I started this project many years ago by sending emails asking for info. Serendipitously I received a reply from Maura Feeney at the Montauk Library several years later saying she was archiving the 16 blueprints. I took a trip to NY, from SC, and photographed the them.

While there my brother, Mickey, I took measurements of the actual building. After waiting for 3D printing to become more affordable, I decided to start my amateur attempt. At first I copied the blueprints on my printer and started a mockup using them to cut plastic.  As I assembled the parts the sizes were not right and resized the copies to match the measurements made from the actual station.

The final build began by cutting sheet plastic to shapes for the walls and roofs cutting out the openings for windows and doors. Scrounging in my parts collection, I found window and doors that approximated what I saw in photos. I then cut plastruct clapboard cut earlier as patterns gluing them together. After gluing the windows and doors in place, I used Lego's to keep the corners square and added more for strength as I glued the walls together. The roofs where quite a challenge and I decided doing the dormers as they are in the picture and not as they were in the blueprints. Once I had the roofs on the main building I attached the canopies. The brick supports under the canopies were pieces from an old Kibri kit and sprues.  Info/Photos/Archive: Martin Quinn

Live steaming is a hobby which requires an investment in time, talent, and money.  After retirement I enrolled in adult education night classes and learned to weld.  Between my modest skills welding and my equally modest skills with a table saw, I began to construct additional cars; some to run, others to sell.  Thus far, I have constructed and either operate or have sold two LIRR N52 cabeese, two L&NE bobber cabooses, a B&M caboose, a New Haven caboose, two wood sheathed box cars, a Maine Central caboose, a 1905 Maine Central express box car, and a CNJ two-bay steel hopper.  For welding class, I decided to construct a Long Island ALCO C420 #206 and "ping-pong" riding car.  This is powered with used electric wheelchair motors and electronics. At the present, I am in the process of completing a Canadian National ALCO FA1.  When completed, it will weigh around 700 pounds.  If I build another car, it will be a mid-century tank car to use as an auxiliary tender for my Camelback.  Building and  selling cars is the only way I could support my hobby, but it is a way for a patient person to get started.  By following that principle, I have been able to put down about 1300' feet of track (40' radius) on the land behind our home in Maine.  It is shaped like a large loop with trestle, a short bridge, and an engine storage building. 

A Long Island N52 #43 a caboose which doubles as a track tool box.  The car became so popular and useful, I decided to try some others.  The second car I built was a red, white, and blue Bangor & Aroostook refrigerator car.  Jeremy Gay helped me scrounge steel for the car frame and by taking on some of the welding for a frame.  The resulting BAR reefer is insulated, has a stainless steel cage to hold block ice, and keeps our lunches cold for 48 hours at a clip!    Photos/Archive/Info: Richard Glueck

Karl Heidenreich's - Queens, New York City in N Scale
Click here for the article

Welcome to my Long Island Railroad in Z scale.  It is, to the best of my knowledge, the only model layout representing a portion of the LIRR in Z scale.  The theme for the layout is based on the Long Island City/Dutch Kills/Newtown Creek area of Long Island, NY in the 1960's.  It’s an industrial and residential district; having waterfront on the East River and connected with  Manhattan via the Queensboro Bridge. Manufacturers and distributors were numerous in the era and included such diverse goods as food products, machinery, furniture, and footwear.  The “harbor” area of my layout is based on the Dutch Kills/Newtown Creek area of Long Island City (“Kills” in Dutch, the first European inhabitants of LI, means "little stream," or “canal’), which incidentally is one of the most polluted waterways in the US. The backdrop buildings and spur area are based on the LIRR’s Yard A and the engine house and engine service area are based on the LIRR’s Morris Park Engine Shop complex.  Ninety percent of the manufacturers names on the buildings actually were serviced by the LIRR.  John Bartolotto

