Eastern Railroad Discussion > LIRR runaway

The New York Post is reporting that a Long Island Rail Road "freight engine" rolled away from an engine-change point in Maspeth, Queens today, later striking several vehicles and causing four injuries. Among the vehicles struck were two New York & Atlantic trucks, one of which caught fire. The NTSB has since issued a press release stating that it is sending a Go Team to an unspecified grade crossing accident on Long Island, and I suspect these are one and the same incident.

I was unaware of the LIRR still having "freight engines" but I suppose it could really be either (a) an LIRR GP38 or SW1500 actually still in passenger service or (b) an LIRR unit leased to or otherwise operated by the NY&A.

It was A MP15 in Worktrain Service.
LIRR has no GP38's left, all were traded in to LLPX (emd) other than 2 or 3 that went to NY&A.
LIRR still has about 12 or so MP15's in worktrain and shop service.

Engine LIRR 160 may have been leased to NY&A ????
see slideshow:
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-traingal0310,0,2369813.photogallery?coll=nyc-


By Deborah Morris and Nick Sambides Jr.
Staff Writers

March 10, 2004, 6:16 PM EST

Four people were hurt today when a runaway freight train engine blew through five vehicles, including a welding truck loaded with acetylene and oxygen tanks, in an industrial section at the Queens-Brooklyn border, police said.

Apparently no one was aboard the Long Island Railroad locomotive when it plowed through the cars as they crossed the tracks at three spots on Metropolitan Avenue in Maspeth shortly after 2 p.m. A crushed truck wedged under the engine's wheels finally forced it to stop after traveling more than a half-mile.

The train took off during an engine change at a freight train facility in Maspeth, said railroad spokesman Sam Zambuto.

The runaway engine hit the first vehicle at a crossing at 54th Street, leaving two people critically injured, Zambuto said.

The two critically-injured men were taken to Elmhurst Hospital, fire officials said. Two other people were taken to the same hospital in stable condition — their gender was not known.

The locomotive also hit two trucks belonging to the New York & Atlantic Railway as it sped out of control.

The crash set one truck on fire and scattered railway workers before it came to rest, its engine still running, at Varick Avenue across the Brooklyn border, a few blocks shy of the old Bushwick terminal at the end of the line. It had traveled more than half a mile.

A firefighter reportedly jumped aboard the smoking black and white locomotive and turned off the engine.

The railway workers were apparently repairing tracks when the engine plowed through.

The engine hit with such force that it literally disintegrated the cars. Witnesses were shocked to see the path of destruction — scattered, burning pieces of vehicles — along the freight track, which runs through an industrial area loaded with warehouses, factories and small homes.

Some witnesses looked up to see the engine pushing cars along the tracks. At least one car was thrown into a nearby parking lot.

"We heard a big boom, but I didn't think that it was anything. Then we came out and saw all of the activity," said Brice Alcindor, 27, who works for the Staten Island Bus Company, Inc. "This is messed up."

Alcindor said he was amazed that the tracks were active. He criticized their lack of crossing signals, but according to railroad officials, the tracks are not required to have crossing lights because the freight line does not carry passengers or hazardous materials.

Usually a flagman walks alongside the train as it makes its way through the area, stopping traffic so the train can pass.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

The NY Times has several pix. Blue and greyish MP15, from the looks of the unit.

It was being towed to Fresh Pond, they say, and disconnected from the five car train.


Gotta admine the guts on the FDNY lieutenant who climbed aboard the loco and turned the engine off. The acetelyne tank truck was jammed under the front wheels of the loco. I've gotta believe the diesel fuel tank was pretty hot by that point