Product Review: Walthers Pullman-Standard 64-Seat Coach

Back in 2006, Walthers came out with a model of a Long Island Railroad 28-1 heavyweight parlor car, and I wanted one. However, I didn't buy one, saying I would wait until they came out with another run. It's been 6 years, and they haven't done that yet. First they went out of stock on the Walthers website, then they disappeared from ebay and discount train websites, and the pile of them at the train store I go to on Long Island slowly got smaller and smaller until they disappeared there too. It's been a few years since I've seen one now, and at this point I'll buy the first one I come across. When Walthers announced a model of Long Island Pullman-Standard coaches, I knew I would have a very small amount of time to get my hands on one. I never pre-ordered one, and as soon as they were delivered they went out of stock. However, I was on Long Island recently, and the train store there had three of them, and I am now the proud owner of one, which sits proudly in my display case.

This model may be out of stock, but I am going to review it anyway. Other paint schemes are still in stock, and they are identical models except for the paint scheme applied to them. I'm not breaking our rule against reviewing out of production models, I'm only bending it.

This model is a great example of all the newest and best features of Walthers passenger cars. In past years, their passenger cars were great, but recently, the quality has gotten better. This car has all the staples of a typical Walthers car, with an accurate paint scheme, a full set of number decals, working diaphragms, a fully detailed interior, Proto-MAX knuckle couplers, and free rolling trucks. However, this car also features a chrome-plated exterior to give it a metallic shine, and all the wire grab irons come factory applied and painted where applicable, saving the modeler the trouble of installing and losing them himself.

The car weighs in at 6.35 ounces, a little short of the NMRA recommended 7 ounces for this car. However, if it is run with identical passenger cars, the weight should not be a problem as long as all the cars are the same weight. The trucks are free rolling, but a little graphite on the end of the axles goes a long way with all Walthers passenger cars. The interior is correct for cars of other paint schemes; however, the Long Island rebuilt these cars to carry 144 passengers, so the interior is not correct for this particular paint scheme. The car features full underbody details, and because of this Walthers recommends not running the car on any curves tighter than 24" radius.

Overall, I like this car. It is a great model of a Long Island passenger car, and I am glad I added it to my collection. I wish I had the money to buy all three they had in the store, but it is an expensive car, and where I don't model the Long Island Railroad, it really is not worth having more than one. If I did model the Long Island, I would most likely not model the era this car ran in. However, it still looks great in the display case, and I can use it as a private car on the end of an Amtrak train.

Manufacturer: Walthers

Price: $69.98

Available Road Names: Louisville & Nashville, New York Central, Northern Pacific

Photo of the Week: Electric Railroading

Well, it would seem that Steven has been quite busy since he returned from vacation, and we did not get any photo submissions this week, so I thought I would share a few of my own.  Just a reminder, if you would like to see your photos featured as a photo of the week, please email them to ogden.bros.trains@gmail.com, and be sure to include a brief description.  We would love to see and share your photos of railroad related subjects!  We will notify you by email if your photo is chosen.

Today, I thought I would share a few photos I have taken of electric trains and transit over the last few years.  These are by no means all of them, just a few of the highlights.  We start with the Seashore Trolley Museum, in Kennebunkport, Maine.  Steven and I volunteered there for a few years, in the summers, and during that time we got to see, photograph, and operate quite a variety of historic and unique equipment.

This first photo is at Talbott Park, the end of the museum's short line.  This is car #1267, which originated in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This one of the only cars preserved from that area, and incidentally, it was the first car ever operated at a transit museum, and the first car to operate at Seashore.  It began its retirement life at the museum in the 1950's, when a simple generator was connected to the trolley pole with jumper cables, and it moved only a matter of feet.  The line at that time was significantly shorter than it is now.  Today the car operates pretty regularly, carrying people on the three mile round trip to Talbott Park.

This is locomotive #300, on one of the car barn leads, at the Seashore Trolley Museum.  As I recall, it sat on that lead for quite some time.  Unfortunately, a lot of equipment at the museum spends a considerable amount of time sitting around.  I cannot recall the history of this locomotive, and unfortunately I am not able to find information on the museum website.  A lot of equipment at the museum had been renumbered at some point during its life, so it is possible that this has been returned to an original number, and I cannot remember what that was, or if there even was one.  If anyone knows anything about this locomotive, email us, and I'll post it on here.  This is an electric locomotive, as evidenced by the trolley pole sticking out from the roof.

