For the majority of LIRR riders who live in electric territory, the train comes rolling into the station each morning. You peer off the platform, and most of the time, a train made up of M7 equipment rolls in. The M7 equipment represents the largest proportion of the LIRR's fleet, with 836 M7's floating around out there. For the most part, the majority of trains are run with M7 equipment. However, every now and then, and without rhyme or reason, a set of M3's will show up.
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| An M3 rounding the bend into Syosset. (Photo credit: The LIRR Today on Flickr) |
The M3's, a dying breed, currently represent about 14% of the electric fleet. Not an insignificant number, but considering the equipment coordinator will avoid using M3's when possible, for many people getting an M3 on their train (especially if you travel during the off-peak periods).
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| (Photo credit: The LIRR Today on Flickr) |
It's been a while since I've commuted from a station in electric territory, but usually when a consist of M3's would quietly slither into the station you would hear a couple of mumbled objections coming from the waiting passengers. Many people do not like the M3's (compared to the M7's), and it's hard to blame them. The LIRR's M3's did not go through a fancy mid-life overhaul like the jazzed-up M3A's Metro-North currently has, so quite a number of the M3's are showing their age. The seats aren't in mint condition, their interiors and exteriors don't gleam in the sunlight, and that ugly color scheme...
But while you might see a set of M3's rolling up and scowl, I see the wonderful aspects of the M3 equipment. Most importantly, they feature more seats than their M7 counterparts. When the M1's were first delivered, a two-car pair would be able to seat 238 people. There were 118-120 seats per car and a twelve car train could seat 1,428 passengers. The M3 equipment had a couple of "improvements" and they were delivered with 234 seats per pair, and a 12-car set of M3's could seat 1,404 passengers, or 24 less seats than a 12-car set of M1's. Years later, the M7's hit the rails and when we first stumbled across them, we found that they only had 211 seats per pair. Therefore, a 12-car set of M7's can seat a mere 1,266 people. That's a number that is 138 seats less than a 12-car set of M3's, or 162 less than 12 M1's. During rush hour, every seat counts and 138 seats just vanishing can cause a bit of trouble.
The extra capacity afforded by M3 equipment is enough to absorb the number of programmed standees on even the most crowded rush hour trains. So while you might be seated in a seat that is all taped up, that seat is actually a little wider, and there are more of those seats, so you could end up standing if the same amount of people tried to get seats on a M7 train.
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| (Photo credit: The LIRR Today on Flickr) |
Plus, M3's sill afford you the opportunity to peer out the front window at the right of way ahead, which I always love to do (you will never see me sitting in the second, third, fourth, etc. car on an M3). Unfortunately, those open views are vanishing as rapidly as the M3's are, so enjoy them while they last.
f you like M3's, sometimes finding which trains they will operate on is a bit tricky. Since M3's cannot be reliably assigned to any one particular run, the LIRR will always use specifications from the M7 equipment for determining things like standee counts, consist compliance, etc., and there is no real rhyme or reason as to how equipment has to be assigned. [Practically] any run in electric territory could be done by either M3's or M7's, so there are not runs that can run only with or only without M3's.
With that being said, M3's do tend to find their ways onto certain trains. The LIRR makes its best effort to assign M3 equipment to the busiest rush hour trains because of the extra seats they have. Again, there's no sure bet, but they try. Furthermore, in the evening off-peak period, the LIRR will usually stash a couple of M3 sets in West Side Yard to sub-in right after events at Madison Square Garden end. When all the crowds flood downstairs the spare room the M3's offer are usually just what the doctor ordered to make things a little less painful for those involved. This also contributes to the randomness of the M3's as well, since the events can end at a variety of times and subsequent turns at eastern terminals will also have a random M3 or two tossed in.
If you're dying to catch some M3 action, being on the lookout during rush hours is your best bet these days. While they occasionally pop up on weekend Hempstead of Far Rockaway Brooklyn trains, they are usually left in the yards during the off-peak periods.
Weather you like or despise the M3 equipment, their replacements are on their way, so you only have a few years more to enjoy, or loath, the last of the Budd Metropolitans.
