Morris Park Shops 1889
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View west of Dunton station, Morris Park engine terminal on 9/18/1911
prior to the Jamaica grade elimination project. Today, this is where the Atlantic Branch spreads from two to four tracks.
Archive/Info: Jeff Erlitz Note: Atlantic Ave. as the dirt road at far left.
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Morris Park Loco shop left - Steam
shop right view E 1977 Photo/archive: Art Huneke
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LIRR #400 GE 44 tonner Morris Park Shops 9/27/55

Morris Park Lunch Hour Concert - Saturday Evening Post
6/18/1960 Archive: Dave Morrison |

Morris Park Loco shop 1905

Morris Park Loco shop
9/1978
Photo/Archive: Art Huneke
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LIRR #2081
ex-EL Observation Car Morris Park Shop stall #10 view NE 7/07/1970
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LIRR G5s (4-6-0) #21 at Morris Park Shops
Coaling Tower 10/26/1935 Front pilot
stenciled: NL thus labeled for New
York, LIRR service as the
engines were built by the Pennsy for LIRR service. The
Pennsy at the time owned the LIRR and the LIRR, as with ALL the lines the
Pennsy owned, got their equipment stenciled accordingly along with every
other locomotive in the entire PRR system. Research/Archive: Dave Keller
Notice
the "NO SMOKE" sign on the left posted for the benefit of the hostlers
as heavy smoke under that structure would cause it to billow all over and choke everyone around.
There may have also been concern about the corrosive effects of constant
engine exhaust on the wooden coal structure.
Info: Ron Zinn
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Morris Park Shops - 1948

Emery map Morris Park - 89th Ave. to 130th St. 10/1958
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Morris Park Shops - May, 1946
Photo: Ewing Galloway Research: John Scala

Emery Map MP9 to Sutphin Blvd, Jamaica 4/1959
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LIRR
Glendale to Richmond Hill track profile map Collection: John Fusto

G5s entering roundhouse at Morris Park Summer c.1940
Archive: Dave Keller
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LIRR G53c #139 Morris Park Turntable 1929 |

Morris Park turntable, roundhouse and shops 1950 view NW
Photo: Bill Rugen Archive: Art Huneke |

Morris Park turntable view NE 1950
Photo/Archive: Art Huneke |
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ELECTRIC
LOCOMOTIVES CLASS A-1 |

Note 1: 320 & 322.2, built by Baldwin. Retired 320 (11/23/1959), 322.2
(8/27/1958)
Note 2: 322.1, was built by the carshops of the LIRR. The carbody was
sheathed with steel in March of 1927.
Information: Electric Locos page 68-69 Diesels of the Sunrise Trail
Author: John Scala |

LIRR #320 - #322.2 at Morris Park 6/26/1955
(Rugen-Huneke) |

On the transfer table at the Morris Park Shops in the 1950's. #320, the
small electric switcher, entered service at Morris Park Shops in 1927. In
addition, there were TWO units numbered #322, the first one was built in
1912 and was also retired in 1927. The 2nd one was built in 1927 and was
retired in December, 1958. Info: Dave Keller |

LIRR #320 1939
switching the
turntable/roundhouse
LIRR
A1 #320 Morris
Park Shops Transfer Table c.1955
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LIRR #320 Morris Park Shops Transfer Table

LIRR
A1 #320 Built by Baldwin Westinghouse 12/1926
Photo:
06/29/49
Archive: Jim Gillin
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MU T54A #898 on the Morris Park Shops transfer table. Electric Loco Class
A-1 providing motive power. c.1938 Archive: Queens Public Library |

LIRR #322 in Locomotive Shop 4/23/55
(William
V. Faxon, Jr. photo, Dave Keller archive)
More A-1 Electric here: |

LIRR #322
Morris Park yard
throat/entrance.
Note: The chain-link fence
at the right separating the yard access tracks from the Atlantic branch
tracks. Info: Dave Keller |
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G5s #21 "wash down" Morris Park 10/26/1935

G53sd
#144 (4-6-0) with wedge plow at
Morris Park shops c.1935 Archive: Dave
Keller
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LIRR #34 G5s "Richmond Hill Lead
Track" Morris Park Shops view SE "DUNTON" tower and section shed
on far left.
Sheffield Farms in background. 8/26/39 Info/Archive:
Dave Keller

Dinky on the transfer table View W at the driveway
Emery 1958 map spot #63 c.1976 Archive: Frank Fiore
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G5s #28 Morris Park turntable 2/1955
Photo: J.P. Krzenski Archive: Dave Keller |

GE 44 ton #400 Morris Park turntable 1957
(Ziel-Boland) |

Looking NE from the "new" (Fall, 1944)
coaling tower at Morris Park Shops in Jamaica we see C51sa #258 in the left
foreground and H10s #111 and a G5s in the right foreground. A DD1 and
several other engines are at the left of, and inside of, the roundhouse.
PRR-leased K4s #518 is being spun on the turntable and above the roundhouse
can be seen a bunch of passenger cars in the Richmond Hill storage yard.
The year is 1949 (Willie Rosenberg photo, Dave Keller archive) |

Morris Park turntable - View NE 11/1946
Photo: NY Daily News Archive: Ron Zinn |

Morris Park Shops 3/31/1940
Conveyor to
wooden coaling tower in background
Archive: Dave Keller |

LIRR #312 H-6sb View NE
c. 1946 Archive: Jim Gillin |

LIRR #257
C51sa Morris Park 01/16/1949
Photo: Bill Rugen Archive: Art Huneke |

Morris Park Yard c.1950s LIRR #400
Photo: Sy Reich, Collection: Ray Jensen |

LIRR #403
VO660 Morris Park steam smoke washers removed view NW Spring 1946 |

LIRR #141 G53sd 4-6-0 built 1917 by
Brooks Morris Park turntable 01/16/1949 Photo: Bill Rugen Archive: Art
Huneke |

LIRR
#309 H6sb Morris Park 2/24/1949
Photo: Bill Rugen Archive: Art Huneke |

LIRR #1 Morris Park Storage Yard View NE 5/15/1956 (Rugen-Huneke)
Note: North of the
Shops/Turntable at 89th Ave just east of 121 St. The building in the right background used to be
Keiner-Williams Stamping Co.;
maker of milk cans.
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LIRR
#111 H10s on Turntable Lead Track, oil tank cars
view SW 11/1954 (Rugen-Huneke)
See location map below.
Info: Dave Keller
Map: Steven Lynch |