Those of you who keep up with us on Facebook ought to recognize this picture, as we use it as the photo for our Facebook page.  Car #434 originated in Chicago, on the Chicago, Aurora, & Elgin, an interurban railroad that connected downtown Chicago with some of the western suburbs.  The "Roarin' Elgin," as the railroad was sometimes called, was made famous by their closure.  When railroads discontinue service, typically it goes into effect at midnight on the designated day.  The CA&E did things a little differently.  On July 3, 1957, they carried commuters into Chicago, and then discontinued service at noon, with no warning. Commuters who had used the CA&E to get to the city found themselves stranded when they got out of work in the afternoon.  The CA&E used a third rail for electric power, but the car uses an overhead wire at the museum, for safety reasons.  The car in the background of the above photo is car #1267, from Minneapolis., as it idles in the loop behind the museum visitors' center.

Now, we look at some more modern transit.  This photo was taken in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.  A TRAX train, destined for the Delta Center, now known as the EnergySolutions Arena, makes a left turn right near the landmark Latter-day Saint Temple.  The train reached its destination just a few minutes later, where it turned around and returned to Sandy, about 15 miles to the south.  Since this photo was taken, the Utah Transit Authority has added two new lines to the light rail system, purchased new Light Rail Vehicles, announced and started construction on two more lines, built a downtown transit hub, and launched commuter rail operations.  In the downtown area, three new stops have been added to TRAX, connecting the system to the transit hub at Central Station.  In addition, the FrontRunner commuter trains, Amtrak's California Zephyr, numerous bus routes, and various Greyhound and similar coach lines all arrive at Central Station.  This photo was taken five years ago.  The Utah Transit Authority has been expanding service by leaps and bounds in the last several years, and has plans to continue doing so.

In another city, half a continent away, I managed to snap a couple of pictures of the Chicago El, in the Loop area of downtown Chicago.  Most of the transit lines in downtown Chicago are elevated, as seen in this picture.  They run directly above streets, and in some cases the columns supporting the bridge are right in the middle of the street.  As I took this picture about six years ago, I cannot remember which line the train was operating on, or where it was going.  I do remember that I took the picture looking south, from the corner of Adams and Wells streets.

Continuing east, we find the Long Island Railroad, which operates both diesel and electric trains.  The line into Manhattan was electrified a century ago, when it was built, to keep steam engines out of the tunnels.  Over the past century, the electrification has expanded, but to this day the railroad is still not completely electrified.  It is unlikely that it ever will be, especially on lightly used lines.  The train in the picture above had its days numbered.  In 2008, when the picture was taken, the LIRR was nearing the end of replacing the entire fleet of electric trains.  This train was one of the few older ones left.  In the picture, the train was just starting to pull out of the Mineola station, headed east.  The Pennsylvania Railroad style signals govern most of the railroad, since the LIRR operated as a subsidy of the Pennsylvania for many years.  The signal visible in the photo indicate a clear block ahead.

Photo of the Week: 12/23/2011

Today's photo is from a year ago, when I rode the Acela to New York to visit my grandparents.  The trip on the Acela went fine, but once I reached Jamaica on the Long Island Railroad, they shut down service due to the snowstorm.  I didn't make it to my grandparents house until the next afternoon, and while I was stranded in Jamaica I took some photos.  I shared some of them last year, and I thought I'd share one again now.  I am staying home for Christmas this year, so hopefully I won't end up stranded in a train station overnight again!  Here is the photo:



This was shot from a window in the concourse between the train station and AirTrain terminal.  I tried to sleep in the AirTrain terminal because it was warmer, but I didn't get much sleep.  I got up several times during the night to walk around and take some photos.  This one was early the next morning, still before service was resumed.  Notice the tracks haven't been cleared yet.  All that snow is from the one snowstorm, there was no snow on the ground the day before.  If I remember right, Jamaica got something like 19 inches of snow all at once.  One area of the city got 30 inches.  While it's normal for New Hampshire to get at least one storm like that per winter, it's unusual for New York to get that much in a month!  I did eventually make it to my grandparents house safely, 27 and a half hours after I left my house in southern New Hampshire.

