L..I. Railroads

LIRR GP38-2`s. Patchogue, NY Long Island Rail Road Chartered on April 24, 1834, the Long Island Rail Roads' original purpose was to carry passengers from New York City to Boston, Ma. via ferryboats that were to leave from Greenport, NY. Before the trackwork was completed to Greenport, a new faster more direct route to Boston was found by way of the Connecticuit shoreline and the LIRR had to find a new plan to make money. The problem was solved when the railroad was able to tap directly into Manhatten by an agreement with the Pennsylvania Railroad who gave them access via east river tunnels into their Pennsylvania Station. The railroad became an instant hit with the public as people could now travel to rural Long Island from the city via rail. As time went on and Long Island became the suburbia that it is today the LIRR took on the proud distinction of becoming the largest commuter operation in the country, a distinction that they only recently relinquished to Metra! The Pennsy took over operations of the LIRR in May, 1900 and owned the railroad until the 1950's. Bankrupt, the railroad was bailed out by New York State on January 20th, 1966 and was taken over by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority who holds ownership to this day. The LIRR carries roughly 290,000 passengers each weekday on over 700 trains. The system has nine branches, spanning the north and south shores and running from Montauk on the eastern most tip of Long Island to Pennsylvania Station in Manhatten, a distance of around 120 miles. The railroad owns EMD DE30 and DM30 Dual mode diesel locomotives and also houses a fleet of aging MP-15AC's and SW-1001's for work train service. In 1999 they retired their GP38-2 fleet and also retired the remaining Alco FA's which were used as "power packs" which meant they had their prome movers removed and acted as generators for the also now retired P-72 coach fleet. The railroad also owns M-1, M-3 and now the brand new M-7 electric train cars. Some facts and figures about the railroad courtesy of the MTA: There are 124 LIRR stations. The LIRR owns 1,060 rail cars. The LIRR has 701 miles of track. 6,000 people are employed by the LIRR. Click here to go to the official MTA website!

GP-38-2 #271. Riverhead, NY New York & Atlantic Railway In 1997 the MTA ended 163 years of freight railroading on the Long Island Rail Road when they leased the LIRR's freight operation to the Anacostia & Pacific Company, which specializes in the development of shortline railroads. The New York & Atlantic Railway was formed and began operations in May 1997. The railroad operates over Long Island Rail Road owned trackage and shares the rails with one of the busiest commuter operations in the country. The New York & Atlantic (or NYA for short) took over an operation that had seen dwindling freight traffic over the years leading up to 1997. They have increased the volume of traffic from roughly 9,000 carloads to 15,000 carloads in just 5 years of operation! Their headquarters are based in Glendale, Queens, NY. This is also where their base of operations is located and where they operate Fresh Pond Yard and interchange with CSX, Canadian Pacific Railway and the Providence & Worcester Railroad. They also interchange with the New York Cross Harbor Railroad in Bayridge, Brooklyn. The NYA leases former LIRR motive power. They lease eleven (11) locomotives including three (3) SW-1001's, four (4) GP38-2's, and four (4) MP-15AC's. They have painted almost all of these locomotives into their green and white paint scheme. All locomotives still wear their former LIRR road numbers. The NYA also had two (2) former Conrail GP-10's for a short time but the locomotives posed compatibility issues and have since left the property. Both of those units still serve Anacostia and Pacific however at their Louisville and Indiana operation. The New York & Atlantic Railway has become an integral part of the Long Island community and is a welcome addition to it's economy. Serving over 70 customers and ever growing the NYA has overcome the tough odds of succeeding and excelling in freight operations on Long Island. Some facts and figures about the railroad courtesy of New York and Atlantic Railway The railroad owns (3) transload facilities The NYA owns (11) locomotives and (60) gondolas The NYA operates 269 miles of track 30 people are employed by the NYA Click here to go to the official New York & Atlantic website!

Carfloat crossing NY Harbor New York Cross Harbor Railroad New York Cross Harbor Railroad The New York Cross Harbor is usually not the first railroad that people think of when they think of Long Island railroading but it and it's predecessors have played a key role in Long Island rail freight for nearly 100 years! The New York Cross Harbor was born from the merger of the New York Dock Railway and the Brooklyn East District Terminal Railroad or (BEDT) as it's commonly referred. Prior to that the Bush Terminal Railroad began operations in the Sunset park section of Brooklyn around the turn of last century. Bush terminal ceased operations in 1971 and BEDT and NY Dock merged in 1983 and NYCH was born. The railroads key way to move freight is by carfloat as shown in the picture above. The two ports for NYCH exist at Bush terminal yard in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and at Greenville yard in Jersey City, NJ. This "floating" operation prevents customers who are based west and south of New Jersey from having to ship their freight nearly 300 miles up the Hudson River and back down onto Long Island! The railroad interchanges with CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Port Jersey Railroad in New Jersey and with the New York & Atlantic Railway in Bayridge, Brooklyn at the 65th street yard which was at one time run by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The NYCH also interchanges with the South Brooklyn Railway at 39th Street in Brooklyn. Another interesting aspect of the railroad is it's street trackage operation. The railroad in order to get to online customers and interchange in Brooklyn must "share" the road with automobile and pedestrian traffic! The railroad also runs "through" the Brooklyn Army Terminal to get to it's interchange with the NYA. Products that are delivered by NYCH include lumber, plastics, rice, pipe, and refrigerant just to name a few. But chief among the products is cocoa beans, which are shipped from Red Hook, Brooklyn via barge and then run down street trackage to another barge where it gets shipped to New Jersey and the rest of the nation. Motive power on the NYCH up until recently were vintage Alco switchers! Some of these are still on the property but have been retired. The NYCH now uses a pair of EMD switchers as power. © 2002-2008 Twin Forks Chapter National Railway Historical Society, Inc. All rights reserved.