1. Dutch Kills
2. LIRR Tug “Meitowax“
3. Dutch Kills Bridge
4. Draw Bridge Cabin
5. Charles J. King Iron and Scrap Metal Company
6. Maxwell Lumber Company
7. Bliss Cabin
8. Bloch & Guggenheimer Pickle Company
9. National Container Corporation
10. Morris Park Shops
11. West Chemical Products
12. Abandon building being demolished
13. Morris Park Diner
14. Morris Park Engine Facilities and Water Tower
15. Adam Metal Supply
16. Building under construction
17. Staley Elevator
18. A&P Distribution Center
19. Sunshine Biscuit Factory
20. Dentyne / Chiclets Factory
21. National Casket Company
22. LIRR Electrical Substation #1
23. McCauley Potato Company
24. J. H. Rhodes Shipping Company
25. SIMS Metal Scrap Yard
26. Yard “A” Office
27. Texas Oil Company
28. Calvary Cemetery
29. Penny Bridge Station
30. Morris Park Blacksmith Shop
31. Varick Ave Yard Gantry Crane

Photo/Archive/Legend: John Bartolotto
                                                                                                                                                                                                        

An Interview with John Bartolotto, via email: Q&A on his Z scale LIRR LI City layout:

1.  Hi John, Your compact layout is to provide continuous run operationally with switching opportunities? 
 
John: Yes it is.  Some of the sidings are dummy sidings and don't have power, they're there just for looks.  The layout is based on John Cubbin's 2’x3’ Harbor Valley Shunting Layout plan.

2.  Switching opportunities appear to be available. Either via card ops or even a puzzle style. Had this been part of the design or envisioned for the future?

John: I guess you could use card ops for this layout or even consider it a puzzle style, but neither were my intent.

3.   I remember an article about scissor cutting a track plan in ½? This could lend itself to become a shelf design. What do you think?

John: Yes, I think it could be redesigned into a shelf layout.
4. The high number of signature (recognizable) locations/structures is very high! Nice.

John: Thank you.  When I build layouts, I like to have structures and scenery that is relevant to the era I am modeling.
5. It’s stunning in Z. Quite an inspiration for others.

John: Thanks!  This will probably be my one an only layout in Z.
  
6. What prompted the use of Z scale? 

John: I liked Z for its small size and the amount of scenery you can pack into a small layout.  Plus at the time I was in the Army (COL USA Retired) so I was moving every 2 to 3 years.  Z is a lot easier to pack up than the larger scales, so it was an ideal scale for my lifestyle at the time.
7. Why model this area of the LIRR?

John: I grew up on LI so I'm familiar with the LIRR.  The area I model is the Long Island City area of New York, on Long Island. It’s an industrial and residential district, it has a waterfront on the East River and is connected with Manhattan by the Queensboro Bridge.  When I was a boy I used to see this area all the time when I drove with my Dad to see my Grandparents in NYC.  So the layout reminds me of my boyhood and the good times I had spending drives into NYC with my Dad.
8. How did you settle on this track plan?

John: It was simple and small (2' x 3') so it fit my lifestyle at the time with all my moving plus it had the harbor area which I transformed in to the Dutch Kills area of LI City which I remember seeing when I was a boy.
9. What choices did you make in the location flats, industries, and actual modeled locations?

John: They were 75% calculated selections of industries that served the LIRR in the LI City area and 25% of them were from other areas around Queens and Brooklyn that I found interesting.
10. Actual materials, kits, engines/rolling stock in use?

John: The rolling stock is 75% stock with 25% kit bashed.  All the locos are custom made by my friend in Australia, Gerd Kurz.  Gerd is a fantastic artist and does super amazing things in Z scale.  
11. What changes would you make if you were to redo the layout? 

John: If I did the layout again, I'd do it in HO as there is so much more available material.  In HO the layout would probably already been done by now!
12. Modeling challenges you encountered?

John: Everything I did on this layout was pretty much a first time for me:  facia, ballasting, rolling stock kit bashing, etc.  Its all been very fun and enjoyable.
13. Additional photos and write-ups on the locations as mini-scenes? 

