|
Type |
Unit Numbers |
Total |
|
|
Locomotive Crane |
200 |
1 |
|
|
Wreck Crane |
197* |
1 |
W50 tending W197 Morris Park
8/15/58
Photo: G. Votova |
|
Wreck Train Cars |
W-50*, W-56, W-57 |
3 |
|
|
Tool Cars |
W-55, 491985 |
2 |
W-55 LI City,
NY 05/03/1960
Photo: George Votava
Collection: Dave Keller
Renumbered: #35014 Photo: Steve Hoskins
|
|
Jordan Spreader |
W-93 |
1 |
Pine Lawn Team Yard 06-1991
|
|
Boom Car |
491577 |
1 |
|
|
Steam Rotary &
Water Tender
|
W-14*, 193*
LIRR
Rotary Snowplow #193; built by Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, 1898
(weighs 67.5 tons with a 9 foot, 8 inch blade assembly) Tender is a 1940
PRR replacement of the original wood tender |
2 |
#193 at
Steamtown, PA |
|
Snow Plow |
W-80, W-83*
W80
and W83 were both built by the LIRR shops in December, 1915 atop 1907
flatcars.
W80 was originally numbered 497750
W83 was originally numbered 497751
They
were both renumbered in January, 1960
W80 was scrapped in August, 1974
W83 was rebuilt in November, 1978 Information:
Dave Keller 
Jaws After Repaint after 11/78
|
2 |
LIRR W80 ex-497750
W80 Montauk
view NE in front of Warehouse #4 ex-U.S. Navy torpedo facilities
c. early 1960's Photo: Steve Hoskins
Info: Dave Keller
W83 ex-497751 Ronkonkoma 6/77
|
|
Instruction Car |
I-10,
I-11, I-12 |
3
|
PRR #492443
on the storage track at
Jamaica station Class P70 1952
Photo: George Votava
Collection: Dave Keller
Air brake instruction
car, ex-P70 1964
Collection: Dave Keller
Just past the Jamaica
station building on its west side, above Archer Ave at the east entrance
to D yard. Photo taken across the street on Archer Ave in front of the
old "Eye Gate"building. It is now offices for
the RR.
Info: Bob Anderson Photo: Tim Darnell 1974
LIRR #I-11 ex-LIRR #1751
Instruction Car
|
|
Snow
Flanger Car |
W-84*, W-86, W-89, W-91 |
4 |
|
|
Float Reach-In Car |
W-23, W-27, W-29, W-39, W-70
I
would rather think that that was NOT a reacher car for the floats.
The float flats, as we called them, had a little shanty on them that had a
pot belly stove and benches for the crew to get out of the cold.
This one without the shanty would have been used on the east end ladder
job as a car to improve vision for the engine crew while rolling the hump.
That job continued for some time after the floats stopped operating.
Freight came in from Fremont that needed classifying.
The car in question, however, WAS referred to as a float flat. JJ
Earl
That particular flat car was
a "hump visibility" car but was listed on the MOW roster as a float reach.
UN Blocker |
5
|
W-29 Yard A 05/76
Photo: Tim Darnell |
|
Gondola Car |
W-1, W-4, W-5, W-8, W-9, W-10,
W-12, W-17, W-19, W-28, W-32,
W-35, W-37, W-38, W-60, W-61,
W-62, W-63, W-64, W-65, W-66,
W-67, W-68,W-69
|
24 |
LIRR MOW Gondola
Sayville 1980s
Photo: Steve Lynch
|
|
Welded Rail Car |
R-3, R-6, R-7, R-15, R-18, R-30,
R-31,
R-33, R-34, R-40, R-41, R-42, R-43,
R-44, R-45, R-46, R-47, R-48, R-49,
R-50, R-51, R-52
|
22 |
R-29(?) Welded Rail
Car (far right)
Yard A 05/76 Photo: Tim Darnell
|
Ballast
Spreader
|
As late as 1956, the
Long Island had a
Jordan spreader available to
serve as a ballast spreader and trimmer (AAR
classification MWE).
|
| Bar
Generator Car |
LIRR #2103 rebuilt as bar-generator cars to provide trainline power to cars
operating in the consist of trains without a powerpack cab control unit.
