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The Volkswagens were purchased by the LIRR to satisfy a postal contract for mail service on the North Fork. I'm not sure if they were ever actually used for that or if they ever did indeed carry mail. They were used by the track department for rail inspection. The sides of them had a Dashing Dan dec...

broken rails ... seem to be something unique to the LIRR. Simply incorrect, but typical of an layman's view relying on Newsday for his facts. FRA reportable incidence for broken rails in 2012 (latest figures) show LIRR to have a 62% lower incidence than MNRR. Tonnage is quite higher on most of the ...

There's nothing new under the sun. There have been countless accidents, mostly in the days of wooden coaches, where running rails have pierced passenger car bodies. I think every railroad supervisor with an eye for history has loathed the possibility of an accident like this one.

How Far We've Come Thirty-three years ago, a van carrying ten teens coming from a party went around the gates in Mineola, New York and was struck by a LIRR train. Nine of the kids were killed. A legislator's daughter who was riding in the van was the only survivor. The media handled the event quite...

Dutch, spoken as a true triebfahrzeugführer. The Tool is with you 100%.

We've spent a lifetime on Long Island and have seen our share of derailments and grade crossing accidents. Displaced over-riding third rails are not uncommon here as they are attached to nothing. They simply sit on their insulators. We wonder if the NTSB will pick up on the effect that the frozen gr...

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I trust that most readers, employees and passengers agree that the LIRR, as a government entity is not managed for financial efficiency. That being said, the contrasting of fare increases against "cost of living" data prepared by the government is far from a credible comparison. Just about...

Train crews start their day in any one of a number of terminals, such as Hempstead, Long Beach, Port Jefferson, New York, Brooklyn, Far Rockaway or Jamaica. There is a list of what trains each crew runs and the terminal where they start and end each day. It also lists the report (start) time on each...

Most people were at home, where they were instructed to be. There is where we differ. A free people are not "instructed to be at home". They are free to be wherever they wish to be. If that is waiting on a late train making its way though the snow to see their girlfriend, it's their choic...

Some interesting politics: The Railroad is scrambling to resume service, as Jamaica has only seen 6" of snow. Far Rockaway has 4", and Hempstead 8". The LIRR's management did not want to shut the place down and only did so on the Governor's orders. Losses are roughly $17 million from ...

The Long Island Rail Road has served the public through the annual blizzards and storms. In all but the most extreme situations -- usually those involving extreme icing and power outages -- millions of passengers reliably got to their destinations without event. Certainly the railroad saved countles...

They were removed because of confusion between a flashing red and a steady red signal. The New York law provides for a flashing red signal to denote stop and then proceed, unless at a railroad crossing where it signals to stop and wait for a passing train. The signs predated the law and it was deter...

You've got it Con. Black and White was the PRR standard as it was legislated in many municipalities. The contrast was believed to be most visible to horses. The NYCTA also used it on their elevated structure abutments.

Since red paint was around long before 1973, let's see if anyone knows why the Railroad used black and white for the gates prior to the 1970's? There was a very good reason.