Long Island Rail Road Call Letters!!!!

I've just done a tremendous update on my LIRR Call Letters listing on my website, thanks to new data received from my friend Art Huneke and hours of research and typing by my friend Jeff Erlitz.

What started out back around 1969 as a 5+ page list is now 80 pages of typed Microsoft Word document data!!!

The call letters (and/or numbers) for cabin/tower/station locations are provided dating back to the 1870s and up to the present-day. Also provided are exact location of block stations, in service dates, type of interlocking machine therein (where that information was made available to me), date of conversion to letter calls, date of conversion to name calls, dates that specific signal changes had been made as well as dates when placed out of service where applicable.

Also included are temporary block stations, such as required for track work or for grade crossing eliminations.

Where possible, I've indicated in BOLD font the location(s) from which the call letters were derived (i.e. "VN" from Brookha"V"e"N" station or "PD" from "P"atchogue "D"ock.)

I'm missing some of the old numbered block stations, but hope to fill in more of the blanks before I pass on!

Otherwise, I'm sure you'll find it a rather complete listing. If you have any questions or feel you can add anything to the listing, please feel free to contact me directly at: [email protected]

Check out the list at: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirrphotos/ ... etters.htm

Thanx!
Dave

Hi Dave..

I read that Patchogue was originally "PG" and later changed to "PD" derived from Patchogue Depot. Are you sure that it was derived from Patchogue Dock?

Yes.

"PG" was Patchogue's calls in telegraph days BEFORE the tower was built.

The tower was built to protect the crossing of the LIRR's tracks by the Suffolk Traction Co. as their tracks went down to the foot of Patchogue Dock.

Once the tower was built, it needed it's own identifying calls, as "PG" remained in use as the depot's calls.

"PD" was chosen. P for Patchogue and D for the destination of the trolley tracks: the dock.

There was quite a bit of license taken in years past to name the towers. Some instances the letters were inverted from the order in which the name appeared, because the calls in the proper order may have already been used somewhere else. (i.e. DF was "F"resh Pon"D" Jct. They could use FD as it was already in use for "F"arming"D"ale station.)

Dave

Here's an old sample of a Form 19 from Patchogue block station when it was located in the depot and its calls were "PG" (The label is just laying on the order when it was scanned. The original order is undamaged.)


And another:


The Supt. of Transportation whose initials end the order as "FH" was Frank Hartenstien. The block operator's name was Webb. You'll also see that after indicating the superintendant's initials by proxy, the operator made a small initial ("W") after it indicating himself as the one who wrote the previous initials!

Dave