Railroad workers walking past three derailed coaches and torn-up tracks

1921 Wreck of Cannonball west of Eastport 

December 31, 1922 MT Tower, Mineola Freight Wreck

On December 31, 1922 a freight train derailed in front of the 1890-era brick "MT" tower at Mineola.  The block operator was seated at the chair visible in the upper left-hand corner of the structure.  At that time, there was a second floor back door and wooden connecting bridge between the tower and the 2nd floor of the LIRR's electric sub-station behind it.  You can make out the doorway and part of the wooden handrails just to the right of the operators chair.  The operator ran out the rear tower door and into the LIRR substation, probably saving his life. When the freight car was pulled out of the structure, the tower collapsed.  This image was probably shot the next day after the freight car was removed.  Either a lineman or the block operator has climbed the telegraph pole between the tower and the Mineola depot to keep communications open.  The current tower was built shortly thereafter and placed in service on April 25, 1923, retaining, for the time being, the call letters of "MT." (Joseph Burt photograph) Archive: Art Huneke Info: Dave Keller

1924 Rockaway Ave., Valley Stream Station

Valley Stream Station accident - View SW 1924 Archive: James Supple

July 30, 1924 Sunnyside Yard, Long Island City

August 8 (Friday 13th), 1926    Golden’s Pickle Works in Calverton

Gloom taunted the August night in 1926, even before the train crashed. Torrential lightning and rainstorms had plagued New York since at least the day before. The train was running 17 minutes late. And, if the power of superstition be respected, it was Friday the 13th.

As the yuppies of the era headed to the East End for a summer weekend escape from the city, the Long Island Rail Road had its most deadly Suffolk County crash in history. The eastbound Shelter Island Express plowed into a pickle factory in Calverton.

Six people were killed, including two young children and their mother, in what soon became known as the Great Pickle Works Wreck.

And one death was more horrific than the next. Hamilton Fish, a stockbroker and a member of an aristocratic New York family, was thrown from the posh parlor car into Golden's Pickle Works and trapped by twisted steel from the wreckage. Tons of salt from damaged barrels on an upper floor poured down on him like sand through an hourglass, smothering him as he yelled for help and struggled to push the salt away from his mouth.

Rescue workers couldn't cut away the steel quickly enough to get him out. Others managed to help another man in a similar position by cupping their hands above his mouth and catching the salt, which was used in the pickle brine, and tossing it aside as rescuers struggled to free him.

The wreck happened at 6:08 p.m. Engine No. 214 was leading the two-engine Shelter Island Express to Greenport with more than 350 passengers. The express traveled only on Fridays, taking people to weekend holidays. Accounts say it was traveling from 40 to 70 mph when it jumped a switch leading to the pickle works. The first engine fell to its side, while the second flew toward the factory with the train behind it, news reports said.

LIRR engineer Charles T. Jackson’s claim to fame was being the surviving engineer of E51sa camelback #2, the second locomotive of that infamous, eastbound, double-headed “Shelter Island Express” that split a switch on Friday, August 13, 1926 (yes, Friday the 13th for the superstitious) and plowed into Golden’s Pickle Works, located trackside in Calverton. The fact that he and his fireman, Jim my Fitzgerald, survived the crash was a miracle

Golden’s Pickle Works with giant pickle sign, trackside in Calverton, NY destroyed after being hit by derailed “Shelter Island Express” on 8/13/26 (Thomas R. Bayles photo, Dave Keller archive)

The engine crew of the lead locomotive, D16sb #214 died horribly as they were pinned against the scalding hot firewall. Charlie and his fireman Jim my Fitzgerald were thrown clear, but injured.  Charlie was flung from the cab through the cab's skylight which, luckily, was open to get some air and ventilation on that hot, humid, Long Island day in August, 1926.  Research: Dave Keller

Golden Pickle Works Wreck: Passenger Car in building 08/13/1926 Archive: Dave Keller

The Pullman parlor car, which was called Easter Lily, was directly behind the second engine, and every passenger who died in the wreck had been seated in that luxury car, with its chairs that swiveled and a waiter who served drinks. There was a smoker car and five day coaches on the train as well.

This is the only picture I have ever seen of showing the 214 just as 
she came to rest after the wreck. Every shot I have seen, published 
or not, has shown her re-railed and waiting to be
towed back to Jamaica. Just beyond her pilot truck can be seen Engine 
No. 2 laying on her left side. Just beyond is Pullman parlor car 
"Easter Lily" projecting into the Golden Pickle Works building.

Here's 2nd engine No. 2 rolled over on her left side. "Easter Lily" is 
just beyond her.

This shows the combine which was just behind "Easter Lily" and the 
coach which followed the combine.

This is the rear car of the train which stayed on the track. In the 
foreground is the defective switch which caused the wreck.

Pickle Works wreck 8/13/1926 Archive: Bill Mangahas 

This shows 3 cars buried into the building. I believe the car at the left was the parlor car "Easter Lily" which was the lead car on the train, although I can't read any name on the car from the angle of the photos. The photo below shows the same car at the left still buried in the building, but the other two have been removed with the combine car just visible at the far right having been re-set on the tracks, thus this photo occurred prior.

The wreck occurred the evening of August 13, 1926 (Friday the 13th). The wreck crew and rescue vehicles would have been dispatched ASAP and probably worked during the night. The lead engine crew were killed. The second locomotive's engineer was thrown from the cab and badly injured but survived. His fireman got clear or was thrown clear of the wreck and was himself injured and survived (and quit the LIRR after he recovered). The ridership was light and several passengers were killed. Others were injured.  

The photo would have been taken the next day after word spread via the "bush telegraph," allowing all the gawkers to show up. Those onlookers wouldn't have been allowed to be there as the dead and injured were being removed from the wreckage on August 13th. The photo lighting shows bright sunlight with short shadows and therefore not taken on August 13th but probably the following day (August 14th). The photo below has no bright sun, so chances are it may have been taken either in the evening of that 2nd day (August 14th) or possibly sometime on the 3rd day (August 15th) which may have been overcast. Notice the crowd is gone. The excitement is over. Everyone's gone home for dinner and to talk about what they saw.

The others killed were Mrs. George A. Shuford of Biltmore, N.C., and her two children, George A. Jr., 3, and Dorothy, 1. The two children were crushed in the parlor car wreckage. Their mother was pinned beneath the car for more than six hours, but was awake.

"Patiently and without a whimper Mrs. Shuford lay in the rain until the workmen had cut her free,'' reported The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Workers cut through the steel around her with torches. Before she was extricated, she ate a sandwich and had coffee, The Eagle reported. But six hours after she reached Southampton Hospital, she was dead of internal burns suffered from inhaling steam. She had been assured her children were fine, The New York Times said, and still thought they were at the time of her death.

Shuford, an only child, had been with her parents in the parlor car. She had been visiting them for a couple of weeks. Her father, Charles A. Angell, was the head of a Brooklyn contracting firm and a well-known resident of Shelter Island. With Shuford as well was her maid, who also was pinned in the wreckage and had to have her left leg amputated to get her out.

The aftermath of the wreck show the pickle works caved into itself, with the almost comical giant sign shaped like a big, green pickle, still hanging above the attic windows. ``Golden's'' it said on the pickle.

May 21, 1927 Woodhaven Passenger/Freight Collision

Collision of MP41 MU passenger cars and H6sb steam locomotive switching freight at Woodhaven in April, 1925. Lalance Grosjean Agateware Plant in the background. (Dave Keller archive)

Another view of the May 21, 1927 Woodhaven wreck with the tender missing. (Dave Keller archive)

March 28, 1928 LI City DD1 Collision at 48th Street, Woodside

DD1 electric locomotives #347 and #345 and Train #31 (SPK-NYK) in wreck at entrance to the East River tunnels in L. I. City on March 28, 1928 - View W (eBay scan)

July 1, 1928   MU at Beach Channel Swing Bridge Plunges into Channel

MPB54 1374 (?) (ACF, 8/1913) decided to take a drink on Saturday, 7/21/1928 at Beach Channel swing bridge (HJ Interlocking). View N. Train 1318, operating a "Loop" service from Flatbush Avenue to Far Rockaway & Valley Stream via the Bay did not stop at home signal 1 & 2 and the first car plunged into the channel. No one was killed in this accident but 16 men were injured. Apparently, there were no women in the first car because it was a smoking car. The motorman claimed he had left Flatbush Avenue feeling sick to his stomach, saw the stop-signal and open bridge but simply didn't stop. He was arrested afterwards while still in the hospital. Fortunately, the water was at or very near low tide at that moment and was only about 30' deep. This occurred at 8:21 am at the height of the rush hour. This is 1928 so the work week was still six days. Apparently, the railroad was tied up in knots for a few hours after this. The newspaper account stated that even Montauk trains were affected and that all Rockaway service was operated via Valley Stream until the wreck got cleared that afternoon. Archive: Emery-SUNY Stony Brook Research: Jeff Erlitz

November 15, 1928   Greenport Freight hits farm truck - Peconic Station
Westbound Greenport Freight hits farm truck killing four Volinski Brothers. R. Emery data

October 25, 1932   Wreck of the Cannonball East of Amagansett

Train #20, the “Cannonball” was making its regular trip eastbound to Montauk late in the season on October, 25, 1932.  Pulled by G5s (4-6-0) #50, the name train had dropped its last passenger off at Amagansett and the train crew all settled into the last car of the train for a quiet, dead-head ride to the end of the line at Montauk. Conductor Leo Hantz had his young son with him on the run and everyone was enjoying the ride, awaiting the end of the trip.

While rounding the curve near M.P. 114, just west of Montauk, the big G5s rolled over onto her side, burying engineer Frank Obremski in the right bank of the hillside.  Fireman Ed Koehler was thrown clear and climbed up the bank where we was found and rushed to Southampton hospital where he died of his injuries.  None of the train crew nor Leo’s son all riding in the last car were injured.

The first photo is of G5s #50, minus one of her domes, rolled over onto her side.  The second photo is of the passenger cars jackknifed.  It’s amazing that, miles from everywhere, on what is still a pretty deserted stretch of track, the quantity of gawkers that turned out to witness the disaster! 

The form 19 train order shown here was issued at PD tower on that very day and copied and made complete at 5:09 pm  by block operator Bruckner.  It identifies train #20, the “Cannonball” as being pulled by engine #50.