On that note, James and I would like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and safe traveling this holiday season!

Photo of the Week: 11/11/2011

Well it's Veteran's Day, but I really have no photos to post that have anything to do with veterans. All I can really do is say thank you to everyone who has served or is currently serving in the military, so thanks!

Well I haven't uploaded my photos from last weekend on Long Island yet, so I'll share one from last time. This photo was taken at the Merrilon Avenue station, one station west of Mineola, where I usually go. The road is not Merrilon Avenue, it is Nassau Boulevard, which meets Merrilon Avenue just behind the camera. Anyway, here is the photo:

This is an eastbound train of M7s, just leaving the station, which is just out of the photo to the left. The train is heading towards either Huntington or Ronkonkoma, I'm not sure which. The two lines split at Hicksville, which ironically is anything but a "hicksville." Hicksville is a few stations east of here. Both lines continue past Huntington and Ronkonkoma, they go to Port Jefferson and Greenport, respectively, but those portions of the lines are not electrified. Since the M7s are electric, they can't go past where the third rail ends. Port Jefferson sees pretty regular service, but Greenport only sees two or three trains a day.

Photo of the Week: 10/21/2011

Today's photo comes from August of last year. It's been a while since I posted a photo from my favorite commuter railroad (I'll give you one guess which one that is) so I thought I'd share one. I'm going down there again in two weeks, so I'll have a fresh batch of photos to share with everyone! This was taken at the 2nd Street crossing, on the Oyster Bay Branch near the Mineola station, right where the branch splits away from the main line. The train is heading east, towards Oyster Bay. Anyways, here is the photo:

The tracks here make a tight curve to the north, because the main line runs east and west along the center of Long Island but Oyster Bay is on the north shore. The train takes the main line to Mineola, where it turns sharply to the north to get to Oyster Bay. The line is electrified as far as East Williston, the first station after Mineola. One electric train a day goes that far now, but in the past this was where the third rail ended, and all electric trains went to East Williston to turn around and head back west.

Today, with the way the city has spread and more people are moving east, the railroad had to push east as well and now the electrification extends to Huntington and Ronkonkoma from here, leaving the East Williston electrification as a little-used spur. Diesel trains run the line now, ending at Jamaica to the west. During rush hour, a few longer trains go all the way into Penn Station, made possible by the dual-mode locomotives the railroad purchased about ten years ago. These trains have a locomotive on each end and usually run with six cars, most of the trains on this line have a locomotive on the east end and usually run with three to five cars.

If you're ever on Long Island and want to ride the Long Island Railroad, the Oyster Bay Branch is a nice ride, and goes to a very nice town. And while you're there, don't forget to check out the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum!

Photo of the Week: 9/9/2011

This weekend we remember the tragic events that took place in New York ten years ago. I do not have any photos directly related to the World Trade Center or 9/11, but I thought I'd share another Long Island Railroad photo. I shot this photo in October of last year at the Lynbrook station on the south shore of the island. There is a model train store near the station that I like to go to sometimes, and whenever I go there I make sure to visit the station too. If the photo angle looks familiar, it was taken seconds after the photo in the banner for this website...it is actually the same train.

This train is heading east towards Babylon, where the third rail ends. The two tracks on the right curve away from the Montauk Division main line and go to Long Beach. The junction is actually one station to the west at Valley Stream, the two lines run parallel to each other until Valley Stream. Also at Valley Stream, the West Hempstead and Far Rockaway branches join this line. After Valley Stream, the four track line splits and goes to Jamaica on two different but parallel routes.

The line here is built on an embankment above street level and elevated at the stations. The Pennsylvania Railroad did this project long ago to eliminate grade crossings on the line. I don't think there are any grade crossings between Jamaica and Babylon, but I don't know that for sure. The main line is elevated as far as Floral Park, where the Hempstead branch splits from the main. The Hicksville station is elevated, but the rest of the line is at ground level. The Long Island Railroad has an ongoing grade crossing elimination project going on there, they are building overpasses or underpasses to replace as many grade crossings as possible. The most recently completed project was at Roslyn Road in Mineola.

The Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, New York City Subway System, PATH, New York buses, and all other forms of public transportation in that city continue to run normally, despite what happened ten years ago. Security was beefed up to prevent anything happening in the future, but at the same time the security is in the background and not annoyingly in the way, making it still easy to use public transportation. The World Trade Center subway stations have been rebuilt and trains are running. Despite a tragic loss, the city was able to get back on its feet. While it is good to mourn for a time, it is better to look to the future with hope than to be stuck in the tragic past forever.

Photo of the Week: 6/24/2011

Well, it's Friday again, so time for another photo! It's been a whole month since I've posted a Long Island Railroad photo, so I think it's time for another. This one was shot this past March at the Floral Park station on the LIRR main line. Floral Park is where the Hempstead Branch splits from the main line. All four tracks have platforms, although only one train a day stops there from the main line. All Hempstead Branch trains, which run about hourly in each direction, stop there. Anyways, here is the photo.

This is looking east from the east end of the station. The train on the right is coming off the Hempstead Branch and will stop at Floral Park. The train on the left is actually heading west as well, it is probably going to Jamaica from Oyster Bay. It will not stop at Floral Park. On this particular day they were doing trackwork on the westbound main, so all trains were running on the eastbound track between Merillon Avenue, two stations to the east, and Bellerose, one station to the west. As you can see, this station is elevated. After New Hyde Park, the railroad climbs a grade and rides an embankment to all points west. The stations are elevated with parking underneath.

I was shooting in black and white that day because it was on and off raining. The lighting wasn't great at all, and the photos came out a lot better in black and white than they did in color.

Photo of the Week: 5/27/2011

About a month ago, I did a Photo of the Week post where I talked about Long Island Railroad equipment. Today, after coming back from a trip to Long Island again, I am going to talk about some more LIRR equipment. While it rained most of the time I was there, the sun came out for a few hours one day, just in time for a work train full of rail to come through Mineola. With my camera ready, I ran down to the station and watched it creep through at a snail's pace, while rails were being pulled off the flat cars and dropped between the existing rails for future use. Here is the train:

The train was powered by MP15s, the last switcher-type diesel produced by EMD. Long Island Railroad used them on their diesel passenger trains before the C3 coaches and the DE30AC and DM30AC locomotives came onto the scene. They wore a dark blue and white paint scheme, still visible through the aging light blue and silver they are wearing today. After the railroad replaced the diesel fleet, most of the diesels were sold off. The old cab units, which by that point had been turned into nonpowered cab cars for push pull operation, were scrapped. The GP38s went to New York & Atlantic Railroad, which took over freight operations on Long Island. Some of the MP15s went to NYA as well, but some remained in work service on the LIRR and got a new paint scheme. Many of the coaches were scrapped, but some went to Cape Cod for tourist operations. I believe one or two found their way to museums as well.

Behind this trio of EMDs is a long string of flat cars with racks mounted on them, full of rails. The train would stop, the workers at the end would pull some rail off the train, and the train would creep ahead while the rails were being pulled out. After the rails were pulled out, the train would stop again, and the process would repeat. The rails were being placed between the existing rails, presumably to be installed later. The train moved at less than walking speed, and the brakes made a horrendous screeching sound. It was quite the show.

This photo was taken at the west end of the Mineola platform. The train was heading east on the westbound track, and all the other main line trains were routed around it on the westbound track. This was in the early afternoon, the work train was gone before the afternoon rush hour when both tracks are used for eastbound trains.

Product Review: Walthers B60b Baggage-Express Car

Today I am going to review a Walthers car I bought the other day, a B60b baggage-express car. The B60b was a Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) design, and the fleet was built at the railroad's extensive shop facility in Altoona, PA. Most went to the PRR, although Norfolk & Western bought some and Long Island Railroad (LIRR) also had a small collection. After the big merger, the PRR cars were painted into Penn Central Green, and were retired sometime during that time period. Although they were a unique Pennsylvania design, they were part of the Railway Express Agency (REA) pool and carried express shipments all over North America and could be seen off the PRR system. They were classified as "Messenger" and "Non-Messenger" versions; if a person had to accompany a certain shipment, a Messenger type car was used, and it had a small seating area and bathroom for the person to ride in. Messenger type cars could be identified by a gold star above the car number.

