This afternoon I unfortunately bring some bad news. Yesterday I learned (on Railroad.net's NY&AR forum) that New York & Atlantic Railway serviced Pulver Gas in Bridgehampton (the last NY&AR customer on the Montauk Branch east of Jamaica) for the last time.
NY&AR train RS40 made it's way to Bridgehampton one last time yesterday to collect the five tank cars that have been there since October. Pulver Gas was the final active freight customer on the LIRR's Montauk Branch east of Jamaica. At one point, the LIRR served dozens and dozens of customers along the right of way, both between Jamaica and Babylon and Babylon and Montauk.
When the LIRR handed freight operations over to the NY&AR the amount of freight customers on the Montauk Branch was already thinning, and in recent years the amount of customers got even fewer. Pulver Gas used to get five tank cars a week delivered by the NY&AR. Several months ago that began to dwindle to five tank cars a month, then there was a long period when NY&AR didn't go out the Montauk Branch at all.
Pulver Gas was the final customer on the Montauk Branch east of Babylon. NY&AR came to the conclusion that it was simply not worth it for them to continue to schlep all the way out to Bridgehampton for a handful of tank cars. It boils down to a point where it became more expensive for the NY&AR to go out to Bridgehampton and get the cars then the cars brought into NY&AR (and thus, NY&AR started to pass the costs along to Pulver Gas, and Pulver Gas re-evaluated things and concluded that it would be more cost effective to truck it in.)
It is disappointing to see the end of freight service on the Montauk Branch, though it is not surprising. NY&AR has been letting freight traffic on the branch dwindle and they haven't been putting much effort into getting more customers to send their goods by freight. It would be nice to see the widescale expansion of freight service across Long Island (it has recently expanded along the Mainline, but there are also many other sidings all over the LIRR that could be used to serve even more customers. Truck traffic on Long Island highways are a big issue and putting some of those loads on trains could make it much easier. If the NY&AR played their cards right, they could probably make freight service all across Long Island very attractive, but, it seems like NY&AR is just interested in expanding its operations within Queens and Brooklyn and cutting off some of their more distant customers on Long Island.
NY&AR train RS40 made it's way to Bridgehampton one last time yesterday to collect the five tank cars that have been there since October. Pulver Gas was the final active freight customer on the LIRR's Montauk Branch east of Jamaica. At one point, the LIRR served dozens and dozens of customers along the right of way, both between Jamaica and Babylon and Babylon and Montauk.
When the LIRR handed freight operations over to the NY&AR the amount of freight customers on the Montauk Branch was already thinning, and in recent years the amount of customers got even fewer. Pulver Gas used to get five tank cars a week delivered by the NY&AR. Several months ago that began to dwindle to five tank cars a month, then there was a long period when NY&AR didn't go out the Montauk Branch at all.
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| Tank cars on the siding by Pulver Gas. (Photo credit: Mike McDermet/Trains Are Fun.com) |
It is disappointing to see the end of freight service on the Montauk Branch, though it is not surprising. NY&AR has been letting freight traffic on the branch dwindle and they haven't been putting much effort into getting more customers to send their goods by freight. It would be nice to see the widescale expansion of freight service across Long Island (it has recently expanded along the Mainline, but there are also many other sidings all over the LIRR that could be used to serve even more customers. Truck traffic on Long Island highways are a big issue and putting some of those loads on trains could make it much easier. If the NY&AR played their cards right, they could probably make freight service all across Long Island very attractive, but, it seems like NY&AR is just interested in expanding its operations within Queens and Brooklyn and cutting off some of their more distant customers on Long Island.
Funny how the LIRR is distancing itself from Brooklyn and Queens customers (unless they need to be somewhere on LI, but even then Manhattan is the main focus) but NY&AR is embracing Brooklyn and Queens customers...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Call the railroad that turned freight service on Long Island 10 fold, not trying hard enough.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying NY&AR hasn't increased freight traffic on Long Island, just it appears they are 'centralizing' their operations--bringing more carloads to the same few customers instead of bringing more carloads to more customers. It would be nice to see daily freights down all of the LIRR's branches. There are tons of little sidings all over the place, it's time NY&AR brought freight back to as many of them as possible.
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