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Started by Vince 18 posts 13 min read

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Reading Topic #27209

VinceCharter Member · 874 posts

Just a small teaser to let you know that a railroad in the northeast is presently under construction. This has the potential to be tied into the Northeast Corridor rail system.
Presently about 80 or so milse of track laid.
Those in the know will recognize what railroad this is from the pic.

Regards,
Vince Cockeram
Author: NECv4 Route;
Now enjoyed by over 10,000 Train Simmers!

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RE: Under Construction, whleighton, Mar-22-05, 06:28 PM, (1) RE: Under Construction, Vince, Mar-22-05, 07:50 PM, (2) RE: Under Construction, CARex, Mar-22-05, 07:54 PM, (3) RE: Under Construction, Vince, Mar-22-05, 08:19 PM, (4) RE: Under Construction, GRS504, Mar-22-05, 09:28 PM, (5) RE: Under Construction, Vince, Mar-22-05, 10:03 PM, (6) RE: Under Construction, jeffrofish, Mar-22-05, 10:25 PM, (7) RE: Under Construction, GRS504, Mar-22-05, 10:39 PM, (8) RE: Under Construction, jeffrofish, Mar-22-05, 11:33 PM, (9) RE: Under Construction, Ironhorse2k4, Mar-23-05, 01:23 AM, (10) RE: Under Construction, charlie, Mar-23-05, 07:02 AM, (11) RE: Under Construction, whleighton, Mar-23-05, 07:52 AM, (12) RE: Under Construction, NS_Pittsburg, Mar-23-05, 08:02 AM, (13) RE: Under Construction, Vince, Mar-23-05, 04:35 PM, (15) RE: Under Construction, jeffrofish, Mar-23-05, 04:31 PM, (14) RE: Under Construction, Vince, Mar-23-05, 05:38 PM, (16) RE: Under Construction, keiffer, Mar-23-05, 10:04 PM, (17)

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VinceCharter Member · 874 posts

RE: Under Construction

You could tell by the tree right? (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
Location correct.It's not NYCTA but a real railroad. Modeled circa 1950.Anyone else?

Regards,
Vince Cockeram
Author: NECv4 Route;
Now enjoyed by over 10,000 Train Simmers!

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VinceCharter Member · 874 posts

RE: Under Construction

Ahh yes, but this is the actual Nostrand Ave station. . .at the intersection of Atlantic and Nostrand Avenue. Hint: it's an elevated structure.

Regards,
Vince Cockeram
Author: NECv4 Route;
Now enjoyed by over 10,000 Train Simmers!

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jeffrofishMember since Sep-8-04 · 16 posts

RE: Under Construction

Aha! At last, a LIRR route!This is the LIRR line into Brooklyn, along Atlantic Avenue.Are you doing the route from it's beginning at Flatbush Avenue terminal?How far East are you going.....80 miles will take you well past Ronkonkoma (KO, in LIRR lingo) if you take the main, or out past Patchogue if you take the Montauk Branch.Either one would feature both diesel and electric passenger trains, plus some good freight activity. Are you including the Jamaica station complex? Morris Park? Holban Yard? The Divide at Hicksville? The Ronkonkoma Wye?As a life-long Long Islander, I'm waiting in eager anticipation. If it's half as large and as intricate as the NEC4, I'll be in "juice jack heaven". Any E.T.A. in sight yet?I also have a pretty good knowledge of the LIRR's history, and access to a LIRR historian and author. If you need any assistance, I'll be happy to help.Thanks for all your time, effort, and contributions!Jeff

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jeffrofishMember since Sep-8-04 · 16 posts

RE: Under Construction

It looks like we're looking West from the Nostrand Avenue station. Ahead, the line curves to the right and drops down into the tunnel leading past the below-ground level yard and on to the Flatbush Avenue station.Vince, are you going to model that old armory building, which would be just ahead of us and to the left in this shot? And I imagine the now-abandoned Woodhaven underground station will be open, as it was circa 1950.Man, I'm getting excited just thinking about this. I've been waiting for an LIRR route for years! I can just hear motors of the old double decker winding up as I ease through the interlocking out of Jamaica, past the Morris Park facility, and then open her up as I head down into the tunnel. My ears are popping already!Keep us all posted, and just post a note on the board if you need help with LIRR "trivia" or anything.Jeff, again.

