Fan trips and the LIRR

I have been on a few of the LIST fan trips in the past utilizing the old equipment and leaving home rails for danbury and other MN locations.
and i have came up with this idea witch is not to be scoffed at but rather concidered..

My plan is, to run a LIRR excursion train with a DE and 2-4 C3s alond the hudson line and have photo shoots along the way though there will be switching fees and MN piolets needed this excersion is very possible as LIRR on MN has been carried out in the past.
though the guys who ran these trips have since retired, that is by no means to not run any fantrips of any kind.

would any of you on this forum be intrested in a railfan extra with photo shoots on the hudson line? and if yes would RMLI, Fo35, TF, & LIST have any intrest to as one hold such an excursion?

Clem maby you can help here.
What would the LIRR and or MN have look for on behalf of these groups if they were intrested in running such a fan trip these days?

and with all Negitism aside why would the LIRR or MN turn down a fan trip?

Is there anybody on the LIRR that would work with these groupes and or indivisuals intrested in the trip to try to get one underway?

Is there anything any one in the know that can inform more things that i left out.
KEEP IN MIND:THAT THIS WAS SOMETHING I THOUGHT UP THIS PAST WEEKEND; AND I'M POSTING THIS FOR AN OPINION FROM MY FELLOW RAILFANS

DISCLAIMER...
[i]I AM NOT BY ANY MEANS SAYING THAT ANY OF THE ABOVE GROUPS ARE DOING ANY THING, RATHER WANTING TO KNOW IF THEY WOULD WANT TO PARTICAPATE IN THIS IDEA I PONDERED UP
PLEASE DO NOT SAY THAT I SAID THAT THE GROUPS ARE DOING ANY THIS THIS IS A ?QUESTION/IDEA? ONLY AT THIS TIME.[/i]

I think this would be friggin awesome....but wont be happening any time soon. Not with "todays" LIRR. I'd support it though.

Thanks NIMBY, just take out the negatism dont think Bad about the LIRR if MN can run trip LIRR has every right to do it also.

the LIRR has the right to run fan trips, but I just think it's a matter of them not really having anyone in management who is interested in running a fan trip.

Actually this isn't a fresh new idea you just thought up of. This whole topic has been discussed more than once on here. I think we should just make an offical topic and make it a sticky.

I really don't see it happening here on the island. Metro North can get away with it because it isn't like Long Island and the people are a little different. I recently took a joy ride on the rails a few weeks ago to Danbury and the ride was a lot quieter (commuters weren't whinning) from GCT to Danbury. But of course the ride from NYP to Farmingdale at 12:30 at night I didn't hear the end of it with the whinning.

People whine about all sorts of things over here. Everything from poor schedules, noise pollution, to ROW's that should be gone. You really think the public would condone of such a thought of having a tourist rail line, especially from KO to Greenport? Gosh... I think they would have more frequent rail service just from the tourist line alone than from the tax payers dollers on LIRR's own equipment!

Not to burst anyone's bubbles.. but when it comes down to the vote I do think the general public has the upper hand on railfans when it comes to the people.

I suppose it could happen (fantrips on the LIRR) but Metro-North has the
right people in the right places, management has more will to please the
public and a physical plant that is more adaptable to special operations.
Generally, Metro-North has a more modern physical plant with more
multiple track so capacity issues are not as severe.
Other than that, there is probably not too much reason that the LIRR
could not run trips if they saw fit to.
Railfan misconduct has killed fantrips on more than one railroad and I
suspect that some of the powers to be on the LIRR may have had
experience with this over the years. It only takes one accident or un-
pleasant event to kill all trips for a long time. I have probably been on
around one hundred trips over my lifetime and maybe even more and I
have seen my share of incidents that would justify any railroad just not
wanting any part of this kind of activity and I do not blame them one bit.
It only takes one "bad apple" and railfans have their share of them.
In addition, special moves are a big drain on supervisors most of whom
already put in long hours during the week and would prefer to be at home
with their family or whatever rather than out on the railroad again all
weekend so that others can "play". No special move ever runs without
supervision present and aboard and some specials require a lot of
supervision.
You folks on Long Island want trips, a good start would be by riding into
New York and supporting the trips that run on Metro-North. Maybe if the
MTA sees really strong support on the Metro-North trips, they will exert
a little bit of pressure to bring one off on the Long Island.
I am not really sure just where you could go on the Long Island anyway,
most lines that do not have passenger trains are not in fit condition to
support a passenger train and there is available passenger service just
about everywhere. There are no FL-9's on the LIRR and no unusual
equipment either. No trackage like the Beacon Line which is taylor made
for a fantrip. I know that some of you will say yes but there is some
freight only trackage, true but it is probably in "exempted" status meaning
that no passenger trains can operate on it anyway or it goes into areas
where it is just too dangerous to operate a train carrying passengers.
Again, my best advice is to watch for announcements of Metro-North or
Transit Authority specials next spring and buy tickets and ride them,
maybe sometime down the road things will change.
OH, buy the way, over the years the LIRR has run some nice excursions
to points on Long Island and a couple of them have involved the Shore
Line Trolley Museum or the Valley Railroad at Essex, Connecticut, you
might try going on one of them.
Noel Weaver