New GE 25 ton switcher #399 and Baldwin battery and third
rail switcher #320 switching in Morris Park Yard in 1958. I believe #320's
batteries had
died and
#399 was
doing the
work. Photo/Archive: Art Huneke
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GE 25T #398 Morris Park 2/1976 Photo: Art Huneke
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Morris Park Diesel Repair Shop
Photo: Lamont Ward
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Note: Spring switches indicated by '.'
above.
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LIRR #399 Yard Goat working the
transfer table, prior MTA
scheme

Morris Park Manhole cover - Electric Railroaders Assoc.
sponsored tour of Morris Park and Hillside Facility 8/06/2011 |

Morris Park Yardmaster Office 1990's Photo/Archive: Steve Torborg |

Morris Park view NW 1990's Photo/Archive: Steve Torborg |

Morris Park view W 1990's Photo/Archive: Steve Torborg |

Coal Tower, Machine Shop view NW
c.1985 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas |

Morris Park Shops - View W c.1985 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas |

Atlantic Branch - DUNTON Tower View W c.1985 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas |

Blacksmith Shop, Power House Atlantic Branch to Flatbush Ave. (FBA) tunnel
portal
View W c.1985 12/26/2022
Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas |
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FUEL DOCK Turntable Lead - Spring Switches |
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Morris Park - West spring switch (SS) #1
4/2020 Photo/Archive: Jason Baxter |

Morris Park - West spring switch (SS) #1
View E - 4/2020 Photo/Archive: Jason Baxter |

Morris Park - West spring switch (SS) #1
View W - 4/2020 Photo/Archive: Jason Baxter |
Trains would arrive in Jamaica
Storage Yard "upstairs" and a crew would bring them to Morris Park
"downstairs" (see
Emery map Morris Park - 10/1958)
and they would be fueled, serviced
and spun on the turntable. This switch (SS) is at the west exit of the Fuel
Dock turntable lead (see maps below). The engine would come of the Table
'backwards' and trail through this switch which sprang back to its normal
position which let the engines into the ready tracks facing eastbound
(above) for their next run, fueled and ready. Info: Jason
Baxter |
The Patio

Morris Park north pits (the patio) tracks #11-#10 May 1969
Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas |
 |
|
"Put it on the Patio" Place the locomotive on one of
two tracks (nos. 10-11) off the turntable where the present Morris Park
roundhouse ends (c.1970) consisting of a large concrete slab and pits
between the rails where locomotives are washed. |
"LOAD BOX" Tracks
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Morris Park Shops "load box" tracks 1986 Photos/Archive:
Frank Fiore
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Morris Park Shops map View S c.1978 Archive: Frank Fiore
The tracks are called the "load box" tracks (also load test or
power test). These are immediately in front of a shack that housed the load box equipment (the resister banks and a powerful fan to cool the resistors. Locomotive generators are tested under load by the use of banks of resistor grids simulating the loads put on them without actually having to connect coaches.
Depending on the locomotive equipment needing load testing, there were an arrangement of heavy jumper cables to connect to the locos to get the job done.
Info: Frank Fiore
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Morris Park roundhouse/turntable View NE 1986 Photo/Archive: Frank Fiore
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Morris Park Shops "Load box"
Photo/Archive: Roger Edington
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Morris Park "load box" testing: Engine stacks on fire. Photo/Archive: Roger Edington
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Airborne chunks on fire. Photo/Archive: Roger Edington
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Red lights and the screaming cooling fan would let you know to stay away from
a operating load box. The stacks would load up with crankcase oil and when you load box the engine it would get hot and burn out all the accumulated oil in the stack. Sometimes the oil would ignite in the stack.
Chunks of hot oil ash would blow out the stack and get carried by the wind and start fires all over. There are stories of crews having to convert the P- units to locomotive when the GP-38 failed and since after a few days of running around as a P-unit they would get loaded up with oil in the stack. This would result in many fires along the ROW. I experienced this on a Huntington to
Port Jefferson trip. On the return trip we had slow orders all the way back to Huntington due to firemen putting out fires. Roger Edington
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BOLAND'S LANDING
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Named after Al Boland who worked at Morris Park during the steam era.
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Boland's Landing - Emery map zoom Archive: Dave Keller
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Boland's Landing - Aerial view N 2008
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Ever since Morris Park Shops opened in the late 19th
century, there has been an employee station stop at that location.
"Shops" station was a very large, wooden, shelter-shed, originally
located on the Montauk branch across from the Richmond Hill Storage Yard
when the Montauk branch was at grade and lasted until the branch was
elevated on an embankment (1911-12) . In later years, a small, metal
platform was installed on the Atlantic branch. Employees wishing to get off
the train here would have to advise the conductor in advance and stand in
the vestibule of the lead car. The conductor would notify the
motorman/engineer to make an employee station stop. Looking northwest in
August, 1975, we see that platform here at the far right on the westbound
side of the tracks. In the center is leased Precision National GP9 #1702.
This station stop for employees was enlarged in later years and, sometime in
the 1990s, named "Boland's Landing." (eBay image) Dave Keller
research.
|
|
Boland's Landing at Morris Park as an employee station stop. View east, with
DUNTON Tower in the distance (left), and view west with the employee pedestrian
walkover visible. June 6, 2011
|
|
I did utilize both of them from when I came on in 1996. Best guess, and it's only that, is yes, people at one point early on probably walked across the Atlantic Branch tracks to get to the other side and someone probably said...Whoops, that ain't safe and had a formal platform built for the two cars...also, a wooden overpass has been there (west of both platforms, going north to south from Morris Park) since I joined, again, in 3/13/96...I used it many times.
One difference is that you used to flag eastbound trains coming out of the tunnel with a flashlight and all Engineers, as a courtesy, used to stop...now there are designated trains that make scheduled stops, although if one isn't scheduled to stop, you can still flag it and if the Hogger is in a good mood, he or she will stop, but trust me, if they are not, they will fly by with no conscience (truth be known, they are not "supposed" to stop and if they do, and they are late into Jamaica, they have to answer for it).
Info: Bob Myers
These platforms did not exist back in the early-mid 1970s when I utilized them on occasion. Back then they were short, metal platforms as the image
above of PN #1702 indicates. The motorman/engineer had to spot the first set of double doors of the lead M1 at the small platform and the Conductor had to key the door open with his "dream" key and close it behind you. Sometimes I did it myself if the conductor was elsewhere on the train when we stopped, as I carried a key to be able to access the M1 cars with my bar cart.
The longer, 2-car, staggered wooden platforms were constructed some years later. I don't have a date but it wasn't as early as
1973-75 . . . that's for sure. Info: Dave Keller
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MORRIS PARK YARD - 2021 |
 |
Jamaica Storage Yard is numbered 1-17 South to North (no track 11). 1-8 are
used by Transportation. Tracks 9-17 are considered MofE (Maintenance of
Equipment) tracks.
Tracks 10-13 are for the locomotive shop. Tracks 14-17 are the Sheridan
Shops for C3 coaches.The Advance Yard is numbered 1,2,4,5,6 North to
South. Tracks 1-2 are for MofE (Maintenance of Equipment) department. Tracks
4-5 are shared between MofE and Transportation. They are referred to as the
"Transfer Tracks", 4 Transfer and 5 Transfer respectively. Track 6 is used
by transportation is and referred to as the "Wash Track".
South of the Advance Yard is the Receiving Yard numbered 1-8, South to
North. 2021 Google map |

