Morris Park Facility

Boland's Landing
Boland's Landing
	The roundhouse and turntable.
General information
Location	Richmond Hill, Queens, New York
Coordinates	40°41′45″N73°49′19″W / 40.69583°N 73.82194°W
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Atlantic Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms (LIRR employees only)
Tracks	2
Connections	None
Construction
Parking	Employees Only
History
Opened	1886 (Passenger station); 1889 (Maintenance Yard)
Closed	1939 (Passengers only)
Rebuilt	2009
Electrified	750 V (DC) third rail
Former passenger services
Location
Location

Last updated May 30, 2024

The Morris Park Facility is a maintenance facility of the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City. It includes two employee-only side platforms on the Atlantic Branch named Boland's Landing.^[1] Two wooden platforms, each two cars long, exist on the two-track line, with a flashlight for workers to signal trains to stop.^[2]

The facility opened on November 1, 1889.^[3] Though used for train storage for over a century, it is mainly used for maintaining and refueling diesel locomotives and electro-diesel locomotives since the 1990s.^[4]^: 6 The locomotive roundhouse was renovated in 2018, with construction being completed in late 2020.^[5]

Description

The Morris Park Facility covers about 21 acres (8.5 ha), and contains a locomotive shed and sidings for diesel locomotives and diesel electric locomotives.^[4]^: 5 Originally it included a 23-stall brick locomotive roundhouse, an electric turntable, maintenance offices, and locomotive watering facilities.^[3] A smaller roundhouse and turntable, as well as a separate four-track shed, now exist on the site. The facility also includes storage and receiving yards; maintenance shops; and a train-car wash.^[4]^: 5

The Morris Park Facility contains the Morris Park Locomotive Shop, a locomotive shed that is used to store the EMD DE30AC and EMD DM30AC locomotives used on the LIRR.^[5] The shop contains one of four remaining turntables left on the LIRR. Oyster Bay and Greenport yards have the others, and Riverhead has one on the grounds of the Railroad Museum of Long Island. The Morris Park turntable is the only one of the turntables still functioning; those in Oyster Bay, Riverhead, and Greenport exist purely for historical purposes.

History

The original Morris Park station was an 1886-built pedestrian depot located on 120th Street that served as a replacement for 1878-built Morris Grove station on 124th Street. It was torn down in 1939 as part of a grade elimination project for the Atlantic Branch.^[6]^[7] The yard's locomotive yard office and engine shops, divided into the front shops and back shops, were built in 1889, at the junction of the Atlantic and Lower Montauk Branches approximately on the opposite side of the former "R" Tower at the latter day Richmond Hill Storage Yard. The yard also featured a turntable for spinning engines. The yard was used for train storage until the 1990s; now, it is primarily used to maintain and refuel diesel locomotives.^[4]^: 6

In 2009, part of the back shops (the engine shops not located directly off the turntable) were demolished as part of a reconstruction project, however, the front shops and yard office from 1889 still exist.

Morris Grove station

Morris Grove station was originally a South Side Railroad of Long Island station house located at Berlin Station that was moved to 124th Street in 1878 and renamed "Morris Grove." The station was later renamed "Morris Park," for a park that was located behind the depot, and closed in 1886 to be replaced by the "new" Morris Park station on Atlantic Avenue between Lefferts Boulevard and 120th Street.

The Morris Park station was in service until 1939, when it was closed as part of the grade elimination project that replaced the surface railway with a tunnel beneath Atlantic Avenue. Efforts by local residents and elected officials to allow for an underground Morris Park station were rejected by construction coordinator Robert Moses.^[8]^[9]

Shops station

Shops station was a sheltered shed on the Lower Montauk Branch built approximately in 1900 for LIRR employees of the Morris Park facility when the lower Montauk Branch was still an at-grade line. The station was located approximately opposite of the former site of the "R" Tower where the Richmond Hill Storage Yard was located. No evidence of the existence of the station can be found beyond May 1913.

