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Post by backshophoss on May 20, 2017 21:23:19 GMT -5
This is still in the "early" discussion phase,MTA may lease some the MARC cars that were on lease to SEPTA
to cover some of the trains to Greenport and to Montauk to ease the current lack of cars for the thru trains
to/from NY Penn.
The MARC cars would run on the Ronkonkoma/Greenport shuttles and Babylon-Montauk shuttles and possibly
on some trains that normally end their runs at Hunterspoint Ave/Long Island City stations in Brooklyn.
This will allow adding a few more cars to the "CannonBall" to Montauk and easing overload/standees problems
due not enough cars available in the first place
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Post by antoniofp45 on May 21, 2017 19:24:47 GMT -5
Interesting. Please forgive my ignorance. I'm an ex-New Yorker and it seemed that the LIRR had plenty of cars in their fleet. I remember reading a few years ago that there were plans to retire a batch of the cars. Did they pull an "Amtrak" and retire too many cars at once without having an equal or greater number of replacements arriving within a short time? This is still in the "early" discussion phase,MTA may lease some the MARC cars that were on lease to SEPTA to cover some of the trains to Greenport and to Montauk to ease the current lack of cars for the thru trains to/from NY Penn. The MARC cars would run on the Ronkonkoma/Greenport shuttles and Babylon-Montauk shuttles and possibly on some trains that normally end their runs at Hunterspoint Ave/Long Island City stations in Brooklyn. This will allow adding a few more cars to the "CannonBall" to Montauk and easing overload/standees problems due not enough cars available in the first place |
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Post by backshophoss on May 21, 2017 21:13:12 GMT -5
LIRR retired the entire 600 VDC HEP fleet about the same time as the C-3 bi-level cars went on line,
and "surplussed" the C-1 prototype bi-level fleet at the same time to boot.
They(LIRR) never figured on the growth of ridership on the Oyster Bay,Port Jefferson,and Montauk branches.
They finally admitted they did not order/build enough C-3's or even think about updating the C-1 fleet to
work with the DE/DM 30's and the C-3 cars.
Hillside Shop is geared to Maintaining the M-3/M-7 EMU fleets,the C-3's are oddities to some of the workers there.
There were some M-3's that were wrecked beyond repair,that are now about to be scrapped.
MN has just finished scrapping most of the M-2/M-4/M-6 cars,only about 9 pairs of M-2's still used on rush hour trains
Most of the C-1's were picked up by Iowa Pacific for use on their "tourist train" services
The 600 VDC HEP cars(MP 72's/75's)were the LAST major project done at the Morris Park Shop complex,
as the M-1's went on line,the older MU cars were converted to push-pull coaches and parlor cars,
allowing the Hodge-podge fleet of 2nd hand steam heated passenger cars to be retired.
The 2 ex EL obs cars were picked up by MN and turned into HEP inspection cars.
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Post by rails4dmv on May 21, 2017 23:17:50 GMT -5
You know what's so sad about all of this. LIRR is looking to expand service in the coming years. Floral Park - Hicksville third track, double tracking to Ronk., access to GCT, possible new rail tunnel to Conn. on the east end of LI, & possible a new rail yard in Port Jeff.
All this money spent on expansion, EIS studies, paying NIMBYs off, and the MTA/LIRR didn't think ahead to order enough cars to run their current schedules & may have to lease trains?
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Post by backshophoss on Jun 23, 2017 22:51:25 GMT -5
It's reported that a set of 8 cars(7 coaches+1 Cab car) is enroute or about to interchanged to the LIRR this weekend.
After some mods to the cab signal setup,crew training and a 38 point to 27 point "cheater MU cable" is tested.
The "plan" for this set is use on a Port Jeff-LIC turn,supposed to be train 613 Port Jeff to LIC in the AM,
Train 664 LIC to Port Jeff in the PM.
This is subject to change at any time.
Depending on how this summer plays out,2 or more MARC sets next year for summer use.
An update: a cab car and 3 coaches were dropped by Amtrak on line 3 near Hunterspoint Ave,LIRR sent a pair of MP-15's
to fetch them,should be at Morris Park for tests with a DE 30 this week.Wander thru "youtube" for at least 4 clips
of the cars passing thru Woodside to Morris Park. Cab car is facing east.
