tower which was in service until 1963. It was decommissioned then after a hurricane sank and killed the staff of the New Jersey Tower.
“REX” Trains = Trains consisting of all REA and/or baggage cars. According to the late retired engineer Herb Doescher (via Robert Sturm), the REX trains were the fastest under steam on the road. The lack of scheduled station stops saw speeds in excess of 100mph not unusual. The men clocked the number of telegraph poles passed per minute to determine their speed. And yes, they could go thru the tunnels passing thru Penn Station.

Is it possible that the former Navy base north of the station was being disassembled and "stuff" shipped via Railway Express, rather than a convoy of trucks in LI traffic?? A better ride at higher speeds with RPO cars. They could go through PENN Tunnel on to other locations (if the military wanted material shipped elsewhere)? Maybe “Sensitive” military hardware, thus move it via RPO…. Conjecture on my part here.
 #1545056  by 4behind2
 
In the late John Scala's book " Diesels of the Sunrise Trail" on page 84 is a photo by the late Norman Kohl the same train though Sayville withe the same engines and consist. The date is May 5, 1963.
 #1545183  by nyandw
 
4behind2 wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:15 pm In the late John Scala's book " Diesels of the Sunrise Trail" on page 84 is a photo by the late Norman Kohl the same train though Sayville withe the same engines and consist. The date is May 5, 1963.
Thank you! I'll adjust the date of the previous photo and advise the owner. Hmm...AND the same orientation of locomotives: #1552 on the east end and #1556 on the west end.

As they say . . . there is no such thing as a coincidence.

I'm just curious why they moved all the baggage cars from the east end of the train at Montauk and coupled them to the west end for the return trip?

The locomotives were simply run around the train, with #1556 now being the lead engine.
 #1545249  by railfaned
 
The Texas Tower off of Montauk was decommissioned on March 25 1963. All it's equipment had to be removed so the Russians couldn't get their hands on it. I still think that was why the REX train was in Montauk. Once the equipment was all at Montauk AFB, it was shipped out.
 #1545379  by krispy
 
railfaned wrote:The Texas Tower off of Montauk was decommissioned on March 25 1963. All it's equipment had to be removed so the Russians couldn't get their hands on it. I still think that was why the REX train was in Montauk. Once the equipment was all at Montauk AFB, it was shipped out.
It could have been many things if it had been a military move for the USAF. That was around the time the big radar FPS-35 went up too, the power plant getting upgraded or an update to one of the height finders, etc. It was really difficult hauling things in there before they built the new Montauk Hwy (early '60s?) so a rail move would've been much easier. If you get a chance try the old highway between Hither Hills and the village, the hills are such that it would've been easy to pop my camper off of the towing hitch, I can't imagine having to tow anything bigger over that back in the day. Same thing with the bridge over the canal before Robert Moses changed it all, it was not big enough to support some of the cannons/trailers back in the day, as it would've been winched across. Imagine being stuck behind that convoy in today's traffic.