Book Review as Requested
Dave
Here’s a status report and a partial book review . . . . . Pop open a cold one and have a seat.
I just jotted stuff down as I found it, and when I went back to look at something again, may have found something else, so the references are not in any order.
There are various mistakes: captioning, identifying, dating, historical fact and spelling.
I do not consider myself an expert on LIRR operations in the L. I. City / Area A/ Sunnyside/Montauk Cutoff/Hunterspoint Ave. areas, so photos shot in those areas may have captioning errors as well, but unless I saw something blatantly obvious, like a shot at “F” tower and they identified it as “HAROLD” (which I did not, I’m just using that as an example) then I didn’t pick up on those.
I’ll leave that for the “city boys” to catch. I’m sure they have already. . .
So we begin:
To wit:
1. He gives a brief overview of the LIRR’s history beginning with the PRR’s involvement and states that the Pennsy acquired the LIRR in 1902.
a. My date of reference has always been 1900 for PRR acquisition of the LIRR.
2. He states that the PRR opened the yard in Sunnyside so that, in addition to storage and turning of Pennsy trains, NY, NH & HRR trains could continue up to New England over Hell Gate bridge.
a. The yard was constructed in 1909-1910. The bridge wasn’t opened until
1917. While this may have been the long-term PLAN, it wasn’t what occurred
upon opening in 1910 and if that was what he meant, he should have elaborated a bit more clearly.
3. He states the LIRR got its first MU cars (identifies them as MP54’s) so they could operate in and out of the newly-constructed Penn Station.
a. While the MP54 cars WERE used in and out of Penn Station, they were
NOT the first MU cars acquired by the LIRR. The first MU cars were MP41’s
and were on the property as early as 1905 for the start of electric service between FBA and Rock Park.
4. Caption under a photo of G5s #39 on a fan trip run identifies it as #38 in TWO separate photos.
a. The photo clearly shows #39 on the number plate, even if you had NO idea that #39
was used on that fan trip. #39, when it was donated to the Stony Brook Carriage Museum,
was given #38 because #39’s plate was given to ex-Bklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella
whose uniform number was 39. Perhaps the author thinks, because the locomotive bore #38 at
the museum, that this was it’s real number, which it wasn’t. AND . . .. he’s obviously not in
any contact with RMLI or has any knowledge of the status of #39 currently. So he’s either confused,
or just plain wrong.
5. He states that 3rd rail out to Meadowbrook was laid so the LIRR could run shuttle service out there for race trains.
a. Yes, race trains were run out there and riders took buses that met the train at Meadowbrook,
to Roosevelt Raceway, and yes, they were MU trains, but the shuttle service was a separate issue.
It consisted of a 2-car MU MP41 train (originally an ex-Ocean Electric streetcar, followed by a
1-MP41 car MU train) between Country Life Press and Mitchel Field, ending in 1953. The race trains were
c. 1959-1960.
b. Third rail was laid out to Meadowbrook (actually all the way to Salisbury Plains) and placed in service on
6/23/17
6. He identifies a shot at Pineaire as west of Wyandanch and several pages later, a similar shot is identified correctly as Pineaire.
7. The shot identified as Pineaire is spelled “Pine-Aire” with a hyphen.
8. He captions a shot at Pinelawn, spelling, all in the same caption, the station name 3 different ways: “Pine Lawn,” “Pine-Lawn” and “Pinelawn.”
9. The table of contents has subject titles. One title refers to the Fairbanks Morse H14-44 units.
a. The LIRR never owned H14-44 units. There was one H15-44 and the rest were H16-44
and the one H15 was rebuilt into an H16.
b. Again, this was lack of proofreading, as the actual chapter where it appears in the book
is captioned with the correct model number.
10. He states that the earliest diesels on the LIRR were solely Fairbanks-Morse and ALCO products.
a. What about the many Baldwin units that were on the roster at the same
time? And THEY lasted until the early 1960s.
11. Page 80, bottom photo of an MU train Leaving Jamaica onto the Atlantic branch states that it is heading eastbound out of Jamaica at Jay interlocking, 1962.
a. It’s definitely heading eastbound out of Jamaica but is passing “HALL” tower. “JAY” is
on the west side of the terminal.
b. It can’t be 1962 because there are M1s in the background and they first arrived on the LIRR
property in 1968.
