LIRR Winter Jackets

Hi there - Last Saturday I was passing the Elwood Road crossing in Northport, and the workers repaving the grade crossing all had MTA contruction jackets. I was wondering if there was an place or person I could get one of these from by any chance, as these jackets look SO warm and a cool thing to have. Any one with any information would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks a lot!

sure get a job on the LIRR and you can get one

The Railroad Museum of Long Island (RMLI) gift shop in Riverhead had some great LIRR-style winter coats last year. They may still have them. They have a great embroidered locomotive on it as well as great LIRR lettering if I remember correctly.

Give them a try. They are beautiful coats!!!! I'd have bought one except I'd never ever wear it here in sunny Florida!

Dave

Chris,

The orange parkers are the best that the Railroad has had in many years. They are made in USA and a vast improvement over the blue Chinese junk that was supplied in the past decade. The problem is that they are expensive.

Uniforms and jackets are negotiated in employees' labor contracts. Yardmasters, Road car inspectors, gang foremen, Trackmen, Conductors in yard and road service, track foremen, some signalmen and transportation supervisors get the orange jackets.

If you know any of the people in these crafts, they can order one for you for $223.00. Otherwise check on ebay. Just be aware that wearing a coat that says "LIRR" in 12 inch letters on the back can get you questioned, possible locked up, or even worse -- beaten by an angry mob.

One of the benefits of our new anti-terror laws is that even possessing items that can be considered uniforms of a transit carrier is a felony. Wouldn't worry too much, unless you're trying to scam a free ride.

Clem

The LIRR has got very tough if they see these coats or any other LIRR clothing being worn by non-employees. Some retired employees are being asked to return clothing items when they leave their employment as well.

And they are also monitoring E-Bay now to see if things that they deem as a potential future security problem are being sold and will ask E-bay to remove them or the seller themselves. And it is also being mentioned when you take your "Book of Rules"too (There is a rule that covers RR property).

Before I get a 1000 comments on how unfair this all is, in the post 9/11 world with more than once mass transit chosen for terrorism this is what's going to happen.

Which all points to my original post.

I have a sweat shirt and LIRR windbraker the jacket has the sd50 on the back and says long island rail road. and the sweat shirt says LIRR with a DE30 on the left front. I do not ware these items to get any rides or any thing, just ware them caus they say LIRR and i like it. well that jacket and shirt both got me called in and had me explainig to the po-lice why i got them. let alone they are not official LIRR clothing so i bet the winter jacket will catch alot of hell espically if you ware it track side. if you get it take this advice. do not ware it near the LIRR at any time. it lessens your chances to get questioned by our beloved MTA PD

dont forget teh imfamous vest. .

Last October when I was up for my book signing, I was in Penn Station waiting for my Amtrak connection back to sunny old Florida and was walking around the LIRR's waiting room and ticket office area wearing my OLD LIRR-style engineer's cloth cap with thin stripes on the top and dark blue bill and band. I had a cloth patch of the old LIRR logo of intertwined letters inside a Pennsy keystone sewn on the front of the cap.

I was challenged by a LIRR usher on duty at the LIRR waiting room. He asked me if I was authorized to wear the cap. He also asked if I worked for the LIRR and I told him I used to be in parlor car service. Then he was OK and walked away.

I didn't want to start anything so I said nothing, but I was kind of piss . . er, ticked off that he would challenge me for wearing something that WAS NEVER AN OFFICIAL LIRR ISSUE nor was it currently worn by ANYONE of ANY TRADE working for the road.

As a matter of fact, I'm even surprised that he recognized the old logo as being the LIRR, as most people who are not "in the know" think it's an old Pennsy hat. (And he was a younger guy, too.)

Anyhow . . . . watch what you wear and where you wear it!

Dave

I used to see a bum around my neighborhood with one of those blue LIRR jackets clollecting cans out of our recycable pale. I thought this was odd that a retired employee would have to struggle to make ends meet like that. Obviously he got the jacket from someone or somewhere. A few years later a saw a employee collecting cans from the trash receptacle while on the clock. His pension has yet to be awarded. Has the age not the years....

Anything for a buck

I've got one of those from way back when. I used to wear it in college.


Those blue buggers ARE warm!

Nowadays, I ought to throw it on ebay. But on those cold days that I have to shovel snow, that blue coat is a savior in 2 ways:


A)-the warmth, especially with that hood and

B) those reflective stripes are SO SO crucial when the town's snowplows are working and I am shoveling near the road entrace to our yard.


Sure, you can see me in the dense fog, from 6000 ft up in a 747, but at least you can se me and avoid hitting me!

Thanks a lot guys for the tips and info! By the way, phoenix or anyone else looking to get rid of theirs:
If you're ever looking to sell one of those jackets, Please let me know! I'll be the first to buy it from you! They look unbelievably warm!!

Ever see a pair of "Dashing Dan" Speedos? I'd buy those as holiday gifts!

Dave,
you and I been through similar issues being questioned for wearing non official gear. are they aloud to question/threaten confiscation if the gear is not official from the LIRR? just by seeing a hat or shirt, how do they know the individual is not related to an employee. its simple they don't.

I rarely hear of people getting harassed for wearing Amtrak, CSX, NS, BNSF. shirts. and they got some out there that look official too.

where’s the laws.. where’s the regulations saying you cant ware non official LIRR gear? I can understand the orange jackets as that official, but not a hat or sweatshirt that’s not official.

I think my situation was just the usher being a little too cocky.

If I was wearing a striped engineer's cap with a logo from any other railroad, I can't imagine that he'd have even given it any notice.

He just recognized the old LIRR logo for some reason unbeknownst to me, as they stopped using that logo before he was even a twinkle in someone's eye and decided he'd be a dickhead.

I love that word . . . . it really suits so many people you come across who act like they know something when they really haven't a clue!

BTW I should have asked him if he had the right to wear the "Usher" badge on his hat when he wasn't anywhere near a movie theatre.

Hey, buddy . . . wheres ya flashlight?? Hey, buddy, dere's gum on my seat ova heer!

Dave