Photo of the Week: 4/29/2011

Today's photo is from last time I was on Long Island. For a change of scene, I went to the New Hyde Park station, two stops west of Mineola, to do some railfanning. From New Hyde Park you can look west and see Floral Park, and east to Merillon Avenue. Some Huntington and Ronkonkoma trains stop here. Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay, and some Montauk Branch trains pass through but never stop here. This photo is from New Hyde Park Avenue, just east of the station.

This train is heading east, towards the right of the photo. I do not know what its destination is, although it is most likely an Oyster Bay train. No diesel powered trains stop at New Hyde Park or Merillon Avenue, only the electrics stop here.

The Long Island Railroad bought these trainsets in the late 1990s to replace their aging fleet of diesel equipment. Locomotives ranged from GP38s to MP15s to ALCo cab units and F7s. Coaches were demotored "ping pong" coaches, so nicknamed for the way the passengers bounced around inside them like ping pong balls. The railroad ordered 46 new locomotives, 23 DM30ACs and 23 DE30ACs. The DMs, or dual-modes, can run on diesel fuel or switch to third rail power so diesel trains can run straight out of Penn Station rather than changing in Jamaica. The DEs, or diesel-electrics, can not pull power from the third rails. The DEs are numbered in the 400 series, the DMs in the 500 series. New bilevel coaches were also ordered at the same time. These coaches are low enough to fit into Penn Station, the first true bilevels to be able to do so. New Jersey Transit has since ordered their own bilevel coaches that fit into Penn Station.

Long Island Railroad also recently replaced their electric fleet. The electrics were not as old, but still dated to the 1970s. All the M1s have been retired, but some M3s are still hanging around for when they are needed. The electric trains are now run mostly with M7s, which are numbered in the 7000 series.

During this time of equipment replacement, the Long Island Railroad also gave up their freight operations. New York & Atlantic now handles all freight movements on Long Island, bringing cars onto the island via carfloat. The Long Island Railroad was formed in 1834 primarily as a freight railroad, with commuter operations as an extra thing. Now the Long Island is strictly a commuter railroad, having given up freight operations fairly recently.