Cosmetics:

My model is a non-messenger version in Long Island Railroad colors, specifically MTA's "Dashing Dan" paint scheme. The car comes without a number, but includes a decal sheet with car numbers available. Ten numbers are available for LIRR, numbers 7715-7724. I numbered my car 7723. The decal film slid off the paper very easily, and fell right into place with minimal adjustment required. All the lettering, including the decals, is crisp and clean. The Dashing Dan logos can be read under magnification. The paint scheme is a simple dark gray, and it matches the dark gray on the real car. According to the drawings, the messenger version cars come equipped with a full interior, but being a baggage car I see no point to this, although it is a nice touch. The rivet details show up very nicely. The undercarriage is mostly complete, all the major components are in place but things like brake piping and other small details are missing.

The doors and undercarriage details are separately applied, all the other details are molded in place except the grab irons. The grab irons are modeler-installed. However, because of the many different car styles over the years, there are different grab irons for different paint schemes. Starter holes are provided for all the grab irons, regardless of what model the car is. I haven't yet installed the grab irons, but studying the drawings to find where they go is difficult, because in many places only one grab iron goes where there are starter holes for three, and it is confusing as to which starter holes are the ones I actually need to use.

Operation:

The car is equipped with working diaphragms, metal wheels, and Proto-Max knuckle couplers. A set of hornhook couplers is provided in the box. The car weighs in at 5.22 ounces, almost exactly at the NMRA recommended 5.25 ounces. Since it is only 60 scale feet long, it can be run on tighter curves than the typical Walthers limit of 22" radius. The paperwork does not say what that limit is, but I would guess it could go around an 18" radius curve.

Overall, I think this car was a good purchase. I am pleased with the level of detail. I especially liked how easy it was to decal the car, in the past Walthers decals were more of a pain to use. I think this car will look great at the head end of any passenger train.

Walthers B60b Baggage-Express Car

Walthers Product Number 932-5873

Long Island Railroad (LIRR), ten roadnumbers available

MSRP $44.98

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-5873

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.

Photo of the Week: 4/1/2011

Today, April 1, brings another foot of snow to New England, canceling my class for today. So rather than study about electrical estimating, I found some spare time to work on model trains, and write this photo of the week post. The photo I chose is from the last time I was in New York, the day after last week's photo was taken. I went to Floral Park and Bellerose to do some railfanning for a change of scene. Floral Park is where the Hempstead Branch splits off from the main, and Bellerose is the location of the famous Bell Interlocking. Both stations have four elevated tracks and position light signals, all reminiscent of the Pennsylvania Railroad days. Anyways, enough talk, here is the photo:

I was shooting in black and white because while it was not raining, it was very overcast and the lighting was horrendous for color photos. It's not perfect for black and white either, but it doesn't look as bad.

This is an Oyster Bay train heading through Bellerose towards Oyster Bay, under the new signal towers that protect Bell Interlocking. The railroad recently rebuilt the interlocking. The trains can now cross between tracks and full speed, and the famous "Bellerose Bump" when the train crosses tracks is now gone. The new tracks all got concrete ties and the signal towers were rebuilt and moved. They left the position light signals up rather than install new colorlight signals, which surprised me, because the railroad has been phasing out the position light signals recently, and this was a golden opportunity to put up new signals here.

Position light signals are interesting. Rather than use different colors like most signals, there are seven lights arranged in a way that three are lit at any given time, and depending on which three are lit determines what the signal means. Three horizontal lights mean the same as a red signal, three diagonal lights mean the same as a yellow signal, and three vertical lights mean the same as a green signal. These signals have several advantages and disadvantages compared to colorlight signals. If one bulb is out, you can still tell what the signal means because the two other lights still show a position. However, it is harder to tell what the signal says from further away, because it is just yellow. The Pennsylvania Railroad developed these signals and used them throughout their system. The Long Island Railroad continues to use them, although they are being phased out.

