Modeling LIRR MOW Operations
By Nicholas Kalis

            Much has been written about creating a sense of place for your layout, but far fewer written words have appeared about how to achieve this goal. One concrete method of creating a sense of place is to model maintenance of way (MOW) cars on your layout. With the LIRR, this is particularly important as this railroad owned virtually no revenue producing cars in recent years. For LIRR modelers the tide has turned with three manufacturers -- F & F, J.J.B. Custom
Products, and Hobby Images-- advertising MOW cars for sale.

            The recent introduction of several decorated MOW car sets in HO-scale invites examining past and present LIRR MOW fleets. F & F Custom Trains of Babylon, New York, has produced three different sets in the Long Island 's 1960s paint scheme to include three gondolas, a crane set, and a caboose.[1] F & F's set, scheduled to be ready the second week in August 1994, was limited to 100 sets (three gondolas, boom and tender car). F & F has decorated Bachmann's Crane Car & Boom Tender (Item No. 46-1210-G4) as Crane number 172 and boom car number 59. The crane and boom car are painted dark grey with orange ends and black roofs. F& F has applied Dashing Dan logos with pedestal on both. Glazing for windows are neither installed nor provided in my sample. The crane car and boom car sold for $60.00/set.

          F&F's gondolas are decaled as W4, W66, and W17, which are correct numbers for the 1960s paint scheme applied. The gondolas, Model Die Casting's Roundhouse Products, came assembled, decaled, weathered, and painted in
grey/orange. Cast metal underframes on F&F's gondolas were unpainted and so must be painted by the modeler himself. F&F's weathering, mostly consisting of rust, was less than convincing to this reviewer. As these are hand-painted models, I would hope F&F's weathering will improve with future production. F&F's gondolas would suffice those seeking to quickly convey the LIRR spirit on their layout. F&F's painting of the gondolas would not be sufficient to satisfy one seeking a museum-quality display model. The caboose for F & F's MOW set will be available around Christmas 1994.

          J.J.B. Custom Products of 16 Kent Place, Amityville, NY 11701 also offers Gondolas in various LIRR paint schemes. Similarly, Hobby Images offers an outside braced wooden box car Tuscan # 4054 and Grey # 489589, a 54 foot gondola decorated as either number 112 or 120, and W88, a 10,000 gallon tank car, all decorated for LIRR MOW service. As no samples of any of these products have yet reached your author, I cannot comment on these models.

          As welcome news for HO-scale modelers, F&F Custom Trains is taking reservations for a possible run of LI MOW vehicles (rubber-tired variety) decorated in their 1960s paint scheme to be available around Christmas 1994.
As it appears only in their catalog, readers may be unaware that F&F offers a rotary snow blower decorated for Long Island Railroad service (Catalog Number FF099322, $45.00 plus $2.90 S & H).

          How equipment enters MOW service makes for an interesting story. There have been periods when certain types of equipment became surplus either by law or by the advent of more modern equipment. As streamline passenger
equipment appeared, surplus heavyweight cars were often turned into employee bunk cars. In the late 1940s, as diesels replaced steam locomotive, tenders were often salvaged to store water or fuel. It seems the LIRR owned at least one example of each of the AAR classifications of MOW equipment.

LIRR MOW Gondola #2751

LIRR Insulated Boxcar #3275

LIRR Milk Reefer #3000