Morris Park - View SW from the Sheridan Shops 12/2020 Photo/Archive: Mario
Craig
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Morris Park Wheel Truing - View E 2/25/2021 Photo: Jason Baxter |
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MORRIS PARK YARD - VIEW E |

Morris Park Yard view E toward DUNTON Tower 1950 Photo/Archive: Art Huneke
Those tracks alongside the embankment were the "newer" DD1 layup/storage tracks. They used to lay the units up along the Atlantic Ave. fence near the M of E building, power plant and blacksmith shop. They were also used to store the B3 electrics (electrics with overhead
catenary) when they were taken out of service about the same time period. I
would guess the B3s were towed there as there is no overhead juice in MP
Shops. Info: Dave Keller

Morris Park Yard view E toward DUNTON Tower 1956 Photo: William J. Rugen
Archive: Art Huneke
Morris Park 1956 view of the Morris Park Engine Terminal from the top of the old coaling tower in 1956. Just look at all of the varying paint schemes here! Note the three different "Tichy" paint schemes on the double-deckers sitting up on the Montauk Branch. Just to the left of the double-deckers is an MP70T in its as-delivered Tichy paint scheme of light gray body, off-white roof and round-ended blue window stripe.
Jeff Erlitz
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Dunton Station under Construction View E 1/14/1914 (LIRR-Keller)
Note: The semaphore blades have not yet been attached.

LIRR RS3 #1559 - MUs at DUNTON Tower signal bridge at Emery map location
#23 10/02/1970
This view is looking east at the site of the former
Dunton station. The tracks adjacent to the Atlantic branch were used
for storing passenger trains as seen in this image. In the distance at
the right was the location of Sheffield Farms. Part of the westbound
high-level platform concrete can still be seen directly under the diesel at
the left.
Info: Dave Keller
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|

DD1 #341, #348, in Tichy Scheme, at
Morris Park old shop sign (c. 1920) View NW at Morris Park 10/06/1951 (Faxon-Keller)
Remaining DD1 electrics laying up
alongside the depressed Atlantic Branch just before it hits the tunnel,
about where the M of E building is in the background.
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Engine
Inspector's Office Morris Park Shops zoom image 12/03/1957 Archive: Dave
Keller
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|
The "Car Inspector" was the supervisor of men who inspected the passenger cars, so the "Engine Inspector" was the supervisor of men who inspected the locomotives. This was
his office, not the office of machinists and electricians. Machinists were their own trade (and union) as were electricians and had their own supervisors (Head Machinist / Chief Electrician) and departmental buildings out of which they worked.
I would venture to guess that the Engine Inspector came under the supervision of the Road Foreman of Engines
(RFE) Emery map Structure #56, "Engine Foreman's Office" next to the Oil Storage building south of the turntable.
(Emery map Morris Park - 10/1958 above left)
Engine inspection dealt with checking logs kept by the engine crews of hours run and when scheduled maintenance was made, and probably involved more when they handled the leased Pennsy engines which were coming and going regularly between the PRR and the LIRR between 1900 and 1950. Also, physical inspections were made, as one can see by the proximity of #55 directly south of #53. #55 reads "inspection pits in track." There are indicated two "north pit" and two "south pit" tracks.
Also, #53's location adjacent to #52, the Engine Dispatcher's Office, was done on purpose to keep those locomotive functions in proximity to each other. The machinists were in the building indicated as #42, the large structure to the left of the turntable.
Info: Dave Keller
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Morris Park
View E 1954 Archive: Art Huneke
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Morris Park yard DUNTON view E 1954 Photo: Art Huneke
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Morris Park View E 1976
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Morris Park view E toward DUNTON Tower 1976

ALCO FA #614 Morris Park
View N 1980
Morris Park view N c.1985
Photo: Frank Fiore
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1.
Yardmaster's Office: Tower added 1945 to provide elevated
visibility for Richmond Hill Storage Yard
2.
Trainmen's Building: The building housed facilities for train crews awaiting
their runs originating from the adjacent storage yard. Men spent hours there
eating their lunch, playing cards, napping, reading, yakking with each other
and generally just killing time until they had to catch their trains. The
building had toilets, lockers, tables, benches and chairs. Info: Dave Keller
3. Car Washing
Machine Control House: New 1942 - Controls
and some storage for the 55 gallons drums of detergent. Info: Dick Maske
4. Dunton Tower: Formerly “MP” Tower. 1/20/1914. Renamed: 4/23/37
Info: Dave Keller
5.
Switchmen's Shanty: The LIRR position also referred to as "UB"
Utility Brakeman, AKA Switch tender.
6. Wheel Truing Machine Shop
7. Engine Inspectors Office: Mechanics
room for electricians, machinists and a supply room for special oils, repair
parts, etc.
|
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Morris Park Yard FA #602, #603 View E 1987 Photo/Archive:
Richard Jahn

Morris Park Yard view E toward DUNTON Tower 4/02/99 Photo/Archive: Mario Craig
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8.
Car Washer Building
9. Car Washer Sheds
10. Richmond Hill Receiving Yard: Advance Yard directly under #9 between car
washer sheds.
11. Sheffield Farms
12. Yard Office
13. Oil House: The roof on the oil house is
cut on an angle so that larger engines would clear it.
14. Tar Walkway: leads right to the steps of the Westbound Boland's landing
Platform.
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Morris Park yard aerial view E 2012
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Morris Park Yard 4/1977
Photo: Tad Darnell