John: I probably could do that in the future.
14. Engines/Rolling stock considerations in modeling Z.

John: Although Z has grown you will be faced with challenges to find locos and rolling stock in a local area railroad like the LIRR; so you have to do a lot of custom work, scratch building, and kit bashing to get what you want.
15. Future plans?  John: I am thinking of a Germany style layout in N scale and one also in O gauge.

My HO scale layout is based on Long Island City, Queens in the 1980s and 1990s. I have always been fascinated by the area's industry, architecture, and the LIRR's operation in the area. I primarily run equipment in my favorite LIRR scheme, the blue and white of the 1980s. My Pullman coaches are custom painted and began as undercoated Walthers cars. I have an FL9, which wears a blue and silver Metro North scheme, but since it's MTA, it fits in with the rest of my LIRR fleet. I also have four Budd passenger cars, which I painted the undersides and truck black, as well as the addition of a blue band across the windows, reminiscent of the stripe the C3 bi-level cars have today.   Modeling/photos/map/info: Michael DiMartini

Normally, I run passenger trains between Hunterspoint Avenue Station and Long Island City. A usual consist will be a GP38-2 pulling three Pullman coaches with an F7 power car on the rear. In the evening, trains will depart LI City and enter the mainline at an interlocking switch just before Borden Avenue. I recently acquired the Budd coaches and observation car to be used for special trains, like the Cannonball. While passenger operations traditionally have been limited to the outer loop of the mainline, the newer Budd coaches can navigate the inner loop, which is 18" radius track. Freight operations are handled by the MP15AC and C-420. Boxcars are moved from Long Island City to the several industrial sidings on the layout. These units frequently handle maintenance of weigh operations as well. 

One of my favorite photos is of GP38-2 #276 pulling a train of Pullman "2900s" cars and an MP15AC on the siding, just beside Borden Tower. The brakeman on the steps of the MP15AC was a nice little detail I added, thanks to a package of MOW workers from Walthers. My other favorite photo is of the MP15AC pulling the 2900s coaches, reminiscent of a bygone era when LIRR used the MP15s for passenger operations (below left). Info: Michael DiMartini

LI City - View E

Alco FA1 - Walthers Trainline

ALCO C420 #226 - Atlas

The model is an exact replica of the LIRR Oyster Bay yard limits which begins as LIRR Mile Marker 33 and ends at the water's edge on the eastern edge of Oyster Bay. It is built to a scale of 1:87, which is HO scale, the most popular model railroading scale. This allowed us to build true to scale track mileage. The layout of the yard and buildings were made by Bob Emery, of the LIRR, earlier in the 20th Century from drawings archived at the SUNY-Stony Brook University Library.

LIRR - Port Jefferson Branch by Brian Sheron
Railmodel Journal 9/1997

The railroad is HO scale and occupies about 75% of my basement. It models three branches of the LIRR, namely the Port Jefferson Branch, the Atlantic Branch, and the City Terminal Zone. Click here

Depending on the engines, passenger cars, and cabooses that I put on the layout, the era will change. It can be 1964 when the New York World's Fair was being held in Flushing Meadow, New York, and the LIRR was in the Goodfellow livery of gray with an orange "swoop" on the sides of the engines, or the early 1950's when the LIRR was transitioning to the Tichy light gray paint scheme on the engines and passenger cars, or finally the late 1940's when steam ruled the rails and the passenger fleet was in Pennsylvania Tuscan red.

I started the layout in October of 1988, when we moved into our current house, and I only modeled the Port Jefferson branch between Greenlawn and Jamaica, Queens. In 2005 I expanded into an adjacent 12' x 12' room and modeled the City Terminal Zone. This consisted of modeling the high rise buildings in New York City, a double track overhead El subway line, and also the trackage that went under the East River into Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. I modeled Pennsylvania Station, including a cut-away of the underground shopping mall and the LIRR platforms.