#2103 at Oyster Bay
 #2101
Mineola 07-01-1978
Photo: Tim Darnell
Other side view of BarGen
Car.
|
#2103 at Port Jefferson c. 1980 Photo: Len Torney |
|
Boarding
Outfit/Bunk Cars
|
| By 1965, boarding outfit cars (AAR
classification MWX: includes kitchen, bunk, and other cars used for
employee living) were
absent from the roster due to the mobility of the
work force on an island the size that the LIRR served. However, they
were in use on the Long Island as late as 1936 (see Steel Rails to
the Sunrise photo, page 216 showing wood coaches "downgraded to crew
car service") and appeared on the roster as late as 1962. |
Crew Car #492513 LI City 07/22/1950
Sunshine Biscuit Co. at right, view
SW
Info: Ed Schleyer
|
Crew Car #492755 with
Platform
Holban Yard 11/02/1947
Archive: Dave Keller |
Crew Car #492756 Holban Yard
c.1947
Archive: Dave Keller
|
Crew Car #492758 Holban Yard
11/22/1947
Archive: Dave Keller |
Crew Car #492764 Holban Yard
11/22/1947
Archive: Dave Keller |
Crew -Cars #492760
& 492759
Holban Yard c.1947
Archive: Dave Keller |
|
PRR MOW Crew- Cars
Harrisburg, PA
June, 1965 Provided ONLY
to show the actual color scheme of these cars when in service.
Courtesy of The Keystone, Dave Keller+ archive
|
|
Boom
Cars
|
| Typically, railroads supply each
crane with a boom car to protect its boom while it is lowered and in
transit. Railroads select boom
cars first for the necessary length to
accommodate the boom. Then they are fitted with hardware and needed
appliances. In 1973, LIRR management kept Wreck crane W-75 along with
idler car W-50 at Morris Park Engine Terminal. |
|
Chloride
Cars
|
|
EX-BAGGAGE/EXP:
#641-#645 CONVERTED: 1934-35 #497100-#497104
Former baggage express cars with
3rd rail shoes added. |
|
#497103 Holban Yard
04/1936
Archive: Dave Keller
|
#497101 |
Cranes
|
| LIRR "crane" number 197 is more
properly called a derrick as the 1956 roster described it because of its
short boom style. Cranes differ from derricks (MWW: Wreck Derrick,
propelled by locomotive, used for heavy lifting) in several ways. Cranes
have long spindly booms for use with drag lines, electromagnets, and
clamshells. Whereas derricks are husky, short boom style cranes one
would see cleaning up a train wreck and sometimes known as the big hook
or auxiliary. Cranes are typically used for everyday maintenance work
while Derricks are used only for emergency work. |
 #490999 |
| Flat
cars |
| While they surely appeared
earlier, Flat cars, known as
AAR classification MWF, have been with the
LIRR's MOW fleet since 1955. Today's parent
company of the LIRR, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, acquired
welded rail cars in 1974. These had been built in 1924. |
#499999 Pump flatcar LI City 10/1947
Archive: Dave Keller+ |
Gondola Cars
|
The
AAR lists at least two type
of cars carrying ballast (MWB: Ballast cars, hoppers or gondolas that
dump their contents from the bottom and MWD:
Dump cars, mostly gondola-type cars dumping sideways by air
pressure). LIRR gondolas now in service are classified as MWF, sharing
that classification with flat cars.
