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Long Island G5

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The age of steam came to an end on the Long Island Railroad in October 1955. The relationship between the Long Island Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad began when the Pennsy acquired the the Long Island in 1901 in a successful effort to gain entrance to the island of Manhattan. To gain this access, the Pennsy bored two sets of railroad tunnels, one under the Hudson River and another under the east River. In Manhattan, the Pennsy built the most impressive railroad station in the world, Pennsylvania Station. The Long Island railroad soon became the busiest commuter railroad in the United States! The most beloved locomotive to serve on the LIRR were Juniata built G-5 Pennsylvania Railroad 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers. The Ten Wheeler were stout high powered locomotives built specifically for fast commuter service. Their ability to move commuters to and from Manhattan was one of the great railroad success stories. With famed Long Island Railroad engineers like "HOTROD" McCANN, the G-5's would speed commuters to and from their jobs in Manhattan. The engineers and firemen of the Long Island were so renowned for their skills, they were known as the "Speed Merchants"! No. 50 was one of the last G-5 Ten Wheelers to operate in revenue service on the Long Island. October 16th 1955 saw one last steam special on the Long Island Railroad. The "Last Call" was performed by G-5 No. 35, one of 3 surviving G-5 locomotives. I'm sure there were few dry eye among the riders and crews of the last train powered by steam on the Long Island.

Several mechanical and cosmetic set the Long Island Railroad G-5's apart from the PRR G-5's. Number one was the tender, the Long Island G-5's used the larger Class 110-P-82a Kiesel tender. The Long Island G-5's got their smoke box painted silver and the pilots were covered with sheet metal to give the Long Island G-5's a distinctly different look from other PRR G-5's.


Today locomotives, No. 35 and 39 are undergoing extensive restoration. Here's a link to No. 35 [link] The only other G-5 locomotives to survive is No. 5741 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania: [link]

Adobe Illustrator 8.0. Apple G4 Power Mac, OS 9.2
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Aranimu's avatar
They just announced that long island railroad 39 has been moved to love Strasburg for it's restoration. Just saying if you didn't know.