The L.I.S.T OF THE NRHS Had The Best Fan Trip's on Long Island We Had Shop Tours and Fantrips off Long Island Up To Metro-North Lines First Trip There in 1990 We Had FA 615 Two MP15 #157 #160 And F7 622 with 6 Cars That was Great.
http://long_island_joe.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=208199

http://long_island_joe.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/7552/262139722YOgDtP_ph.jpg

Long island Joe wrote:The L.I.S.T OF THE NRHS Had The Best Fan Trip's on Long Island We Had Shop Tours and Fantrips off Long Island Up To Metro-North Lines First Trip There in 1990 We Had FA 615 Two MP15 #157 #160 And F7 622 with 6 Cars That was Great.
http://long_island_joe.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=208199

http://long_island_joe.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/7552/262139722YOgDtP_ph.jpg

Yes, no doubt it was a great trip but the cost today of running a trip of that
nature, out of sight. Full LIRR crew, Amtrak pilots to get to Metro-North
then a Metro-North crew or at least pilots. Six cars would probably not
even come close to covering the expenses even at 70 per cent capacity
and the cost for tickets would put the trip out of reach of many people.
In addition, a trip of this nature would not cover much trackage that does
not currently have passenger service unless they were to cover the
Beacon Line which today would be an all day trip without trying to get over
from the LIRR first.
I would bet that tickets for a trip of this nature would cost in excess of
one hundred fifty ($150.00) dollars, how many of you have this kind of
money to shell out? I would bet not enough to make a trip like this cover
its costs.
Noel Weaver

This is some what intresting but also involved with unions ans contracts and LIRR and NYA.

Would a fan trip be possible placeing 2 hacks on the back of a NYA freight train and run a few empty cars on all branches including the non freight ones.

to put a trip like that together what would it take to get permission and a consist from NYA, how would the LIRR go about running a freight photographers special?

Long Island 7285 wrote:This is some what intresting but also involved with unions ans contracts and LIRR and NYA.

Would a fan trip be possible placeing 2 hacks on the back of a NYA freight train and run a few empty cars on all branches including the non freight ones.

to put a trip like that together what would it take to get permission and a consist from NYA, how would the LIRR go about running a freight photographers special?

You read my mind.

Im seruous, run a limited compasity freight excursion, Im shure that LIRR AND NYA can work something out and make a special arangement for one day. can you just see a photo shoot at the hewlett low level of a mixed freight with 2 geeps at the point. I filmed the sandite train there last fall and thats the closest to a freight i ever seen there, then malvern on the westhempstead branch also a great photo location.

If running DEs up the hudson line is going to be way to costly or not possible. is there any hope of a railfan freight photo train?

also, i guess this is relevent in this thread as im makeing this relivent, if one of us owned out own vintage railcar and it was up to class one regs in all ways, would lirr alow that car to be coupled to the back of a regularly sceduald train? please answere this seperate to the freigh fan trip question.

Best bet, get NYA, then get RMLI's ex LIRR coaches fully restored to glory, then get it going to par. I just can't see the C3's in railfanning excursions. Don't forget, you also have 2907 at KO, 2909, 2911, and 2966 at Morris Park Deadline that can also be restored to make a nice excursion train.

no C3s neil we will be rideing in 2 hacks only. the rest of the cars will be freight cars.

Just Set Up Like The L.I.S.T Had in 1992 To Greenport

That's gotta suck though if you're one of the folks in the gondola and you're far from the next stop, and suddenly you have to go to the bathroom really bad lol.