In 2015, I expanded yet again into the back half of the finished side of our basement and modeled the Atlantic Branch, which ran to Brooklyn. I have modeled Flatbush Avenue as well as the Long Island City car float yard, car float bridges, and car floats. 
Brian Sheron

LIRR RS1 #466 switching the local peddler
 freight at Riverhead

Riverhead Yard - view NE

A cut of potato boxcar loads destined for NY City markets waiting for the for the next freight pick-up at: Suffolk Potato 

The view west at Fremont tower. The two main lines, eastbound and westbound, are at the center of the photo. Long Island is behind us. The two lines that curve off to the left go to yard A departures and arrivals tracks, departures onto the eastbound main and arrivals off the westbound main. The two tracks that go straight away from us under the flyover are the Passenger main lines that go to Jamaica station and Richmond Hill coach Yard. The switch in the right foreground off the westbound main is the entrance to the Brooklyn switching district. The New Haven engine coming down the ramp is coming off Hell Gate bridge on the New York connecting Railroad to deliver inbound cars to Yard A and pull outbounds back to Connecticut.

This photo is view west from the throat of yard A into the yard. The leftmost track is the lead for the car float at Long Island city. The three trains on the left are outbound departure freights:  to Montauk, Greenport, and Riverhead. The two trains on the right are Brooklyn freights which have to depart from the arrivals yard, crazy as that seems, In order to cross over to the westbound main and enter the Brooklyn district.  The yard master at yard a house the job of making up these freight trains from the collection of inbound cars that come on the car float and off the New Haven.  He is by far the busiest day on the railroad, and is often two guys at once.

This is looking back east at where the photographer was standing for the Yard A throat shot. Departures to the east end or on the right, and the two Brooklyn trains are on the left. And, the pesky guy from New Haven are still waiting for a signal to come in in

The Richmond Hill coach yard view west. Eastbound passenger trains have been made up in the distance as the GE LIRR #400 44 tonner prepares to switch a bar car into a passenger consist. Morris Park is to the left.  Jamaica station is to the photographers back left.

The local peddler has stopped to "Buy a Dozen" for the boys back at the shop.

 
The metro area freight works industries behind the Richmond Hill platform at 118th St.

LIRR S2 #451 freight local working the sidings near 
New York Envelope

Yard “A” switcher #416 puts away the four hacks from today’s westbound freights. 

American Chicle receiving track switching action.

Swingline Staplers with Ronzoni in the background. If you owned a stapler in the 1960s, it was manufactured in “Long Island City 1,New York“
 

Switching Aurora Plastics and Fred & Fred Lumber

Domino Sugar, Brooklyn plant, with a NH engine coming down the NYCRR with today’s interchange.

Manorville view E - REA building, later a freight house, which sat in the middle of the wye at Manorville, did not last into the 1960s, but if it had, it might have looked like this.  

In the foreground is the general store which did make it into the 1970s before being demolished.  

Adjacent is evidence of the second spur into the freight house area, in the form of ties which remained long after the rails were lifted after the abandoned spur to the south that previously served a produce house into the 1940's used to store potatoes, cauliflower, etc. until being loaded into freight cars and hauled off. 

The eastern leg of the wye is evident in the background.  All this was gone, of course, by the late 20th century.

L.I.P.E. (Long Island Potato Exchange)

The westbound local has just picked up an empty hopper from Corwin Fuel at Aquebogue, doubled to the hack and is ready to leave.

The local peddler, with hack #38 in tow, glides by Long Island potato exchange in Aquebogue. No pick-ups here today, as it’s not potato season yet!

Jamesport Photo: Brian Everett

Jamesport:  The attractive blonde waiting on the station bench will shortly meet her beau, who is arriving from the City momentarily.  His train of "Mainliner" P-54 coaches is pulled by a G5.  In the background are the potato sorting house of LI Potato Exchange and the Atlantic Fertilizers building.  The team track in the foreground has two freight cars waiting for pickup by the next westbound freight.  In a few short decades, everything in this scene except the main line, its bridge over the road to South Jamesport, and the roads will be gone.  Station, industries, team track, and the blonde have all disappeared.

