LIRR Fantrip

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cpamtfan

OBS Chief
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
841
Location
Long Island, NY.
If anyone wants to, there's a LIRR fantrip to Greenport this upcoming Saturday. Forty bucks for adults, thirty for children 5-11. Train will stop in Mineola, Hicksville, Deer Park, Ronlonloma, Riverhead, and Greenport. Train will make an extended stop in Riverhead to visit the RMLI (Railroad Museum of Long Island) as well as they're Greenport location (admission to both museums will be included in the price of the ticket). Lunch is on you're own (but there are some great places to eat in Greenport :) ). You could also take the ferry (don't know the fare) over to Shelter Island. Train leaves Jamaica at 8:49 and arrives back around twelve hours later :eek: . Just nothe you CANNOT BUY THE TICKETS FROM THE TICKET MACHINES, YOU MUST BUY IT FROM A TICKET OFFICE. The train will have 4 bilevel coaches, and possibly two engines (they might have a cab-coach as one of the coaches). One coach will have a bar in it like on the Cannonball, LIRR's "premere (although not really :rolleyes: ) train". Also, I heard there will be a photo op in Jamaica, where they will put two SW1001s painted in grey and orange along side the specia :eek: l. Info can be founfd at the LIRR section of the MTA site (www.mta.info).

cpamtfan-Peter
 
Hey Man, that sounds like fun, (a long day for sure)

Are YOU going?

Thanks!

M.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
TraderMarco said:
Hey Man, that sounds like fun, (a long day for sure)
Are YOU going?

Thanks!

M.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm going. Should be the best day this week (it says the sun will come out and it will be nice and warn). For anyone who doesn't live in the NY tri state area, it was extremely cold and wet for a late in July day!

cpamtfan-Peter
 
Wish I was back on Long Island too to go on that ride. I rarely went out east on the North Shore. Would have been nice to see Greenport and the RMLI.

IIRC I read somewhere that the Transit Museum was doing a trip on the old Rockaway Beach branch combined with a Hillside tour. Why I can never coordinate my trips home with these is beyond me.
 
cpamtfan said:
Great trip, everything ran smoothly, made new friends. I'll post a trip report later, it was a long day :p .
cpamtfan-Peter
Click to expand...
Went on the trip. Here's the report:

Got up at 6AM and caught the 7:53 AM to Jamaica from Hicksville. I knew that the train will stop at Hicksville, but I wanted as long of a trip as possible. As anyone familiar to the LIRR knows, Jamaica-Greenport does not pass by Oyster Bay. Being that this was a special train, the C/R made this announcement:

"This train will not be stopping at Oyster Bay or any local stops. No revenue passengers on this train."

Weird that he mentioned OB. The MTA PR department handed out folders to every passenger with a valid ticket. The tickets were checked 3 times during the day. The folders contained brochures and other PR materials, as well as an LIRR 175 pin. The train then went east of Hicksville. This is new territory for me, even though it is the closest track to my house. I was shocked at the number of grade crossings on this route, public and private. The FRA records show roughly 91 public and private grade crossings between Hicksville and Greenport. The funniest grade crossing I saw was a gravel path crossing with gates. And this on a line that has at most 6 passenger trains a day!

We were first let off at Riverhead. The train blocked grade crossings sitting in the station, so it had to back up into the hand-thrown siding. We were allowed to visit RMLI as well as the historic cars in display.

Everyone gathered at Osborne Ave. to watch the revenue scoot pass by. The consist was 401 (engine)-unknown trailer car-5018 (cab car). Some people got upset that the engineer didn't use the horn to full capacity. 401 has a LOUD horn. We all reboarded the train to Greenport. It pulled in on the main track, the one most trains use. The regular train that passed us at Riverhead is now sitting on the usually-unused pocket track. 10 minutes after our arrival, it went back to Ronkonkoma (11:10). It scared me at first, the cab car's horn is more than twice the loudness of the engine's horn, heard from the side. We were given several hours to roam around the town and get lunch. Many people rode the ferry to Shelter Island and back, taking 20 minutes. The train was visible from the island as a very, very tiny thing.

We also visited Greenport's branch of the RMLI. At 17:05, another scoot pulled into Greenport. It startled many who were not prepared to video it. I did, but it isn't posted yet. It was the same consist as before, due to leave at 18:11.

At 17:40, we left Greenport bound west. Although not noted, this train apparently was open to revenue passengers, since I saw the C/R sell a ticket at the regular price to the passenger in front of me. When we reached Ronkonkoma, the train began to speed up to the point that I felt it rocking. In KO, I saw several passengers come in and say, "Is this the right train? I saw it come in from that way." They thought it was a Greenport Scoot going back to Greenport. Just prior to Deer Park, we stopped short, apparently by an automatic safety system. I remember when someone entered our car and the docent said, 'Smell those brakes!'. We then proceeded faster than the first leg to Hicksville. I got off there, just like several other people did.

This trip in it of itself was also historically significant because it was the first direct train to Greenport from east of Ronkonkoma AND the first express train on the Greenport Branch since the electrification to KO 30 years ago.

Photos:

http://www.nyctransitforums.com/forums/sho...ead.php?t=11818

Video (others coming soon on my account):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pEIbVBt_lg
 
Hey, nice trip report! I know a couple of things you posted in your trip report:

They told people it wasn't the train to Oyster Bay because the train behind ours was the Oyster Bay train (running three minutes behind ours), so I bet atleast one person got on by accident.

The guy you heard say "Smell those brakes!" was me :lol: . I'm telling you its one great smell, hot brakes (although rocking to a sudden halt is't good whil you're on the stairs :lol: :p )!

cpamtfan-Peter
 

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