LIRR SERVICE TO YARD A

LIRR SERVICE TO:

Industries Served by the Long Island Railroad

VOLUME 22:
LONG ISLAND RAILROAD SERVICE TO YARD A

By Nicholas Kalis

Twenty-two in a series of glimpses into industries or warehouses that made for interesting freight operations on the Long Island. Information presented has included, where available, a brief history of the firm, how it was served by the LIRR, and what commodities were received or shipped from this facility.

This article is a bit different from the others in this series as it focuses on a yard instead of an industry.

Much of this information was obtained from a photo by George J. Abere, Jr. that was dated 1954 and appeared in the March 2002 Long Island Railroad Calendar.

North Elevation of Yard Office

Yard Office, west elevation

Modeling

A roof top water tank for national Casket Co. contains sign that reads in capital letters: first line "NATIONAL"; second line "CASKET"; third, bottom line "CO".

A colorful billboard appears west of Westinghouse. This ad was for Universal Ford.

Yard Office is a two-story affair painted in what appears to be standard railroad color, white. The building has two windows on the second story of the narrow side facing west and two windows on the first floor of same side plus a covered doorway between the windows. The yard office appears to be of brick construction. The long side of the building has 4 or possibly 5 windows with sills, there appears to be some protrusion on the roof of the west side with some weathering on the side. A narrow wide sign with a yellow background and capital black letters appears over the canopy. Be sure to model the manwalking toward the yard office.

Switch stand, Yard A

Switch stand, Yard A called a safety switch.In 1957, there were only a couple in the yards and they were identified with an adjacent pole with a sign bearing the letter "S". By the mid sixties, they were being installed in many places throughout the yards and their only ID was the fact that painted yellow. A safety switch works much like a spring switch, containing a spring mechanism within the body of the stand. The difference is that it does not, or SHOULD NOT, return to it's original position. Sometimes, they could return to the original position, causing much embarrassment to the crew if they reversed direction while moving through one that had been lined against them. Eventually the 'Special Instructions' stated that two sets of wheels must pass through a switch that had trailed through before reversing direction. It had been found that many times that one set trailing through caused the points to return to it's original position, while the second set would push them over to stay. JJ I don't remember them in Blissville. Remember that BLISS tower was all spring switches. They definitely WOULD NOT be in sidings. They were in areas of high traffic, in the yards, where it was a time saver, relieving the crew from having to stop and line a switch that was against them. It is a Ramapo low-level switchstand. Caboose Ind makes a pretty good replica their #109R except that I don't make it functional or try to attach the little track numbers which I see LIRR doesn't use either :Bill Operations SIG

A white concrete sanding bin with lots of sand is apparent and a simple sanding tower (can be purchased in brass) with some sort of electrical box. Therre is a red gadget on a yellow pole. Ladder on its side should be modeled. Clean white sand should be modeled. Yellow posts with red trim between sanding box and car repair storehouse.

Car repair storeshouse to the east of the sanding facility, painted white, a tad taller than a box car. Two windows on western side of building. Roof appears to change color. Note tie piles west of building.

Simple fence with diagonals at end between tracks and between sanding bin and car repair storehouse.

Electrical tower evident (have in my collection, bought from Monroe Stewart).

Bibliography

Author Unknown Maps of Freight Stations and Private Sidings (Reprint) June 1966