Morris Park Yard c.1980+

Morris Park Yard
2008
Photos: Bob Anderson
Sunday
afternoon May 05, 2013 Shanty burned down
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G53 (4-6-0) #144
lays up at Morris Park Shops alongside the fence separating the shops from
the tracks of the Atlantic branch, visible in the foreground in this c. 1938
view. Behind the #144 is C51 (0-8-0) #251 and at the right is a
freshly-painted G5s and tender. To the left over the tracks is the
smoke washer bridge. In the center background is the water tower for the
shops and in the right background is the conveyor taking the coal to the old
wooden coaling facility. Dave Keller archive
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Photo shot from the sanding tower. There are “Dashing Dan” logos on the
locomotives, which were added in February, 1959, per the “Long Island
Railroader” magazine but the paint jobs look extremely weathered, so this
wouldn’t be 1959 or they’d look freshly out-shopped.
#56 on the Emery map of MP Shops -
Engine Foreman's
Office, photo center
#61 Oil House (roof
sliced for engine clearance).
The Fairbanks-Morse
units are still in service. They were pulled in 1964 and replaced by
the C420 units. Not a C420 in sight in this view so they probably
hadn’t yet arrived on the property; thus 1962-63.
Photo: LIRR
Archive: Jim Gillin Research: Dave Keller
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Signal S88 an automatic leading to the Secondary tracks at the Morris Park
Jamaica Receiving Yard. I'm standing next to Signal 16R signal at the east
lead of the yard and the overpass with Mainline 2/4 is directly over my
head. The track on the left is the ramp to the Lower Montauk. Photo/Archive:
Jason Baxter |

1958 Emery Map-Jamaica to MP9 zoom Jamaica East Receiving Yard location of
Signal S88 Archive: Dave Keller |
|
INSIDE THE MORRIS PARK SHOPS |

Alco RS1 #463 Photo: Steve Hoskins |

Morris Park
Shops - 1973 |

1973 Building
Guide |

Alco S-1 #407 Photo: Steve Hoskins

East of
the Coal Tower 1985
Photo: Steve Lynch
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LIRR #398
Morris Park 12/70
Archive: Bob Bender

LIRR #398
Morris Park Wheel Shop 4/24/71
Archive: Bob Bender
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GE 25 tonner #398 c. 1970's
Photo: Steve Hoskins

LIRR S1-2 Units #455-439
Morris Park Shops
01/19/76 Archive: Dave Keller
|
Photo: Steve Rothaug |
View E Photo: Steve Rothaug
View W Photo: Steve Hoskins 10/75
|

LIRR #208 #209 Morris Park Coal Tower
view NE 9/75 |
Morris Park Shops ERA Tour -
September 1980 |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops LIRR #264 out-shopped 9/20/1980 |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops #261, #227 in-shop 9/20/1980 |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops roundhouse 9/20/1980 |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops wheel-turning 9/20/1980

ERA tour Morris Park Shops traction motor rebuild 9/20/1980 |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops M1 truck repair 9/20/1980
Photos/Archive: Bill Mangahas |

ERA tour Morris Park Shops interior 9/20/1980 |
|
Morris Park Shops Tour - October
1987 |

B&O Wagon Top Boxcar
Photo: Steve Rothaug
10/31/1987

FA-1 in Roundhouse
Photo: Steve Rothaug
10/31/1987 |

Steam Plant front
Photo: Steve Rothaug
10/31/1987 |

Coal chute detail
Photo: Steve Rothaug
10/31/1987
|

Big Hook
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Loco Yard Office
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87
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Alco C420 #266 Photo: Steve Rothaug |

Yard Goat #397
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

LIRR #397 10/31/1987
Photo: Kevin Gulau

LIRR C420 #225 Morris Park 10/31/87
Photo: Kevin Gulau
|

LIRR #399 Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/31/1987

LIRR #399 10/31/1987 Repaint
Photo: Kevin Gulau

West toward Main Gate
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/31/1987
The building on the left is the blacksmith
shop and on the right is the
locomotive shop followed by the end of the
first transfer table. |

East from Main Gate, right of the tank is the steam plant.
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/31/1987

West towards Blacksmith Shop
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/31/1987

09/1930 tank car near Blacksmith Shop
Photo: Steve Rothaug
10/31/1987
|

Ancient boxcar
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Unused passenger equipment
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/31/1987 |

LIRR #262 GP 38-2 prime mover
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Detroit Diesel power pack
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Diesel traction motor Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

MP15-AC on turntable
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Roundhouse and turntable
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Turntable Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Passenger car shop yard lead
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Turntable lead tracks
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Inside loco shop
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87 |

Interior of loco shop
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87
|

Supporting Loco Shop Walls
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/1987

SW1001 in roundhouse
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/1987

Air Compressors for Switch Motors Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87
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Diesel wheel storage
Photo: Steve Rothaug 1019/87

FA unit being rebuilt
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/1987

Car repair yard Photo: Steve Rothaug |

Turntable Arch
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/1987 |

Morris Shops Roundhouse
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Parts storage
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Original manhole cover
Photo: Steve Rothaug
|

1890's Loco Yard Office Close-up
track visible westbound turntable lead
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Transfer Table
Photo: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Wheel Truing shop
Photos: Steve Rothaug 10/87

Interior Wheel Truing shop
The building is called the Wheel Truing shop...or as we called it, the
wheel truer. There were three wheel truing facilities on the railroad,
located at West Side Yard, Morris Park and Hillside. Historical note: we did
have a wheel GRINDING machine in the Round House which actually ground the
wheels with 3 ft carborundum grinding wheels. That machine was used up until
the mid 1970's, when it was replaced by the wheel truer. In the old wheel
shop there were 2 wheel lathes that were also used until the mid
1970's.
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Turntable drive mechanism
Photo: Steve Rothaug

Photo: Steve Rothaug
|

Photo: Steve Rothaug |

FA Truck Photo: Steve Rothaug |

Alco FA2 #609 Photo: Steve Rothaug |

GP38-2 #257 freshly painted
Photo: Steve Rothaug |

Photo: Steve Rothaug |

Alco FA1 #612 scrap
Photo: Steve Rothaug |
|

LIRR W84-85 Sandite Alcohol cars
View NE c.1980 |

View NE c.1978 Photo: Steve Rothaug
LIRR #160 MP15 view W 9/1980 |

MP15ac #157 Wheel storage tracks MP shops view SE c.1989
(Collins-Keller) |

Morris Park Shops - 2000 |

Morris
Park Shops c.2006
Composite: Tim Darnell |
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MORRIS PARK SHOPS
"DASHING DAN DINER"
|

LIRR Diner east of Blacksmith's Shop
Map location: #31 1980s+
Photo: Bob Anderson
|