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Ironhorse2k4Member since Dec-8-04 · 43 posts

RE: Under Construction

looks pretty cools so far. you say this might connect to the nec some how? where exactly? and is this the "mystery elevated route" that has been seen when downloading those old downtown buildings in the objects section of the file libarry?. the elevated tracks are on this green elevevated structure.

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whleightonCharter Member · 553 posts

RE: Under Construction

The only way I could see that happening is if Vince comes out with NEC 5.0 that goes all the way into Pennsylvania Station or is this just wishful thinking?Bill

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VinceCharter Member · 874 posts

RE: Under Construction

I'll try to answer your questions.Jeff;
Yep, thats the Nostrand Avenue station on the elevated structure on Atlantic Avenue.
How far east? All the way to Montauk on the south fork and Greenport on the north fork including all branch lines in operation in 1950.
Modeled in the 1950's so you gets diesel, electric AND steam!Am I modeling Jamaica?
Now Jeff, what would the LIRR be without Jamaica? Yes Jamaica is included. In fact the first piece of track I installed was Jamaica track 1. Jamaica trackwork is complete (wanted to do the hard stuff first) as is the line to Flatbush Avenue terminal (still working on the terminal and yard tracks. I include a pic from the AE showing the completed Jamaica Station trackwork.
Romans Y-Tracks were used for the many doubleslip switches here.
Thank you Roman! The Atlantic branch, Atlantic Avenue terminal to and through Jamaica track work is complete.
Marcel Despont's elevated bridges kit, (de_elbr_1,2,3.zip in the FL) were OK for the elevated structure but the color. . .hmm, so I tried my hand at re-coloring (skinning?) to a color more appropriate for Brooklyn elevated structure. . .dirty grey. I also would like to skin the deck surface to look more like wood ties, dirty wood ties but have not figured out how to do this so it looks good yet. Like I say, I'm not skilled at skinning but the result is better that the lime green. No disrespect Marcel thanks for your work. Main line tracks west from Jamaica completed to WIN tower near the Woodhaven Station.
Main line east as far as Queens Village.
Atlantic branch tracks installed to Far Rockaway.
Long Beach branch trackwork completed.
Montauk branch tracks laid west to Glendale and east to Seaford are installed.
Rego Park Whitepot Junction to Rockaway Park across Jamaica Bay and Far Rockaway tracks completed. This line across Jamaica Bay is (was) carried on a wood trestle. Phil Voxland's bridges were perfect for this but are very labor intensive. Each trestle piece is 20 meters long and the line requires about 6 or 7 miles of continious bridge.

Morris Park shops trackwork and two turntables are complete.
Have not yet started on the Holban Yards. In fact all the tracks and yards west of Jamaica with the exception of Sunnyside Yard are complete. (I shudder at the thought of modeling Sunnyside Yard) OK, thats basically whats been done. Still so much to do and it's slow going too. For example, I spent about 8 hours yesterday getting the area where the Atlantic brance west of East New York station emerges from the tunnel to elevated structure to look just right. Michael Vone's Object Rotator was invalueable to get this done. Thanks Mike!
It will also ease the pain of installing 7 miles of wood trestle across Jamaica Bay not to mention the track from Far Rockaway to Rockaway Park (about 5 miles) that runs on a concrete viaduct.To answer Ironhorse2k4;
The LIRR connects with the NEC through the four East River Tunnels, through New York Penn Station then through the two Bergan Tunnels under the Hudson River.
There is also a connection over the Hell Gate Bridge to the New Haven Line to Boston. The Acela runs from Boston over the Hell Gate through the East River Tunnels, Penn Station, Bergan Tunnels and then south to Philadelphia and Washington.
Good Lord! If we ever hooked up the NEC to the LIRR and Joe's MBTA we'd need a Cray supercomputer to run it. To NS_Pittsburg; Joe, Babylon is on the Montauk branch and in the 1950's was where electric service terminated. East of there was steam.
Here's a couple of trivia question about Babylon I'll throw out for anyone who may have an answer;
What was the "Mystery Train From Babylon"?
What was it's scheduled departure time?
How did it get it's name?
How was it's "return" celebrated?
Hint: This was in the 1970'sAnother trivia question: By what name in the 70's and 80's was the LIRR known?
Hint: A precious metal was part of the name.
No, NOT the Route of Dashing Dan. (that was in the 50's and 60's. Building this route is a lot different than the NEC4 because I grew up living with the LIRR. Much time spent playing around the live third rails (650 volts DC) in the Jamaica Yards. Funny we never got chased by the cops, in fact we never saw any cops. Rode the train every sunday from Rosedale to Nostrand Ave. to church and later to my job in NYC.Jeff, I'll take you up on that offer of assistance (and anyone else who has relevant info on the LIRR). I have been collecting information ever since I completed the NEC4 and do have lots of photos and satellite photographs of the entire route. I have track charts of almost everything west of Jamaica and east as far as Mineola
but not much east of that point. (Nassau Tower) More trivia: Did you know that the Nassau Interlocking at Mineola was an "Armstrong" interlocking machine until the late 70's? By Armstrong I mean a manual interlocking controlling a two track junction.
I was invited up into the tower and these towermen were BIG! They had to be to muscle the manually operated switches and crossover frogs. It was hell in the winter they tell me, using a blowtorch to keep the control rods from freezing. They did have natural gas switch heaters but the control rods connecting the interlocking machine to the switches were a real bear to keep working in freezing weather.I will try to give monthly updates on progress but I not rushing this. It's only just me working on this and I work kinda slow.
Back to pounding spikes.

