Three old slides

I found these shots amongst my parents slides. I thought they might be fun for the group to comment upon.



"B" tower, Spring of 1956. This is an editing of the original image which has more scenery than topic. As a result, the lack of clarity.



I can't say enough about this picture. "Divide" tower, 1956, after cleanup and a rock garden was placed. On the extreme right is a keystone whistle post, and behind that, hand actuated gates. The old tower was cream and green in color. My Dad's old office was the building just peeking out from behind "Divide". There was a wye behind that, but I can't tell if it is still in place at this time. One of the last times I saw a hot G5s, it was sitting on that wye track. The railroad was full of change at this time.



Massapequa track cut, in preparation for elevation. Note the double-decker in Tichy paint.

Dick:

Loved the shot of "DIVIDE." The heart laid out with stones is reminiscent of how attitudes towards one's jobs have changed over the years!

The wye track was removed, per Bob Emery's map, on 2/2/60, so it was there when that shot was taken in 1956. It was on the east side of the Track Supervisor's building you mentioned.

A wye track had always been in place there from the earliest days of Hicksville having rail service. Amazing that it was not kept with the elevation. Would have come in handy.

I can't say I ever remember seeing a color shot of a doubledecker in Tichy!

What was the crowd at "B" all about?

Dave

Thanks for the pictures!
I like seeing color pictures from the 50s. That shot of "Divide" is really well done.

Don Ball Jr. did a whole book on early color pictures from the 40s and 50s, called America's Colorful Railroads. (Bonanza books, 1978) It was interesting to see color pictures of a Santa Fe "box cab" diesel unit from June of 1941, for instance.

Ball said that early color photography was considered more of a novelty, and serious photographers still used black-and-white to take any important shots.

Glad your parents were out there recording the scene.

Great pictures! It is amazing how color shots make things look like they were taken yesterday. These shots are 50 years old! Incredible! In the scene by B tower the area did not look much different until recently when they started building houses there. In the divide picture, the brick building on the right is the hicksville fire department building which is still there, and I believe the white house in the background is still there too.

Along the Central branch at B tower that dirt access road was not there at that time, and what tracks did thoese signals govern. (as viewed in the picture. Central branch west and Main line west?) I would assume that b/c rule 261 was not out there at that time.

The shot of divide was the best shot I have seen to date, showing the tower.

Not including the "Y" at divide when it went up was a clear example of how the LIRR cut back on their service variations that they could have had.

Imagine a train originating in huntington and terminating in ronkonkoma? not a bad idea for thoese wanting a 1 seat ride. but I can see the point of "change at Hicksville" as there is really no need for the "Y" maybe NYA or work trains would be all thay would round it today, with the exeption of a Port jeff to babylon/montauk train?

Those pics retouched, or are they kodachrome?

(Yes - properly stored they're good for 100+ years)

Nasadowsk (I have to know what that name refers to!): The images are Kodachrome, but in scanning them, I did use the color restoration program. I am delighted to see so many of you remember these days or can get a feeling for what they were about.

There are other shots as well, quite a nice series of snow removal, shot from the rear of a train. I'm afraid there are no pieces of motive power, so I've hesitated to scan them. I believe they may be 1947 blizzard on the east end of the Island. I think I have some others in the files of a Christmas cre'che at Hall Tower. It was lovingly assembled by the track department with figures cut from plywood and hand painted. It stood for one day, when complaints about endorsing religion made it imperative to be taken down! I know there are others.

What was happening at "B" tower? I have no idea.

There are ballast gangs, track tampers, and few other things. Let me know if you want to see railroad slides without trains.

Richard:

Great shots. Scenes of the LIRR at least as far as I am concerned would be quite welcome. Keep them coming.

Ray Jensen
Ft. Myers, FL

FANTASTIC SHOTS. What is hard for me to realize is that juice wasn't flowing there, then! So, the question: just how far east (on all lines) was electrified in 1956? 60? 65?

Rich - My last name, minus the 'i' at the end. I still use it as a holdover from when I was on a VAX in college - for whatever reason, the system lopped the i off, and our last names were our usernames on it. Go figure.

Check out Bob Emery's branch notes on my website:

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/branch ... ntic%20Ave

Scroll down. Each branch tells the years and extent of electrification as of about 1959

Electrification extended from Mineola to Huntington around 1969-70.

Electrification extended from Hicksville (already electrified when it was extended to Huntington) to Ronkonkoma in 1987.

Dave