#6078 Photo: Paul Strubeck
Fifteen to twenty new gondolas the LIRR will be
receiving for work train service, mostly for hauling ties. 66
foot car with cushion couplers on each end. Builder's
decal: "Ebenezer Car Company - Buffalo, NY".
|
Instruction Car
|
| In 1953, Pullman Standard
delivered as lot 6911, plan W52354 twenty 128-seat commuter coaches for
intermediate (non-control) use. All were retired save for one retained
as instruction car I-121, according to Randall's Official
Pullman-Standard Library, Volume 10 Northeast Railroads. Can any
reader identify how long this car served and what sort of instruction
was offered?
Technical Support Group LIRR Training Car 1981
|
| Misc.
Equipment |
|
Long
Island Railroad Fuel Tanker
|
Oakdale LIRR Vac-Con 12/31/07
Photo: Mike McDermet
LIRR vacuum truck,
it's used to clean out mud spots between ties and to clean out storm
drains and culverts for ballast where track work was going on. They
call it the "Super Sucker"
|
Kings Park 10/19/08
Photo: Mike McDermet
That's the welding
gang. Normally they work around the clock and handle emergency track
repairs. It is a very senior crew. Track Foreman, welder and two
trackmen. Very highly paid and experienced guys who can fix anything
short of a major wreck.
Their boss is the Supervisor of Track.
|
|
LIRR
"Environmental Response System Safety" SUV St. James
09-14-08
Photo: Mike McDermet
|
 Suffolk
Life newspaper, the date was around October of 1980. I was in the
St James Vol FD and responded to this. It reeked of diesel fumes for
hours. Info/Archive: Len Torney
|
Paint
Schemes
|
Mike Boland, the foremost expert
on this subject, authors "Long Island Railway Modeler" a monthly column
in the Long Island Sunrise Trail Chapter - NRHS Semaphore. Mike
Boland writes that "the
Long Island used a Pennsy-style
method of numbering M/W equipment; gondolas were assigned a six-digit
number that began with a 494. Cars such as these could regularly be seen
behind steam or diesel power in work train consists. Several 'gons'
were usually in the consist." Into the 1960s
a small number of these cars remained on the
Long Island in work train service. Cars surviving
into the 1960s wore Goodfellow Grey sides
with orange ends and white lettering. "By this time they had a simpler
numbering system with a W and a two-digit number." Boland advises that
gondolas that entered MOW service earlier could be painted in the
1950s-era PRR M of W light grey.
|
| Poling
Cars |
Poling Car #497994
Holban Yard 11/22/1947
Archive: Dave Keller |
These cars allowed a switching crew to work three tracks from the center
track saving time in switching. Poling cars represented a safety advance over wooden poles positioned by a brakeman between the poling pockets on
the car and the locomotive’s pilot beam. According to the PRR Classification of
Cars No. 146-D, the S-5 steel poling car design was adopted in 1913.
The 25 ft. long S-5, had a total weight of 51,000 lbs. which is a lot,
compared to a 40 ft. Class X25 Steel Box Car’s 49,100 lbs. Info:
David J. Vinci |
Reacher
Cars
|
The
Long Island used its five
reacher cars at its Long Island
City and Bay Ridge float
bridges. A reacher car was coupled between
the switcher and the freight cars to be loaded or removed from the cars
floats. Their purpose was to allow switchers working these yards to
avoid entering upon the car float and causing an imbalance of load. When
a reacher was in the shop and thus
unavailable, the
Long Island would often borrow a foreign road
gondola for this purpose. The LI would pay the foreign road a per diem
charge. Employees preferred drop-ended gondolas as they made it easier
for them to board.
|
Sand
Service
|
Preston Cook (see "Sand Service
Cars", RMC, August 1987 pp.86-87) writes that "most railroads
have fleets of specialized covered hopper cars set aside strictly for
the transportation of locomotive sand. These hoppers are generally two-bay,
or very small three-bay cars." I uncovered no such covered hoppers in
use with the
Long Island. Instead, the LIRR carried locomotive
sand on at least one hopper dedicated to this service, Art
Huneke recalls. Huneke
also recalls a tank truck which delivered diesel fuel and sand to
Baldwins at Fresh
Pond. Can any reader tell us whether sand vendors delivered their
product by truck to LIRR facilities at other times?
