I am surprised no one has said anything about it here.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
It's always good to see improvements being made on NYS commuter railroad infrastructure. The Long Island Railroad is certainly used heavily.
I have to question the Governor's press release's claim of "70 years of stagnation" though. While I was living on the South shore of Long Island, the LIRR elevated much of the Babylon line, which required new stations too. While that happened a while ago, I don't think it was 70 years.
C W Burfle posted:It's always good to see improvements being made on NYS commuter railroad infrastructure. The Long Island Railroad is certainly used heavily.
I have to question the Governor's press release's claim of "70 years of stagnation" though. While I was living on the South shore of Long Island, the LIRR elevated much of the Babylon line, which required new stations too. While that happened a while ago, I don't think it was 70 years.
I would have to agree. I have vague visual memories of seeing the work happening on this line along Sunrise Highway when I was a small child in the mid to late 70's.
Primarily I probably saw the short distance from roughly Wantagh to Massapequa near the Sunrise Mall.
The old grade crossings were probably still in operation at the time (again, I have vague mental images of gates and flashers along the route), I don't think what I saw was just "clean up" work after the trains started using the elevated line.
-Dave
http://www.trainsarefun.com/li...singeliminations.htm
Scroll down to the first color photo. Then read the blurb.
The third track project was on life support and almost was not approved until two weeks ago. I live in central Nassau County and have been following this closely. The NIMBYism that has surrounded this project has been off the charts. Fortunately the State Senate leadership saw that the needs of the region were much bigger than the objections of some of the Villages along the ROW. They all have however gotten their own pet projects funded as part of the project as a condition of their signing off on the project.
It's about time the State put money into the LIRR and its infrastructure. I did see recently that the Gateway funding is in limbo too as it has been cut out of Trump's budget proposal. Looks like it will get restored though.
Dave45681 posted:C W Burfle posted:It's always good to see improvements being made on NYS commuter railroad infrastructure. The Long Island Railroad is certainly used heavily.
I have to question the Governor's press release's claim of "70 years of stagnation" though. While I was living on the South shore of Long Island, the LIRR elevated much of the Babylon line, which required new stations too. While that happened a while ago, I don't think it was 70 years.I would have to agree. I have vague visual memories of seeing the work happening on this line along Sunrise Highway when I was a small child in the mid to late 70's.
Primarily I probably saw the short distance from roughly Wantagh to Massapequa near the Sunrise Mall.
The old grade crossings were probably still in operation at the time (again, I have vague mental images of gates and flashers along the route), I don't think what I saw was just "clean up" work after the trains started using the elevated line.
-Dave
I grew up in Baldwin in the 60's and remember the work going on in the late 60's early 70's.
Arthur P. Bloom posted:http://www.trainsarefun.com/li...singeliminations.htm
Scroll down to the first color photo. Then read the blurb.
Thanks for that link!
Based on the dates listed with that photo, I am sure I am just remembering the Massapequa Park part of the construction since it wasn't fully completed until 1980. I was just using the city references in my original post since that's roughly the stretch of Sunrise I would have been riding along to get from my parent's house to the mall. All the others near me were complete before I was born it seems.
There is a slim chance I saw the Merrick and Bellmore too, but I would have been very young. I probably saw the MP work during a lot of trips to the mall over the years.
-Dave
I grew up in Seaford and remember the Bellmore and Merrick work in the late 60's. As a kid I thought it was new, modena and exciting. I also remember Massapequa Park being ripped apart in the 70s. Looked like match sticks. The one I remember the most though, is not on the South Shore but in Garden City, Nassau Blvd., where four of my high school classmates and three other people were killed in May of 1982. It is now a raised crossing. May they rest in peace. Miketg
Miketg posted:I grew up in Seaford and remember the Bellmore and Merrick work in the late 60's. As a kid I thought it was new, modena and exciting. I also remember Massapequa Park being ripped apart in the 70s. Looked like match sticks. The one I remember the most though, is not on the South Shore but in Garden City, Nassau Blvd., where four of my high school classmates and three other people were killed in May of 1982. It is now a raised crossing. May they rest in peace. Miketg
Miketg- anyone who was around then remembers that horrific and tragic wreck. Sorry to hear it hit you so close to home.
The third track project on the LIRR Main Line is going to remove another 7 grade crossings through the area.
The LIRR in many ways has always been a kind of a stepchild, so it is nice they are investing in it, I can remember back in the 70's how bad it was, how much bad press it got, and remember reading that the 1950's were even worse....
A half dozen or so comments had to be edited or deleted by the admins because of political comments....thus rather than letting the thread get deleted, it is now closed.
