LIRR G-5s #28 at Port Jefferson, NY Photo: George E. Votava 06/1940 |
LIRR Baldwin 1000 HP switcher #450 with caboose N-52A #34 westbound at Washington Street, Garden City, NY Photo: George E. Votava 07/28/1953 |
Sag Harbor wooden depot and yard - View NW 1903 Photo: Hal Fullerton Archive: Suffolk County Historical Society |
LIRR N52A #10 at Babylon in 1948 Photo: Elmer Seifts Archive: RMLI |
This is Jamaica Station in 1916 from the doorway of Hall Tower looking west. All trains would be required to stop at this station. Here trains from Eastern Long Island locations would have their steam engines removed and an electric engine would be coupled on to continue the journey west to NY City. Today, Jamaica Station is one of the busiest in the country. Well over 300 trains pass through here every day. Note the semaphores that make this a classic railroad scene. Photo: Courtesy of the Queens Borough Chamber of Commerce |
LIRR Alco AS-10 S-2 #448 seen here with a long freight for a small switch engine. The 448 is running east on the mainline near Mineola . Soon after the LIRR acquired these engines, they painted the pilot silver for better visibility. Photo: George E. Votava 07/08/1950 |
During the last years of steam on Long Island, H-10s Consolidation No. 108 was the regularly assigned power on the Greenport freight. Here we see 108 on a cold winter afternoon in Greenport outside the freight house, now the home of the RMLI. Recently acquired by the museum is N54B wooden caboose No. 14 , of the type seen behind the engine. Contrast this photo, taken in 1955, with the rear cover shot of today. Archive: RMLI |
The Railroad Museum of Long Island has come a long way in seven years. This picture taken on June 8, 1997 shows the former freight house, with gateman's shanty to the right. In front of the museum us ex-LIRR W-83, aka "Jaws" and the museum's newest piece in their equipment collection, ex-LIRR wood caboose No.14. Stop in and say hello an see what has been accomplished! Photo: Jay Eichler |
LIRRG5s' #20, #37, and #45 await their next call to duty at Oyster Bay in 1941. Shortly after this photo was taken, the Pennsylvania Railroad ordered all passenger steam locomotives to carry the keystone-shaped number plate. Notice also that #20, form the original order of G5s Ten-wheelers, carried the air reservoir tank on the pilot, and the smokebox grabiron curled above he number plate. Collection: Kevin T. Farrell |
One of the charms of old time railroading was the wedge plow used to buck snow drifts off the tracks. The compartment atop the plow was used by the conductor who signaled to the engineer behind him how to proceed. One of the great dangers was that the plow would hit a large patch of ice, derail and catch fire from the coal stove inside falling over. Pictured is LIRR Snow Plow #5 at Greenport at the turn of the century. Collection: Railroad Museum of Long Island |
The Morris Park Shops were always a flurry of activity, and one could find any class of steam locomotive operated on the LIRR at almost any time. To the left, locomotives entering the shop complex are arriving from eastern destinations awaiting their chance to be turned, watered, and serviced. Up first is leased Pennsylvania K4s #5387. To the right are the ready tracks, were the steamers awaited their next run to point east. Archive: RMLI |
In 1986, the LIRR retired snowplow W-83, known more affectionately in her later years as "Jaws", for reasons made obvious by this photo. It was acquired by Project 39, a predecessor group to the museum. Pictured her on its journey to Riverhead after its acquisition, the plow now resides outside the museum's facility in Greenport. Archive: RMLI |
The 4-4-40 wheel arrangement was so prevalent among American railroads that they were known as "American" types. The LIRR was no exception to this rule, rostering a large fleet of American types during the steam days. Pictured on the cover is one such engine, #82, heading eastbound through Central Islip in 1920. The building to the right was the freight house. Photo: George G. Ayling, Collection: J.P. Krzenski |