Locomotive shop reconstruction

Prior to reconstruction in 2018–2020,^[5] many of the Morris Park Locomotive Shop's structures had been originally built along with the rest of the facility in 1889.^[3] In May 2018, a contract to rebuild the shop was awarded to a joint venture of Railroad Construction Company Inc. and AMCC Corp.^[10] The project was completed in November 2020^[5] at a cost of nearly $102 million.^[11]^: 27 The original completion date was January 2020, but the completion was delayed because a new turntable contractor had been hired.^[11]^: 43

Related Research Articles

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In rail terminology, a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning round railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, so that they face the direction they came from. It is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weigh against the construction of a turnaround wye. Railways needed a way to turn steam locomotives around for return journeys, as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse; also many locomotives had a lower top speed in reverse. Most diesel locomotives, however, can be operated in either direction, and are considered to have "front ends" and "rear ends". When a diesel locomotive is operated as a single unit, the railway company often prefers, or requires, that it be run "front end" first. When operated as part of a multiple unit locomotive consist, the locomotives can be arranged so that the consist can be operated "front end first" no matter which direction the consist is pointed. Turntables were also used to turn observation cars so that their windowed lounge ends faced toward the rear of the train.

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The Long Island Rail Road is a railroad owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the U.S. state of New York. It is the oldest United States railroad still operating under its original name and charter. It consolidated several other companies in the late 19th century. The Pennsylvania Railroad owned the Long Island Rail Road for the majority of the 20th century and sold it to the State in 1966.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sag Harbor station</span> Former train station on Long Island, New York

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References

↑ Atlantic/Far Rockaway ^[usurped]
↑ Ruppert, Dan (2002). The Gravy Train: An Inside Look at the Long Island Rail Road. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-55395-484-2 . Retrieved July 6, 2006.
1 2 3 Keller, D.; Lynch, S. (2005). Revisiting the Long Island Rail Road: 1925-1975. Images of America: a history of American life in images and texts. Arcadia. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7385-3829-7 . Retrieved May 18, 2019.
1 2 3 4 "STATEMENT OF BASIS LIRR Morris Park Repair & Richmond Hill Yards Site No. 241130" (PDF). New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. March 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
1 2 3 4 "Morris Park Diesel Locomotive Shop". A Modern LI. April 6, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
↑ "LIRR Station History". Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
↑ LIRR Notice for November 1, 1939
↑ "Wants Station Reopened". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 12, 1940.
↑ "Morris Park, Queens". Forgotten-NY. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
↑ "LIRR Morris Park Diesel Locomotive Shop & Employee Facility". Railroad Construction Company. May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
1 2 "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.

External links

Media related to Morris Park Facility at Wikimedia Commons
Morris Park Facility – LIRR

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[1] Atlantic/Far Rockaway ^[usurped]

[2] Ruppert, Dan (2002). The Gravy Train: An Inside Look at the Long Island Rail Road. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-55395-484-2 . Retrieved July 6, 2006.

[Keller_Lynch_2005-3] 1 2 3 Keller, D.; Lynch, S. (2005). Revisiting the Long Island Rail Road: 1925-1975. Images of America: a history of American life in images and texts. Arcadia. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7385-3829-7 . Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[NYSDEC-Remediation-2015-4] 1 2 3 4 "STATEMENT OF BASIS LIRR Morris Park Repair & Richmond Hill Yards Site No. 241130" (PDF). New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. March 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[A_Modern_LI-5] 1 2 3 4 "Morris Park Diesel Locomotive Shop". A Modern LI. April 6, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2021.

[6] "LIRR Station History". Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2010.

[7] LIRR Notice for November 1, 1939

[8] "Wants Station Reopened". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 12, 1940.

[9] "Morris Park, Queens". Forgotten-NY. Retrieved August 3, 2020.

[10] "LIRR Morris Park Diesel Locomotive Shop & Employee Facility". Railroad Construction Company. May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[MTA-CPOC-May2019-11] 1 2 "Capital Program Oversight Committee Meeting" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.

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