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Post by backshophoss on Jul 1, 2017 0:39:46 GMT -5
Well the MARC set is confirmed on the train #'s 613/664(Port Jeff Branch) pairing,reportedly Amtrak is bringing 3 more cars tonight(or this weekend)
LIRR created a pair of MU "cheater" cables to "top and tail" this set with 2 DE30's,as Marc will not allow the Cab cars to modded for
LIRR's ASC
The normal set on this is 6 C-3's(5 coaches+cab car) that will wind up on Montauk Branch runs.
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Post by backshophoss on Jul 17, 2017 18:32:48 GMT -5
Take with a dose of doubt salt,as this is controlled by Murdock,The NY Post reports some of the A/C's on the MARC cars have failed. www.nypost.com |
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Post by backshophoss on Oct 29, 2017 22:39:15 GMT -5
After the Labor day holiday,most of the MARC cars were sent home,there was some test runs done with the remaining cars with
a DE-30 and a C-3 Cab Car. Results are unknown at this time. The testing was based at Hunterspoint Ave/LIC yard and the Port Jefferson Branch.
IN Nov from Speonk to Montauk,The Montauk Branch will turn into CTC territory,leaving the KO to Greenport section of
the Main Line as the "Last" Dark territory operating under Manual Block Rules with passenger service.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 13, 2018 2:58:07 GMT -5
The MARC Cars are due to return this year to LIRR,NJT is also leasing some of MARC Cars to deal with a cab cars shortage for ACSES installs,
and Software problems that cropped up after installation.
Due to the "Summer of H@@l" round 2,and a bridge rebuild needed at DV due to Sandy damage,Amtrak is testing 3 MARC Cab cars for running into GCT.
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 15, 2018 10:05:33 GMT -5
Time to bring the FL9's out of mothballs.
With the LIRR extension coming into GCT eventually, I hope that some form of limited Amtrak service will become permanent out of GCT.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 15, 2018 16:41:06 GMT -5
That has gone to the backburner,as ConnDOT did NOT do a deal with NYSDOT on reactivating some stored units at New Haven,reportedly the 6 FL-9's are headed to a scrapper.  This year's work is a bridge repair at DV(barge strike + leftover Sandy Damage) and rail replacement on parts of the W30 th st branch (aka,empire connection)and the tunnel into NY Penn Main 2 There are 3 MARC Cab Cars leased to Amtrak at Albany,and a summer reroute of the Lake Shore Ltd to Boston S Station this round. Basicly GCT-Albany will be a Shuttle train service this summer. LIRR should get about 15 cars this year,as NJT is leasing 20 cars and sending a GP-40 to MARC as Trade material. |
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 16, 2018 13:24:16 GMT -5
Amazingly shortsighted! I know those FL-9's were at the end of their lives but considering how much shortage of equipment Amtrak/ConnDot/LIRR seem to always have, one of those agencies should have refurbished those old locomotives and stored them somewhere safe, especially being dual powered.
If Amtrak could provide a GCT to Boston MA one seat ride, I'll be the first one on board if it meant I can stay the heck out of Penn Station.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 16, 2018 18:53:33 GMT -5
The FL-9's that are stored at New Haven were reportedly "Barefooted" had all the 3rd rail gear stripped off,add to that ConnDOT is short on
$$$$$,the lease would have been a good deal after getting burned on the MBB car lease from MBTA for the New Haven-Hartford Springfield service
starting in May 2018 as was last reported on RR.net
ConnDOT got stuck with rebuilding the MBB cars from the ground up!
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 17, 2018 1:10:33 GMT -5
I wonder why ConnDOT didn't considered leasing the old Comet cars from NJ Transit for the new Springfield service...I guess NJ Transit wanted some serious money for ConnDOT not to consider them.
I remember those old MBTA cars. I think MBTA bought those cars from some German firm.
Considering how some transit agencies passenger car fleets are more than 40 years old, those MBTA cars that were built in the 80's barely lasted 25 years before rust & rot got to them.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 17, 2018 3:07:37 GMT -5
Not sure if the NJT Comet I's at Bay Head are road legal or scrap fodder due to Sandy for starters.
Seem to be used as a windbreak for the yard there.
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