High Level Platform Installation Dates

In many places, the lights were mounted on the old platforms below and their standards protruded through the new wooden platforms. The "wall" against the tracks were Transite (asbestos cement) sheets nailed to the creosoted timber structure.

This was a fire abating measure taken after the Far Rockaway fire destroyed a pair of new M-1's when rain dripping down the car sides arced the third rail shoe leads. The fire spread to the plywood car floors and the platform. Both cars were replaced by Budd Company under warranty.

Kelly&Kelly wrote:This was a fire abating measure taken after the Far Rockaway fire destroyed a pair of new M-1's when rain dripping down the car sides arced the third rail shoe leads. The fire spread to the plywood car floors and the platform. Both cars were replaced by Budd Company under warranty.

9175-76. A new pair with same numbers was delivered in 1973 at the end of the option order.

16 MAY 83 Employee timetable (ETT) shows high platforms ending at Babylon, Hicksville and Huntington. 13 MAY 85 ETT shows high platforms at Bethpage, Farmingdale and Bayshore. 18 MAY 87 ETT shows high platforms extending to Brentwood and ST James and all stations west of those locations. The 1984 high platform installation date for Bayshore listed on Wiki seems accurate. Greenlawn platforms were installed in 1985, but after 13 MAY 85. Here's Bellmore sporting a new set of high platforms on 20 JUL 68, about 6 moths after they were installed.

To the right I can already see a clearing of a strip of gravel next to the cars behind the EB platform where they were getting ready to put the temporary facilities in. It was only two and half years later that these platforms were out of service and trains were rerouted to the roughly 5-mile stretch of the branch from Wantagh Parkway through Bellmore and Merrick to just East of the Meadowbrook Parkway. When this photo was taken, construction was coming to a close on the temporary facilities the Suffolk County portion of the branch (Amityville-Copiague-Lindenhurst) which went into service in October, and the elevation of Wantagh and Seaford was almost done and went into service 3 months later. Also I realized the day that this post here will be published that 43 years ago today on August 7th, 1973 Amityville, Copiague, and Lindenhurst's brand new elevated stations went into service, meaning the four Suffolk County stations on the branch were now elevated, and a stretch from 3350" West of Amityville (Sunrise Highway Overpass) to 7200" East of Lindenhurst (Just West of Belmont Junction) was now elevated.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

Kelly&Kelly wrote:This was a fire abating measure taken after the Far Rockaway fire destroyed a pair of new M-1's when rain dripping down the car sides arced the third rail shoe leads. The fire spread to the plywood car floors and the platform. Both cars were replaced by Budd Company under warranty.

9175-76. A new pair with same numbers was delivered in 1973 at the end of the option order.

I'm also guessing this is what led to spraying fireproofing asbestos on the wooden temporary platforms?

Matt; thanks for the interesting history of the crossing elimination projects on the Babylon/Montauk Branch. One correction: it's 3 miles from the Wantagh to the Meadowbrook Pkwy. along Sunrise Hwy.

Sorry about that, I haven't been back to my home turf since November 11th, 2013. Distance between Wantagh and Bellmore is precisely 1 mile, then 1.3 miles from Bellmore to Merrick, then I'm guessing Meadowbrook is halfway between Merrick and Freeport which is separated by 1.7 miles.

1+1.3+0.85= 3.15 miles or roughly 5 kilometers. I found these distances between stations out when looking on Wikipedia getting ready for my 22-mile run that I did on August 20th, 2008:

-Babylon-Start
-Lindenhurst- 2.7 miles
-Copiague- 1.5 miles
-Amityville- 1.1 miles (Pit Stop for hydration)
-Massapequa Park- 2.1 miles
-Massapequa- 0.5 miles
-Seaford- 0.8 miles
-Wantagh- 1.2 miles (Pit Stop for hydration)
-Bellmore- 1.0 mile (Halfway break)
-Merrick- 1.3 miles
-Freeport- 1.7 miles (Pit Stop for hydration)
-Baldwin- 1.3 miles
-Rockville Centre- 2.0 miles (Pit Stop for hydration)
-Lynbrook- 1.4 miles (Skipped first time, second time End of run YES!)
-Valley Stream- 1.8 miles. (Pit Stop for hydration, turned around)

That's how far I ran in one day, skipped Lynbrook the first time, turned around at VS and went back to Lynbrook. So roughly 22 miles if you add the fact I ran the distance of both platforms at Babylon and Lynbrook.

