LINKS 

LIRR Proto Info

Model Railroad Talk podcasts

Car Load Modeling Estimates 7/25/2010
Modeling Moving Freight  1/26/2005 by Jon Cure
Waybills 10/05/2007
Modeling Air Brake Inspection 2/09/2007
LIRR Decal Info  7/23/2006
MP-75 Pass Car Info 6/29/2006
Caboose Colors 5/11/05
Pass Paint Schemes 05/11/2005
Patchogue Crew Messages 2/06/2005
E. Williston Station 1/18/2005
LIRR Colors 11/25/2004
LIRR 1950 Car Loads Chart
1969 % Freight Cars In Use
Modeling Car Types 1992
LIRR MOW Gondola
Newspaper Rolls 12/13/2004
MU "54" Series Car Info 11/06/2003
Modeling LIRR Tugs 11/09/2003
Patchogue Car Types
Patchogue Industries 11/11/2003
Brooklyn/Queens Industry
LIRR Freight Yards
1959 Telephone Listings
Modeling Short Trains
Caboose Servicing
RDC Info
Weathering Q-Tips
Athearn SEICO Boxcar
FMC Itel Boxcar
55 Gal. Drum Color Info
Telephone Poles Info
Painting People
Mixing Dirt Paint
Embedded Tracks
Decal Printing Tip
Misc. RR Dates
HO Car Weights
Scenery Tricks & Tips
Humorous Industry Names
Storage Label Tip
Airbrush Troubleshoot 11/22/2004

Model Railroading Main Page

Here you will find links to LIRR and other rail line modeling via prototype and model photos, maps, charts and
other related info for your railroading and modeling enjoyment.

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    What's New Last Updated: 01/14/2025

Modeling Amityville - The CANNON BALL Fall 2024 Sunrise Trail Division, Northeast Region NMRA 1/14/2025
Playing Trains With The Boys - RMLI 2019 by Ron Hollander  3/06/2024
Modeling Islip - The CANNON BALL Winter 2023 Sunrise Trail Division, Northeast Region NMRA 2/24/2024
Modeling Mineola - The CANNON BALL, Sunrise Trail Division, Northeast Region NMRA 2/24/2024
Modeling Patchogue - The CANNON BALL, Sunrise Trail Division, Northeast Region NMRA 2/24/2024
Operations Special Interest Group (Op SIG) LIRR Industry List 9/08/2023
Timothy Howell's LIRR Ready To Run and Kit Model lists 9/05/2023
David Smith's G Scale ALCO RS-3 #1556 Garden Railroading News 6/27/2023
Joseph Siciliano's LIRR Modeling 4/28/2023
Canvas Tarps by Steven Lynch 4/02/2023
Patchogue Section House drawing by Steven Lynch 4/02/2023
Rotary Snowplow #193 8/10/2022
John Ciesla's NASSAU Tower 6/20/2022
Martin Quinn's Montauk Station 4/23/2022
Art Single's LIRR Model Railroad 10/11/2020
DM30  truck 3rd rail shoe 10/09/2020
GE 44 Ton Diesel Switcher - Tsunami Soundtrack TSU-100 Mini-decoder Install by Dean Apostal 6/05/2020
Lake Jennings BSA Troop 325, Model Design and Building Badge reference 4/02/2020
ALCO C420 LIRR smoke lifters 4/01/2020
Nick Kalis' Lower Montauk Branch 11/21/2017
Art Single's LIRR model 12/01/16
A First Proto Scratch Build - GN Boxcar 12/04/2015
Mike Boland Walther's Interlocking Tower 12/5/2012
Richard Glueck's 1/12th Scale LIRR N52A  #43  7/31/2011
LIRR Diamond Crossing Sign 07/01/2011
LIRR LIST "Semaphore" MODELER ARTICLES by Mike Boland  1/09/2010
LIRR NX23A Hacks  7/05/2009
LIRR Caboose #14 Restoration from The Keystone Vol. 37 No.1-2 Spring 2004 7/08/2008
PRR Brunswick Green from The Keystone Vol. 38 No.1  6/23/2008 
 

FRA lettering diagram boxcar/refrigerator

Published in The CANNON BALL Fall 2024
Sunrise Trail Division, Northeast Region NMRA
by Steven Lynch

HO LIRR - Freight & MOW

N LIRR - Steam &  Diesel

Modeling this car began with an extended eBay/online search for a undecorated 50' plug/sliding door box. Having finally found one; the following was added:

1. Kadee couplers
2. MU hoses
3. Coupler lift bars
4. Brass roof walk
5. Metal trucks
6. New Ladders and stirrups
7. Sprayed for "Big Sky Blue"
8. Decal sets applied: ACF data, safety stripes, herald, data, end numbers, etc. (19 separate pieces per side)
9. Light weathering
10. Dullcoat sealed

It's an early Spring day in late March 1972 at the Delaware & Hudson Railroad main classification yard in Oneonta, NY.  Housed here were the engine shops/repair/rebuild facilities, a 180° roundhouse, major classification yard, etc. in days gone by. 

The yard at this time is in serious decay as many RIP tracks are full, the roundhouse is abandoned, and very few employees/activities are in evidence.

This car, spotted further east of the main yard, was still in active revenue service and I found it intriguing; thus my first freight car photo.  Steven Lynch

Model Railroad Planning 2003 - Timesaver

Facing & Trailing Turnouts

Modeling the Long Island's Cannon Ball by: Doug Nelson - MR October 2006
LIRR Interlocking Tower- Locust Valley by: Andrew Victors - MR April 1999
South Farmingdale Shelter by: Guy Martin & James Van Tassell, MR April, 1963
Scratch building the Jamaica Depot Article by: Jerry Strangarity RMC Dec 1993
LIRR Alco-GE 100 ton Boxcab Switcher #401 by: Tom Busack MR Sept 1981
LIRR RS1 Article by: Frank Cicero RMC Mar 1997
LIRR SW1001 Article by: Frank Cicero RMC May 1996

LIRR GP38-2 Article by: Frank Cicero RMC Feb 1994
LIRR Gondola 2751 Semaphore April 1993
LIRR Caboose #14 Restoration The Keystone Vol. 38 No.1-2

FM #2001 Z scale 
Photo: John Bartolotto

C420 #212 Z scale 
Photo: John Bartolotto

 
LIRR C420 #200

Note how the the gray goes about 5" or more in front of the notch of the radiator well.  What it's not showing is how it arced across the top, but it wasn't squared off.  
Info/photo: John Scala

LIRR Diesel Engine Units 05/30/08

The correct typeface for LIRR graphic elements such a station signage and rolling stock lettering is Helvetica Bold, or Helvetica 75 Bold, or Helvetica Neue Bold (they're all basically the same; even the most finicky of graphic designers probably couldn't tell which is which just by looking at them).

That's the official standard. Out in the real world, it's not that neat. For example, the M7s appear to use something heavier than 75 but lighter than 95 (Black). 
Info: Jim aka Erie-Lackawanna

LIRR 0-6-0 Class B51-53b
LIRR Steam Engines 6/18/2008

LIRR "fantasy" MOW Russell Plow 
LIRR Modeling MOW 8/18/2008

LIRR N5 Caboose #1
LIRR Caboose' 5/30/2008

LIRR Modeling Pass/Mail/Baggage Cars 6/22/2008

Proto - Modeling Info

 Transition Rail joiner
LIRR 03/09/1972 Richmond Hill  Photo: Robert B. Dunnet 

LIRR switch heaters
Photo/Archive: NYC Subway Life

Bonding Jumpers provide a sure electrical connection between the two sections of rail. The 3rd rail return and signal track circuits use the running rails. the joint bar is deemed not a significant enough connection for the circuits, so there is that bonding jumper. Very likely this is temporary, and will no longer be necessary when the rail joint is replaced by welding the two rail sections together.

In the days before welded rail you'd see a few smaller gage uninsulated wires bonded by weld to both sections of the rail rather than the clamp you see in that photo. The bonds carry power for two purposes.

In electrified territory, the rails provide the return path to the substation for the 750 volts. That path is also provided through the ground, or the earth. While the ground will easily provide a return path, the rails do it better and assuring their continuity with good bonding reduces current losses and protects buried utility pipes from corrosion caused when they become a path to stray power. Rail bonds in electrified territory are very thick, to accommodate the high propulsion current loads.