12. In the anecdote part of the book, the author talks about hanging around the Hicksville station as a teenager and becoming friendly with the late LIRR engineer Cecil M. Craft.
He spins a long tale that Craft started with the railroad AT AGE 14 (!!!) prior to the LI City general offices fire of 1902 and therefore, as his records were destroyed in the fire, nobody knew when he started on the LIRR and “he could write his own ticket on years served.”
He was also a carriage driver for Theodore Roosevelt at his Oyster Bay estate.
He then states that Crafty retired in 1970.
a. While any historian of the LIRR knows that there was such a fire and that all the
employees’ records WERE destroyed, we all know “writing one’s own ticket about years
served” would be pure trash as far as the union and related job seniority goes. There is
a roster and there is seniority designated on that roster. There has to be a starting point from
which one’s seniority begins.
b. Just do the math and you can see that would mean that, had he started IN 1902 at age 14,
the man would have had 68 years of service and would have been 82 years of age at retirement.
c. Starting in engine service began with a period of training time as a fireman. After the
“training” period was completed and examinations passed, THEN one was promoted to
engineer and was switched from the higher placement on the fireman’s roster to the bottom
of the engineer’s roster.
d. I believe there was in effect, at the time, a rule for mandatory retirement from engine
service at 72 if I recall correctly. . . .
e. I dug out my roster of LIRR Enginemen from 1949 and it states that
Cecil M. Craft was #128 on the roster that year, and that he was hired on
as fireman on 5/22/18 and was promoted to engineer on 3/20/25, making
a 1970 retirement with 52 years of service sound about right for employees
of that era.
There were numerous employees who hired on in the ‘teens who retired with 50+
years of service, so that wasn’t unheard of, but 68 is pushing it.
f. So, either Crafty was having some fun with a gullible teenager, or the author
mis-remembered what he was told, or he’s just spinning some tale of his own to try
to impress the reader. . . . .
13. Some of the photos are split-focused . . . i.e. ½ the photo is sharp and clear, the other ½ is blurry or fuzzy. . . . . .no idea how THAT was possible, other than poor image handling on the part of those printing the book.
14. Caption of MU train crossing Manhasset viaduct identifies said viaduct as being over Cross Island Parkway.
a. Manhasset viaduct does not cross over Cross Island Parkway but, rather, crosses
over East Shore Road, a creek/inlet and Bayview Avenue, heading eastbound over said viaduct.
b. Cross Island Parkway is much further west, west of Douglaston.
15. Bottom of p. 69: caption under a photo of a 2-car MU identifies the shot as “location not known, but maybe the Rockaway Beach branch shuttle between Ozone Park and Penn station.”
a. The train between Ozone Park and Penn station was NOT referred to as
a shuttle that I’ve ever heard. A “shuttle” is a train, like the “SCOOT” that
runs back and forth between two shorter-distanced points regularly throughout the day.
b. A similar photo, several pages further on, with identical background
landmarks (Meadowbrook Bank, coaling silos, covered station platforms)
and this time showing the entire depot is correctly identified as West
Hempstead.
16. Author says after the 1950 Jamaica Bay trestle fire, the NYCTA purchased the Rockaway Beach branch from the LIRR and rebuilt it for their use.
a. The NYCTA ONLY purchased that portion of the ROW between Liberty
Ave. (south of Aqueduct Raceway) and Rockaway Beach, and Far Rockaway,
Mott Ave. (2 opposite directions) and rebuilt only that portion from Liberty
Ave. south to and including the trestle over Jamaica Bay.
17. Page 82 has a photo of a C-liner and train. Caption reads that the train is leaving Greenport and “the lack of a US Mail RPO car indicates this is a Sunday or Holiday.”
a. ETTs of the time indicated Sunday RPO service on trains.
b. The 2nd car back from the engine, after the lead baggage/express car, IS
an RPO car!!!!!
c. Strike three: The image has been published BACKWARDS with the
lettering and numbering on the locomotive obviously and noticeably
wrong. Copy-check of proofs would have corrected this.
