The Peconic: Tribute to a railroad that got smaller and bigger at the same time

Back in the mid 1950's, the potato crop was booming on Long Island.  Train after train of wood and steel-side reefers moved to and from packing houses scattered through the countryside.  Miles of rural farmland surrounded the route of the Peconic Railroad, an offshoot of the Long Island Railroad, which moved potatoes, merchandise, and passengers over its route for many years.

Years before, the Long Island had rid itself of this route stretching between Farmingdale and Greenport, NY.  The small, but capable, Peconic Rail Road made a go of it and transformed an unwanted piece of railroad into a moderately busy freight and passenger route.  A fleet of Fairbanks-Morse and Alco locomotives, later only Alco locomotives, kept the traffic moving.

At one time, Larry Keller could only tell about his visions and concept for the Peconic mainline, which was afterall his prototype-freelanced creation.  The Peconic Railroad at first existed as an HO scale switching layout around three walls of a small bedroom.  The town of Greenport, NY, was represented on this fine example of what can be done with a switching layout in a small space in HO scale.  Larry provided staging tracks so trains could arrive in Greenport from the west, do their switching in town, and then return toward the mainland.  The railroad ran well, had nice equipment and structures, and was fun to operate.

Then at some point, after spending some time operating on some area N scale layouts, including the CR&E, Larry had a bright idea.  Completely out of the blue, an email with a riddle as its title came across the wires from Larry's computer, "What gets smaller and bigger at the same time?"

The answer, of course, was the Peconic Railroad.  In very short order, and without the knowledge of the people who had been operating with him, the HO scale town of Greenport, NY, was gone.  In its place had risen a double-deck N scale railroad representing the Peconic mainline between Riverhead and Greenport.  Rolling through remote farmland, passing through small towns, and serving countless potato houses, the Peconic had become something new, something bigger, yet smaller, than it ever was.  Finally, Larry could show his operators what his vision was for the mainline operations of the Peconic.

Under timetable and train order rules, a full schedule of passenger trains operated over the Peconic.  These scheduled passenger trains would be weaved into the lineup with extras serving the potato houses as well as other online businesses.  The Greenport Local was back, only this time the cars and locomotives were half the size and there were more of them.  Crews would have to run over the road to reach the easternmost town of Greenport.  Eventually, the Southold Local, Mattituck Local, and East Mattituck Local were born as well.  Potatoes would move in long trains of refrigerated boxcars.  The East End Potato Extra and West End Potato Extra would sometimes run in more than one section to clean up all the business.

And then there were those passenger trains, first class moves that would have priority over everything else on the railroad.  There was #20, #21, #30, #31, #36, and #37, as well second class #169 which would move fish to market.  There were the horse extras to the fairgrounds spur outside Greenport.  There was passenger service to the Shady Rest state hospital outside Greenport as well, at one time served by a mixed train lovingly referred to as the "Mixed Nuts."

It was always important to check your timetable and train orders before moving.  Thankfully there weren't many incidents over the years, although a cemetery was constructed in the town of Mattituck where a fair number of ... inconsistencies ... occured. 

In short, the Peconic in N scale proved exactly what could be done in a small space, approximately a 10 X 10 bedroom.  Instead of the switching town represented by the HO Peconic, an entire portion of the line with five passing sidings, multiple switching locations, nice mainline run, and staging yard was built.  An oval-shaped helix (dubbed the ovalix) inside a small closet provided access between the levels of the railroad.  The towns of Cutchogue (served by the shortline Shoreham Railroad) and East Mattituck were eventually built inside the closet housing the ovalix as well. 

The Peconic was responsible for at least one and a half conversions of HO scale modelers to N scale.  After visiting the Peconic just once, those with small spaces quickly realized what the possibilities were in 1:160 scale.  The Peconic, in that sense, was a life-changer for some.  It may have never made the big print, but it had a big impact.

I'm writing about the Peconic in past tense because today, September 18, 2010, was its last day of operation.  No longer will potato extras and local freights intermingle with passenger trains on a dark Timetable and Train Order railroad.  While we'd all like to think that the Peconic lives on, in reality it ceased operations in model form at 1:36PM on September 18, 2010.    The railroad will be missed, but the news is not all bad.

Soon, in another residence a few miles from the home of the Peconic, a larger railroad will be born.  The Lehigh & Hudson River will soon be taking shape in a much larger space, and Larry will now do what others have done before him and more will do following him.  He will demonstrate just how much can be done in N scale in a BIG space! 

I'd like to take this time to thank Larry for allowing me to operate the Peconic for years.  It will live on in some ways (the preparation plant at Sam Creek managed to acquire the old Shoreham Railroad VO-1000 and a Peconic BL2 for switching), and I will always cherish the time I spent moving trains on the Peconic Rail Road.  I am very much looking forward to helping with the construction and operation of the L&HR.

My last train, Peconic Extra 753 West, is rolling through Aquebogue enroute to Riverhead, NY, with potatoes from the railroad's East End.  I was the Second East End Potato Extra, working potato houses in Peconic and Southold.

 

 

 

A changing of the guard.  Peconic FA2 #550 is leading a mixed bag of power through Southold, NY, on the layout's final operating day.  The green paint on the FA represented the railroad's earlier days before the image shifted to gray and white.  Behind #550 are a New Haven C424, Pennsylvania GP30, Lehigh & New England FA2, and Lehigh & Hudson River RS2, all of which will find service on Larry's new railroad.  The Peconic era has ended, and a new era is about to begin!