Questions about the Herricks Road Accident - 1982

(duplicate post due to device problems-please delete)

Everyone:

The 39th anniversary of the Herricks Road grade crossing accident was Sunday March 14.

The train was #4602 to Port Jefferson - scheduled to leave Jamaica at 2:03 AM (1:40 AM connection from Penn
Station) with first stop Hicksville at 2:25 AM - all stops to Port Jefferson arriving at 3:31 AM.

The anniversary of this tragedy is significant since an important accomplishment in the Third Track Project
construction finally has been reached - the closure and/or elimination of all of the grade crossings on the
10.1 mile segment of the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville.

Eliminating the LIRR Main Line crossings along with the third track addition should have been built decades ago.
The problems were:
Long-term disagreements on how to actually move forward on a plan of action.
NIMBY opposition along the route from certain village governments and some residents.
Taking private property involuntarily through eminent domain proceedings.

The Herricks Road tragedy was a call to action to eliminate the dangerous grade crossings on the Main Line.
It took 16 years (1998) to get the Herricks Road crossing eliminated.

23 more years later (2021) this goal is now a reality...MACTRAXX

What became of the locomotive, 265? Still in existence?

Lease service along with the rest of the non-NYA units. LLPX 2234, now GMTX 2265.

On March 14, 1982, nine teenagers were killed and another was critically injured when a van that went around a closed crossing gate and was struck by an eastbound LIRR passenger train at Herricks Rd., Mineola at 4:22 PM. Here, police and firefighters inspect the wreckage of the van. Photo Credit: UPI

Can we drop this subject? Some of us do not want the memories to reappear, especially the pic of the van. Its hard enough to sleep already.

Steve: With my 4444th post (I normally only will mention post numbers at thousand intervals) this is an
appropriate time to add some additional information to this topic:

1-The last remaining open crossing on the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville turned out to be
the pedestrian crossing at Nassau Tower on the east end of Mineola Station. This crossing was closed in
the aftermath of the sub-station demolition problems on the morning of Tuesday March 9 permanently.

2-The Herricks Road grade crossing accident occurred at about 2:15 AM on Sunday morning March 14, 1982.
The train that struck the van was #4602 to Port Jefferson which has been mentioned previously in this topic.
There are older posts and recollections showing information about the train and the time of this incident.

I understand how 452 feels about this subject - there are some bad memories here of this tragedy.
I brought this subject up because of the anniversary date and recent grade crossing closures.
I never saw the UPI photo since it did not come up on my device.

Eliminating the grade crossings on this 10.1 mile segment of the Main Line between Floral Park and
Hicksville ended up taking almost exactly 39 years from the time of the accident through to today.
I will agree with 452 that this topic should now be put to rest...MACTRAXX