Photo of the Week: 3/25/2011

It's Friday, and time for another Photo of the Week! First off, I realize I missed this post last week. I was having problems uploading the photo all weekend, and when Monday came around and it still wasn't working I decided to just skip it. So this week's photo is the one I was going to post last week.

I went to Long Island again for a couple of days last week. I made it there in less than 27 hours this time, so I had a little time to do some railfanning. While at Mineola, my regular stomping ground on Long Island, I witnessed a rather unique event where one of the Nassau Tower workers came out of the tower, flagged a train down, and handed off train order forms to the conductor. Of course, I had a camera handy, and took lots of photos of this event. Here is the best one:

The train was coming off the Oyster Bay Branch and stopping at Mineola, so it was going rather slowly. It was headed back to Jamaica when the tower employee came out and stood by the pedestrian crossing. When the train came into view, she walked out to the track and the train stopped. She explained what the paperwork was and handed it off to the conductor. A slow order had been issued between Merillon Avenue and Bellerose. The westbound main track was being worked on, and all trains were using the eastbound track between those points. The track speed had been reduced from 80mph to 35mph for the duration of the track work. After the hand off, the train and the tower employee went their separate ways.

Before the advent of the radio and telephone, this practice was much more common. Back then, most depots had operators who would communicate with the dispatcher by telegraph. The operator would receive the train orders and when the right train appeared, he would go out with a hoop and "hoop" the orders up to the train's crew. It is hard to describe the hoop, but it is basically a long pole which had the orders attached to it. I have a photo of one here. However, with modern radio communications, train crews talk directly to the dispatcher and write down their own orders. The practice of hooping is now obsolete, but still used on a very rare occasion. I do not know why this train got their orders the old fashioned way rather than over the radio, but I was not complaining about the chance to see it happen!

My Longest Trip on the Long Island Railroad

This week's post picks up where last week's post left off. To see last week's post, click here. Last week I talked about riding the Acela to New York on a Sunday, where I would meet James and stay until Tuesday morning, when I would ride the Regional back home.

I arrived at Penn Station about 20 minutes late. That wasn't too much of a problem, the next Long Island Railroad train to Mineola was leaving in another 20 minutes, so I had plenty of time to buy my ticket. I bought my ticket and waited for my train to be announced. A Ronkonkoma train (not stopping at Mineola) was announced, boarded, and left on time. A Babylon train was announced, boarded, and left on time. My train was next. But they weren't announcing it. The scheduled departure time came and went, and still no word about my Huntington train. Then the announcer came on the loudspeaker and said that Long Island service east from Penn Station is suspended until further notice.

I needed a plan B. I figured, they only said service west of Penn Station was suspended, so I figured I'd take the subway out to Jamaica and try my luck there. I bought a Metrocard and got on the E line, which goes from the World Trade Center, through Penn Station, and out to Jamaica, which is in Queens. Jamaica is Long Island's busiest stop, all their lines except the Port Washington line go through Jamaica. I got off the subway, exited through the turnstiles, and was greeted by a pile of snow...underground. It was snowing so much and the wind was blowing so hard that snow had blown right into the subway station. I went up the snow covered staircase and ended up on the street...only there was so much snow that it was not recognizable as a street anymore. I went into the Jamaica terminal only to find out that all service had been suspended "until further notice." I was not the only stranded passenger, there were hundreds of others in that train station. I figured the AirTrain terminal would be less crowded, so I made my way upstairs to get there.

When you go upstairs, there is a long hallway that goes over the eight station tracks at Jamaica and connects them all together and to the AirTrain terminal. This hallway is roofed so it is protected from most weather but it is still technically outdoors. I had only ever been there on nice days before, so I always considered it to be indoors. However, when I went upstairs, everything was covered in snow and it was freezing cold because the roof turned the whole hallway into a wind tunnel. I trudged through the snow drifts and made my way through all the blowing snow and after what seemed like forever I reached the fully enclosed AirTrain terminal. By this point it was almost midnight, and I was hungry. I braved the elements and went outside to find a place to eat. I found place that had just opened that day and was open for 24 hours, so I grabbed a bite to eat there and went back to the AirTrain terminal. At that point there was nothing else to do except try to get comfortable for the night, as there were no trains, buses, or taxis running and I was still ten miles from my destination.