Photos, text, and train order are from the archive of:  Dave Keller

September 6, 1934   Wreck at Riverhead
NY TIMES: "RIVERHEAD, L.I., Sept. 6:  "The steam locomotive, coal tender and three passenger coaches of a Long Island Railroad train were overturned tonight when the train split an open switch as it was pulling into the Riverhead station here. Three persons were hurt, none seriously."

Another view at a slightly different angle, showing LIRR G53sd #145 at the left which has just arrived with the wreck cranes and work train. (Dave Keller Archive)

December 4, 1934  Vanderveer Park, Brooklyn - Bay Ridge Branch between LIRR Steam and New Haven (NYNH&H) Electric Engine  

The late, retired LIRR engineer Richie Harrison always loved trains and was given a camera as a young boy. On December 4, 1934, he heard of a wreck that had just occurred on the LIRR's Bay Ridge branch near Brooklyn Avenue (the bridge in the background) in the old community of what was once known as Vanderveer Park, between a LIRR H6sb

January 22, 1935  Merrick Avenue, Merrick

Train vs. automobile at Merrick Avenue near Nagel Court on January 22nd, 1935.  It is unknown if the driver and other possible passengers were injured during this unfortunate event. Many curious onlookers can be seen in the windows of the train. 
Photo: The Long Island Press  Archive: Chris Klug

November 17, 1935    Wreck near Aquebogue train station

Long Island newspaper article - November 18, 1935
Train Leaves Track And Plows In Mud
The Sunday afternoon westbound train left the tracks about a mile east of Aquebogue at about 5:40pm. Due to
the extreme tide water across the rails, which had weakened the roadbed, the heavy locomotive was
more then it could stand.

                                 Emery Map Aquebogue MP77-78 wreck-11/17/1935  Archive: Dave Keller

Turns out, a bad storm that came through Saturday, the 16th into Sunday, the 17th brought some strong winds and quite a bit of rainfall. So much, that it flooded the area under the tracks, causing them to buckle when the locomotive happened upon the area. Locomotive number 44 carried five cars- four passenger and one baggage. Bumps and bruises for the passengers, but worse was the seven hour wait for another train to get the lucky survivors over to Riverhead depot. When the locomotive started to lean when it hit the faulty rail, the engineer and a fireman that was on board with him leaped out of the engine into the flooded area. The two suffered cuts and bruises and received treatment at a local farmhouse. Chris Klug

New York Times Train Wrecked at Aquebogue November 17, 1935

September 21, 1938    Wreck at Quogue

"The Hurricane of September 21, 1938 and the Long Island Rail Road Wreck at Fairy Dell** in Quogue, LI, NY" by Raymond Robinson, Jr.

Train #26, the evening mail train, left Pennsylvania Station NY at 4:7 pm, bound for Montauk.  It should have arrived at Speonk at 7:00 pm, but because some tress were down, it was a few minutes late.

The Conductor of this train was my father, Raymond G. Robinson.  He and the rest of the crew had rooms in Montauk, so they could take train #27 out in the morning.

On that day, the wind had been blowing out of the northeast.  It blew most of the water out of the bays and out to sea.  The eye of the storm passed over us and soon after, the wind change and came out of the southwest, causing the tidal-wave that washed out the roadbed from under the track.  The newspaper article stated that the wind had blown the train off the tracks, which, of course, was not true.

When the tidal-wave came rushing back, it washed out the fill and roadbed where the head waters of Quantuck Bay flowed under the tracks.  It left the rails and ties intact.  When train #26 came along, the engine and tender, a PRR K4s, made it across OK, but the mail car and two coaches left the rails.

My father was in the first coach, eating his lunch.  When the car laid over, his arm went through the window.  No one was seriously injured, so he moved all the passengers to the rear coach which was still upright.

In order to report the wreck, he had to walk back to the Westhampton station.  While there, he discovered his arm was cut, so someone took him to Dr. Keller (a local medical doctor) and they sewed up the wound under the light of a kerosene lamp.

It took several days to clear up the wreck and rebuild the roadbed.  I was told that they never found one of the trucks from the mail car, which was buried in the marsh.  Info: Ray Robinson, Jr.

(** Fairy Dell is approximately 600 feet west of the Old Country Road grade crossing, by the present-day Quogue Wildlife Refuge.)

The wreck was technically at Syosset as the derailment occurred east of the Syosset station, but west of “S” cabin, on the double track portion of the ROW and near an under-track drain culvert. North of the tracks were the sand pits that were excavated for the 1912-13 grade elimination project at Jamaica .

There was a heavy rainstorm and, due to the proximity of this excavation to the tracks, a washout occurred. Westbound train #647, pulled by PRR K4s #5406 derailed on September 14, 1944 as a result of this washout.  Dave Keller Historical Information

It was approaching noon on Sunday, February 16, 1947 and train #4612 was being pulled eastbound towards Port Jefferson by leased Pennsylvania Railroad K4s (4-6-2) #5406.  The train was due to make a station stop at Kings Park at 12:08 pm then continue on to its final destination of Port Jefferson.  

The huge locomotive and train was almost at Harrison Avenue , the first crossing west of the station when it derailed, dragging the train across Harrison Avenue and onto the State Hospital spur access siding and rolled off the tracks onto the north side of the main, burrowing itself into the ground in front of the village’s tall community water tower, sending rails and ties and wheels everywhere, jack-knifing passenger cars in the process.

   Emery map of Kings Park MP43-44 9/1957

The New York Daily News account at the time stated the train ran a stop signal, hit an open switch and derailed at 12:07 pm. Engineer Walter A. Samb, 51, of Miller Place admitted to investigators that he saw the signal several hundred feet before the switch but couldn’t brake in time.  He said he got a clear order at Greenlawn eleven minutes earlier.

The crew of the preceding Kings Park State Hospital train, #4608, which was scheduled to arrive at Kings Park at 11:12, having taken the siding just west of Harrison Avenue and then making its final stop at the state hospital north of Route 25A at 11:22 am, was being questioned to determine responsibility for the open switch.

The eleven-car train hit the switch at 40 miles-per-hour and derailed.  The momentum carried the locomotive and train 250 feet, coming to a stop in front of the trackside water tower for the community of Kings Park.  Six coaches were derailed, and the newspaper reported in the same article that 31, 48 or 50 were injured, 10 seriously, so I have no idea of the actual count.  The fortunate thing, though, was that there were no deaths.

The other crew members identified in the report were Conductor John H. Hastings, 46, of Port Jefferson and Fireman Alfred A. King of Easthampton.

This is an aerial view shortly after the wreck and was taken by a Daily News photographer.  The wreck train has not yet arrived on the scene.  The view is looking from the south side of the tracks, northwest and pretty much sums up the entire situation facing the wreck crew.  One upright car on the south siding (how did that get there?), locomotive and other cars on the Kings Park Hospital spur siding north of the main  and jack-knifed cars across all three tracks, with Harrison Avenue crossing in the background. (Win Boerckel- Dave Morrison)

An elevated view from the Kings Park village water tower, also taken by a Daily News photographer. It is looking from the north side of the tracks southeast. 

Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive 

Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive 
Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive 
Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive
Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive

The water tower pump house view looking SW from the north side of the tracks. Archive: Kings Park Heritage Museum 

 
The wreck crane is being put into position by a G5s drafted for emergency wreck service.  The view is from the south side of the tracks looking west and two derailed cars are about to get the attention of the two work cranes:  this one in the photo and the one behind the photographer as is evidenced in the next photo.  Both coaches are off their trucks and, in the right foreground behind the men can be seen one of the heavy-duty trucks off the Kiesel tender.  

View from the south side of the tracks looking east, and shows both wreck cranes connected to the wrecked coach which is in mid-air, about to be swung back onto the re-railed trucks for transport back to Morris Park Shops.

LIRR #5406 and the two cars looking from the south side of the tracks westward, towards the scene of the derailment.  The two passenger cars have been set back on their trucks and are awaiting a trip to Morris Park Shops.  The tender is missing, and the locomotive is yet to be righted.  Much of the mess has been cleared up and the coaches that didn’t derail had been removed previously from the site to allow for the clean up.  Judging by the previous aerial view, the tender is probably still sitting at a skew behind the cab of the locomotive and is not visible from this angle.  At the left you can see bonfires started in the frozen nearby field to keep the chill away from the wreck workers.  Now it’s time to begin work on the K4s!

LIRR #5406 looking from the north side of the tracks eastward.  It shows the damage done as the locomotive dug in and the rails are sticking up in the air.  A westbound passenger train is proceeding past the wreck on the main and in the distance can be seen the wreck train containing bunk and work cars for the men who will stay on the site for however long it will take to get the mess cleaned up and cleared away.

Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive 

Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive

Photo by John De Biase for the N. Y. Daily News, Dave Keller archive

LIRR #5406 looking from the south side of the tracks eastward.  It shows two wreck cranes, the one in the foreground belonging to the Pennsylvania Railroad.  The one in the background is unidentifiable and may be that of the LIRR.  Both cranes are hooked up to the heavy locomotive and are about to hoist her up and onto the good trackage of the adjacent main.

Two cars from the wreck in storage in the yard behind Morris Park Shops two months later, on April 26, 1947.  The car shown in its entirety appears to be #339. 

Current 2019 satellite view S of the location.
 Source: Google maps

On Feb. 17, 1950, 32 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in a head-on collision of two LIRR trains in Rockville Centre. As part of a grade crossing elimination program, a gauntlet track had been set up to route one train at a time over 2,000 feet of temporary tracks. As the eastbound train left the Rockville Centre station and headed into the gauntlet, a westbound train originating in Babylon slammed into it, mangling both trains. The conductor of the eastbound train claimed in court that he had blacked out before the crash, and was later acquitted of manslaughter. Here, spectators gather close to the scene as salvage crews begin removing wreckage on Feb. 18, 1950.  Photo Credit: AP/NewsdayRockville Centre view NW 02/18/1950 Photo: AP Archive: Art Huneke  

Rockville Centre view W 02/18/1950 Archive: Art Huneke  

This map indicates the location of the accident. Rockville Centre - Robert Emery Map c.1950 Archive: Dave Keller

August 5, 1950 Huntington LIRR #642, Pass Train First-Class Eastbound

"The People's Almanac" (Wallachinsky and Wallace, 1975, p. 564) gives the following very detailed description of what happened:

William W. Murphy, a 45-year veteran of railroading and just 4 years away from retirement, responded to the "restricted" signal on "C" tower 2 miles before the train's first scheduled stop at Jamaica. With the signal’s change to "approach," Murphy resumed his 30-mph speed. The next signal light on "J" (for Jamaica) tower showed "restricted" and again Murphy applied the air brakes. They grabbed and wouldn't release. Train 780 and its 12 cars carrying 1,000 homeward-bound passengers ground to a dead stop. Brakeman Bertram N. Biggam started to get the flares to put behind the stalled train.