LIRR #L397
at Diner 8/12/89
Photo: Al Castelli
Note: Morris Park Diner had Woodmere embossed into the
sheet metal side by the entrance.
Bernie’s Woodmere Diner" stood at 1122 Broadway, Woodmere, NY
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Morris Park "Dashing Dan" Diner demolished 10/22/96
Photo: Ken Rodgers
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The
following is courtesy of: Debra Herenlip, whose father owned the diner and
moved it to Morris Park:
“My
father, Phil Herenlip purchased the “Dashing Dan Diner” in
Woodmere(1)
in the 60's. He then moved it to Morris Park, owned, and ran it till he
passed away suddenly in November, 1969. Bobby, Whitey and Sam worked for him
there and my mother owned and continued to run it for another 10 years.
It
was "officially" known then as the Dashing Dan Diner. In our house
growing up, we referred to it as "The Place" (don't ask me why, as
I don't know)!
Given that my father was the original owner of the diner and he's the one
who had the idea to move it there, he owned it beginning somewhere in the
early 60's. About 3-4 years before he opened up the Diner, he owned and was
already running the "Coffee Shop" which was housed in the LIRR
Jamaica Station building (a mile or two away from the Morris Park) where all
the Executives and administration employees worked. This Coffee Shop also
only was opened Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch and catered to
the LIRR employees.
Although the diner was nothing to look at, I loved it. It was warm and cozy
and brought to life so much by the men who worked there and the men who
worked in the Yard. Everybody knew one another so it always felt like a
party when I was there. There were lots of shouting, cursing, laughing,
friendly arguing, camaraderie, etc. I remember the day the Diner was moved
to the Yard. We, my parents, brother and I, all drove to Woodmere
and watched them miraculously load the Diner onto the moving truck. We then
followed it in our car to the Yard where they placed it. It was a sunny day
and all went well.
Any time my mother and I would visit my father in the diner, as we'd walk
in, he'd yell out to everyone to "watch your language", because
his wife and daughter were here. Everybody would laugh and abide by it 'till
we left. Also, I remember the men who worked for him, named Whitey, Sam and
Bobby. My brother, Steven, also worked there for a short time with Niberto.
I know he got to work very early in the morning. I want to say the hours of
operation were somewhere around 5:00am to 3:30-4:00pm, Monday through
Friday. Never open on weekends or evenings. The menu was obviously only
Breakfast and Lunch, and nothing fancy with your standard breakfast foods
and sandwiches, coffee, coffee cakes, soup, etc. Prices were low.”
The
Morris Park Diner was originally from Woodmere, as that was embossed into the sheet metal side by the entrance.
It
was a convenient place to get something to hold you over if you forgot your
lunch. They made simple things good, in regards to getting sick from their
food, let’s just say I wouldn’t order Lobster Newburg. It made being at
work a little less uncomfortable. Aside from,
Jamaica
and Hillside
there was no" in house" place to get food. Some people often run
there own “Geedunk” and sold coffee/bagels. The railroad back then had a
friendlier atmosphere. I believe that most of the old timers have retired
and lost on newer employees is the idea that work doesn’t always have to
be unpleasant. This hopefully will change. Many people will tell you this is
just a job. This is true; however when you spend roughly half your life for
thirty years somewhere why not try to make it a better environment Keeping
it simple: Burgers, eggs, coffee, sandwich, etc. and all is well!
I
don't recall when the diner (Gedunk in Navy terms) closed, but it was very
roughly in the mid 90's. When it did close, it was offered to several M of E
employees who wanted to put in on their property Upstate. The railroad even
offered equipment to move it. Unfortunately the move never happened and the
thing was scrapped.
Note:
“Gedunk/geedunk” bar is the canteen or snack bar of a large
vessel of the United States Navy said to be a vocal imitation of the sound
made by an old gedunk vending machine.
As was said earlier, it was the Woodmere Diner. That name was embossed in
large letters in the enamel metal siding; "Woodmere" on one side of the door and "Diner" on the other. Of course
it was painted over with LIRR gray paint after arriving.
The food wasn't bad, though the hag who worked there was a chain smoker with
a hacking cough, and yes, the Railroad and the Park were wonderful places to
work back then.
Spent
a lot of shekels there on breakfast. After you made your order, Joe would
scream "Seaboard!". Order to go, I guess. He later was an employee
of the railroad at the fourth floor in-house food service (Ron Toms) in the
main building at
Jamaica.
"We
never heard it called Dashing Dan’s; more like “The Roach Coach”.
There was Joe, Jim and George. George got a railroad job after it closed as
a coach cleaner. Jim cooked, while, Joe took orders and served. There were a
couple of others, but they were the main workers. I ate there many times and
learned diner lingo there as follows:
A "Chinaman" was an egg on a roll "Whisky down" was rye
toast "Seaboard" was to go. I can still hear Joe barking: "3
CHINAMAN SEABOARD, 2 SUNNY HASH, WHISKY DOWN!!"
It was gruff, it was grimy and fast and when the steam whistle blew in the
shops at 7:30, 11:30, and 3:30 it was the hub of activity. The Pea soup with
ham and Navy bean and meat loaf were some of my favorites.
When they tore it down I took home two stool stands and 3 seats. I spent 9
months of my first 18 months in Morris Park hostling (1974-1975). Seeing
Morris Park slow to a backwater was watching the end of an era. It was quite
the place, a world unto itself and something to be missed.”
Info: John Ettorre LIRR 1974-2004
Note
1: "Bernie’s
Woodmere Diner" stood at 1122 Broadway. This is just west of the Trinity
Church on Broadway and was the site of a Friendly's restaurant and now a doctor’s
office (converted).
We found this in the 1967 reverse directory.”
Info:
Woodmere Research Library/Gary Farkash
“The
Dashing Dan Diner is definitely an O'Mahoney diner built by the Jerry
O'Mahoney Corporation of
Elizabeth
, NJ
as evidenced by the curved stainless steel trim pieces on the end and back
windows. This is a Monarch style that was built around the 1939/1940 NY
Worlds Fair.” Info: Gary Farkash
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LIRR Morris Park Manhole Cover 10/28/1989 Photo: Al
Castelli
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Photo: Al Castelli 10/28/1989
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LIRR #460 Alco S-2 c.1963+
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MORRIS PARK SHOPS
- DEMOLITION,
2008
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The
hi-lighted buildings in BLUE
are the only buildings still standing in Morris Park. Info: Mike DeFantis
The
Long Island Rail Road
Fellowship: Association
of Retired and
Former Long Island Rail Road
Employees
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1973 Building
Guide
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Morris Park 08/16/2008 Machine and Loco Shop Photo: Joe Tischner
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Morris Park Machine Shop View S Location 9 on 1973
map above 08/16/2008
Photo: Joe Tischner
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Ex-Loco Shop 10/09/08 turntable to left
Photo: Bob Anderson
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Note: Morris Park Demolition photos courtesy: Mike Scholz
09/11/2008
LIRR Electrician/Car Mover - Richmond Hill/Diesel Ops unless otherwise
credited
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JAMAICA
RECEIVING-ADVANCE YARDS - DUNTON TOWER-
SHEFFIELD
FARMS DAIRY AREA
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Morris Park yard Dunton view E 1954 Photo/archive: Art Huneke
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Receiving-Advance
yards under Construction View E. from 130th St. Morris Park Shops/Jamaica
08/16/1911 Archive: Art Huneke
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Train #RF-7 Jamaica Receiving Yard
9/22/1977, west of the station and east of Richmond Hill, view
NE towards Jamaica station. The embankment at the right is the
Montauk Branch with the Atlantic branch tracks visible to the far right of the embankment
with the signal bridge.
The elevated tracks at the left
are the Jamaica Advance Yard where they sit awaiting the go-ahead into Jamaica station to
pick up passengers.
The wash rack is just to the left of the MTA painted units with the long rooftop of the old mail handling
facility further back. Research: Dave Keller
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M1
at abandoned USPS mail platform, Advance Yard view W 09/02/78 Photo:
Madden Archive: Keller
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Location #5: Leased PRR K4s #5387 lays up at the east end of Morris Park Shops yard in the
Dunton/Jamaica area along with several other of her contemporaries. The view is looking east towards
"DUNTON" tower (renamed on 4/23/37) roof of which is just visible in the center background and Sheffield Farms, the huge milk plant located between the LIRR's Atlantic branch tracks and Atlantic Avenue. Archive: RMLI Info: Dave Keller
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"MP" Tower renamed "Dunton"
04/23/37
1925 Photo: James V. Osborne Archive/Info: Dave Keller

