Accessing Ancient Ones

Greetings guys, just got back from the island, thank-you for the Florida type weather, you have many powers it would seem. I have a coulple of questions:
- how many trains, passenger or freight, utilize the Hicksville-Babylon connector?
- it takes the LIRR nearly 3 hours to travel the 90 miles (30 mph avg!) from NYC to Greenport (similar for Montauk), how fast was the Cannonball? Does it still run?
- there are tracks that come of the Greenport line (going north, angled from west to east to the main line), between Yapank and Riverhead, they appear in relatively good shape, except for the trees (6-8 in. diameter) growing between the rails, does any one know where they go? Are they the fabled Calverton spur?
- what is the story of the 2 cabooses and the small steam engine on the Greenport line next to Pagoda (?) Gas?
Thank-you Ancient Ones...
A small offering of trivia Ancients:
- The Port Jefferson train was faster in 1899 than it is today! It did the job in the same amount of time, but there were 5 more stops than today (including the Northport spur/eastern station.....

Regarding the 1899 train:

AND they handled mail, express, baggage and perhaps milk, occasionally stopping for cows and other livestock on the tracks.

I will check an older timetable and see the travel time of the old "Cannonball."

The tracks sound like the old spur to what once was Grumman's Calverton plant.

Dave Keller

First, the spur north of the tracks between Yaphank and Calverton that serviced the old Grumman Calverton facility curved westward off the Main line and curved northwestward. (The switch was east trailing.)

The Brookhaven National Lab spur is also north of the tracks and east of Yaphank, curving off in a similar direction. That was once known as Upton Junction and the track was, in later years, known as the Upton Secondary Track. It was actually once a wye, with both an east and west connection to the main.

That is just east of where the LIE crosses the Main Line.

To which one are you referring?

Second: regarding “The Cannonball”

My September, 1912 timetable does not list the train by name, but listed train #20 (in later years identified as “The Cannonball”) as having parlor car service and leaving Penn Station at 3:52 pm, and arriving at MTK at 6:52 pm.

June, 1938 identifies train #20 as "The Cannonball" and shows it leaving NYP at 3:57 pm, arriving MTK at 6:45 pm.

June, 1949 has two listings for "The Cannonball":

Train #20 running weekdays except Friday, leaving NYP at 3:46 pm, arriving MTK at 6:42 pm.

Train #22 running Fridays only, leaving NYP at 3:46 pm, arriving MTK at 7:01 pm. (the extra time must have allowed for a heavier Friday crowd to offload, I guess.)

June, 1959 lists "The Cannonball" as train #24, leaving NYP at 4:19 pm, arriving MTK at 7:23 pm.

September, 1962 lists "The Cannonball" as train #24, leaving NYP at 4:19 pm, arriving MTK at 7:25 pm.

May, 1970 lists "the Cannonball" as train #22, originating out of HUNTERSPOINT AVE. at 4:14 pm, arriving MTK at 7:35 pm

So . . . . 1912 thru 1970 . . . . it was still a 3-hour trip!

Dave Keller

That Hicksville to Babylon "connector" to which you refer was called the Central branch.

It was accessed just west of "B" tower and connected to the Montauk branch (Babylon branch) just west of Babylon station.

The majority of the Montauk and Speonk trains used this branch (in both directions) after 1949 (when the Manorville-Eastport branch was abandoned) unless there was a tie-up. Then they would be routed along the Montauk branch (Babylon branch) through RVC, Baldwin, Freeport, Merrick, etc., etc.

Dave Keller

P.S. And finally: I have NO idea when "The Cannonball" was removed from the timetable. It was in use when I worked the parlors in Special Services in 1973-74. It was an all-parlor train, approx 15 cars (quite impressive). I worked it several times out of Hunterspoint Ave. DK

New York & Atlantic utilize the Central Branch whenever they have to go South Shore "most" of the time. It's totaly up to the traffic load and wherever they are routed. It usually sees about ~10 trains a day.

As of late, there is a tie job being done on the south shore so LIRR will be constantly putting stuff in and out of the Wellwood siding, which happened today (153/162 with 12 tie cars and 5 gondolas.)

The cabooses are right by Pulver Gas, in Riverhead (NYA services them) and the steam engine is property of Riverhead Railroad Museum of Long Island.

Thank-you Ancient Ones, OUTSTANDING! What about the wheather? How did you do that?

Some of the hacks at RMLI Riverhead are owned by Twin Forks...unless things have changed in the past year.