In 1968, to supplement the LIRR's aging fleet of heavyweight parlor cars, the LIRR began purchasing lightweight sleeping cars from other railroads. One of those cars was former B&O blunt-end lounge car Napanee. Originally named the Amagansett and numbered 2000, it was converted to a dual-mode parlor in 1980-81 and renamed the Morris Park. Generally assigned to Greenport parlor service, we see the Morris Park bringing up the markers in Ronkonkoma in 1981. Photo: Robert Bender |
Our first diesel cover shot features Alco RS-1 #461 handling the one-car "Greenport Scoot" during the Summer of 1973. Built in December of 1948, the 461 was one of nine owned by the LIRR. Note the tracks leading to the dock behind the train, which have been blocked off. While not what the builders of the line envisioned 150 years ago, Greenport still sees passenger service today, and the passenger station pictured now serves as a Maritime Museum. The Railroad Museum of Long Island's Greenport museum is located at the west end of the station area, in the old freight house/ Photo: F. R. Dirkes, Collection: Railroad Museum of Long Island |
Seeking replacements for their heavyweight parlor cars, the LIRR turned to many railroads which were exiting the passenger railroad business, and acquired many cars at surplus prices. Some of the colorful cars were those purchased from the Kansas City Southern, which were black with multi-colored striping at the bottom. Here we see a string of the coaches, pulled by Alco C420 #208. The train is a westbound Montauk train and the scene is Islip in 1968. Photo: J.P. Krzenski, Collection: Railroad Museum of Long Island |
LIRR G5s #26 is seen storming west out of Mineola on Train No. 4223 November 27th, 1938. Archive: RMLI |
Although the LIRR retired their last steam engines in 1955, steam had already taken a back seat on many branches. Evidence of this is seen in this photos of Port Jefferson yard, where two new Fairbanks Morse C-Liners await their next assignment, with a steam engine in the background to be used as a backup for the "new kids on the block". Archive: RMLI |
Shortly before their retirement, double-decker #1305 and one of her sisters await their next assignment for the morning rush in the Babylon coach yards, c.1970. Photo: Vincent Alvino |
The Oyster Bay branch has always been a quaint little branch meandering through the various towns on Long Island's north shore. Until their retirement, the branch was almost the exclusive domain of the G5s Ten Wheelers. Pictured is a G5s with a four car consist through Mill Neck. Archive: RMLI |
FM CPA20-5 #2004 and train railroad eastbound (tracks actually ran northbound at this point) on the Port Jefferson branch between Hicksville and Syosset, approaching the Northern State Parkway overpass from which the photo was taken looking SE (railroad west) on July 10, 1953. Miller Road/Place is off to the left. (George E. Votava photo, Dave Keller archive) |
Hunterspoint Avenue is the site of this busy railroading scene. Alco C420 #204 is pulling a train into the station for point east. Behind that, the IRT Flushing Line can be seen with a New York bound train. World's Fair colors are still evident on the C420 and the subway train. Just behind the subway trestle are freight cars on the lead tracks to the LI City float bridges. Photo: Vincent Alvino |
On Thanksgiving in 1970, Alco C420 #215 and her train lay over in Patchogue awaiting their next assignment. Big changes have occurred in Patchogue this year with a new signaling project, and the position light pictured is one of the causalities. The most noticeable change however is located one block west of the photographer, where the venerable PD Tower has been decommissioned. Collection: J. P. Krzenski |
On the day that RMLI acquired Dinky #399, the LIRR wreck crew and the LIRR wreck crane raise #399 off the tracks in order for a low-boy trailer to position itself under the locomotive for the trip out to Riverhead and her new home at the Railroad Museum of Long Island. Location: Morris Park on December 19, 2005. Photo: Richard Gorddard |
Speeding along the Montauk Branch, eastbound C420 no.205 leads a baggage car, combine and three other ping-pong coaches to keep her schedule to Montauk in March, 1971. Photo: Vincent Alvino Archive: RMLI |
Posing in a lonely spot in the LIRR Morris Park Yard in August, 1984, MP15AC no. 157 waits for her next assignment. The steel beams pictured were a part of the old Morris Park roundhouse, which was cut back to five bays in October, 1971. Photo/Archive: Richard Gorddard |