LIRR G5s #26 Dunton Tower c.1938
Archive: Dave Keller
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Morris Park east to Dunton Tower - View North 2008, lower
right corner former location of Sheffield Farms Dairy
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The Sheffield Farms cars are a publicity photo of cars
built for
Sheffield
by General American Refrigerator Car Company in 1928 Source: Carstens
Publications
DD1 #352 Sheffield Farms Milk Cars Receiving Yd Jamaica
c.1937 Archive: Dave Keller
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Location #1: Looking east from Morris Park Shops, Aug. 26, 1939.
"Dunton" tower at far left.
Signal bridge beyond is at Dunton station (square, brick waiting room visible at west
end of high level platforms). Plant and stack in background is Sheffield Farms.
Archive: Dave Keller
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Location #2: Dunton Tower east of Morris Park Shops c.1938 The building
west of DUNTON tower is a Track Department section shed for Sub 1 (
Engineering Subsection 1). It contained repair materials, track tools, a
stove and lunch table. Emery 1958 map of MPS. Archive: Dave Keller
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Location #3: LIRR G5s #30 and her crew
in the Receiving Yard, with Sheffield Farms in the right background along
the Atlantic branch. Embankment carries the Montauk branch tracks.
View SE. Archive: Dave Keller
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Location #4: Morris Park Turntable area 2008
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#5 Dunton Tower
Sheffield
Farms Plant view E
Archive: John Dziobko
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RS3 #1551 pulling P74A #7502 and Montauk train eastbound along the
Montauk branch embankment near "DUNTON" tower - Jamaica, NY - 4/21/62
(Will Faxon photo, Dave Keller archive)
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DUNTON Tower view NW 1967 Photo/Archive: Dave Keller
Note: The handrails and guardrails for stairway to 130th
Ave. on east side of DUNTON tower.
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Location #6: LIRR #1758 MP54 Richmond Hill Storage Yard. Probably late
1920's or early 1930's from the Richmond Hill Storage yard looking southeast
towards the Montauk branch embankment and the Sheffield Farms Dairy
plant along Atlantic Avenue and Roof of “MP” tower (later “DUNTON”)
at right background. Research: Dave Keller
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View NW at Dunton Tower
12/25/2008 Photo: Bob Anderson
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Dunton Tower View E of Morris Park Shops 03/08/1943 Photo: Fred
Weber Archive: Ron Zinn
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West Side Freight: Milk Plants
Sheffield Farms opened a plant adjoining its
company's headquarters at 524 W. 57th St. in 1938. Here is a quote from the
article on the new plant in the June 22, 1938 The American Produce Review.
"The new plant, adjoining the company's headquarters at 524 West 57th
St., spans the tracks of the New York Central which run below street level
from the 60th St. yards to 35th St. between Tenth and Eleventh Aves. The
tracks were laid in a cut a year ago, removing the railroad from Eleventh
Ave."
"Relocation of the railroad enabled the company to build on this site
and obtain the long sought rail terminal within the plant. First, however,
the dairy and the railroad made an unusual real estate deal by which the
railroad maintains a right of way through the plant and the dairy owns the
air rights above the tracks."
"The new plant is the only milk plant in Manhattan and the second in
New York City to have a railroad siding on plant property. The other plant,
also built by Sheffield Farms, is in Jamaica. It was opened a year ago. The
rail head in the plant saves the time and expense involved in hauling milk
from railroad yards in tank trucks."
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A point of view: The Truth behind the many Shops
that are now demolished in Morris Park, Richmond Hill, New York
by Mike
DeFantis
Retired L.I.R.R. MOE Gang Foreman 1971 to 1999
From growing up across the street near Atlantic Avenue and playing on the
baseball field for the Richmond Hill Saxons "B" team at Smokey Park as a
youth to running the night shift at the Engine House in Morris Park as an
adult, I've seen it all firsthand so it seems looking back. Living on 95th
Ave. and 127th
street in Richmond Hill in 1955 then moving up a few blocks to 101st ave in
later years, I first saw a glimpse at the age of nine the Long Island Rail
yards across Atlantic Ave when seen from the parks handball courts. One
would find out very quickly when trying to theorize the reason the park was
nicknamed Smokey Park. On June 27th
2008 the park has been renamed to The Phil Rizzuto Park, after the New York
Yankee Hall of Famer. Rizzuto also attended Richmond Hill High school while
still in his youth just like my older brother did, the only exception is
Rizzuto graduated.
The old neighborhood has
changed on my last visit cruising the old neighborhood, just like most of
the neighborhoods in New York City that have all changed the ethnicity to
something different then we were part of the fabric of our own community.
Predominately Indian now, the local stores reflect the culture change. From
the time that this park opened in 1938, it has been known locally as Smokey
Oval Park. In 1987, The NYC Parks Department officially named it Smokey
Oval. The name refers to the park’s location, across from a Long Island
Railroad terminus which once made it a landing area of soot and ash from the
railway smoke. It is also inspired by the oval-shaped mound at the front of
the park. Before the park was constructed, 126th Street and 94th Avenue ran
through the parkland in the typical grid pattern. These roadways were closed
off to provide for a large open recreational area. In 1944, a strip of the
playground’s land, approximately 40 feet long, was deducted from the
original acreage by local law to allow for the widening of Atlantic Avenue.
The Shops in Morris Park: I
feel today in thinking why nothing has been done yet to my knowledge is that
just because "they" demolished the shops and they built new ones located
east of Jamaica Station at the former Gertz Warehouse location near Holban
Yards that this would hopefully all go away as far as what’s in the soil,
and who remembers how it got there.
However the history that is
still fresh in my thoughts some fifteen years in my own retirement as my
railroading begins as I started in March of 1971 as it surely feels like it
was only yesterday when I saw firsthand what I will now state. I have no
reason to make up anything in this story, especially those who have passed
on since we first crossed paths as our employment caused our paths to cross
in our individual own railroad carriers.
Those like me who remember what
we saw and it’s all factual, realize that in many cases the health issues
that followed factually had to have killed employees in years following
employment. The slow deaths had reasons as to why the various diseases hit,
but no one ever looked into this to my knowledge in investigating the
history of working in what many believe today were in fact unhealthy shops.
They were because in today's standards they would be defined as being
extremely hazardous. The other point would be why overspend by a few hundred
millions dollars in building new Maintenance and overhaul Complex, then