Close behind on the same mainline track, Train 174 with 12 cars and 1,200 passengers thundered toward Jamaica. Motorman Benjamin J. Pokorny obeyed the signal at "C" tower and brought his train to a halt. When the signal changed, he accelerated to 15 mph. In back of him the "C" tower signal changed again back to "restricted," but ahead the signal on "J" tower flashed "approach." Train 174 resumed full speed. Too late Pokorny saw the stopped train ahead. In his last seconds of life he pulled the brake cord . . .

Neither train was equipped with an automatic repeater signal system, an electronic device mounted in the motorman's cab. Murphy and Pokorny had to rely on signal towers spaced at intervals along their route. Normally this signal-light system worked fine, but if a signal changed after a train had passed a tower, the system didn't work at all. Pokorny should have seen the taillights of the stalled train, if they were on. And that raised an unanswered question, for in a report by the Long Island Railroad to the Public Service Commission it was reported that within a 7-day period the taillights on 50 trains had been inoperative. . .

Passengers aboard Train 174 suffered their annoyance in silence. It wouldn't be the 1st time they had arrived home late. There was no warning of danger until the headlight of train 174 bathed the last car in its blinding glare. In seconds the two cars were fused together. The front car of Pokorny's train telescoped the rear of Murphy's train. Those not killed outright were overcome with fear. The trains were dark. Bedlam reigned inside the cars. People physically capable of moving couldn't because of the pileup of dead and injured bodies.

The noise of the collision was heard on 126th Street and Hillside Avenue. Soon help arrived, but it was an hour and 20 minutes before the last passenger was extricated from the bent and twisted cars. Amputations were performed on the spot and acetylene torches were used to free many trapped passengers. Priests administered last rites while doctors administered plasma. For hundreds of New Yorkers the tragedy turned Thanksgiving Day, 1950, into the blackest of black Thursdays. 

On a stretch of track east of the Kew Gardens Long Island Rail Road Station, a night-time New York to Hempstead commuter train came to a stop because its brakes would not release. As its motorman began working on the problem, a brakeman got out of the rear car and stood on the tracks holding a red lantern to warn any approaching train of its presence. Because there was no automatic stopping mechanism on these tracks, the Railroad's operating rules required the brakeman to do this whenever his train was stopped under circumstances in which it might be overtaken by another train. The brakeman was obligated under those rules to "insure full protection" of his train, and if necessary to accomplish that, he was to display a lighted "fusee" or put down "torpedos".

Note: A "fusee" is a type of flare which burns bright red for 10 - 15 minutes. It is very similar to the flares Highway Patrolmen put around the scene of a traffic accident. "Torpedos" are explosive caps fastened to the top of the rail and exploded by the pressure of a rolling wheel. They warn a motorman of danger ahead. A "brakeman" (also called a trainman") is the lowest ranking member of a train crew. His duties are to assist the conductor in anyway possible. Despite what the title suggests, a 1950 Long Island Rail Road brakeman was not responsible for the good working order of the train's brakes.

Press accounts in the aftermath of the collision had the Babylon train going 60 to 65mph at the time it hit. However, the Interstate Commerce Commission investigated the collision and found the speed at impact was about 30mph. Had the Babylon train been going 60mph or more, the resulting devastation would have been much worse and most likely other cars in the two trains would have separated or derailed. That did not happen. Only slight damage was suffered by the other cars all of which remained connected and on track.

The cause of the crash was officially determined to be disregard of the Go Slow signal by the deceased motorman of the Babylon train. He should have followed the Go Slow signal he had just passed rather than the All Clear signal a half mile ahead. However, the Interstate Commerce Commission's Report on the crash seemed to imply that the brakeman on the Hempstead train had not done all he could have to protect his train - a conclusion I find unavoidable given that the brakeman extinguished his warning lantern and returned to the train before being signaled to do so. It was a clear night, and the brakeman assumed at the time that no train would approach at more than 15mph. So he thought the risk of a casualty was remote. He miscalculated, just as the motorman of the Babylon train miscalculated.

The crash occurred only nine months after a head on collision between two Long Island Rail Road trains at Rockville Centre, NY killed 31 and injured 158. According to The Long Island Press newspaper, the two accidents caused the public to view to the Long Island Rail Road as unsafe and irresponsible. Queens District Attorney Charles P. Sullivan called it the "Death Valley Railroad." The disaster led to public demands for increased government scrutiny. Yet, blame for what happened that night extended beyond the Railroad's management to the very State Government that was called upon to take action.

Because the Long Island Rail Road was a monopoly, it was subject to regulation by the New York State Public Service Commission. The Commission had refused to allow the Railroad any rate increases for almost 30 years (1918 - 1947) despite the L.I.R.R.'s increased operating costs and resulting heavy losses. Furthermore, because people always had the option of taking their cars rather than the train, the Long Island Rail Road had to compete for the public's transportation dollars with the various New York State authorities that owned and operated the bridges, tunnels and highways. Unlike the Long Island Rail Road which was heavily taxed in all respects, those authorities paid no tax whatsoever on their real estate, assets or income. Moreover, bridges, tunnels and highways cost much less to maintain than a railroad. All of that left the Long Island Rail Road at a permanent competitive disadvantage, and every effort to level the playing field by providing badly needed subsidies for the Railroad was defeated in the State Legislature.

The result of that kind of transportation policy should not have been hard to foresee. By 1950, the Railroad was starved for cash and it's equipment was old and decrepit. The two cars involved in the crash were Class MP54A and had been built in 1910, more than 40 years earlier. Such cars were the rule, not the exception. One newspaper reporter cracked that if the Long Island Rail Road were a model train set, it would make a little boy cry to find it under his Christmas Tree. On the date of the collision, the Long Island Rail Road had already filed for bankruptcy reorganization and was operating under the supervision of two bankruptcy trustees. Two days after the crash, Governor Dewey told The Brooklyn Eagle newspaper that $50,000,000 was needed just to make the Long Island Rail Road, "reasonably safe and to insure something approaching satisfactory operation." That was money the perennially cash poor Railroad just did not have, and the State Government had mostly itself to blame for the situation.

In the aftermath of the crash, Automatic Speed Control (ASC) was installed on the tracks.⁽¹⁾ The Pennsylvania Railroad (which owned the Long Island Rail Road) agreed to terminate the L.I.R.R.s bankruptcy and begin a 12 year, 58 million dollar improvement program. The L.I.R.R. gained exemption from much of its tax burden and the freedom to charge realistic fares.

The point of impact for the collision was 1,960 feet east of the Kew Gardens Long Island Rail Road Station near 125th Street - one block west of the Metropolitan Avenue overpass. Although press accounts at the time described that area as Richmond Hill, neighborhood boundaries have long since changed. Today, the site of the collision is considered to be in Kew Gardens.
Info: Joe DeMay  www.oldkewgardens.com

According to my ICC report of the wreck this is what was determined to have taken place:

The first eastbound train had not stalled but applied its brakes to stop for a signal and then could not release the brakes. A brakeman was sent out with a lantern but was recalled when the brakes released and he headed back. Then they froze again and when he went back out, saw the train bearing down on them and rushed back to his train, tossing the lantern on the tracks and running through the last car into the next to last car where, upon impact, he was flung into the ceiling of the car and knocked unconscious. He always attributed his survival to the durability of his trainman's cap per personal interview between the brakeman and the late retired conductor Jeff Skinner.

The second eastbound train had been stopped at the signal just west of the Kew Gardens station. The engineer then proceeded 3,516' to the point of impact just east of the Kew Gardens station, having increased his speed to 35 MPH. When he saw the stopped train ahead, he applied his brakes but there was insufficient distance to stop the train. When his train hit the first train, the force of the crash moved the first train 75' and telescoped into it. It was thought the engineer of the 2nd train assumed the train ahead of him had cleared the block so he picked up his speed when he should have proceeded with caution.  Info: Dave Keller
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Note 1: Typically a railroad used DC track circuits for signaling. Consider that each rail is connected to one side of a 48 volt battery, with signal "blocks" being isolated from each other by insulated rail joints. At one end of each block is a battery, at the other end is an electromagnetic relay, or electric controlled switch that is activated by that battery. When a metal train axle shunts or bridges the two rails, it shorts out the battery causing the relay to de-energize or "drop". That relay is what activates the signal indications.

In third rail territory, both rails already contain one side of the 750 DC volt propulsion power, so to avoid its conflict, alternating current, instead of battery is used for signal "track" circuits. The LIRR uses 100 cycle AC for this. Where overhead AC catenary wires are installed, a different signal (track circuit) frequency is used in AC territory avoiding interference from that propulsion frequency.

The LIRR's speed control or cab signal system overlays another electric signal of different frequencies on the rails (or on wires between the rails) to activate the speed control system. Each cab signal indication or "aspect" is referenced from a different frequency. The magnetic current caused by this energy in the rails is "picked up" through induction by two "track receivers." which are wire coils under the engine's pilot. They are interpreted by the train's speed control system. Originally vibrating relays were used for this, now it's done electronically.

This system was designed by Westinghouse and installed after the 1950 wrecks through funding by the State of New York. When an engineman receives a cab signal indication (or speed indication) more restrictive than the speed at which he is operating, he receives a visible and audible warning. He must acknowledge the warning and reduce to the required speed. If he does not do this within a set time, the train stops automatically.

January 2, 1953  New Hyde Park Grade Crossing Collision

February 4, 1954 New Hyde Park Freight Derailment

March 3, 1954 Maspeth freight collided with a truck

1954 Old Country Road, Hicksville

May 21, 1955 Woodbury Road, Hicksville

  

 Long Island Rail Road FM CPA24-4-5 #2404 and 25 ton bulldozer collide on Woodbury Road in Hicksville, NY. The engine of the train went about 200 feet to the middle of the road and derailed about six cars. 

