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 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. |
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. |
| |
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.
|
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
|
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.
|
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?
|
Store 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.
|
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. I hope
to review it in a future issue.
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.
|
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
|
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+
|
LIRR TC-80 Jamaica 05-77
Photo: Tim Darnell
|
Sperry Inspection Car 118 Sunnyside
Yard 04-77
Photo: Tim Darnell
|
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.
|
LIRR TC80 at station platform
Greenport 07/18/1977 Wm. J. Madden photo, Dave Keller archive |
LIRR
TC82 Track Geometry Vehicle Jamaica 08/28/2007
Photo: Joe Gregory |
LIRR
TC82 Track Geometry Vehicle
|
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 |
