LIRR ENGINEER - HOWARD "Howie" WAELDER ID location?

[nyandw]

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/Howard%20Waelder.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; info page
Bill Lane was sent me this photo of H10s #107 LIRR Engineer Howie Waelder at the cab window, View E
I would indicate the FM unit is, perhaps, H15-44 #1503 based on the headlight and I don't see the walkway handrails, built 2/1949.
Howie Waelder at the cab window of the steamer on this westbound freight drag. Where are we?

[MACTRAXX]

Steve:

This is Smithtown Station looking east. The guardrails and staircase help identify the location.
This view changed little (with only the addition of a paved platform area between the tracks)
until the high level platforms were built during the 1980s.

Howie Waelder was quite a character - with a decent sense of humor. I remember that he was
a member of LIST and regularly attended Chapter meetings some time ago...Many of us would
have liked to have listened to his memoirs of his LIRR days...MACTRAXX

[nyandw]

Steve:.Many of us would
have liked to have listened to his memoirs of his LIRR days...MACTRAXX

I'm attempting to get them. News at 11:00

[nyandw]

Thank you, Mike, for the Smithown Station ID...Appreciated. Too easy, Huh! OK, the Good Stuff: Howie Stories and cartoon courtesy of the PRR T&HS/ Keystone http://www.prrths.com/ and Bill Lane providing the page contents! http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/Howard%20Waelder.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Enjoy

OK, now the harder one: Where might this be? BTW: These are John Krause photos.

[FrankAndCindy]

Hello Steve, Would you know when Howie Waelder retired. I don't remember him. Maybe he retired before my time. Thank you Frank and Cindy

[Bad Luck]

My guess would be looking east towards the lefthand curve into Stony Brook. The powerlines down low to the left of the locomotive suggest the location where the right of way parallels 25A with the same change in elevation. While the Stony Brook track alignment was shifted years after this photo, this would still be just west of the present-day Stony 1.

Considering the number of the H-10s leading, heading in the same direction, and the lack of leaves on the trees, it's possible this was taken on the same day as the Smithtown photo.

[nyandw]

Hello Steve, Would you know when Howie Waelder retired. I don't remember him. Maybe he retired before my time. Thank you Frank and Cindy

1943-1978 LIRR Howie’s plaque on the wall in Railroader’s Hall Railroad Museum of PA Strasburg PA 5-9-18
From Bill Lane's Howie page: http://www.lanestrains.com/Howie.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nyandw]

My guess would be looking east towards the lefthand curve into Stony Brook. The powerlines down low to the left of the locomotive suggest the location where the right of way parallels 25A with the same change in elevation. While the Stony Brook track alignment was shifted years after this photo, this would still be just west of the present-day Stony 1.

Considering the number of the H-10s leading, heading in the same direction, and the lack of leaves on the trees, it's possible this was taken on the same day as the Smithtown photo.

I like the reasoning AND the attire at Smithtown Station, as Mike pointed out, suggests a Nov or March scene? Anyone else?