|
|
Steam Generator cars |
W94 LI City 05/13/1973
Archive: Dave Keller
|
W94 c.1980 Photo: Tim Darnell
W94 Speonk 6-1969
Photo: Jim Gillin
|
W95 Richmond Hill 08/1982
Photo: Tim Darnell
Ex-RDG MorrisPark
1/1969
Photo: Jim Gillin
|
Storage supply cars
|
These cars, known as
AAR classification MWM were usually a box car,
assigned to transport company material. The LIRR used this
classification to refer to a car used for fuel storage.
LIRR #100
ex-Moris Park storage; now at OBRM.
Archive: OBRM |
Snow
Removing Equipment
|
| The
AAR classifies snow removing cars, whether
rotary, wedge, flanger, or Russell Type as
MWK. Today, railroad infrequently call upon
rotaries to clear their tracks. The LIRR's
rotary plow was retired about 1967 after 68 years of service. Today, the
LIRR's rotary plow is awaiting restoration
at Steamtown. A plastic model of this plow
painted in grey/orange has been lettered by F & F Custom Trains.
LIRR Snow flanger car
W-84 is a converted electric MU coach that sprays alcohol on third-rails
as a de-icer. Huneke
recalls that the LIRR had a tank car in recent years to store the
alcohol used in W84. Two other alcohol cars were ex- Boston & Maine and
later LIRR coaches.
Jet Snow Blowers: LIRR seemed to have
reused the same numbers for the Jet snow blower. The first (TC900)
arrived in 1967 as shown in the LI Railroader Issue 12/28/1967 photo
below.
|
The first TC90 arrived in 1967
Archive: Al Castelli |
TC990 Thunderbolt
Hicksville
Feb 9, 1986 |
TC990 in West Babylon 9/26/07
Photo: Al Castelli |
TC990 in West Babylon 9/26/07
Photo: Al Castelli |
TC990 Morris Park Shops Bone Yard
03/28/09 Photo: Richard Lalomia |
12/2010 |
|
AF1
Snow Blower in action 12/25/2010 |
 |
 |
 |
Test
Weight Car
|
|
LIRR test weight car (scale test cars as other
railroads termed them) where used to calibrate the weighing scales to
determine loaded railroad cars weight. LIRR
#219 |
|
|
| Tool
Cars |
| |
|
The
AAR has assigned the classification letters MWC
to Caboose and tool cars which were generally used as a lookout on wreck
trains. On other roads they would be fitted with bunks, stove, and water
storage.
Many tool cars never leave their assigned
location, especially if the gang they are assigned to has a small
territory and is highly mobile. I have assumed the LIRR also followed
this practice. Anyone with contrary information is encouraged to
respond.
|
Track
Inspection Cars
Note:
Sperry Rail Service Inspection Cars check rails with a form of
ultrasound for cracks inside the railhead.
Plasser Track Geometry Cars check rail beds, how the rail is held and reacts under load,
check gauge, banking, and deflection, etc. 06-08-2008
|
LIRR #1040, the VW Rail Bus inspection car
Photo: Henry Maywald Collection: A. Castelli |
LIRR #1041, VW Rail Bus inspection car
Collection: Art Huneke |
VW Rail Bus inspection car
Collection: Art Huneke
|
|
Sperry Rail Service Inspection Car #129 at
PD
Tower, Patchogue 1972
Photo and Collection: Dave Keller
|
Just
as other railroads have chosen, the
Long Island owns no Track Inspection Car (AAR
classification MWG). Instead, Sperry Rail Service would send a track
inspection car to inspect LIRR rails annually.