On Xmas say, there were at least 3 M-3 consists running that I observed for Huntington and Ronkonoma. I was on one to Huntington. There was also another one running on a Brooklyn cycle. Evidently, a midweek holiday is not treated like a weekend when they try to park them all, although one usually gets out on weekend afternoons.
ReplyDeleteThe 10:51am I was on to Huntington accelerated well, had good heat, ran smooth, and has very comfortable seats compared to the M-7, which I got on the way back. M-7's are difficult to hold to a local schedule. The door opening-closing cycle take too much time. We were 5 minutes late at NYP for basically no reason.
I do not see the need for full width cabs on the LIRR. They will never run OPTO.
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ReplyDeleteThree cheers for M3s. Love the view out the front window. It's not that often I get to ride on an M3, but here's one from October 21, 2013. Onboard the lead car of Babylon to Penn Off-Peak M3 111 between Forrest Hills and Woodside. Boarded 111 at Jamaica after coming in on 2707.
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting (to me) about this is that 2707 leaves Babylon at 1:32 PM for express run to Jamaica via Central Branch and Main Line. We then wait 12 minutes to board 111, which leaves Babylon at 1:36 and runs local to Jamaica, arriving at 2:28. Once in a while we get lucky on 2707, when they either place it ahead of Ronkonkoma to Penn Train 2053, or we arrive in Jamaica right on the heals of 2053, allowing for a quick transfer from Track 1 to Track 2, and thus a 16 minute earlier arrival at Penn.
Love em! They show up fairly regularly for the 6:24 am train from Ronkonkoma (a packed train) and you definitely notice the extra seats. Also it has the single seat, which is my favorite seat to sit in
ReplyDeleteYou're all lucky to have a front window, bar on Light Rapid Transit we have nothing in the UK that offers a front view. We have our fair share of rolling stock that enthusiasts love but general public are indifferent to, mostly they want something clean and modern to get them to / from work or wherever they are going.
ReplyDeleteThe railway has to move with the times, rolling stock doesn't last for ever and when they build new stock it has to adhere to the latest standards, this can reduce reduced seating etc as bigger toilets etc are fitted. The lost of a front window may be to do with more cab equipment being needed, units built in the 70s are very simple bits of kit really, newer units are driven by computers and wires. It probably makes for a more spacious environment for the driver too.
The railway is a working operation, units cannot keep going for ever and it's not designed as a living museum, although of course you could argue some of the infrastructure is just that! We still have 100+ year old signal boxes working on a daily basis with old semaphore signalling. Our oldest rolling stock dates back to 1938 and is in daily use, albeit on the isolated Isle of Wight, on the main network the oldest is from around 1971 in passenger use.
We also suffer from middle seat phobia as well as an increasingly common habit of occupying a bag on the window seat and people on the aisle seat!
Most of the full width cab area is vacant. There are two revenue seats in them on the opposite side of the real cab, and is opened up when used mid-train.
DeleteThe M-3 was a built in the mid-1980's by Budd, who built indestructible cars. They should last 40 - 45 years with proper care.
The Long Island ones look awful and are not in the best of shape.
The Metro North one look like new, most were overhauled until MTA defunded such in 2010, but their M-9's have not yet been ordered as replacements.
I don't know why MTA has allowed different equipment policies on the same car type on its two railroads.
The NYCT still has 222 of the original 600 Budd R32 subway cars running, built in 1964-5, perhaps the oldest MU fleet running in North America. 1,300 subsequent subway cars built by St Louis Car through 1973 have been scrapped. These 222 are the survivors of the survivors and technologically simpler than a modern day lawn mower.
It wouldn't surprise me if removing the front window view was a policy introduced by the railways to prevent passengers from seeing certain incidents that happen in front of trains.
DeleteThe MNRR and LIRR are separate operations, albeit under the same operating wing. I guess the different railroads have differing characteristics, different engineering directors, different policies on what they will buy etc. Happens all the time in other industries, in the UK bus industry Stagecoach owns a lot of buses but have differing buying policies for each depot.
The A Stock on London Underground was introduced in 1960 / 1961 and was only retired in 2012 so some just tipped over 50 years in service. I doubt new replacements will last that long but we'll see.