December 31, 1959 Locust Ave, Glen Head

On New Year’s Eve 1959, a Chevy pickup truck belonging to a certain contractor decided to not heed the warning signs at the Locust Avenue grade crossing just south (railroad west) of the Glen Head station on the LIRR’s Oyster Bay Branch. Late morning Jamaica to Oyster Bay train #524, led by H16-44 1506 (Fairbanks-Morse, 10/1951, s/n 16L-410) was undoubtedly blasting out Rule 14L, to no avail. The train was probably already beginning to slow for the station stop and came to a halt just south of the station building. Jeff Erlitz

Photos: Susan Peltz - Gold Coast Historic Photographs collection, Gold Coast Public Library

April, 1961 "The Great People Poop Wreck"

On a night in April, 1961, in the early morning hours, a deluge  in excess of  2,000,000 gallons, of  human effluent, overwhelmed the railroad yard.   The concrete bowl of the tank scattered itself over the tracks.  A steel New Haven caboose simply bowled over, as did loaded refrigerator and hopper cars. 

Crew working directly in the "flood plain" guide a bucket over debris.  Note the cap of the sewerage tank fallen into the center of the "bowl".

Photos: Harry A. Glueck  Archive: Richard Glueck

MORE: Poop Wreck article originally appeared in: "The Keystone" Vol. 48 No. 3 Autumn 2015

April 8, 1962 Grove Ave., East Patchogue Grade Crossing Collision

August 13, 1962 Collision at Woodside

Further NY Times Material

ICC Report #3962 The Long Island Railroad Company August 13, 1962 photos Archive: R. McEnery

ICC Report #3962 Long Island Railroad 
Company August 13, 1962 
WIN Interlocking Archive: R. McEnery

August 24, 1962 Grove Ave., East Patchogue Grade Crossing Collision

Archive: New York State Historic Newspapers Project, and Celia M. Hastings Local History Room, Patchogue-Medford Library.  
Research: Gary Lutz, Librarian

September, 1962 Collision at Bay Ridge Yard

December 3, 1963 Brookhaven Derailment 

c.1965 Vandalism derail Ocean Ave., Bay Ridge Branch

NH #302 and #306(?) wreck section house at Ocean Ave overpass Brooklyn View W Photo: Harry Glueck Archive: Richard Glueck

Emery Map Bay Ridge Ocean Ave. overpass MP11.9 derail wreck location #5  Archive: Dave Keller

New Haven Railroad EF-4 electric locomotives # 306 & # 302 known as "bricks," among railfan's, as these locomotives received their own distinctive paint scheme. Thus, the accident between Oct 1963 and 1969. Research: Steven Lynch

 

March 12, 1966 Pine Aire Dr, Brentwood Wreck 

November 6, 1966 LIRR C420 Easthampton Wreck 

Composite of three Ed Schleyer photos taken November 7th, 1966
 

The East Hampton Star 11/10/1966 - LIRR Derailment November 6th, 1966

Sunday Evening 7:05pm westbound from Montauk was the derailment time and Train 4013 was right on time. The Schenk Coal siding was just on the other side of the Osborne Lane crossing near the east end of the station. 4013 was the Winter variant of 4011; The Sundowner. 4011 was the parlor car only service on Sunday evenings to Hunterspoint Ave. 4013 ran on almost the same schedule a bit quicker because of the smaller Winter crowds, but with added stops at Speonk and Mastic-Shirley so the times from Patchogue to Jamaica were the same. Jeff Erlitz

 

 Emery Map- Easthampton MP100-101  Archive: Dave Keller
 

Ed Schleyer, was a contemporary of my father and a fireman. He was riding the Montauk to Jamaica train that was overturned by juveniles, east of Easthampton, in 1966. Ed relates this story and has provided these images. If you ever needed a rationale for operating C420's with the long hood first, this is it. Intro: Rich Glueck

I was working the Montauk Greenport relief job as one of the senior Firemen. The engineer and I worked 3 days to Montauk, 3 days to Greenport and 3 days off. This was not a monotonous job. In my short time as a fireman, I hit cars, trucks and the guy that trimmed me off the job, hit an airplane. The day of this incident, I ran the train to Montauk and The engineer Howard King brought it back, well almost all the way back. I’m not sure of the consist, I think (2) varnish on the west end and (5) coaches, not Pings, (1) engine #215. We left Montauk with probably (1) paying rider. The flag man had his son riding in the rear coach with him. I don’t know if we picked up any riders before Bridgehampton, but we had way to much running time - Montauk to Speonk. We were in “coast”, until the curve before Bridgehampton. Now I am sitting with my feet up on the front door frame. Going around a right hand curve, I can’t see the roadbed ahead and Howard says “we’re going in”. I can’t connect this phrase to anything but a “meet”. I looked over at Howard and the next thing you know, I’m head to head with him. I’m wedged in between the water cooler and the control stand, laying down and the engineers front window is broken and lots of mud and water are passing over our heads. Howard got hit in the face with the windshield, but other than being covered with mud we were OK. At the moment we were turning over, the thought that we were at the Water Mill curve went through my mind. We had derailed and were going into the Water Mill Pond. I knew by now (everything in slow motion) I’m gonna survive the derailment, but I’m gonna drown, I don’t know how to swim. The water from the water cooler was draining on my head and the mud was filling up the engineers side of the engine.

When we stopped moving, I killed the engine and started digging Howard out. We went out the front door and walked down the side of the engine to someplace that didn’t look like a one story drop to the ground. I left Howard there and went in the front door of the head parlor car and came into the passageway that the attendant room connected to. The attendant was sitting on the corridor wall trying to collect the little liquor bottles that had spilled into the corridor. I reached down and picked out two bottles of scotch, I figured that we needed a drink. The attendant started freaking out about how he was responsible for all of the beer and chips etc. I told him that every volunteer fireman from Montauk to Speonk was gonna be here in a few minutes and he better go get in the ambulance that was outside or face all of the volunteers that were gonna show up. He went out the end of the corridor that I had come in. I went the other way and came into the head car where the conductor was on the other end of the car. The offset door was now up above our heads and the conductor was convinced he was gonna die there because we couldn’t climb up to the door. I grabbed him by the hand and led him to the other end where the door was on the bottom. The conductor went on his way and I went up to see Howard on the main track. It seems my timing was bad when I offered him the bottle of scotch. It seems that (2) teenagers, arrested and released, stole tools from a section shed and went to the switch that was the entrance to a coal trestle. They smashed the lock and switch stand, opened the switch and waited for us to go up the siding, off the end and into the school. Needless to say the locomotive couldn’t make the 15 mph turnout at 40 mph. 

Before I could leave I had to go back into the locomotive. I had to make sure there wasn’t a flag stick in the “Dead Man” and I had to pick up all my fillets of flounder that I had caught from the docks where the submarines used to tie up. Five pounds of fish that would have really smelled bad by the time #215 got back to the shops. I got the fish and climbed back outside on the outside of the engine compartment. When I got there a little old lady was screaming and yelling at me “ look what you did to the fence around the school”. I interrupted her shouting to ask her if she liked fillet of flounder and would she like five lbs right now. She said yes and I threw five lb plastic bag at her and hit her in the chest, knocking her on her rear. She said “thank you” and the problem with the fence disappeared. By now all the buses and cabs in town were gone, being used to transport the crew to Patchogue, I didn’t have a way to get home. As I started to walk toward the next crossing, I see a LIRR Bronco coming toward me on the tracks. When he got to me he stopped and asked what I was doing there, I told him and his response was, what do I look like, some kind of Taxi, if you want to get home you better start hitchhiking right now because it’s getting dark. With that he drove off. I walked to the crossing and found an open store. I went in and used the phone to call my wife. I told her that no matter what she hears, I’m OK. I went back to the crossing, took one last look and stuck out my thumb. The first car that came along was a fisherman headed back home. He dropped me off at the entrance to Belmont Lake State Park and my house faced on the park. The next day I took my wife and son back out to Bridgehampton, where I took the pictures. 

1966 Maspeth Grade Crossing Collision 

October 18, 1967  LIRR RDC Wrecked - Blue Point Rd., Holtsville    Vignette on this day: Engineer “Patsy” Molese and the Budd Car by Dave Keller

     
RDC 3101 Train 204 wreck at Blue Point Rd., Holtsville 10/18/1967 Holtsville-Farmingville Fire Dept on the scene.
Archive: John Jett

Here’s a view of wrecked RDC1 #3101, taken on October 18, 1970 while it was stored out back of the Morris Park Shops in Queens .  The front of the car shows how the cab was cut away to extract the remains of Patrick Molese.  The unit was sold in December, 1971 to Sarnelli Bros. and scrapped at Corona Yard. (Photo by, and courtesy of, Richard Glueck)

LIRR RDC #3101 Wrecked 1967, sold in 12/1971 to Sarnelli Brothers and scrapped at the LIRR’s Corona Yard. 
Info: Dave Keller 6/2004

January 25, 1969  LIRR PASSENGER TRAIN # 4186  Tunnel 3 East River

Late Spring, 1969  Babylon Yard M1 #9055 derailment

June 23, 1969, East End of Pennsylvania Station

Some time before the accident, passenger train equipment was placed on Pennsylvania Station track 21 for temporary storage. Anticipating that station forces would remove this equipment before arrival of passenger train No. 751, a Long Island Rail Road yardmaster instructed the C interlocking operator to route No. 751 to station track 21. However, due to station forces experiencing difficulty with its air brake system, the passenger train equipment still occupied track 21 when No. 751 neared the station.

No. 751, a westbound passenger train consisting of seven electrically-propelled passenger cars left Hempstead, L. I., at 2:09 p.m. When the train stopped at Woodside, the conductor, acting without authority but in accordance with what appears to be a common practice, went home after arranging for an off-duty employee, a ticket collector, to replace him for the remainder of the trip to Pennsylvania Station. The ticket collector had been a conductor at one time, but had been disqualified from working in that capacity since 1962 because of a physical condition. No. 751 left Woodside without the engineer knowing the regularly assigned conductor had left the train.

About 2:55 p.m., after proceeding through the East River Tunnels on track No. 4 and entering C interlocking, No. 751 began to enter Pennsylvania Station track 21 at slow speed. The engineer then saw that track 21 was occupied by passenger train equipment, and stopped his train with the front end about 170 feet short of that equipment and 160 feet from the track platform. The rear end stopped within C interlocking limits. After the train stopped, it waited for station forces to remove the equipment from the track ahead.

