I think it's a pretty good possibility that one house could be built in 50 years.
The year is now late 1999, and the LIRR has began retiring the last of it's 70s era locomotives with the replacement DE30ACs arriving on the property. So far 8 of the Geeps have been sold back to EMD for rebuilding and eventual sale to LLPX, while the rest continue to soldier on in service with the railroad. Also, the New York & Atlantic Railway has been handling the former LIRR freight for 2 years and have been leasing 4 former LIRR MP15ACs and another 4 former LIRR SW1001s. They are now taking the opportunity of the LIRR retiring their GP38-2s to try and get a few for themselves, and currently have 4 of them, 261, 268, 270, and 271. Only GP38-2s 268 and 270, and MP15AC 155 have been repainted in the new NY&A scheme, leaving 261, 271, 151, 156, and 159 in the old LIRR blue & white.
I recently dug out these pictures from when I went out to try and catch an early NY&A train in New Hyde Park. After waiting an hour after the train was due through New Hyde Park, the train with apparent equipment troubles slowly rolled past my camera doing about 10 mph. The train had #271 on point, with unpatched 151 and patched 156 behind.
They were moving slow enough that I was able to drive to the next railroad crossing on the east side of the station, and lo and behold, there were some of those lazy trackworkers sitting for a 2 hour coffee break. ;D
They rolled into the station, and came to a slow stop. I went to talk to the crew about why they were so delayed from Pine Aire yard, and they said that due to a failed ASC (Automatic Speed Control) on 271, Divide Tower relegated them to 10 mph. A few minutes later an LIRR MOW truck came over just as an LIRR M3 passed on the opposite track to assist with the ASC issue. I went to a trackside restaurant to grab a quick lunch, and when I returned the crew was pretty ready to go and I took one last shot of them leaving the station.
Dietrich
Me,or Mike Evans:hehe:
