After nearly 17 years of being Long Island's primary freight railroad, the New York & Atlantic Railway purchased its first locomotive recently.
New York & Atlantic Railway, which was created in May 1997 to take over freight operations on Long Island from the LIRR, is still very dependent on the LIRR for just about everything. NY&AR itself does not own any of the tracks it operates on, as the LIRR owns every bit of track they use (from the Lower Montauk to the Bay Ridge and Bushwick Branches). NY&AR leases the sections that no longer sees passenger service (like the Lower Montauk or the Bay Ridge Branch) from the Long Island Rail Road, and they have full control over trains on those segments of track. NY&AR pays usage fees to the LIRR for use of its other tracks on Long Island that still see passenger trains, and the freight trains are at the discretion of the LIRR dispatchers on the rest of the territory.
And up until recently, NY&AR didn't own a signle engine. The majority of their fleet is leased from the LIRR, as they lease a number of MP15's and GP38's. The leased engines are painted in the NY&AR livery, but they are still owned by the LIRR. NY&AR has also occasionally leased foreign locomotives to supplement their LIRR-leased fleet, but since those locomotives don't come equipped with the LIRR's Cab Signalling System, they can never be a leading engine on LIRR territory, and they often don't meet clearance requirements either, so the foreign power tends to stay close to Fresh Pond when NY&AR does have some on the property. NY&AR also contracts out the big maintenance work on their leased locomotives to the LIRR, as they lack the facilities to do it themselves at Fresh Pond.
Everything that the NY&AR leases from the LIRR is subject to recall at any moment by the LIRR. The LIRR has the ability to temporarily and instantly revoke the lease on locomotives and leased territory. They recall the locomotives pretty often when it snows, as the bigger engines are used for patrol trains to knock the snow out of the way.
So, if the the New York & Atlantic Railway were ever to do something to tick of the LIRR a lot (like derailing on the Mainline once or twice), the railroad could quickly move to punish their dependent freight carrier in a number of ways.
However, last week I heard from someone who heard from someone that the New York & Atlantic Railway has purchased MP-15AC #156 outright from the LIRR for an undisclosed sum, making it the first locomotive the freight carrier actually owns. #156 was one of the last locomotives to be repainted in the NY&AR scheme. #156 was not one of the P-units that was reconfigured by the LIRR in the mid 1980's to supply power to passenger cars, but it was used at some point in LIRR passenger service.
Many of these locomotives that are used by the NY&AR in freight service (and by the LIRR in work service) are in their forties and have been worked to death, but show no sign of slowing up anytime soon. They were used in passenger service by the LIRR for almost 25 years before the current diesel equipment arrived on the scene in the late 1990's. Now, as we are just a couple years away from the oldest members of the DE and DM fleet's twentieth birthdays, many of these proven locomotives are still out there on the road, moving about.
In the middle of March, NY&AR sent #156 out to Norfolk Southern's Juniata Shops located in Altoona, Pennsylvania to be rebuilt. While on its vacation the locomotive will also be getting a new crankshaft and will be brought up to Tier 2 compliance for EPA emission standards. The train went out via CSX and will be sent up and over the Selkirk Hurdle before being handed off to Norfolk Southern. Gregory Grice caught #156 making its way up the Hudson on CSX train Q704 moving through Croton Harmon on March 21st.
It's nice to see NY&AR finally investing in a locomotive of their own. Hopefully they will continue to invest in their operation and work to expand their customer base all across Long Island (not just on the Mainline!). Traffic on Long Island is only getting worse, and it's high time NY&AR made a push to get more businesses to switch to freight.
New York & Atlantic Railway, which was created in May 1997 to take over freight operations on Long Island from the LIRR, is still very dependent on the LIRR for just about everything. NY&AR itself does not own any of the tracks it operates on, as the LIRR owns every bit of track they use (from the Lower Montauk to the Bay Ridge and Bushwick Branches). NY&AR leases the sections that no longer sees passenger service (like the Lower Montauk or the Bay Ridge Branch) from the Long Island Rail Road, and they have full control over trains on those segments of track. NY&AR pays usage fees to the LIRR for use of its other tracks on Long Island that still see passenger trains, and the freight trains are at the discretion of the LIRR dispatchers on the rest of the territory.