after the grand opening in July of 1991 they demolished those that were
vacated?
Could it be that the Federal
Government and the State Government pressured the MTA\LIRR officials, you
better start thinking about providing a better healthier work environment
for your employees, or else?.
In my opinion if the LIRR was
in any other business other than providing transportation for over 250,000
commuters daily, they would have been shut down in a heartbeat, no question
in my mind. So the work around was to get funding and build new shops, it
took a few years but they did it. The demolishing of most of the Morris
Parks buildings and the Dunton Shop were bulldozed, but they forget what is
still in the soil.
There is a small story behind
who went ahead in having the many buildings demolished without the higher
ups approving the demolishing projects, and he was set free in his
employment once they investigated. You cannot resurrect the buildings but
the foundations are fresh in many retiree’s minds in who worked in those
buildings for most of their thirty or more years of employment. Photos will
resurrect anyone's thoughts in what those buildings housed especially if you
worked in them like myself and the thousands of others that did.
Asbestos was a huge problem in
our daily work even though the product was no longer being used heading into
the 1980's. We actually used work gloves that were made of Asbestos, and
used them for years when handling hot metal parts. I had once years ago kept
a list of people who had passed on since I started keeping records for a web
site that I once ran and recall those former coworkers that I remembered as
far back as 1971. Sadly that data is all gone when the system failed that
kept those records. As I progressed in keeping the list and the years slowly
passed it was unbelievable in how big the list I was looking at was getting.
I knew most of those who were on it, it was astounding.
Back in those days just
about everyone smoked, and if lung cancer hit and when seeking monetary
recourse in suing the L.I.R.R., the first question would be on the other
side of the table; ”have you ever smoked?, and what about you Mom and Dad?
Oh here is one, how about Grandma when she was giving you a bath?” it was a
joke in trying to dissuade the accuser that are you sure you didn't get this
dreadful disease elsewhere?
All they had to do was to put a
doubt in the plaintiffs head, and the cases were settled enough to take your
bride on a small cruise around the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Some might have gotten a few dollars more in the settlements as they headed
to Wally World in Orlando for that dream vacation.
To my knowledge no one ever won
a major multi-million dollar suit against the L.I.R.R. for lung cancer or
any other health issues that could be directed as the cause as the result of
you working in an unhealthy work environment. And if they did they surely
kept it quite. I recall that a couple of Machinist sued, it was in the
newspapers, I knew one of them and they were awarded a few million each, and
after the railroad appealed, they got enough for a cup of coffee and that
was it. It was years of litigation, and “they” out waited the accusers. That
signals to the next accusers that were lining up; “Don’t try it fella!
Here’s the proof!”
However many settled for ten
thousand to twenty thousand that it would have cost in legal fees just for
the L.I.R.R. to defend the cases. Most all took what was offered and the
attorneys representing also pressured you too and took their cut first more
like a third of the settlement. All who eventually stood their ground and
fought for the pennies offered had to sign confidential agreements and
couldn't talk about it after reaching these agreements. Most of those must
be all dead now, but I do recall those who spoke about their individual
cases one on one, and there were plenty.
I knew of a many former
coworkers who died from pancreatic cancers, lung cancers and skin cancers.
The shops I worked in were heavily contaminated from just about every form
of product from cleaning fluids to toxic chemicals that are banned in
today’s working industrial world. The air we breathed was also filled with
airborne impurities. To prove my point simply blow your nose after leaving
the property and see visually what your handkerchief is holding, and compare
it today many years after you retired, a big difference I would say.
The ceiling and floors in all
the shops had dust particles which were filled with asbestos when the former
rolling stock in years prior were being worked on. Even though Asbestos was
phased out, it lined our radiators and shop heating pipes in the winter, and
lay dormant on crane overpasses and running rails throughout all the shops.
The open air swirling when the doors were opened in the extreme summer
conditions moved the particles in every way imaginable, falling on your
lunch and drink as you digested your food as the percentages had to be great
that this was happening all the time. With reference to The Electric Car
Shop and the Car Shops etc., we had no lunchroom. The Diesel Shop did have
one behind the Round House nicked named the Welfare Building. The back wall
of the lunchroom had eight foot high skids of batteries stacked.
From earlier years when
asbestos lined and were used extensively in the wiring and insulations of
the running rail stock those particles were still in those shops long after
they were put into the scrap yards. What about the brake shoes used in the
early years? The shops were never abated, they were painted once that I
recall, and I feel sorry now for what the hired painters inhaled. So they
were simply demolished a few years after the 1991 move to Hillside. On just
about every work day in the course of my own responsibilities in cleaning
the shop was to have the laborers empty all the garbage containers in the
shop and the locker room balcony and broom sweep the floors. Can you imagine
this fact that our locker room was open aired above the shop floor of the
Armature Room and your street clothes were dangling on a hook or hangar in
your vented locker? You don’t think that any of those particles found their
way home? One would visually see afterwards the shops was much cleaner than
when we found it at the beginning of the shift, and a big difference one
would see when we locked up and went home at 11:30pm. I did this for
seventeen years before the shops closed in July of 1991. But what we failed
to realize then is that the broom sweeping the shop floors raised more
airborne particles that we didn't realize we were contaminating the very air
we were all breathing and the food we were eating a lunchtime. Was that
stupid or what?
One would also wonder in those
many residents individual homes that lived along 121st
street off Atlantic Ave with back yards backed up to the Rail yards and
shops in Morris Park. In how those residents survived and how they fared
health wise overall. It had to effect those equally in causing health issues
that otherwise if they didn't live near the shop atmosphere that we all
lived in for our eight hours tour. Another unhealthy fact, the second floor
Battery shop had a ventilation fans running 24/7/365. The exhaust fans were
evacuating the battery gases from the batteries being charged. The gases
were directed and vented to the backyards of the NYC Fire department
building near the main gate entrance and to the yards and those houses which
backed up to the shop building, less than twenty feet away. The fireman at