On non-electrified track, thinner bonds are used, and the only power path is signal current, which is generally low voltage and amperage. Each signal "block" is a segment of track, separated from the next block by insulated rail joints. The insulated joints are made with a fiber or plastic sleeve between the rail ends and connecting bars. Signal power, generally from a battery, is fed into the rails at one end of the block and is received by an electromagnet relay at the other end. In this manner, a broken rail or bond anywhere in the block can be detected. When an axle shunts the two rails, it shorts out the battery, deactivating the electromagnet. The relay "drops," displaying the proper signal aspect in the adjacent blocks.

A broken track wire generally causes a Stop and Proceed Signal aspect to be displayed (which means Stop, then Proceed at Restricted Speed). By the very definition of Restricted Speed, it contains wording which indicates that the person operating the train, among other things (immediately reduce speed, watch for crossing protection not working, etc.), should be looking out for a broken rail.  Robert Myers

Think about the engineering challenge faced by running miles of narrow ribbons of steel track on top of the ground: they are subject to heat expansion and contraction, ground movement and vibration, precipitation buildup from rough weather, and weed and plant growth from underneath. Now keep in mind that while 99% of the time they are just sitting there unburdened, the remaining 1% they are subject to moving loads as heavy as 1,000,000 pounds (the weight of a Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive and its tender).

Put all this together, and you have yourself a really, really interesting problem that was first solved nearly 200 years ago, and hasn't been significantly improved since!

The crushed stones are what is known as ballast. Their purpose is to hold the wooden cross ties in place, which in turn hold the rails in place.

The answer is to start with the bare ground, and then build up a foundation to raise the track high enough so it won't get flooded. On top of the foundation, you deposit a load of crushed stone (the ballast). On top of the stone, you lay down (perpendicular to the direction of the track) a line of wooden beams on 19.5 inch centers, 8 1/2 feet long, 9 inches wide and 7 inches thick, weighing about 200 pounds...3,249 of them per mile. You then continue to dump crushed stone all around the beams. The sharp edges of the stone make it difficult for them to slide over each other (in the way that smooth, round pebbles would), thus effectively locking them in place.

Think about the engineering challenge faced by running miles of narrow ribbons of steel track on top of the ground: they are subject to heat expansion and contraction, ground movement and vibration, precipitation buildup from rough weather, and weed and plant growth from underneath. Now keep in mind that while 99% of the time they are just sitting there unburdened, the remaining 1% they are subject to moving loads as heavy as 1,000,000 pounds (the weight of a Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive and its tender).

Put all this together, and you have yourself a really, really interesting problem that was first solved nearly 200 years ago, and hasn't been significantly improved since!

The answer is to start with the bare ground, and then build up a foundation to raise the track high enough so it won't get flooded. On top of the foundation, you deposit a load of crushed stone (the ballast). On top of the stone, you lay down (perpendicular to the direction of the track) a line of wooden beams on 19.5 inch centers, 8 1/2 feet long, 9 inches wide and 7 inches thick, weighing about 200 pounds...3,249 of them per mile. You then continue to dump crushed stone all around the beams. The sharp edges of the stone make it difficult for them to slide over each other (in the way that smooth, round pebbles would), thus effectively locking them in place. 

Note: There are approximately 689,974,000 ties in the United States, supporting 212,000 miles of railroad track. In 2011 the major US railroads replaced a total of 15,063,539 ties. 14,148,012 of them were new and made of wood; 544,652 were second-hand wood ties; and 370,875 were new ties made of something other than wood. Old ties are recycled for use in landscaping, turned into pellet fuel, or burned in co-generation plants to provide electricity.

Next, you bring in hot-rolled steel rails, historically 39' long in the US (because they were carried to the site in 40' gondola cars), but increasingly now 78', and lay them on top of the ties, end to end. They used to be joined by bolting on an extra piece of steel (called a "fishplate") across the side of the joint, but today are usually continuously welded end-to-end.

It would seem that you could just nail them or bolt them down to the ties, but that won't work. The non-trivial movement caused by heat expansion and contraction along the length of the rail would cause it to break or buckle if any of it were fixed in place. So instead, the rails are attached to the sleepers by clips or anchors, which hold them down but allow them to move longitudinally as they expand or contract.

In the event you have lighter weight rail to be connected to heaver weight rail the use of a transition rail fishplate is utilized as seen in this photo on the LIRR. Here we had the replacement of a turnout on the mainline in Calverton, NY using heaver rail with the existing Grumman spur trackage.

Modelers can duplicate this via the use of a flattened rail joiner under the smaller code track joined to the larger code.

Photo: Tom Collins