No. 159, a westbound Long Island Rail Road passenger train consisting of 8 electrically-propelled passenger cars, left Babylon, L. I. at 1:49 p.m. About 2:53 p.m., while moving on track No. 4, it entered the East River Tunnels and continued toward Pennsylvania Station, following No. 751 at an interval of about three minutes. Seven minutes later, No. 159 stopped on track No. 4 at the C interlocking home signal, which indicated Stop due to the rear end of No. 751 occupying its track circuit. The engineer saw No. 751 standing about 200-250 feet ahead, and waited for the home interlocking signal to display a proceed aspect.

Approximately five minutes after stopping short of the passenger train equipment occupying station track 21, the engineer of No. 751, in response to a request of three off-duty employees, began to move his train slowly forward toward the east end of the track platform, causing loud electrical arcing sounds at the locations of the third-rail contact shoes on the cars. As the train moved forward, the communicating whistle sounded two short blasts (when moving, a signal to stop) and the engineer stopped the train a few feet short of the platform. A few seconds later, according to his statements, the engineer heard the communicating whistle sound three short blasts (when standing, a signal to back up) and looked into the passenger compartment of the first car for the conductor, but did not see him. Assuming the conductor had obtained authority for the reverse movement and had gone to the rear of the last car to protect the reverse movement, the engineer started to back his train through C interlocking without stationing himself at the controls of the leading car in the direction of the reverse movement, as required by the carrier's rules. The engineer stated that on two separate occasions after starting the reverse movement, the communicating whistle sounded three short blasts (when moving, a signal to stop at the next station). He construed these whistle signals as being confirmations of the first signal to back up. The train continued its reverse movement through C interlocking and, about 3:05 p.m., backed onto track No. 4 of the four-track line. Immediately thereafter, while moving backward at about 10 m.p.h. it struck No. 159, which was standing on track No. 4 a few feet east of the home interlocking signal.

Statements of the three off-duty employees in the vestibule at the front of the train substantiate those made by the engineer of No. 751 relating to the communicating whistle signals sounded before the collision.

The off-duty ticket collector, who was acting as the train conductor, was in the vestibule at the rear of the first car when No. 751 began to move in reverse. He heard the communicating whistle signals received by the engineer and took no exception to the reverse movement.

The flagman of No. 751 was in the vestibule at the front of the 6th car while his train waited on Pennsylvania Station track 21 for station forces to remove passenger train equipment from the track ahead. When his train moved slowly forward toward the station platform, intermittent arcing noise occurred at the locations of the third rail contact shoes. (The investigation revealed it is common practice for LI Rail Road engineers to use arcing sound, instead of train horn sound as required by rule, when recalling a flagman out providing protection against following trains. This is accomplished by setting the train brakes, then applying and shutting off power the number of times specified for the horn signal prescribed for recalling flagmen). Upon hearing the arcing noise, the flagman pulled the communicating whistle cord twice (when stopped, a signal to proceed; when moving, a signal to stop), intending this as a signal that he was on the train and not out providing protection against following trains. Since the train was moving when this signal was sounded, the engineer construed it to be a stop signal and promptly stopped the train, a few feet from the track platform and the passenger-train equipment ahead.

Apparently realizing that he had unintentionally caused the train to stop, the flagman again pulled the communicating whistle cord to signal the engineer to proceed. However, instead of sounding two short whistle blasts, he apparently sounded three short blasts (when standing, a signal to back up), resulting in the engineer moving the train in reverse. The reverse movement startled the flagman, and he pulled the communicating-whistle cord with the intention of signalling the engineer to stop. Instead of sounding two short whistle blasts, it appears he again sounded three short blasts (when moving, a signal to stop at the next station), resulting in the engineer assuming this was a confirmation of the first signal to back up and continuing the reverse movement. The flagman then decided to go to the rear vestibule of the 6th car, apparently with the intention of operating the emergency brake valve or the communicating-whistle signal apparatus in that vestibule. While going through the car, he again pulled the communicating-whistle cord with the intention of sounding a Stop signal and with the same result as described above. A few seconds later, No. 751 backed onto track No. 4 and struck No. 159.

Approximately 175 passengers and employees of both trains sustained injuries, which were primarily of the abrasion, contusion, sprain, and neck-whiplash types. Most injuries were relatively minor in nature. Numerous injured passengers were transported to hospitals for first aid Best available information indicates that three passengers were injured seriously enough to require hospitalization. Historical Data: Kyle V. Mullins

June 23, 1969 LIRR PASSENGER TRAIN #850 FIRE at Elmhurst

No. 850, an eastbound passenger train consisting of seven electrically-propelled passenger cars, was scheduled to leave Pennsylvania Station at 4:39 p.m. It was delayed in leaving, however, because of a collision between LI Rail Road trains at the east end of the station at 3:05 p.m. During the delay, passengers continued to board No. 850 until all its seats and standing room in the aisles and vestibules were fully, occupied. About 1,100 passengers boarded the train, according to estimates.

No. 850 left Pennsylvania Station at 5:50 p.m., 1 hour 11 minutes late, and proceeded eastward through one of the East River Tunnels to Long Island. Shortly after it emerged from the tunnel, wind forces caused a thin piece of metal (3 1/2" x 24") to fly up from the wayside and to lodge on the south side of the rear truck of the 7th (last) car, between the third-rail contact shoe hanger and the truck equalizer. This created a short circuit and an electrical arc between the third-rail contact shoe assembly and the truck frame or a journal box, igniting the lubricating material in the journal box. Shortly after passing Harold, L. I., at 5:56 p.m., the flagman noticed smoke arising from underneath the rear of the 7th car and signaled the engineer to stop.

When the train stopped, the flagman and front brakeman examined the rear truck of the 7th car and saw that the lubricating material in the journal box of the rear wheel on the south side of the truck was on fire. After making an unsuccessful search for a fire extinguisher on the train, the front brakeman extinguished the fire by stuffing a wet cloth into the journal box. He then returned to the front of the train and informed the conductor that the 7th car had an overheated journal (hot box). Soon afterward, the train proceeded eastward without either the flagman or front brakeman having noticed the strip of thin metal lodged on the rear truck of the 7th car.

No. 850 passed Win interlocking station in the Elmhurst section of Long Island at 6:12 p.m., while moving at a speed of about 30 m.p.h. About that time, the flagman heard loud explosive-type sounds caused by electrical arcing at the location of the rear truck of the 7th car. He then saw smoke and flames rising from the truck, and signaled the engineer to stop. As the engineer reduced speed to stop at a wayside telephone a short distance ahead, a passenger pulled the cord of the emergency brake valve in a car, stopping the train before it reached the wayside telephone.

Panic immediately developed among passengers in the 7th car when smoke and fire from the rear truck were seen to be rising above the south side of the car. At that time, the flagman opened the door on the south side of the rear vestibule of the 7th car to permit passengers to escape. Not being able to proceed forward through the car because of its crowded condition, the flagman alighted from the rear vestibule, ran forward along the south side of the car to the front vestibule, and opened the south door of that vestibule. While attempting to open the trap door over the steps, he was thrown to the ground by passengers leaving the car in panic. In the meantime, ticket collectors in the fourth car alighted from the train, saw what was happening, and ran to the rear alongside the train, opening doors on the south side of vestibules in the cars.

While passengers were evacuating the train, the conductor ran ahead to the wayside telephone and requested assistance. This resulted in power to the third rail being shut off at 6:21 p.m., about 20 or 25 minutes after the train stopped. About 6:18 p.m., fire and police department forces from several nearby communities arrived at the scene.

Immediately after the train stopped, passengers in the last car began to break out windows and jump to the ground. When the vestibule doors were opened, passengers jumped to the ground from unopened trap doors above the steps.

Eleven passengers were known to be injured as a result of jumping from the 6th and 7th cars through windows and/or unopened trap doors. Six other passengers subsequently claimed injury. Most injuries were of minor nature, consisting primarily of lacerations, contusions, abrasions, and sprains. Two passengers were hospitalized, one for a fractured ankle, the other for a back injury. Historical Data: Kyle V. Mullins

Silver Streak wreck at Mason Mints siding 3/20/1970  Photo: Vincent Alvino Archive: RMLI

'It is a decision of two cases regarding the aforementioned incident. The crew performed a drop or flying switch where the engines are on the facing point end of a switch and are unable to shove the cars into the siding. The engineer will accelerate his engines and the entire train before reaching the switch, bunch the slack, the conductor will pull the pin, engineer will again accelerate past the switch points while a ground man lines the switch for the diverging route after the engines pass over the switch. The cars, now uncoupled from the engines, will roll into the siding at which point a brakeman will tie on a hand brake to stop the cars in the appropriate location.

In this incident, the Engineer recalls seeing a backup sign from the ground man after his engines cleared the switch, so he reversed direction and subsequently collided with the NATX 34440 tanker which eventually exploded, destroying one engine and seriously damaging the other. A container found in the cab which was analyzed by Suffolk PD was found to have a substance which amounted to 7% alcohol by volume. It could not be proven whether this was window washing fluid or an intoxicant used by the crew, so it was eventually discounted. One empty beer can was found in the lead unit and two unopened containers of beer were found in the trailing unit's icebox. All beer cans were not found to be damaged by fire so the crew's defense was that those containers were placed there well after the fire was extinguished, possibly by firemen. It was concluded that performing the flying switch wasn't the cause of the accident but rather the Engineer mistaking a hand signal by a ground man to reverse direction before the entire consist cleared the main track.'

"The Wreck of The Shelter Island Express" by John Deasy

One Friday evening long ago, on August 21, 1970 to be exact, I was a passenger onboard the Long Island Rail Road’s “Shelter Island Express”, traveling from Jamaica to Cutchogue, en-route from my summer job at Walter Dorwin Teague Associates at 437 Madison Avenue in Manhattan to a weekend at my family’s summer cabin in New Suffolk.  Unfortunately, I did not have my Kodak Instamatic camera with me, so I have no photos to document the results of the grade crossing collision and our subsequent derailment.  However, I do have some lasting memories of this event, more than four decades after it occurred. 

At that time, LIRR train 212 was a summer season Friday night express from Jamaica to Riverhead, making local stops from Riverhead to Greenport.  The railroad station at Greenport was just a short walk away from the ferry to Shelter Island, and reserved seat extra fare parlor car service was offered, which is the likely explanation why the train retained the name Shelter Island Express in the railroad’s marketing brochures.  Departure from Jamaica (customarily from track 8) was around 4:59 PM, reaching Riverhead around 6:30, and arriving at Greenport shortly before 7:15 PM.    