I'm very fastidious and from an engineering standpoint the construction of anything on the LIRR fascinates me, like right now the Ronkonkoma Branch double-track project for instance. Seeing old photos before my time is amazing and it feels like I've lived longer. My grandfather was on the first ever revenue M1, and he was featured in a transportation paper as an example of a commuter going through the grade elimination project and I take after him. Plus I made a model of Amityville station in my room with both the elevated and grade. It's my Asperger's Syndrome and I wish I could have lived back then. Been a fan since I was toddler and have been on these trains for nearly my whole life. Finally, I grew up next to the Babylon Branch and above ran along it in one day. Plus I had a vision of the branch at grade, which I knew, and the fact that M1's stopped at grade in my hometown and other towns made me tear up that it was true.

Very interesting, Matt. You are quite the LIRR historian. One of my fantasies is that I could travel back in time and drive around Nassau County in the mid-1950's (when I was a little kid) to see/remember what things looked like here back then. One lasting memory I do have is of seeing one of the last steam-loco hauled trains on the main-line circa 1955.

I guess I'm lucky to have been a summer commuter in the years 1969-70 to have been a part of the LIRR's transition from the old rattletrap MP-54 cars to the new almost science-fictional (at that time) M-1's. Anyone who lived thru that horrendous summer of 1970 on the LIRR could tell you lots of horror stories from that period. LOL And yes, I remember half the length of many main-line platforms being closed for construction of the new wooden high platforms during those summers. What a pain that was........

Head-end View wrote:Very interesting, Matt. You are quite the LIRR historian. One of my fantasies is that I could travel back in time and drive around Nassau County in the mid-1950's (when I was a little kid) to see/remember what things looked like here back then. One lasting memory I do have is of seeing one of the last steam-loco hauled trains on the main-line circa 1955.

I guess I'm lucky to have been a summer commuter in the years 1969-70 to have been a part of the LIRR's transition from the old rattletrap MP-54 cars to the new almost science-fictional (at that time) M-1's. Anyone who lived thru that horrendous summer of 1970 on the LIRR could tell you lots of horror stories from that period. LOL And yes, I remember half the length of many main-line platforms being closed for construction of the new wooden high platforms during those summers. What a pain that was........

When you're about to turn 26 and you've been around the railroad since you were two, it plays a key role knowing you grew up with it. I'm a rarity, young and virile but full of wisdom and is years ahead of his life. It feels like I've ridden those trains back in the day. Not many 20-somethings that know so much about the greatest commuter railroad in the world. My Autism helps, and I'm obsessed with the following:

1.) Construction projects
2.) Station structures especially the mushroom lights
3.) The sound of railroad crossing bells and horns
4.) Power lines
5.) The idling sound of the M1-M3 cars
6.) That sweet satisfying smell of the pleather/leather seats in the M1-M3 cars, with that new car smell as if someone put air freshner in the HVAC system
7.) Going 70+ MPH
8.) Feeling the wind rush of an express train as it whizzes by you
9.) Beautiful architecture and blueprint designs
10.) Finally to put it into one, the WHOLE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD altogether!

MattAmity90 wrote:What was with the "wall" look where the concrete pillars are now? Take a look at the Westbound platform in this photo of Westbury in 1978, they were also found New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Syosset, Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington etc. Also the mushroom light bases were IN the platform, not on them.

MA90:

That "wall" look was panels of about an inch-thick hard house side shingle type material that was actually part security partition to keep trespassers from ducking under platforms and entering tracks.
Many of those wood and asphalt platforms were built right on top of the existing low-level platform - which were primarily asphalt with concrete edge and end sections.

When the LIRR began using the concrete slabs and pillars (early 1980s) to construct high-level platforms the security fence was attached to the rear columns for three reasons: To keep trespassers out;
Allow materials to be placed under platforms along with a safe place to get clear of trains away from the trackbed under the platform if need be in station areas.

Everyone:

Does anyone know exactly what the last LIRR station to use asphalt/wood platforms?

I believe that it was Huntington until sometime in the middle 1990s - and because this station is so busy rebuilding the platforms was a tough proposition.
I remember that this replacement was accomplished closing the platforms in four work periods closing a half section of a platform at a given time.

MACTRAXX

MattAmity90 wrote:What was with the "wall" look where the concrete pillars are now? Take a look at the Westbound platform in this photo of Westbury in 1978, they were also found New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Syosset, Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington etc. Also the mushroom light bases were IN the platform, not on them.

Funny how it looks exactly the same today! Except for the mushroom light bases...kinda miss 'em.

Please don't forget the Rockaway Branch. The platforms at Rego Park, Parkside, Brooklyn Manor, Woodhaven Junction and Ozone Park were high level as far back as the Glendale Cut-off in 1908. Wooden platforms except for the last two. In the late 1950's the east-bound high-level platform at Parkside was demolished, the westbound platform closed and all passengers boarded and detrained on a cinder low-level platform built where track 2 used to be. I was aboard the last train on June 8,1962.