M-1's 9411 and 9412

Saw this on You tube



2 of the old M1 cars have gotten a new lease on life. Cars 9411 and 9412 have been at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy for use as training props. Yes, the 3rd rail is live and the cars are powered.

Couple qs:

how did those cars survive that long un-scrapped? Were they stored, used in work service?
How did the fire dept. Get LIRR themed station signs (i gotta get one for my address )

These cars went to the fire academy long before the full scale retirement of the M1s. I don't remember all of the details anymore, but basically, a retired LIRR fire marshal/volunteer firefighter negotiated the donation sometime in 2001.

I remember seeing these two cars being delivered to PW team yard one evening, probably around 1994-1996. They were both on flat cars, shoved into the team yard with engine 273. They were unloaded onto flatbed trailers by crane and trucked to the training facility in Bethpage over the next two nights.

I don't think the 3rd rail is powered. The Fire academy would not risk it for training. We were taught how to step over the rail, etc. i think the cars had lights on from another power source.

Would it be safe to assume "fire training" implies eventual total destruction of these cars? I was up nearly Bradley Airport, in Connecticut three weeks ago, and saw two ex-Metro North (or whatever) red striped M1's in a field, one tipped on its side, the other upright. Both appeared to be victims for some training purposes.

emfinite wrote:I remember seeing these two cars being delivered to PW team yard one evening, probably around 1994-1996. They were both on flat cars, shoved into the team yard with engine 273. They were unloaded onto flatbed trailers by crane and trucked to the training facility in Bethpage over the next two nights.

It was that long ago?! Wow. Still makes sense, though: the guy who secured the donation (Lou Scida) was a chief for a long time in Manhasset.

Thanks for the clarification.

RGlueck wrote:Would it be safe to assume "fire training" implies eventual total destruction of these cars? I was up nearly Bradley Airport, in Connecticut three weeks ago, and saw two ex-Metro North (or whatever) red striped M1's in a field, one tipped on its side, the other upright. Both appeared to be victims for some training purposes.

Ummm... Last i checked on the M2,4,6s had red paint


Correct me if im wrong though

Also it doesnt always mean destruction

The last surviving hawker-siddeley hs-121 trident 1c was saved from the fire trining fscility in britain
Its newer counterpart wasnt so lucky though

First responder training is much more than just fighting full-scale fires. The MBTA in Boston has a training center with retired equipment that's used for a number of drills. I toured the facility for Trains Magazine but my piece was bumped out of the lineup by the disaster at Lac-Mégantic and was never published:

June 11, 2013
Tyler Trahan

BOSTON - It’s a city’s worst nightmare. Rush hour at a major subway station, a busy soundscape of trains rolling in and out amid the cacophony of passengers on the platform. Suddenly, the ground shakes with the noise of a massive explosion. Smoke pours out from underneath the train and rolls over the platform. The sudden silence is rent by screams, and then the station lights flicker and die.

Standing on the platform of the MBTA’s new Emergency Training Center during this simulated terror attack, I’m perfectly aware that the crowd and explosions are only sound effects and the smoke is being produced by theatrical smoke machines, but I can feel my heart racing and adrenaline coursing through my body. The scenario is only too real.

Although the horrors at the Boston Marathon brought terrorism to the forefront of the Boston psyche, this is no reactionary construction slapped together in the time since that April day. The subway environment is fraught with hazards including moving trains, high-voltage electrical equipment, and the confined, often poorly-ventilated space itself. Like any major transportation system, Boston’s MBTA has had its fair share of emergencies underground including collisions, small fires, and medical emergencies requiring the evacuation of injured passengers. The subway bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005 only underscored the need to train first responders on working safely and effectively in this environment. Planning for the $10 million facility began as early as 2007, and serious project work began in 2011 when Department of Homeland Security funding became available; the entirety of the project was federally funded through this source. The mission of the facility is to provide training for every single agency that may have to respond to an emergency on the MBTA system, including fire departments, EMS, police, and tactical units.

While the training facility is state of the art, part of its construction started nearly a hundred years ago. In 1917 the Dorchester Extension of the subway line known today as the Red Line was extended south from downtown and a new station was built at the intersection of Broadway and Dorchester Avenue in South Boston. The station had two levels of tunnels and a surface station, with the deepest level for subway trains and the rest for streetcars. The streetcar tunnel one level below the street was soon rendered redundant by a subway extension and it was abandoned less than two years after it was built. In the years since, part of it was used for the fare lobby for the Red Line subway, still alive and well two levels below the street, but the rest was fenced off and left unused by the MBTA. With a thousand linear feet of tunnel, a portal to the surface and a turning loop, it was perfect for transformation into a training facility that would accurately simulate a subway tunnel without the cost of new construction and land acquisition.

The facility is split into four main segments, incorporating all three of the MBTA’s underground transit methods: Bus Rapid Transit, light rail, and heavy rail subway. A side tunnel holds a Silver Line dual-mode trolleybus, a Green Line light rail vehicle has been placed in a station model that instantly evokes the Central Subway stations between Kenmore and North Station, and the old streetcar station’s platform area has been rebuilt with a high-level platform and outfitted with a pair of retired Blue Line subway cars. A conference room can be used to simulate an emergency command center and is also used for scenario review; an adjacent room holds a rack of computers and a workstation that controls the facility’s special effects, including half a dozen smoke machines, the sound systems in each training segment, and lighting. Additional training areas include a digital fire extinguisher training tool, electrical training areas for overhead wires and third rail power, and a staircase to train responders on the Stryker Evacuation Chairs distributed liberally throughout the system.

As with anything related to emergency preparation, the hope is that the breathtakingly-real scenarios experienced at the MBTA Emergency Training Center happen only in this repurposed streetcar sandwiched between Broadway Station and the pavement above. That said, I for one can ride easier knowing that whatever happens on the MBTA, the region’s first responders are ready to respond.

These M1 cars are not destroyed in training. Fake smoke was used in the cars and the hose line was charged with water but the nozzle was not opened. Strict instructions not to use water in the cars so they would not be destroyed.

I too have trained on those M-1's at the Nassau County Fire Academy. It was some years back that we took the LIRR's 2 night course. First night was a classroom session in the firehouse; second night at the Academy on the M-1's. Excellent course. And I believe BobLI is correct, the third-rail is not live.

They used to give the train crews intructions in first aid, and cpr. They also trained the Crews in putting out fires on the equipment, and of course how to Isolate the coaches from the third rail, which often fed the fire. On one occasion we had a really bad traction motor fire at Bayside, the firehouse was around the corner. By the time the FDNY got there, the fire was put out by a collector who was also a Firefighter in New Hyde Park.
In my 33 years all equipment fires were handled by the crew. These were trains I was working. First responders were needed for sick passengers, and collisions at crossings. Of course in the colin furgeson situation as well. In this climate of terrorism, Its a good idea to have this training fo first responders, never know what will be next. I understand the RR stopped the CPR Classes, dont know if thats true or not. Sad if it is true, I had two "saves" on my trains, knowing cpr. Im sure the FD had to come to the engine fire in Huntington years ago, when a dual mode engine fried.