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  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1510376  by newkirk
 
From the north side of Cherry Lane. Differing views of the new bridge, ready to be installed.
 #1510395  by Head-end View
 
I was there at 10:00 this morning and the old bridge had been removed and the space was wide open. Went back at 5:00 and the new bridge was in place and the crews were beginning to clean up the street. Way to go LIRR! Lucky they had good weather to help make an efficient operation. :-D
 #1510409  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

This News 12 Long Island report shows demolition of the 1953 Cherry Lane Bridge well underway:
http://longisland.news12.com/story/4057 ... isruptions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With the good weather this weekend (the only potential problem were some strong thunderstorms
that moved across parts of LI on Sunday evening 6/2) the LIRR was able to keep the replacement
on schedule - taking note to BM's pictures and H-E View's notes after visiting Carle Place.

The operation that was most interesting during this program were the diesel shuttle trains running
the 11 miles between between Hicksville and Babylon by way of Bethpage and the Central Branch.
Were there two of these shuttle trains in service?
How many cars did each of these trains have?

Give the LIRR credit where it is due in getting this job done on a tight schedule...MACTRAXX
 #1510416  by newkirk
 
MACTRAXX wrote: The operation that was most interesting during this program were the diesel shuttle trains running
the 11 miles between between Hicksville and Babylon by way of Bethpage and the Central Branch.
Were there two of these shuttle trains in service?
I don't for sure or how many cars. The cars weren't teeming with people, obviously taking heed of other methods and avoid this. Whether you rode a Huntington or Ronkonkoma train, it looked like a 3 seat ride. And what about Port Jefferson diesel train, were they through routed to Hicksville rather than terminating at Huntington creating a 4 seat ride ?
Looking at the special Babylon schedule, connecting "extras" made local stops and not run express to Jamaica, making the trip even longer. Am I wrong ?
 #1510431  by Morisot
 
A brief shower hit the area as we were up on the pedestrian overpass at the Carle Place station late afternoon yesterday. There was still plenty of activity, including a crane moving slabs with track onto the new bridge. We noticed a convoy approaching on the tracks from the east. It was ballast trucks backing slowly towards the station. As the rain clouds moved away, a big, bright, beautiful rainbow arched up next to the water tower and over the tracks and the string of ballast trucks and the adjacent park. It was quite a sight!
 #1510481  by Morisot
 
There was a very intense storm with a short period of very strong winds and driving rain that went through that area last night. Some thunder and lightening with it too. I can only imagine that it could have set their timetable back. Early this afternoon we went to see if we could drive under the bridge yet (no); they were working on the road that passes under the bridge. Also, they were working on the south track and switching the eastbound train over to the north track just west of the bridge. The train moved past the work area pretty slowly.
 #1510536  by PlaneLoverA380
 
Website is giving me a hard time trying to put photos, so here is a video I took on Sunday. You can see an M7 being diverted to East Williston, and TC-034 stationed east of the barricade signs:

youtu.be/IQ2ILN1CU94
 #1510566  by nyandw
 
PlaneLoverA380 wrote:Website is giving me a hard time trying to put photos, so here is a video I took on Sunday. You can see an M7 being diverted to East Williston, and TC-034 stationed east of the barricade signs: youtu.be/IQ2ILN1CU94
Is the problem using [jpg] [/jpg] via the Img button above etc. as in the past when it worked? OR using Upload Attachment below?
 #1510617  by newkirk
 
nyandw wrote:The shuttle photo, was it Monday or Sunday? Thanks.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
 #1511283  by MACTRAXX
 
newkirk wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:07 am
MACTRAXX wrote: The operation that was most interesting during this program were the diesel shuttle trains running
the 11 miles between between Hicksville and Babylon by way of Bethpage and the Central Branch.
Were there two of these shuttle trains in service?
I don't for sure or how many cars. The cars weren't teeming with people, obviously taking heed of other methods and avoid this. Whether you rode a Huntington or Ronkonkoma train, it looked like a 3 seat ride. And what about Port Jefferson diesel train, were they through routed to Hicksville rather than terminating at Huntington creating a 4 seat ride ?
Looking at the special Babylon schedule, connecting "extras" made local stops and not run express to Jamaica, making the trip even longer. Am I wrong ?
BM and Everyone:
The Special trains running on the weekend of June 1-2 between Hicksville and Babylon turned out to be two
8 car C3 trainsets - with two locomotives on each train. In the schedule they were meeting at Bethpage in
each direction hourly going towards their respective terminals.

This video shows both Hicksville-Babylon trains meeting at Bethpage on June 1 - Trains #9212 and #9213:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=voDa3iPjLw0
Train #9213 to Babylon: DE30 400/403 with 8 cars; Train #9212 to Hicksville: DM30 502/514 with 8 cars.

The setup at Hicksville was Huntington or Port Jefferson trains terminating on Track 3;
Ronkonkoma trains terminating on Track 1 with the Babylon shuttles running from Track 2.

Port Jefferson trains terminated at Hicksville during the special Cherry Lane Bridge program running every
two hours - there was no Huntington transfers scheduled. Trains to Syosset, Cold Spring Harbor and
Huntington were run during the hours through PJ service was not scheduled.

Many of the added Babylon Branch trains were "skip stop" trains making limited stops at Amityville,
Massapequa, Bellmore and Freeport (some also stopped at Lynbrook) and then Jamaica as compared
to traditional non-stop (or stopping at Freeport) expresses which were also in the schedule.

What made the Hicksville-Babylon shuttle trains interesting is that they were officially numbered to the
opposite direction to how they were actually run - odd number LIRR trains are westbound and even numbers
are eastbound. The shuttle trains west were covering eastbound runs and shuttle trains east were covering
westbound runs...MACTRAXX
 #1511427  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone: MTA Capital Construction posted a timelapse video of the Cherry Lane Bridge move June 1-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_QtTkfNa1Q
I found out that the reason for the delay that occurred on Monday June 3 was that the 1953 bridge took
hours longer than originally expected to be removed and demolished being well constructed as it was.
MACTRAXX
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