Our locomotive was Alco RS-3 number 1555, running long hood forward.  There were one or two parlor cars immediately behind the locomotive.  The first car may have been the former Baltimore and Ohio lightweight sleeper lounge observation which was often assigned to this train in the 1970s, running observation lounge forward.  I believe one was a former New Haven lightweight sleeping car.  They were followed by a pair of former Florida East Coast stainless steel streamliner coaches, trailed by a number of (two?) older P54 “Ping Pong” coaches on the rear.  The train was pretty full.  A bar for coach passengers was setup in one of the rear cars, and the attendant was doing a brisk business.  I had a plush reclining seat in one of the FEC cars, TITUSVILLE, where the air conditioning worked just as the Budd Company intended; it was comfortably cool and dry.  It was almost as good as a parlor car seat, but at a coach fare.   Titusville at Montauk 7/07/74 Photo/Archive: Ed Frye  

As we worked our way eastwards on the mainline, I made note of our progress.  Divide Tower at Hicksville, where the Port Jefferson branch diverges from the mainline, was always one of my landmarks.  After passing Ronkonkoma, we reduced our speed due to the poor track conditions found on the east end of the mainline.  Jointed rail, deteriorated wooden ties, minimal ballast and limited maintenance made for a rough bouncy ride.  I doubt our speed exceeded 30 MPH east of Ronkonkoma.  Even at that relatively slow pace, it was definitely not a smooth ride.

Suddenly, there was a bang and a lurch forward, and then we came to a stop.  It became very quiet.  After a while, we learned that we had hit a loaded tractor-trailer of freshly harvested potatoes, at a rural grade crossing in Manorville.  Either the truck driver failed to pay attention and did not hear the engineer blowing the horn signal as he approached the grade crossing, or his truck somehow got stuck on the grade crossing.

The locomotive had derailed and the long hood was pushed back.  The first parlor car may also have derailed.  It was obvious from one look that our train wasn’t going any further east tonight. 
I don’t recall any ambulances at the scene, so I doubt anyone was seriously injured.  I was not injured.  

Eventually we were allowed off the train.  The Special Service Attendant staffing the coach bar continued to sell his beverages, and I suspect the parlor car attendants did likewise.  There was money to be made from a thirsty captive audience!  We waited for some time, probably between one and two hours, for busses to rescue us and take us east along Route 25 to the stations from Riverhead to Greenport.  I think our train was due at Cutchogue a few minutes before 7 PM, but I suspect I eventually got to Cutchogue between 9 and 10 PM.  I had survived my first train accident and derailment with no injuries and an interesting story to tell.

Locomotive 1555 at Morris Park Shops, circa late 1970 or early 1971, awaiting repairs. Photo collection of Steve Hoskins  

Many years later, a friend with a good knowledge of LIRR history told me that the railroad rebuilt locomotive 1555 using the nose of a retired PRR Alco RS-3, with its distinctive small marker lights.  Some employees and railroad enthusiasts referred to the rebuilt locomotive 1555 as “Snake Eyes”, due to the small marker lights, or “Hungry Jack”, in reference to its demonstrated appetite for freshly harvested Suffolk County Long Island potatoes.   Mineola,1974  Photo/Archive: Tim Darnell

“Shelter Island Express”     Julian Tillis was engineer, Bob Emery conductor and I was the attendant on the early season (one parlor) version of the Shelter Island Express. Since it ran express from Jamaica to Riverhead, it always caught up with the preceding Ronkonkoma local before the latter cleared the SG-DK block. We were on-time in Riverhead. I frequently worked the SI Express since I got home early and the tips were better than the Montauks. Info: Richard Makse

LIRR train #212 at SG block [Brentwood] 6/07/1968 Photo/Archive: Richard Makse

 January 24, 1971 Pine Aire Pilgrim Hospital Switch Derailment

   
Pine Aire Pilgrim switch derailment of LIRR #201 Photos: 1/25/1971 Jim Mardiguian
  
  

In addition to LIRR personnel, a small army of firemen from neighboring communities responded to the emergency remaining through the night until all passengers and injured had been removed from the wreckage. 

There was one fatality: ticket collector Donald J. Wheeler of North Babylon. LIRR police joined with Suffolk County authorities to pinpoint the cause of the derailment. Verdict: Unknown youths deliberately reversed the switch which caused the train to leave the tracks at the Pilgrim State Hospital spur. 

Long Island METRO LINES page 7 Photos: Art Huneke Collection: Al Castelli

In addition, as a result, all of the distant signals between PW and Ronkonkoma (12 of them, I think) were converted to eliminate their “caution” aspects for “restricting” aspects. Jeff Erlitz

1970's  New Hyde Park - New Hyde Park Rd Crossing Collision

1970's  Massapequa Park - Park Blvd.  Crossing Collision

April 5, 1973  Chapel Ave., East Patchogue Grade Crossing Collision

Westbound LIRR passenger train and northbound auto at Chapel Ave.,  East Patchogue on Thursday April 5, 1973 at 7:30a.m.
The Long Island Advance - 4/12/1973   Archive: New York State Historic Newspapers Project, and Celia M. Hastings Local History Room, Patchogue-Medford Library.  Research: Gary Lutz, Librarian

July 13, 1973  New Hyde Park Grade Crossing Collision

February 15, 1974  Chapel Ave., East Patchogue Grade Crossing Collision

 March 7, 1975  Chapel Ave., East Patchogue Grade Crossing Collision

 August 18, 1976  GP38-2 at "AG" Amagansett derails

GP

                         Amagansett LIRR 1966 map

I was the third trick chief that night. A westbound from Montauk ran through the west switch at AG with the switch being in the reverse position. Why that was, I don't remember. This, of course, bent the switch points but had no effect on the westbound train. No 2 used to run from Jamaica to Montauk at 1:02 AM arriving at Montauk at 3:56 AM. Although we weren't supposed to know, the train oftentimes didn't stop at stations unless the crew signaled the engineer that there was actually a passenger that needed to detrain. When No 2 got to the west switch AG, it was moving much faster than it would have, if it had made the stop. When the train hit the bent points, that caused the derailment. I remember the wreck train we sent to assist derailed as well and an 80 ton wrecker going out by road wound up with a number of flat tires and was also delayed. Info: Train Dispatcher

May 26, 1977  Derail at Westhampton

August 15, 1977  SW1001 #100 at Yardmaster's Office, LI City

March 14, 1982 Herricks Rd., Mineola Grade Crossing Collision

August 24, 1984 LIRR Passenger Derailed at Babylon Station

November 24, 1987 Freight Derailed in Deer Park

August 26, 1988 LIRR Passenger Train Crash Huntington, NY

May 2, 1989  Wyandanch Grade Crossing Crash

January 6, 1990   Willis Ave., Mineola Grade Crossing Crash

May 11, 1992   Bellport Station

Wreck at Bellport Station  5/11/1992
Archive: Moshe Arzooan

March 10, 1993   Bellerose Freight Derailment 

Bellerose Freight Derailment Newsday 03/11/1993
"Nine of the 15 cars on the eastbound freight train derailed at about 11:45 a.m." said Michael Charles, a LIRR spokesman.

Bellerose Freight Derailment 3/10/1993  - Archive: Scott Niagara 

 
                      Bellerose Freight Derailment Newsday 03/12/1993

Bellerose Freight Derailment 3/11/1993 - Archive: Scott Niagara

December 16, 1995  Westbury - Covert Ave Grade Crossing Crash

"Death at the Crossroads"  Sunday NEWSDAY front page of Covert Ave., New Hyde Park suicide crash of 12/16/1995

All material courtesy of William Gilligan

September 15, 1996  North Lindenhurst Grade Crossing Crash

November 8, 1996  Derailment near the Great Neck Station

c. 1/1998  FL9 Morris Park Turntable 

April 9, 1998  Speonk Yard 

March 17, 1999  Glen Street Station - Truck Wreck at Elm St. Crossing 

Wreck at Elm Ave crossing near Glen St. Station involving LIRR FA #607 westbound and a lowboy truck. 3/17/1999 Archive: Gregory Nelson

I just took one look and jumped for my life. I hadn’t realized how big and powerful . . . it was.” DRIVER COLIN CAMPBELL

A truck driver miraculously escaped death yesterday when a Long Island Rail Road train rammed into his tractor-trailer on a grade crossing in Glen Cove, L.I. “I just took one look and jumped for my life,” said driver Colin Campbell, 52, of Merrick, L.I. “I hadn’t realized how big and powerful a train it was until I looked out and saw it coming.”

The train, on the Oyster Bay line, was heading into the city with 75 passengers aboard at 9:48 a.m. when the collision occurred at the Elm Avenue crossing, 200 feet east of the Glen Cove station. The crash came barely a day after a tragic Illinois crossing accident in which an Amtrak train plowed into a truck on the tracks and derailed, killing 11 and injuring scores of others.
NOTE:  This is the LIRR Glen Street Station located in Glen Cove, not the Glen Cove Station. 

Things turned out differently in Glen Cove. The train did not derail and nobody was seriously hurt. “He’s lucky to be alive,” a woman who answered the door at Campbell’s house in Merrick told The Post. The accident still caused a mess and disrupted service on the Oyster Bay line.

Campbell’s truck was carrying a huge backhoe that toppled over during the accident. Eyewitnesses said the truck appeared to have stalled or been stuck on the tracks when the crash occurred on the crossing, which is at the top of a hilly street. The train whistle blew loudly and the brakes screeched as Campbell and witnesses looked on helplessly.

Bob Basile had parked his truck near the crossing, but moved it just before the crash. “I heard someone yell, ‘There’s a truck stuck on the railroad tracks. Call the cops,'” said the 43-year-old construction worker. “It was a loud bang. I saw the machine flipping over. It was a lot of rumbling. It was very scary. I’m still shaking – after reading [about the Amtrak crash] this morning.

Basile said Campbell told him he was “stuck on the track” and “didn’t see no gates” at the crossing indicating a train was coming. But, LIRR spokesman Tom Kelly said the gate and flashing lights at the crossing were working before the crash occurred. Kelly said the LIRR is investigating whether the truck was overweight and required a permit to cross the tracks. He said there was no record that the owner, LaFata Construction Corp. of Massapequa, L.I., had requested one.