various times barbequed on the grills in the back of the firehouse, what
were they ingesting, simply mind numbing just in thought but that’s a fact.
The Morris Park Diesels Shop
lay-up tracks along Atlantic Avenue that has been used for over a hundred
years as every type of locomotive engines from coal fired to electric to
diesel sit idle in some cases 24/7 until they are assigned job assignments
were tested around 1995 or 1996, I seen it firsthand working the Engine
House Desk.
The L.I.R.R. hired an outside
company to test the soil in the yard. I believe the EPA mandated it, if it
was on the local or federal level I do not know. They bore down in multiple
locations places in the yard to get core samples, they did this mostly at
night as to not upset the day workers in asking "what
was going on". The
rigs looked like equipment towers used for drilling for a water wells, they
were tall as I recall.
The Morris Park Yard the
findings came back when they completed these test and it was so bad that the
area should be designated as a Super Fund site and that federal funds were
most likely needed to fix this mess. The contaminates which have accumulated
for over a hundred years which included coal ash, oil and diesel by products
including fuel, glycol and various leaks on from every type of equipment you
can imagine had filtered into the soil so deep it was leaching into the
water table below the yard. The fix and the cost estimates then were to
erect towers and bulldoze the soil into the towers and the soil would be
burnt in high heat chambers thus burning off contaminates in the soil and
then the soil would then be reintroduced back into the yard relatively safe.
Well that was the plan......
The cost estimates then
as I recall was roughly forty million, however that would only cover the top
ten feet or so of top soil, so do the math in today's world monetarily and
at what depth you had to dig to rectify the contamination you would have to
recalculate these initial estimates. The core samples report came back as
being contaminated down to nearly forty feet in some areas of the yard. To
my knowledge nothing was ever done to this date to rectify the soil and
contaminates in the yard. The other areas of interests is where once the
shops once stood are most likely are sitting at equal or worse levels of
soil contamination.
For the years I worked in
Morris Park starting in 1971 I had witnessed some amazing cases of simply
dumping fluids and liquids into the soil that lined the transfer tables in
the Car Shop and Electric Car. From flushing acid tanks weekly on the third
floor Airbrake Shop with a drain pipe running down the exterior of the
building walls directly into the soil in the transfer pit to dumping Air
Condition refrigerants directly into the pits in evacuating A\C units being
worked on. In later years they recovered the refrigerant but not in the
early 70's as the procedures were changed in later years. How about openly
spray painting coach cars interior and exterior to locomotives in open aired
environments. The painter wore his protection a simple particle mask, that
could be used as a mister coffee filter, and it was and they were, but what
about everyone else? Boy was this stupid.
The Fuel lines that ran from
Upper Richmond Hill yard down into Morris Park and the Fuel Dock had leaks.
The buried holding tank in itself up in Richmond Hill probably and must have
been installed in the early 20's was also leaking. After the New Richmond
Hill shop was built they removed and replaced the leaky system. The old Oil
House in Morris Park near the turn table was leveled and the oil tank
platform was used to house the new Fuel Tanks and the delivery system. Need
we forget the ground soil in all of the above items could be and should be
considered contaminated?
The Blast House
that once stood and was near and part of the Paint Shop when they stopped
sandblasting the Cars, they migrated the procedures into spraying Naval Gel
type acid to remove layers of paint off the Coach Car body's and Diesel
Locomotives bringing them down to the appearance of shiny raw metal. Once
the acid completed its job, it bubbled the paint, they simply water hosed
off the acid and it ran directly into the soil off the transfer pits. In
later years they installed containment containers, and once filled a phone
call was made and a truck would come in and pump out the filled tanks. It
was odd seeing it because we had to back the Tractor Trailer Semi onto the
transfer table and move it down and line him up near the Paint Shop. Prior
to this the damage had to have been done.
Regardless the damage has been
done and who knows if one day they will address this ecological mess. I'll
take it one step further it was and it still is an ecological disaster just
sitting idle, god only know what impact it has already taken because it
actually did happen those many years ago. At any case it will take millions
and possibly billions of dollars to rectify what took many years of work to
accomplish starting in 1889. How stupid were we across the board and at
every level of management, and you could only imagine who will they place
the blame on? It could be defined in how much it will cost to fix.....long
after what was initially done.
What Newspapers and other
media reporting the story fail to realize when they go after people who
apply for disability with regards to the so called L.I.R.R. Pension Scams
which broke in 2008 by the New York Times is that many that were lumped
unfairly into the overall scam had factually had health issues, the ones
that are in jail today obviously were too stupid to get caught. I have no
respect for those idiots who basically bragged about what they were getting
and flaunted it openly. The doctors that signed off knew exactly what they
were doing for the almighty dollar.
As the years progressed all of
those who were rejected by the Rail Road Retirement Board in Chicago
re-applied for Disability, and all those since who have retired since the
story broke in 2008, a good percentage, more like 99.9% of those who applied
or reapplied received a disability annuity from the Chicago railroad board.
So it took hundreds of man hours and millions of dollars to prosecute, it ruined many people’s lives unjustly who were lumped
into this witch hunt, and it proved what? Less we forget those that survived
working in the unhealthiest working environments and those that fill grave
yards way too early, it’s sad, really sad.
The five or so that are serving
time in prison are simply the scape goats you would think as the story is
all but dead now, as the Federal Attorney made a name for himself....and
ironically one only has to look at the current Social Security Disability
that this country is facing. Its hundreds of billions upon billions of
waste, and yet no one is going after those people with equal justices...
It’s a crime in all of the above issues, no one will ever be held
accountable for allowing it to happen most of those in this story are no
longer walking god’s green earth. So I guess I'm lucky so far in that I can
still walk on it but remember those who aren't. They were fabulous people
that I will never forget, I miss every one of them today as I write this
short story.
What I believe in how I
survived so far as far as my own health issues, is I was always in and out
of the Shops. I walked outside quite often in the course of an eight hour
tour in every type of weather condition and maybe just maybe the fresh air
helped save me in my way of thinking.
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