And up until recently, NY&AR didn't own a signle engine. The majority of their fleet is leased from the LIRR, as they lease a number of MP15's and GP38's. The leased engines are painted in the NY&AR livery, but they are still owned by the LIRR. NY&AR has also occasionally leased foreign locomotives to supplement their LIRR-leased fleet, but since those locomotives don't come equipped with the LIRR's Cab Signalling System, they can never be a leading engine on LIRR territory, and they often don't meet clearance requirements either, so the foreign power tends to stay close to Fresh Pond when NY&AR does have some on the property. NY&AR also contracts out the big maintenance work on their leased locomotives to the LIRR, as they lack the facilities to do it themselves at Fresh Pond.
Everything that the NY&AR leases from the LIRR is subject to recall at any moment by the LIRR. The LIRR has the ability to temporarily and instantly revoke the lease on locomotives and leased territory. They recall the locomotives pretty often when it snows, as the bigger engines are used for patrol trains to knock the snow out of the way.
So, if the the New York & Atlantic Railway were ever to do something to tick of the LIRR a lot (like derailing on the Mainline once or twice), the railroad could quickly move to punish their dependent freight carrier in a number of ways.
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| NY&AR MP-15 #156, sitting in Fresh Pond Yard (Photo credit: Joe Gregory/Trains Are Fun.com) |
Many of these locomotives that are used by the NY&AR in freight service (and by the LIRR in work service) are in their forties and have been worked to death, but show no sign of slowing up anytime soon. They were used in passenger service by the LIRR for almost 25 years before the current diesel equipment arrived on the scene in the late 1990's. Now, as we are just a couple years away from the oldest members of the DE and DM fleet's twentieth birthdays, many of these proven locomotives are still out there on the road, moving about.
In the middle of March, NY&AR sent #156 out to Norfolk Southern's Juniata Shops located in Altoona, Pennsylvania to be rebuilt. While on its vacation the locomotive will also be getting a new crankshaft and will be brought up to Tier 2 compliance for EPA emission standards. The train went out via CSX and will be sent up and over the Selkirk Hurdle before being handed off to Norfolk Southern. Gregory Grice caught #156 making its way up the Hudson on CSX train Q704 moving through Croton Harmon on March 21st.
It's nice to see NY&AR finally investing in a locomotive of their own. Hopefully they will continue to invest in their operation and work to expand their customer base all across Long Island (not just on the Mainline!). Traffic on Long Island is only getting worse, and it's high time NY&AR made a push to get more businesses to switch to freight.
It's all well and good that they purchased this outright, but from a business perspective what benefit does this serve them? Assets are great but a 40 year old locomotive isn't exactly a gold mine.
ReplyDeleteWere they not able to leave the property for an extended period while still being owned by LIRR? The only other thing I can think of is that Anacostia might want to adopt it to one of its other lines eventually.
Now that NY&AR owns the locomotive, it's theirs for good, and the
ReplyDeleteLIRR can't run off with it whenever they want to. During bad weather or
other events NY&AR can find themselves without any locomotives (or
just the one or two lessors they have on hand). We are heading into a very busy summer and fall of trackwork, so perhaps they wanted to be sure there would always be at least one engine that could lead on the LIRR tracks around. And as business picks up, they are going to need more and more power around.
The locomotive is going out for rebuild so it will be good for another 20 or so years.
Have they ever pulled a NYA locomotive for trackwork? I understand your reasoning in theory, but in practicality it seems like a pretty odd business decision. Maybe I'm just out of the loop but it has never seemed like the NYA was in dire need of a dedicated loco. Given the freight traffic, a lease agreement should be the best option.
ReplyDeleteThey recall NY&AR locomotives all the time, particularly when they have multiple different projects going on at once (like they will be this summer). Freight traffic is increasing substantially, so perhaps they saw the need to get some permanent equipment.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of the price, so I couldn't say, but they could very well have gotten it "on the cheap."
By purchasing a former LIRR locomotive, the expense of installing cab signals/ATC can be avoided.
ReplyDelete