As a daily LIRR commuter, Moynihan train hall is as well the new home of the LIRR, there you will find customer service, ticket machines, Ticket agents, and a way more pleasant concourse just for the LIRR, all inside Moynihan train hall. Also you bought a round trip ticket which is why it’s expensive
you mentioned in the video that the windows were dirty- but they are actually quite clean. The issue with the M7 windows is that they are actually Plastic Paneling, and the M7 plastic is super prone to scratching and sun damage.
LIRR's fleet always has one side facing south and one side facing north and the coaches and units are never turned leaving one side to have significantly more sun exposure.
@@russellgxy2905 C3s do not get turned. DE/DM30 on the other hand are often turned as there is a turntable at Morris Park Yard. But this is one reason why LIRR gave up on side stripes in favor of bare metal sides. The blue stripes on LIRR M1s disappeared in the 1980s and some M3s were delivered with just the yellow face stripe. Metro North kept the side stripes on their M1/3 fleet and the M2/4/6 fleet and stripes can still be found on the M3 and M8 fleets.
Congratulations on surpassing 100,000 subscribers in such a short period of time. Your enthusiasm and sense of detail makes all your videos enjoyable as well as informational
Having ridden the LIRR many, many times over the 30+ years we lived in Suffolk County, it was refreshing to see an (expert) outsider's view. Utilitarian is a good description: nothing fancy, just a comfortable enough way to travel an hour or so from point A to point B. The price may seem high, but there are discounts for weekly or monthly tickets. It was always cheaper and more relaxing than driving to Manhattan and paying a fortune for parking. We used it for work, concerts and plays, sporting events, museums, and access to the airports and Amtrak at Pennsylvania Station. Nice views of the Atlantic Ocean beach at the end! Looking forward to the rest of your U.S. train ride videos.
Welcome back to the US! I hope you can return soon. When you do I invite you to spend some time on NJ Transit. While the trains are not much different (there is much more variety of engines) the routes are much older, harkening back to the 19th century and being built by long obsolete local railroads as well as the old Pennsylvania RR (that’s why so many stations are called Pennsylvania Station) and the Jersey Central. The lines began to move commercial stuff and then encourage tourism. It’s only after WW II that they evolved into commuter lines but almost all will take from congested urban areas to old towns founded in colonial days still having many 18th and 19th century history. This is where you can get a taste for our Dutch and English history. Also check out Penn Station in Newark. Served by NJ Transit and Amtrak, it’s an architectural gem, sort of a mini Grand Central, now being renovated. Hope you can check these places out.
By the end of this year there will be new service from the truly "Grand" Central Terminal to all of Long Island via Jamaica Station. A complete renovation of Penn Station is planned. The second most reviled transportation facility in the US was La Guardia Airport. Its renovation is almost complete; it is both functional and beautiful. Perhaps "screaming and kicking" New York transportation is entering the 21st Century.
When last I was in NYC I was very pleasantly surprised by how much natural light there was, including some great views of Manhattan; also it was much roomier, and the people who worked in the terminal were pretty friendly and helpful.
@@jackslc01 Perhaps at peak times. Otherwise one will have to transfer at Jamaica Station. The point is that from any LIRR station on LI, one will be able to travel to either Penn or GCT.
If you don't know it the Pennsylvania Railroad built America's greatest and most gorgeous rail station above where stands the disgusting Madison Square Garden (hopefully they've torn it down). You should look up the Old Penn Station. The biggest disgrace was the City allowing its raising. Having escaped NY 28 years ago i'm rather surprised how good the underground station looks these days, you would vomit if you saw it in the 70's and 80's. The Amtrak terminal was for 100 years the Main Post Office for New York. Great report on a grim railroad.
Its so funny to me to see a LIRR train that's not packed/standing room only (as I usually went at rush hour) and wild to see a semi-clean toilet on the train! Also, there's a trick to getting them to lock with how you hold down the door handle. Love that you rode on these trains.
To go to Jamaica and then use the Air train to JFK you have two options: the fastest option (about 25 minutes) although more expensive is the LIRR but it costs about 10 dollars (however on weekends the ticket costs half) , the cheapest option (dollars 2.75) but slowest (50 minutes) is the subway line E. At minute 1:30 you see the access, that staircase takes you directly to the platform where you have to go up, ideal for tourists clueless who get dizzy inside Penn station! Very good video! I passed by there last week, greetings from Argentina!
The distance between New York Penn and Long Beach is roughly the same as Downtown Los Angeles and our Long Beach! Travel time is slightly longer for us by train though. Great video as always , Dylan!