Jamesport- View E 
Photo: Art  Single

Strong’s Marine Supply sign in Mattituck.

 LIRR G5s #28 brings a train of ping-pong cars under the aptly-named Bridge Lane overpass near Cutchogue.

A new 1959 Ford waits patiently as LIRR G5 #28 blocks the Depot Lane crossing, awaiting a highball after making the stop for the very few passengers who boarded or detrained there.  Demise of the Cutchogue stop is in the not-too-distant future.  In the background is the LI Cabbage Association sorting house.  The Mercury outboard motor billboard reminds us how close this scene is to the LI Sound.  As with so much of the railroad-related physical plant on the North Fork, everything in the photo is gone now, except the main line and the highway.

Cutchogue station Photo: Brian Everett

Fisherman and kids out in the rain; while railroaders warm in the loco cab at Greenport dock. The NYC Pacemaker boxcar had staples and LCL machinery destined for the ferry move to Shelter Island.

 
VW MOW track vehicle - Greenport

Hack #46 has been spotted on the Greenport dock to catch the pleasant overnight Breezes while  the crew rest up for tomorrow’s westbound freight.  With any luck, the Coast Guard Cutter will show up and the boys can throw 110 V extension cord over the side so they can use their hot plate, lamps, and radio in the hack.

Hashamamuck Pond, Southold  -  Route 25 
bridge View N Photo: Brian Everett

A duo of RS-2 #1520 and #1519 (ex-D&H units) pulls a long freight drag over the Hashamamuck Pond bridge eastbound towards Greenport.

Chatfield‘s Supply, Greenport

Manorville with Eastport branch still in place Photo: Brian Everett

"K4 Bridge"  over the Shinnecock Canal  View NW

A New Haven "State of Maine" boxcar awaits loading at the  Sag Harbor storage and processing facility.

RS-3 #1553 glides past the Sag Harbor movie house as it tends to
 its daily freight chores.
 

Banner reads: MEET THE Mets TODAY ... TRAVELIN' EASY FROM SHEA

Front of waybills, as delivering crew sees them.

After spotting cars at their consignee's facility, car cards are placed into a 3-pocket bin at each station (Pull, Hold, & Drop). The crew pulls the cars ( and returns them to Yard A) whose car cards are in the Pull pocket and works the waybills for those cars - either Remove (for loads which have been emptied) or Turn Over for empties that have been loaded). Then the Hold car cards are moved up into the Pull pocket, and the Drops up into the Hold pocket. Now that the Drop pocket is emptied, car cards for cars the crew drops in town this trip go into the Drop pocket. Thus, cars dropped this trip will be pulled three trips later after their car cards have advanced. Here are the same two car cards after the crew has worked the waybills when they retrieve the cars three trips later. The top section instructs the Yard A Yardmaster which float they go on. In this case, the load to PRR and the empty to CNJ. 

Back side, as the retrieving crew flips them. The blue card would be left on the shelf since the instruction was "Remove" after delivery. The Orange card would be flipped as the empty reefer becomes a load of spuds going to Cincinnati on the Pennsy. This tells the Yard A Yardmaster to get that car on a float going to the PRR. 

Art Single's  LIRR Railroad Industries

Jamaica/Richmond Hill

Railway Express
US Post Office
LIRR Car Shop
LIRR Roundhouse
LIRR Boiler House
Morris Park coal, sand, Diesel oil, ash pit

Brooklyn

Swingline
Ronzoni
Olympic Radio
Friendly Frost
Gimbel’s
American Chicle
Great A&P Tea Co.
Van Iderstine
Speed Queen
Ideal Toy
Sunshine Biscuit
Armour Packing
NY Envelope
Dietz Coal
LI Produce
Mason Mint
Brooklyn Tire
Team Track

