07-10-05 PHOTOS: LIRR Mineola

Last October over the Columbus Day weekend I decided to take a layover in New York for a few hours on one of my trips to Albany. I arrived in NYC in the morning then hopped the Large Island Rail Road out to Mineola in order to take some pictures of NASSAU tower and its environs. After waiting two headways I returned to Jamaica and there transferred to a J/Z for a trip back to Chinatown to have lunch with fellow Subchatters Lexcieeee and Amanda.This will be split into two parts with the first part covering the LIRR trip and the second the J/Z trip.

Not much more to say that can't be better illustrated with photos so I'll just cut to the chase. I have included some videos with this batch so please let me know if you like them self-hosted or it I should put them up on U-Tube.

You can find the full set of pics at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/07-10-05_LIRR_MINEOLA/-Thumbnails.html

Now for the incredibly awesome and super cool photo tour!

Here is NASSAU's west home signal displaying a CLEAR signal for the train I came in on.

My train departing Mineola Station with LIRR M7 #7563 on the rear. Note the operator has fleeted the signal as it drops to STOP and PROCEED.

NASSAU tower used to have a mechanical lever frame and was built in the style of POND and the old DIVIDE tower down the way. Today it has an NX machine for the local and several remote interlockings.

NASSAU interlocking proper is a simple two track divergence where the Oyster Bay line branches off the Main Line proper. Here is C-3 cab car #5004 leading a train off the OB.

The twin turnouts are cut midway through by a level crossing. Here DE-30 #502 pushes a train off the Oyster Bay Branch.

While the turnouts are electrically powered, I was pleased to discover that the Movable Point Frog has powered by an A-5 pneumatic machine.

Which had its own cute little air plant.

 The east home signals were mounted on a PRR type signal gantry. There were also a pair of exit signals despite the Main Line being 562 territory without fixed block signals. Here an eastbound train enters one of NASSAU's remote interlockings, a standard crossover, just a little farther down the line. The NASSAU exit signal displays a RESTRICTING. Wow, those properly focused PL-3 units sure are vibrant!

There was a lot of action at NASSAU. In just an hour I had two Main Line trains in each direction and one OB train in each direction. Here is the eastbound diesel hauled OB train pulling into Mineola with DM30 #510.

Oh and a bonus! There was some single tracking on the Oyster Bay so the operator had to hoop up train orders!! Here is the east home signal displaying SLOW APPROACH for the diverge and the red train order light is flashing!!

Here is the NASSAU block operator using a well tied train order hoop to hoop up orders to the engineer of #510 as he takes the diverging route.

 Here is a video of the conductor taking his orders by hand.


Here M-7 #7102 takes the signal at NASSAU.

A comparason of the PRR Position Light mast signals on tracks 1 and 2. The tk 2 signal (foreground) is of the special compact arrangement also seen at Newark Penn Station. The mast in the background is a relatively new install, probably from the late 80's or early 90's.

Rear of NASSAU tower.

Track 1 mast PL showing the flat junction and the CLEAR exit signal on track 2.

Tune in next time for Part 2 covering the trip back downtown via the J/Z and the Willy B.