LIRR C LIners

From Trains Magazine.

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My dear friend, the late Ed Schleyer called them "cabin cruisers". He told me he'd take a C-Liner any day over an ALCO C-420. He also liked the H16-44's , as they'd pull anything.

The LIRR put numbers on them that looked like US warship numbers. Maybe the LIRR got FMs because the opposed piston diesels could also be found in US submarines. (I know, it's unlikely.)

I worked the New York Central roundhouse in North Bergen, NJ for a few months around 1956. A year or two before I got there they had been using LIma road switchers on the commuter trains. But by the time I got there they were using Alco 15 or 1600hp road switchers. Somebody said that they had been good pullers when new but that the railroad had rewired them, making them a bit "doggy."
We used to get a passenger train from Albany every afternoon, pulled by a Geep. That train was a real hotshot.

If you have the current issue of Classic Trains, you will notice that the picture of a LIRR is the same as this one, the exception being this one is in color. In addition the one in CTdoes not not have the ad on it so you see more of the action at Jamaica.

Ray J

baileyjet2000 wrote:If you have the current issue of Classic Trains, you will notice that the picture of a LIRR is the same as this one, the exception being this one is in color. In addition the one in CTdoes not not have the ad on it so you see more of the action at Jamaica.

Ray J

Thanks. I'll look for it.

My Dad was assign #2001 in 1963-64, worked it from Jamaica to Upton JCT and return Daily, this picture of Dad and his C-Liner was taken in 1963, he "Loved" that engine!.

C-LINER 2001 wrote:My Dad was assign #2001 in 1963-64, worked it from Jamaica to Upton JCT and return Daily, this picture of Dad and his C-Liner was taken in 1963, he "Loved" that engine!.

and


I suspect this color photo is just upon/after delivery, 6/08/1950, of the FM 2001-2008 series: At the Morris Park Shops in the Tichy scheme as the unit is clean.

Any other photos?

baileyjet2000 wrote:If you have the current issue of Classic Trains, you will notice that the picture of a LIRR is the same as this one, the exception being this one is in color. In addition the one in CTdoes not not have the ad on it so you see more of the action at Jamaica. Ray J

I'd like to see that, also.!

C-LINER 2001 wrote:My Dad was assign #2001 in 1963-64, worked it from Jamaica to Upton JCT and return Daily, this picture of Dad and his C-Liner was taken in 1963, he "Loved" that engine!.

Bob, Any other photos or stories that I might post in his honor?

Steve,
Thank you for posting early photos of "Dad's C-Liner" and yes I been writing an essay on him and his time on the LIRR,
Bob

The photo of the CLiner and the G5s might be a little after delivery. Originally, the CLiners had red pilots. Now, in this photo, it might be a shift in colors from transfer or from the slide itself. It's a great shot, although I'll take a steam loco any day, over any Diesel, even an FM.

[quote][/quote][quote="C-LINER 2001"]My Dad was assign #2001 in 1963-64, worked it from Jamaica to Upton JCT and return Daily, this picture of Dad and his C-Liner was taken in 1963, he "Loved" that engine!.



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Is your Dad Don Bender Sr.? I only knew him in the mid-1970's. It looks like a younger Don to me.
Ed R

RGlueck wrote:The photo of the CLiner and the G5s might be a little after delivery. Originally, the CLiners had red pilots. Now, in this photo, it might be a shift in colors from transfer or from the slide itself. It's a great shot, although I'll take a steam loco any day, over any Diesel, even an FM.

LIRR #2401 FM CPA24-5 Richmond Hill view NW 1957

Like many railroads, Long Island's initial Diesel scheme was eye-catching, modern, colorful...and expensive to maintain! The claim that Diesels didn't produce dirty smoke was as bogus as they come, and Diesel smoke was not only smelly, but oily. It clung to those light color surfaces. Dark gray was the solution, and even that didn't hold up so well.

As a teenage rail-buff in the 1960's I liked watching the C-Liners humming along the main-line with their bright orange fronts making them highly visible as they approached. I was and still am sorry they were retired while comparatively young.