Sperry Rail Service Inspection Car #128 at
KO Ronkonkoma, 04/18/08
Photo and Collection: Ernie Murphy
|
|
Sperry Inspection Car 140
Photo: Steve Hoskins c. 1960+
|
Sperry Inspection Car 118 Sunnyside
Yard 04-77
Photo: Tim Darnell
|
Sperry Inspection Car 143 behind Hall
Tower, Jamaica 05/08/1986
Archive: Dave Keller
|
Sperry Inspection Car 126 Jamaica 03-77
Photo: Tim Darnell |
Sperry Inspection Car 126 Jamaica 03-77
Photo: Tim Darnell |
Sperry Inspection Car 141 at Pinelawn
Photo: Steve Lynch c. 1990
|
T-18, Federal Railway Administration Gage Restraint Measurement System
(GRMS) Vehicle
Photo: John Volpi 08-15-06 Smithtown
|
T-18, (GRMS) Vehicle
Photo: John Vvolpi 08-15-06 Smithtown
|
A state-of-the-art deployable GRMS
vehicle which utilizes a 5th split railroad axle to laterally load the
head of both adjacent rails of railroad track in order to measure rail
motion under a combined vertical and later load for the detection of
weak ties and fasteners.
|
| Track Geometry
Cars |
LIRR TC80 Greenport view
NW 07/18/1977
Wm. J. Madden photo, Archive:
Dave Keller |
TC81 Grand Ave.,
Maspeth 12/03/1990
Archive: Dave Keller
TC81, Plasser Track Geometry Car,
Jamaica Station 1995 Photo: Phil Goldstein |
LIRR
TC82 Track Geometry Vehicle Jamaica 08/28/2007
Photo: Joe Gregory
LIRR
TC82 Track Geometry Vehicle |
| Trackmobiles |
|
Trackmobile #4250 12-19-07 Morris
Park
Photo: Mike Scholz
|
Shuttlewagon #203
Morris Park Demolition c.Aug-Oct
2008
|
|
Wreck
Train Cars
|
| W-56 (See photo 1) appears to be
a baggage mail car, it was carried on LIRR records as a MWT, a tool and
block car. Mike Boland wrote that enthusiasts can model it in HO-scale
using Bethlehem Car Works' flat-pack plastic model of a B60. Other
MWTs were W-50, W-57, W-59, and W-60. Were
all other wreck train cars also baggage mail cars or can any reader
identify any box cars, flat cars or other types among this category? |
| |
Acknowledgments
|
James Bradley's book provided me
with a great deal of general information on MofW
equipment. Fred Twombly of F & F Custom
Trains shared with his copy of a "Record of Work Equipment as of
October 1, 1956".
Art Huneke provided valuable additional
information. Research assistance was provided by our own Edmund McGill
of
Arlington,
Virginia.
|
Bibliography
|
Boland, Mike.
"Modeling LIRR Pennsy Class GR Gondolas"
Semaphore April 1993 page 6-7.
Bradley, James T. North American Maintenance of
Way Equipment 1992.
Gillin,
James. "Work Equipment Roster" Semaphore
January 1993, page 2.
Volume 5: N.E. Railroad Work Equipment, Classic
Freight Cars, The Series |
|
|
Track Maintenance Cars
on the LIRR |
Fairmont Tie Inserter |
RTW Tie Handler |
Spike Driver |
Track Leveling |
Kershaw Ballast Regulator (Spreader) |
Spike Driver |
Nordberg Scarifier
Cable Tie Inserter
|
Kershaw Ballast Spreader |
|
|
Jet Engine Ice Melter Babylon Team Yard
2007 |
LIRR Plasser Unimat 09-164S,
LI City
View east 11/2007 Photo: Kevin Katta
|
|
"Fire Water Tank" Cars |
|
There
is a tank car the LIRR owns, number 5001. I think there is now, or
was, a number 5000 as well. It's actually believed that 3 tank cars
used to exist for the purpose of fire suppression, but that would have to
be confirmed with the Railroad for actual truth. I do have a friend
that has a LIRR equipment roster updated as of 1994, so I may be able
to check that and confirm myself, though the only car I know the
whereabouts of is actually located in Speonk yard on the wye tail and has
been there for months - and that is the 5001. It is painted black
with white spray painted stencil lettering.