Campbell has at least one driving problem in his past. He was convicted of driving while impaired in 1984, said Glen Cove Mayor Tom Suozzi. But a LaFata executive defended Campbell.
“He’s an excellent driver,” said Dorothy LaFata. “He was moving an excavator from one site to another. He’s too good a driver to have stalled on the tracks.”

Campbell was treated and released at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. He was given medication for a sore back. 

The Glen Street incident appears to have resulted in lowboy crossing signs installed warning of this hazard. 
Oyster Bay, west of station c.2000  Photo/Archive: Steven Lynch: 

January 24, 2001  Greenlawn Passenger Train Derailment 

August 6, 2001  Greenlawn Passenger Train Derailment 

August 13, 2001  Syosset Passenger Train Derailment 

February 17, 2003  Port Washington Station Derailment 

March 11, 2004  LIRR #160 Runaway Bushwick Branch

On March 11, 2004, about 2:18p.m.. the crew of a LIRR train, assigned to reposition equipment in various locations, left a locomotive (LIRR #160) unattended with only its air brakes applied. The locomotive was left on a descending grade in the Fresh Pond yard of the New York & Atlantic Railway (NYAR) in Queens , NY . The locomotive rolled away and traveled through the yard and onto the Bushwick Branch of the NYAR, where it passed over seven passive grade crossings and struck numerous vehicles before coming to a stop. Four occupants of three struck vehicles were seriously injures. A fire occurred when the engine came to a stop, after its collision with the last two vehicles. The LIRR estimated equipment damages of $83,000, the NYAR estimated minimal damages.  National Transportation Safety Board 

March 11, 2004: A driverless, out-of-control LIRR locomotive roared through several crossings near the Queens-Brooklyn border yesterday, hitting five vehicles and injuring four people, two of them critically.

The engine plowed through the cars as they crossed the tracks at three spots along the little-used Bushwick branch, leaving behind a path of destruction and burning debris, officials said.

The engine traveled nearly 1 1/2 miles after it came loose from two other locomotives at around 2:10 p.m. and meandered down the freight line during an engine change at the Fresh Pond Yard behind Rentar Plaza Shopping Center in Middle Village , officials said.

Mayor Bloomberg said the cause is under investigation. "Either the brakes weren't set or they failed," he said. "We don't have an answer as to why." Bloomberg said the crew working at the yards will be interviewed by police and tested for alcohol and drugs as part of the investigation. "The thing we should remember here is that we were lucky," said Bloomberg, who toured the crash site with officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees the LIRR. "This could have been a much worse tragedy. Thank God it was not."

The runaway engine - traveling about 10 to 15 mph - hit a white car at an ungated crossing at 54th Street and Flushing Avenue in Maspeth at 2:11 p.m., leaving two men critically injured. They were taken to Elmhurst Hospital and listed last night in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

Demetrius Cuffie, 37, suffered several broken bones in his upper body and Jason Kusinitz, 33, suffered head and internal injuries and had to have his spleen removed. "We're all very nervous and concerned," said Kusinitz's brother Ian. "It doesn't make sense." Andrew Wigler, Kusinitz's lawyer, said the family "had no understanding" of how the accident could have occurred. "It would seem that there should have been multiple safeguards in place to prevent a happening of this sort."

Cuffie and Kusinitz are co-workers at a car-rental agency in Maspeth. Kusinitz's brother David is a cop assigned to the 109th Precinct in Queens . Witnesses said they saw the locomotive slam into the car, debris flying into the air as the engine rammed it.

"The car was like an accordion," said witness Lisa DaVino, 27. "It sounded like a bomb had gone off." Vincent Grauso, 21, who also saw the accident, said the locomotive hit the car with such force, it appeared to melt before his eyes. "It was pretty gory. The car was mangled from top to bottom," he said. "The men weren't moving at all. It was really awful."

The black and white locomotive then barreled into two other cars on Woodward Avenue at 2:14 p.m., injuring two others. Meir Mahlab, 72, a retired rabbi, and Sister Ave Clark, 59, a nun with the Amityville Dominican Order on Long Island were also taken to Elmhurst in stable condition. Mahlab's wife, Linda, said he was unable to tell her the details of the crash. "He just said, 'My spine, my spine,' " she said. "He's in a lot of pain, he could hardly talk."

Seconds after that impact, the locomotive hit two trucks owned by the New York and Atlantic Railway a few blocks away, over the Brooklyn border near Onderdonk Avenue . The impact sparked a minor fire near some tanks containing acetylene and oxygen, fire officials said. "I heard a big bang," said witness Xavier Zevallos, a warehouse manager who was working nearby. "All I could see was smoke and fire down the tracks."

One of the trucks was parked on the tracks because workers were doing repairs when the locomotive bore down on them, officials said. The engine came to a halt moments later, just a few blocks away at the end of the line when part of the truck got wedged under it, officials said. The Fire Department said no one was injured in that crash. Firefighters had the blaze under control at 3:08 p.m., officials said.

The locomotive was still running when FDNY Lt. William Pickett, who was at the scene to help those injured in the crash, jumped aboard. "The truck was still burning," he said. "That's when I climbed into the back of the train and into the engineer's compartment and applied the brake."

Residents of the area near the last crash said trains usually come through the crossing very slowly, its horn blowing, and often with a crew member standing outside. There are no gates, lights or bells at the crossing, but there are warning yellow signs.
Alex Ginsburg, Doug Montero and Clemente Lisi
Courtesy of: New York Post

By Nicholas Hirshon 
DAILY NEWS Writer  Wednesday, December 5th 2007, 4:00 AM 

WRECK 03/04/2004

Scattered wreckage was tossed after a LIRR locomotive smashed into cars and trucks in Ridgewood in March 2004.

Nearly four years after a runaway train incident injured four people, freight railroad tracks through Queens and Brooklyn are set to undergo a year-long series of safety changes. A new state report unveiled last week includes a policy requiring trains to stop and wait for crews to flag them through crossings along the seldom-used Long Island Rail Road branch where the out-of-control locomotive accident occurred in Ridgewood in March 2004. 

The order also calls for more X-shaped signage - known as crossbucks - as well as yield signs and pavement markings at crossings throughout the two boroughs. 

Skip Carrier, a state Transportation Department spokesman, said the long-awaited changes were the result of a "full, thorough hearing process." But locals affected by the 2004 accident wondered why officials didn't push for any crossing gates. 

"I'm afraid what they're doing there is just putting up new signs - and to me, signs at that area don't mean anything," said Sister Ave Clark, 63, who was hurt when the train hit her car at 15 mph. 

Because the crew failed to secure the unmanned freight train, the 120-ton locomotive chugged without warning along tracks leased by the LIRR to New York and Atlantic Railway. That was moments after the train crashed at 55th St. into a car carrying Jason Kusinitz, now 36, who was put in a medically induced coma and still undergoes mental and physical therapy. 

His older brother, Adam, panned the state hearings into the incident as a "dog and pony show." Residents at a July meeting asked for crossing gates, but transportation officials rejected the request. "I don't see how they can come up with any logical explanation to not have gate crossings," Adam Kusinitz said. "If something was manned or unmanned coming down the tracks, the gate would prevent another tragedy." 

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who supports more signage along the tracks, is still "not certain that's enough" to make them safe, her spokesman Dan Andrews said. The 20-page report also asks for the city and state to mull the installation of overhead LED lights at two crossings: Morgan and Metropolitan Aves. in Brooklyn and 56th St. and Flushing Ave. West in Queens. If officials agree to install LED lights, they must be operational within a year. If not, the overhead signs will include flashing red lights instead.

Long Island Rail Road track in Ridgewood to undergo safety changes

ALEX GINSBURG, DOUG MONTERO and CLEMENTE LISI
Courtesy of New York Post

March 11, 2004 -- A driverless, out-of-control LIRR locomotive roared through several crossings near the Queens-Brooklyn border yesterday, hitting five vehicles and injuring four people, two of them critically.

The engine plowed through the cars as they crossed the tracks at three spots along the little-used Bushwick branch, leaving behind a path of destruction and burning debris, officials said.

The engine traveled nearly 1 1/2 miles after it came loose from two other locomotives at around 2:10 p.m. and meandered down the freight line during an engine change at the Fresh Pond Yard behind Rentar Plaza Shopping Center in Middle Village , officials said.

Mayor Bloomberg said the cause is under investigation. "Either the brakes weren't set or they failed," he said. "We don't have an answer as to why." Bloomberg said the crew working at the yards will be interviewed by police and tested for alcohol and drugs as part of the investigation. "The thing we should remember here is that we were lucky," said Bloomberg, who toured the crash site with officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees the LIRR. "This could have been a much worse tragedy. Thank God it was not."

The runaway engine - traveling about 10 to 15 mph - hit a white car at an ungated crossing at 54th Street and Flushing Avenue in Maspeth at 2:11 p.m., leaving two men critically injured. They were taken to Elmhurst Hospital and listed last night in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

Demetrius Cuffie, 37, suffered several broken bones in his upper body and Jason Kusinitz, 33, suffered head and internal injuries and had to have his spleen removed. "We're all very nervous and concerned," said Kusinitz's brother Ian. "It doesn't make sense."

Andrew Wigler, Kusinitz's lawyer, said the family "had no understanding" of how the accident could have occurred. "It would seem that there should have been multiple safeguards in place to prevent a happening of this sort."

Cuffie and Kusinitz are co-workers at a car-rental agency in Maspeth. Kusinitz's brother David is a cop assigned to the 109th Precinct in Queens .

Witnesses said they saw the locomotive slam into the car, debris flying into the air as the engine rammed it. "The car was like an accordion," said witness Lisa DaVino, 27. "It sounded like a bomb had gone off."

Vincent Grauso, 21, who also saw the accident, said the locomotive hit the car with such force, it appeared to melt before his eyes. "It was pretty gory. The car was mangled from top to bottom," he said. "The men weren't moving at all. It was really awful."

The black and white locomotive then barreled into two other cars on Woodward Avenue at 2:14 p.m., injuring two others.

Meir Mahlab, 72, a retired rabbi, and Sister Ave Clark, 59, a nun with the Amityville Dominican Order on Long Island were also taken to Elmhurst in stable condition.

Mahlab's wife, Linda, said he was unable to tell her the details of the crash. "He just said, 'My spine, my spine,' " she said. "He's in a lot of pain, he could hardly talk."