Regards,
Vince Cockeram
Author: NECv4 Route;
Now enjoyed by over 10,000 Train Simmers!

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jeffrofishMember since Sep-8-04 · 16 posts

RE: Under Construction

There are several ways this route could connect to the NEC, or rather to an extended version of the NEC, since the ones we have now end at Philadelphia. (The only other section being from Boston to Providence)Vince mentioned he has laid about 80 miles of track, but he did not indicate whether this was all in a line, say, from the Flatbush Avenue Terminal to Babylon, Huntington or Ronkonkoma, or simply a lot of tracks contained in a smaller geographic area. There is no NEC connection from the LIRR's Flatbush Terminal, so perhaps Vince is modeling the entire Western portion of Long Island, in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. This would include direct connections to the Southbound NEC via the East River tunnels, Penn Station, and the Hudson River tunnels. Or, the route could include Sunnyside yard and the Hell's Gate bridge, which would directly connect to the Northbound NEC. This scenario would make the new route similar to Teemu's NNJ route, but on the East side of the Hudson. This opens up some interesting possibilities. The LIRR used to get freight by barges across the Hudson from, guess where? Teemu's NNJ! So, theoretically, one could transport cars by rail on the NNJ to a float dock, then barge them across the Hudson to the old LIRR float terminals in Bay Ridge or Long Island City, if they are included in Vince's new creation. One could envision a set of activities starting on one route and ending on the other, with the same consists being hauled by different loco power.Either way, if you look at all the trackage and connections in Vince's NEC4, I think we're all in for a treat. There would be lots of LIRR commuter traffic, PRR trains either being serviced and turned at Sunnyside or continuing North towards Boston, and freight coming across Hell Gate from the North, or barged in from the South.Again, for a life-long LIRR fan, this is all very intriguing! Jeff

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VinceCharter Member · 874 posts

RE: Under Construction

LAST EDITED ON Mar-23-05 AT 05:52 PM (EST)

Jeff,The 80 miles of track mentioned are mostly contained in Brooklyn and Queens as I want to get the complex portions done first.
Here is the 'big picture'. As you can see the main line is only done to the Babylon line cutoff and the Montauk line is done up to about Freeport / Seaford area.If you have any geo coordinates of towns and stations along the route they would be helpful. Track maps/charts of ANYTHING east of whats already been done are also needed. I've got some old maps, some dating back to the early 1900's but while they do show some sidings along the route they are not very detailed.Also I not clear when the Lynbrook station was elevated. I do know that Valley Stream was elevated in the 1930's but Lynbrook is a question.
Right now I have it up in the air because I seem to remember it had an Art Deco look but this could have been from consuming too many White Castle hamburgers at the Lynbrook station. EDIT: Correction; Map label "Rockville Center" should read "Lynbrook"

Regards,
Vince Cockeram
Author: NECv4 Route;
Now enjoyed by over 10,000 Train Simmers!

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