When
the wild fires occurred near Westhampton in the Pine Barrens, the
#5000 was used to combat the flames. There is a gasoline
powered pump located on that tank car which pumps water to the nozzle.
I believe that the tank has to be filled for it to work. In other words,
the car cannot be connected to a fire hydrant with the pump running
because it won't work. It's capacity is 10,000 gallons and is used
for water only. Joe Tischner 09/14/2006
|
|
Sandite Alcohol Cars
|
W84- MP54, ex LIRR 1691
Built 1920 at Morris Park 10/1977
MP-54 W84 Built 12-1920
Photo: Tim Darnell 11-85
W84- MP54, ex LIRR 1691
Built 1920
Photo: Art Huenke
|
W85 P74B Morris Park 01-79
Photo: Tim Darnell
W85 ex-7526 Morris Park 02-24-06
Photo: Mike Arnold
LIRR #2907 ex-B&M Ronkonkoma, now at RMLI Riverhead Photo: Paul Strubeck
|
Ex-B&M and Alcohol car #2907 Ronkonkoma
Photo: Paul Strubeck
LIRR #2907 Ronkonkoma 10-02-2006, now at RMLI Riverhead
Photo: Paul Strubeck
W86 in Morris Park in the yard behind the shops. Project 39 tour
of Morris Park
Photo: Al Castelli 6/6/87
|
|
Alcohol:
W84- MP54, ex LIRR 1691, Believe this was part of a restaurant in Water
Mill. Disposition unknown
- Scrapped?
W85- P74B, ex B&M 4590, in KO
W86- ex B&M, Scrapped in 2004
Sandite:
2907, P72, in KO ex-B&M, built 1955, LIRR as a bar car and sandite car,
at RMLI
2909, P72, in Morris Park
Alcohol/Sandite
E401, M1, currently used, ex 9401
E591, M1, currently used, ex 9591
9775, M3, In process of conversion to alcohol/Sandite car "The
LIRR currently uses two M-1 cars to "slime" the rails during
falling leaf season. Modified M-1's 9401 & 9591 (now E-401-591) are
utilized sandwiched between a pair of MP15's.They operate entirely at night
and are serviced at
Richmond Hill
during the day.
There are also leaf crusher trains. These consist of two
MP15's and gravel hoppers. They crush the leaves on the
Oyster Bay
, Pt. Jeff, Montauk, and Greenport branches. These trains are based at KO
and Wellwood siding and operate at night."
Both sandites and leaf crushers have run on
the branch simultaneously, and have been on the branch with both. Leaf
crushers are operated on the branch to pulverize leaves that may be wedged
in the circuits for the crossing gates. If leaves are not crushed, the
potential for leaves to impede a circuit and crossing gates to stay up while
a train goes through a crossing increases. All leaf crushers are run at the
direction of the train dispatcher.
Information courtesy: Ben Jankowski,
Oyster Bay RR Museum
Sandite is a sticky, slimy goo stuff. These are a set of cars that were
converted with large tanks inside. They're used during the fall/winter. The cars drop the
sandite on the railhead and it helps with traction. Alcohol is used on the 3rd rail to
prevent freeze ups. A pair of these cars are out in KO, the one above, W85 and a P72.
Both haven't been used in awhile. Now there are M1s used in place that have been converted.
#2907 and #2909 are alcohol cars. Paul Strubeck
|
|
|
|
|
General Orders issued 10-29-1997 on the utilization of
Sandite Operations by R. A. McDermott, Superintendent of Train Movements.
Info Thanks to: Chris Soundy, Paul Strubeck Archive
|
Bethpage c.1989
LIRR #157-162 W85
Photo: John61
|
Bethpage c.1989
LIRR #157-162 W85
Photo: John61
|
LIRR #171 02-12-94 W85 at KO
Photo: LI Joe
|