I did not sleep well that night. I was on a tile floor with no padding and there were hundreds of stranded people all around me. My biggest worry was about something getting stolen while I was asleep, but fortunately that did not happen. I went to the same place for breakfast that morning, and then tried to find out what was going on. It had stopped snowing and the sun was out, but the wind was still blasting the bitter cold air everywhere you went and New York was under two feet of snow. Trains, buses, and taxis were still not running. I had no choice but to wait.

Finally, buses started running, but only as frequently as they could dig them out of the snow. Nothing was running on a schedule, you just had to go to the nearest bus stop and hope one comes before it got dark. That is exactly what I did. I found my way to a bus stop for a bus to Nassau county and waited. The bus stop was near a store, so I went inside to get away from the wind. There I met some other people waiting for the same bus. They told me they had been waiting there for five hours and no Nassau bus had come yet. But I had no choice except to wait for the bus, so I did.

An hour later, around 2pm, a bus to Nassau County came. All of us in the store crowded onto the already packed bus and went on our way. The bus stops at the Mineola train station, which is where I would get off. I called James and told him to meet me there. The bus was crowded and slow, but at least I was finally going somewhere. On the way to Mineola, we passed other snowed-in cars and buses. One bus had been pulling out from a bus stop when a plow passed it, snowing it in. The bus was just left there, there was nowhere it could go. Fortunately, nothing like that happened to my bus, and I eventually showed up in Mineola. James was there to meet me and drive me to our grandparents house just down the street. When I arrived, I added up my travel time. 27 hours to get from Nashua to Garden City. By this point I was hungry and tired, and didn't stay up very late. I went to bed that night, knowing I'd be getting up the next day to go back home.

Tuesday morning dawned with good news from the Long Island Railroad. Limited service was running on the Huntington, Ronkonkoma, and Babylon lines. One train every hour was running on each line in each direction. Mineola is on both the Huntington and Ronkonkoma lines, so we figured there would be half hour service at Mineola. Not quite. While we were buying our tickets, three westbound trains went by. When we were ready to board a train, we waited two hours for the next one. When it finally came, it didn't stop. We waited another half hour or so before getting on the train. We figured this would happen and left a lot earlier than we really needed to on a normal day, so we made it to Penn Station with a little time to spare. However, the train back to Boston was late, which was good because it bought us a little time.

We made the Regional train and rode back to Boston relatively uneventfully. We got the T to Lowell and met our Mom there, who brought is back to Nashua, safe and sound.

Regarding the title of this post, I guess I never really took the Long Island Railroad to get to my grandparents house, but I had planned on it! All the photos in this post and more are viewable in a Facebook photo album located here.

Photo of the Week: 12/18/2010 (Introduction)

I am going to start a new weekly column on here, called "Photo of the Week." I am doing this for several reasons. First, I enjoy photography, both rail related and not, and I think this would be a good way to share my rail related photos. Second, it adds more interest to this blog, particularly to those who enjoy photography as I do. Third, it helps break up the potential monotony of product reviews, trip reports, and modeling tips. Today is Saturday, and I will kick it off today, but starting next week it will be an every Friday post. These posts will not be published as Facebook notes; however, I will be posting the photos in a new Facebook album, viewable here.

Today's photo comes from last August, when I was on Long Island visiting my grandparents. My dad and I took the train out to Port Jefferson because we wanted to see the waterfront there. Of course, before we walked down to the water, we had to wait for our train to head back west so we could photograph it. This photo is a result of that.

At first, I was standing further back from the crossing. When the truck pulled up, I had to move closer. Then the biker showed up right in front of me, and I wasn't sure the photo would turn out well with him in the way. I didn't even notice him waving to the train until I got home and looked at the photos on the computer, and I saw that the biker really added to the photo. The train is operating in push mode towards New York, so that is the front of the train. The location is the Main Street crossing in Port Jefferson, NY, adjacent to the station.