The 2900 Series Cars

A few curiosities:

How was the equipment manipulations of the 2900 series cars determined?
How did it change over the lifespan?
What was their usage in the summertime outside of the "normal" usage?

...and a more wide range question

How did yardmaster(s) go about keeping the different types of cars separate in Richmond Hill? Was there ever a time when, for whatever reason, they were mixed into a train of non-2900 cars?

2900's would not have been able to be used in push pull service with the 27/2800 cars, which had a main res. hose allowing for that among other air brake functions.

as stated above 2900 cars utilized brakepipe and signal air. 28/2700 cars had brake pipe,main res,1and 4 point jumpers(for hotel power) and 27 point jumpers. In normal passenger service they were never mixed. I do not remember if the parlor cars were interchangeable. So 2900 cars only needed one engine on the leading end since they had undercar generators.most trains with 2900 also known as eh cars terminated in LIC in the morning.the coaches were pulled and the engines turned for the afternoon.I'm no yardmaster but EH cars had to terminate somewhere where the engine would be turned on a wye or ran around.At the end of the life of the old diesel fleet 2900 cars were set up as pushpull or more aptly pull/pull because they were not maintaining most of the real (27/2800) pushpull cars. Rarely on the weekend did we use EH cars in scoot service so as not to have to turn the engine everywhere you went. So they were always available for the extra Montauk summer trains.I am speaking mid 80's onward

The 2900's were on Port Jeff trains (rush hour)and Oyster Bay trains(rush hour) to/from LIC ,
Tended to stay on those turns,and not wander around
May have been on some Speonk turns to LIC as well.

Back then,Port Jeff,Speonk,the old KO yard,have wyes,OB had a turntable.
That allowed the power to get turned for the run to LIC.

Thanks for the clarification about the different brake setups.

Backshophoss wrote:
Back then,Port Jeff,Speonk,the old KO yard,have wyes,OB had a turntable.
That allowed the power to get turned for the run to LIC.

How late was the OB turntable used? Into the 90's?

Its been a long time but there were some parlors that could be used with both electric heats and push pull. They were modified with undercar generators for electric heat service and 1 and 4pt jumpers, main res, etc. for pushpull service. We did use the L1s and 2s at intermediate terminals and ran around the consists when we had electric heat cars. When the 38s first came, we did the same thing. But the Brotherhood complained to the carrier about visibility because of the control stand location and that practice was discouraged for passenger service.

Two of the parlors were converted for dual service. Their numbers were 2001 and 2002.

I might not remember the details but I had a friend that was modeling the 2900s (?). He went to a station where there was a layover and was measuring the cars. The engineer asked him what he was doing - "measuring the cars". The engineer helped by holding the tape. They measured several cars (I believe they were of different series). The engineer commented that he wasn't aware that they were slightly different lengths. He said he wondered why some times the train would extend past the end of the platform even though he stopped the engine at the same place.
This was 25 or 30 years ago, so I might not have the story straight. I thought they ran mixed car series back then.
Ray

Am I correct?

2900 series coaches were built with steam heat trainlines for steam heating, and they had a diesel generator to produce electricity for lighting, air conditioning, blower fan, etc. At some point in time (circa 1971?) the steam heat trainlines were removed and the 2900 series cars were converted to electric heat, which was powered by the diesel generator. Was it electric floor heat, electric overhead heat, or a combination of the two?


2932 at Port Jefferson in 1965. Note steam heat connector by air lines underneath coupler.

For what its worth, I definitely remember riding a 2900 series car on a Greenport to Jamaica train one summer Sunday in the mid 1960s. It was wonderfully air conditioned on a hot humid summer day, and it seemed clean and modern when compared to the more familiar old Pong coaches.

You are correct Jack. The cars were originally steam heat, and were converted to baseboard electric heat during their modernization during the 1970's. I want to say the modernization was later than 1971, more like mid to late 1970's. (The Alcos had steam generators so they could still run with steam heat up until their retirement.)

Jay

I want to second this, not because i was even alive then, but when I hired on I worked with a lot of old timers that did the conversions from electric-MU to diesel coaches about the mid 70's. Also, another Carman I worked with told me what a pain it was to break the ice off the steam couplers if the trains laid up w/out the engines.

Jay and R32: I will "third" this...During the middle 1970s the 2900s were converted to electric heat.

I recall that there was a rectangular plate that looked cut just to the left of the right-end vestibule trap with the words "ELECTRIC HEAT"
either stenciled on or applied with stick-on lettering in this area...

Along with the conversion of the MP72s and MP75 "Zip" cars to Diesel service - and with the retirements of the remainder of the steam-heated
fleet it only made sense to convert the 2900s to EH - they were perfectly suited for this with their under-car generators. Because of this factor
the 2900s found homes somewhat easily after their years of service on the LIRR.

MACTRAXX

Were the 2900 series coaches built with windows that opened (vertically), or is my memory of riding in them as a youth in the 1960s inaccurate?

Maybe I am confusing that feature (windows that open) with an older P54 class coach, as I also rode those on Greenport trains in the 1960s.