Seconds after that impact, the locomotive hit two trucks owned by the New York and Atlantic Railway a few blocks away, over the Brooklyn border near Onderdonk Avenue .

The impact sparked a minor fire near some tanks containing acetylene and oxygen, fire officials said. "I heard a big bang," said witness Xavier Zevallos, a warehouse manager who was working nearby. "All I could see was smoke and fire down the tracks."

One of the trucks was parked on the tracks because workers were doing repairs when the locomotive bore down on them, officials said. The engine came to a halt moments later, just a few blocks away at the end of the line when part of the truck got wedged under it, officials said.

The Fire Department said no one was injured in that crash. Firefighters had the blaze under control at 3:08 p.m., officials said.   

May 2, 2009  Carleton Avenue, Central Islip - 1 dead.

February 14, 2009  Robbins Lane, Syosset. - 1 dead.

May 17, 2011  Deer Park - 1 dead. The May 17th, 2011 incident was at Executive Drive when a bakery truck driver tried to go around the gates. That hit was so hard, the train launched the truck 10 feet in the air. Executive Drive has to be the most hazardous on the Ronkonkoma Branch even when there is no train involved. Several 18-wheelers have gotten stuck on the barriers/tracks, the signals have almost been pulverized, train/vehicle collisions etc. Matthew Kobel

June 11, 2012  Near Route 111, Islip - 1 dead.

January 22, 2013  2nd Street in Brentwood - 2 dead

May 10, 2013   Near Brentwood - 1 dead.

March 10, 2014 A Metro-North Railroad electrician is fatally struck by a northbound train near milepost 3.2 at Control Point 3 interlocking in Manhattan. The electrician was one of three employees attempting to re-energize tracks that had been out of service for maintenance.

February 3, 2015  Six people are killed after a Metro-North commuter train strikes a sport utility vehicle in Valhalla that was stopped on the tracks.

The freight car damaged in the incident is property of the New York and Atlantic Railway and was carrying a full load of lumber when it derailed on a passing siding just west of 18th St. at MP34.5. The derailed car came to rest on its side and in a location that made it impossible to re-rail without first off-loading the lumber. LIRR workers cut away security fencing made of high-gauge steel, enabling NY&A to bring in the machinery needed to remove the lumber Monday night.

The LIRR then assisted NY&A in removing the damaged freight car, cutting it into pieces rather than trying to re-rail it, and discovered the full extent of the damage done to its communications infrastructure. The derailed car had knocked down a utility pole, sliced through wires and cables and crushed signal machinery. 

May 12, 2015   Eight passengers are killed and more than 200 others transported to area hospitals after a Northbound Amtrak train derails near Philadelphia, Pa

Two LIRR trains collided with each other east of Jamaica Friday night. Around 6:00p on Friday night, the lead car of an eastbound Huntington train collided with the leading locomotive of a westbound Montauk train in HALL interlocking just east of Jamaica.  Newsday articles: 7/18-19/2015

On Sept. 15, 2015, repair crews work on clearing a derailed freight car from the LIRR tracks in Westbury. Photo Credit: Howard Schnapp Archive: Newsday

HICKSVILLE (WABC) -- By Kristin Thorne Tuesday, September 15, 2015 8:20PM
Two cars out of a 16-car freight train derailed west of Hicksville on Tuesday, officials tell Eyewitness News. The freight train is operated by New York and Atlantic. No injuries were reported. It is unclear what caused the cars carrying construction materials to derail. One track was taken out of service. Emergency crews planned to bring in a crane to remove the train from the tracks, then inspect the 100 foot section of track that was damaged.

Normal Long Island Rail Road service has resumed westbound. Service was suspended due to a freight train derailment west of Hicksville. Even though service has resumed, LIRR customers were advised that some residual delays were possible. [West of Wantagh Pkwy overpass, MP23: Steven Lynch]

YA train configured with power at the west end, loaded construction debris cars at the head, followed by empty aggregate hoppers, followed by about 5 more loaded C/D cars. The last two cars were on the ground, with the first upright and still attached to the end of the train, and the last tipped northwards off it's trucks, with the trucks right in the vicinity of Divide 1-21 crossover. LIRR had an almost inconceivably high number of people on the ground. Very quick response. Dave Barraza

March 22, 2016: Elijahs Lane in Mattituck - 1 dead.

January 9, 2017  A motorist from Holtsville is killed when she swerves her car around a down crossing gate arm as a non-passenger Long Island Rail Road train approaches near Brentwood. - 1 dead

September 18, 2017  Deer Park Crash with Truck that drove around Crossing Gates

A 94-year-old man was killed when he drove around a road barrier and flashing lights into the path of a Long Island Rail Road train on Monday afternoon, sources say.

The LIRR train was coming from Penn Station and headed east toward Ronkonkoma when it crashed into the truck on the tracks at Deer Park at about 12:45 p.m, said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.

The crash caused the truck to go up in flames, said sources. The train was able to continue on its journey after a delay of about two hours. No one on the train was injured in the crash.

March, 3, 2018  Northport - 1 dead.

Westbury - View W 2/26/2019 Archive: Newsday

It appears to be significant damage to the east end of Platform A at Westbury. The derailed M7 cars were 7425-7426.

On board the train: 'Everything came to a stop'
Newsday's Craig Schneider tells what it was like to be on the LIRR train that crashed.

When the train hit the car, it snapped me back to reality. I had boarded the train at the Farmingdale station to go home to Manhattan. I wasn't paying much attention to anything. I took a seat in the third or fourth car back from the front of the train. I felt the impact. The train car started wobbling, then rocking.

It’s probably nothing serious, I thought. The impact felt like, maybe, the engineer had hit the brakes too hard. The flames flaring up outside changed my mind. A young woman sitting across from me screamed when she saw the fire only a few feet away from her window. The train veered to the right. I thought the train was going out of control, that we had derailed. I tucked my head down toward my knees, the way a flight attendant tells you to do in a plane crash. The train was still grinding its way along, slowing. It was dark outside, so I couldn’t see much. I was judging things pretty much by sense and sound.  Then everything came to a stop. Silence. It was me and maybe two or three dozen people in the train car. A mom with two little kids. Two 20-something women. A woman dressed like she was coming from work. Some folks had suitcases. Nobody said anything for what seemed like a long time. I looked at the guy across from me, who I found out later was the husband of the woman who screamed. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows as if to say, "What just happened?" After the train hit the car, it rammed into a concrete platform at the station. I didn’t even know where we were. All of a sudden, an LIRR guy came hurrying into our car. He had a cellphone in his hand. He was staring at it, as if waiting for a call or waiting for his call to go through. “Don’t go anywhere,” he told us as he rushed up the aisle. I looked out the door, that somehow somebody had opened, and saw chunks of concrete from the platform on a grassy embankment. I thought how hard it was going to be to get people down that steep embankment. The people in my car started huddling together, trying to figure out what happened and what to do next. I could see the fire trucks and ambulances pulling up to the street. They kept coming and coming. I called my wife to tell her what happened, and that I was OK.

Emergency workers came rushing through our car, asking over and over and again whether anyone was hurt. The mother was in her seat, holding her two kids in her arms. They started whimpering. The emergency workers propped up a ladder to the door of the train car. Somebody said something about getting the kids out first, and the mom nervously handed her two kids, one by one, to the emergency workers who eased them down the ladder. I was supposed to go next down the ladder, but I wanted to stay on the train so I could take photos and talk to people. I told the first responders that, and a cop had a few choice words for me: “I’m sick of your [expletive]. Get down the ladder.”

It must have been a half-dozen steps or so. When I finally stepped on the ground, it was nothing but red-and-white flashing lights and earsplitting sirens. It was, of course, freezing cold outside, the kind of cold that bites into your bones and doesn’t let go for a long time. I felt bad for all the passengers standing in the cold, waiting for some way to get home. The authorities crammed about 30 of us into an indoor taxi stand. I took an Uber all the way into the city. And when I came through the door, I hugged my wife.

The unofficial story is: the Cannonball and the eastbound were to perform a see-saw move at the Speonk passing siding.  The Cannonball was 14 units long, the siding holds 13. After its Speonk stop, the Eastbound was given a highball signal and moved out catching the trailing locomotive of the Cannonball.  Claims of new technology failures are being reported, (i.e. the new computerized signal system screwed up with the wrong aspect.)

The engineer of the Cannonball, not realizing his trailing unit was on the ground took HIS highball and dragged the sideways loco close to half a mile west, fouling the grade crossing before losing an air hose and going into emergency. Initial estimates of over one million dollars damage have been overheard! 

In the early hours of Saturday morning over Memorial Day Weekend in 2019, train 8700 (the 1:09a train from Jamaica to Montauk) carrying 32 passengers collided with a non-passenger equipment train 5785 (the equipment of the Cannonball train, returning empty from Montauk back to Jamaica), causing both trains to derail. No injuries were reported, but the incident destroyed hundreds of feet of track, caused significant damage to both trains, and resulted in significant service impacts for nearly 48 hours over the course of a busy holiday weekend.

Train 5785 was the return equipment of the Cannonball from the prior night, the railroad's longest scheduled passenger train at 14 units long (2 locomotives and 12 C-3 cars). It was waiting on the SK Freight Track siding just east of Speonk station for train 8700 to pass—but given that the siding is only 13 cars long, the rear locomotive fouled the siding's east switch. A report issued by the Federal Railroad Administration following the derailment pointed towards a loss of shunt on a track circuit as the primary cause of the incident. This falsely gave train 8700 a clear signal, and as it accelerated out of Speonk station, it collided with the east locomotive dangling off the end of the siding, causing portions of both trains to derail. 12/19/2023 08:30:00 PM by The LIRR Today

    
      Further details emerge via the NY Post 10/27/2019                    Speonk Accident NY Post 11/03/2019 Archive: Dave Morrison

Photo: Fully Involved Media Group LLC

Rocklyn Avenue, East Rockaway 8/19/2019 Photo:  Eat Rockaway Fire Department

Reported to be a broken rail as of 11/23/2019. Jamaica train derailment 11/23/2019 Source: Newsday

TC82 Geometry inspection car collision with rear of NY&A freight on 6/17/2021. Occurred on Track 1 westbound at Rogue's Path underpass, Cold Spring Harbor. Source: Newsday 7/03/2021

Rogues Path underpass, Cold Spring Harbor collision on Track 1 - View E 6/17/2021

Photo: nycsubwayfromabove.com