Massapequa

Massapequa Fuel
Massapequa Feed & Garden
Fred & Fred Lumber
Aurora Plastics
Freight House
Team Track

Woodbury

Seaboard Swimming Pool
Team Track
 

Yaphank

Borden’s Dairy
Mineola Freezer
Camp Upton
Team Track

Manorville

NY Telephone Co
Railway Express Agency
Team Track
 

MAIN LINE:

Calverton

Golden Pickle
Prima Asphalt
GLF (Grange League Federation)
Republic Aircraft
Team Track

Riverhead

Suffolk Potato
LI Cauliflower Assoc.
LI Ice
Mason Mix
Commander Oil
Kohl Iron
Penny Lumber
United Grocers
Gyrodyne
Entenmann’s Bakery
Freight House
LIRR fuel track
Team Track
Team Ramp

Aquebogue

LI Potato
Corwin Fuel
 

Jamesport

Suffolk Potato
Atlantic Fertz
Team Track
 

Mattituck

GLF
Ocean Bay Seafood
Crown Oil & Chemical
Freight House
Team Track
 

Cutchogue

LI Cauliflower Assoc.
Suffolk Fuel (WAS Supreme Oil before I found out Supreme was salad oil!)
 

Greenport

Suffolk Potato
Mason Mix
Anchor Fuel
Freight House
Dock Track
Team Track
Team Ramp
Enginehouse
LIRR Fuel track

MONTAUK BRANCH

Bridgehampton

Wolf’s Head Oil
Nassau-Suffolk Lumber
Shinnecock Sand & Gravel
Eastport Feeds
General Refractories
Schecht Coal
Freight House
Team Track
Team Ramp

Sag Harbor

Sag Harbor Grain
G&R Packing
Jakobson Shipyards
Freight House
Team Track
Dock Track
 

Noyack Road

Peerless Oil

East Hampton

East Hampton Lumber
Atlantic Processing Co.
Velvetop
Sunrise Coal 
Team Track
 

Montauk

Argyle
Triplex Oil
Freight House
RR Museum of LI
Team Track 
LIRR Fuel Track
LIRR Warehouse  

A train of LIRR MP54s (Con-Cor), crossing the wooden trestle over Eastport Inlet 
from the mainland, are arriving at the fishing village of Eastport.  

Alco RS-1 freight drag entering Eastport - Model Railroader February 2016, page 82: Modeling/Photo: John Cisela

LIRR G5s 23 (with its original low side tender) is arriving in the town of Eastport with a short train of P54 coaches. The train is taking the lower route along the bulkhead of Eastport inlet, and will shortly be arriving at the station.  

LIRR  #1555 RS3 over Chatham Gorge with an eastbound commuter train.

 Call it a view from a bridge...."Mineola Blvd". Circa Late 1960's

An MP54 coming off the Oyster Bay Branch after turning at East Williston for it's return trip to Jamaica and Penn Station, an Eastbound diesel train headed to Hicksville on Track 1, crossing Main Street. A Baldwin switcher at the dwarf signal on the Garden City secondary, waiting for the trains to clear, so it can head back to Holban Yard. All on 36" x 16". John Ciesla

LIRR G5s #39, in two locations Hillside, and Midlandburg Station, on my freelance Midland Valley Rail Road.

I purchased the G5s in the early 1960's for $49.95 from the original Willis Hobbies on Hillside Ave., in Williston Park. Back then, Willis was owned by a German man named Carl. I do not remember his last name. 

This was my first purchase of a very expensive (for a Bus Driver's salary) brass locomotive. It was listed as a LIRR G5s, and ran great. I left it unpainted for several years. In the early 1980's, I modified the G5s by changing the lowside brass tender, to a Bowser highside tender. Shortly after, it was custom painted and lettered for me by my long time friend and MSBA colleague Louis Dirosso, who some of you know. No. 39 runs good and is still in excursion service on the MVRR.  Daniel Marra, Sr.

LIRR FM CPA 20-5 Series 2001-2008

Budd RDCs Proto Info