18. Bottom of p 24: caption reads MU shuttle from Garden city to Meadowbrook is stopped at Garden Tower. Train is on the Central Extension . . . the only remnant of the line now extends to old Mitchell Field. . .”
a. The MU shuttle ran between Country Life Press (Garden City) and
Mitchel (one “L”) Field.
b. The photo is looking north and the shuttle is laid up on the remains of
the old Mineola-Garden City spur that was cut back in 1939 when the
crossing diamond there was removed.
c. The structure is the shelter shed at the Country Life press station . . .
NOT “Garden” tower, which was razed in 1939 at the time the above
mentioned crossing diamond was removed and “Garden” cabin was placed
in service was of this location.
19. Many of the photos were identified as shot at East Islip with some shot at Brightwaters.
a. It is my opinion that, although the town surrounding the tracks MAY be East Islip
or Brightwaters these were NOT station stops on the LIRR and therefore were not part
of the railroad for identification purposes.
b. Train orders never read “Train #4 proceed at restricted speed through East Islip.”
It was always “ . . . proceed at restricted speed over ____ Ave., 2nd crossing west of
Great River station” or “ . . . 1st crossing west of MP___” or some sort of wording to that effect.
c. Identification in these instances should read “west of Great River” or
“east of Islip” for East Islip and “west of Bay Shore” or “east of Babylon”
for Brightwaters. (Unless I’m grossly wrong about this in today’s railroading
techniques.)
20. P. 65 caption says an eastbound train stops at Mineola with a Pullman-Standard coach on the rear end.
a. The entire 8-car TRAIN shown in the image consists of all P-S cars!!!
21. P. 70 “Summer Service to the Hamptons” section makes the statement that train #22, the “Cannonball” was rarely pulled by two RS3 units.
a. Yet, p. 94 shows the “Cannonball” being pulled by two RS3 units and
p. 95 shows another run of the “Cannonball” shot at a different time and at a
different location being pulled by two RS3 units.
b. Not so rare, I guess, if we’ve got two photos of the “rarity” a page apart!
22. P. 99 caption refers the reader to the large Dashing Dan logo on the Morris Park Locomotive Terminal’s sanding tower.
a. The publisher has cropped the logo and top of the tower OUT of the image.
This could have been noticed during a proper copy-check.
b. The structure in the image is the water tower and NOT the sanding tower.
23. P. 123 caption states the Rotary snowplow is shown inactive, awaiting its fate at Ronkonkoma.
a. If it’s a rotary, it is NOT a plow. It is a rotary.
b. The photo was shot not at Ronkonkoma, but most probably on the property of
the Black River & Western RR in Flemington, NJ which is where the unit wound up
initially after leaving LIRR property.
24. Roster on last page of book:
Steam Locomotives:
“LIRR leased a number of K4s class 4-6-2 locomotives from the PRR until the delivery of the FM CP20-5 and C24-5 class diesels were placed in service in 1952.”
a. The units were CPA20-5 not CP20-5 and CPA24-5 not C24-5 models.
b. The LIRR stopped leasing ALL locomotives, K4s included, from the
Pennsy in 1950. One odd-ball G5s made its way to Morris Park Shops in
1955 but that was not a lease.
c. CPA20-5 units arrived on the property in 1950 and were immediately placed in
service . . . not in 1952.
d. CPA24-5 units arrived in 1951 and were placed in service at that time . .
again, not in 1952.
Electric Locomotives
“B3 #324 through 227”
a. Should read #B3 #324 through #337”
(#337 was the last B3 and #338 was the first DD1)
25. Conclusion: last page, last paragraph of book regarding an invitation to obtain volume 2: 1966-1989 with a brief intro of what’s in store in that book:
“Although the Alco power is gone, rebuilt Alco FA and EMD F units are restored to life . . .”
a. Many of the Alco S1, S2 and RS1 units were in service as late as 1972.
b. The LAST of the Alco units (C420) did not leave the property until 1976
and 1978, respectively, when their leases ran out and the EMD GP38-2
units arrived on the property during that same time frame, so Alco power
is far from gone during the entire 1st half of the time frame of the sequel
book!