I'm a Canadian from Montréal, and I use Amtrak to travel the east coast, usually Boston, New York and Washington DC. The trains are all lackluster, in speed, comfort and convenience. But for aerophobia sufferers like me, trains are better than nothing. Dylan, next time you're in North America, come visit Montréal! The view from NYC and Montréal is quite exceptional, especially around Lake Champlain.
Hi Dylan! Welcome back to USA:) From someone who grew up taking the LIRR, I really enjoyed your even handed and fair appraisal of our commuter line. On your return trip, try taking the train to Greenport. You’ll get to experience the north shore (as opposed to the south shore where long beach is), and you’ll take an old, quite loud diesel train to boot! It’s a wonderful day trip.
This was great! I'm glad to see that you're finally back in the USA and you even did a trip report on the Long Island Railroad. I live on Long Island, so I used to ride the LIRR all the time. I almost always get an M7 since they're so common, and I think they're very nice trains. I've also been on some of the older M3s when they were still in service, and I've ridden on some the new M9s as well. I've also been on some of the diesel trains that the LIRR has. The coaches are called C3s, and the locomotives that haul them are called DE30ACs (Diesel) or DM30ACs (Dual-mode). Anyways, I hope you have a nice day, and I am looking forward to seeing your trip report on the Lake Shore Limited on Monday.
9:06 I’m pretty sure the sign is there to discourage you from moving between cars when the train is navigating the many tight switches at the major stations. I’ve walked through a few 12 coach trains and it gets a bit scary moving between coaches.
note that when you left jamaica, you went down the atlantic branch(as train stopped at laurelton, rosedale, woodmere). long beach brach does not begin until east of valley stream after atlantic branch ends(starts at atlantic terminal in brooklyn) and splits off into the far rockaway and long beach branches. Long Beach trains can also go from Jamaica down the Montauk branch past st. albans to connect to long beach branch at valley stream. montauk branch of course continues east to Montauk, with the west hempstead branch also diverging to the north at valley stream.
Ex Pat living in Long Beach. Welcome to our City By The Sea. If you took that train in summer it would be packed with people from Manhattan, the beach also packed. A great place to live just outside of NY. The LIRR has its problems at times, used to be nicknamed the silver snail. Thanks for the video. Well done
Ah yes, the classic sounds of flat wheels on an M7. Long Beach trains actually tend to run fast to Jamaica. The newer M9s are so much nicer. And it's definitely possible to move between coaches while the train is moving, they just don't like it.
Right - indeed if you're on the Huntington line they'll ask you to make your way up and down the train if you need to get off at one of the stations with the shorter platforms.
While the ticket is expensive, the cost of gas and parking in many parts of NY, especially in NYC and boroughs means that you save money on parking and the headache of NYC or even LI traffic, plus you can chill on your phone or crack a beer without much issue. As someone whose spent 20 years on LI if you don't need a car I'd take the train into the city every single time over driving. Taking the train is less necessary for traveling across the island itself though, and can be practical if you have friends nearby the station you're heading to.
Technically, you’re branching off the Main Line past Jamaica, joining the Atlantic Branch until Lynbrook, and then joining the Long Beach Branch to Long Beach.
Dylan! So glad you are here. Penn station is the worst! Go to grand central terminal! Or try New jersey transit double decker down to Princeton// then ride the “ dinky” into Princeton proper. Very fun!
My biggest problem with LIRR is the fact that often they will not tell you the track number until < 5 minutes before the train arrives, and often the train will leave minutes after arriving, I take LIRR home from college most of the time i go home, most of the time the trip involves running to try and make the train
I was thinking the same thing Flier, but I think Dylan said that you can't walk through, unless the train has stopped. So I think you can walk through at station stops. If the stops are long enough that is!
Welcome to America, Dylan! From Chicago I guess you are taking the California Zepher to the San Francisco area, and then the Empire Builder back east from Seattle. Would be two truly epic adventures!
I rode this line for years from NYP to Valley Stream. Surprised to see you reviewing it! I don't disagree that any/every part of NYP is "pretty grim" but unless you didn't actually film it, I'm not sure if you really made it to the main LIRR concourse. You were in kind of the far hallway (not sure what it's actually called) that allows you to walk between the tracks at the opposite end. The main LIRR concourse (which is separate from the main NYP concourse) at least has shops, a waiting/sitting room, staffed dedicated LIRR ticket counters and a big board that everybody stands under to see when their train's going to be called. Keep in mind too that this is a pure commuter service and 99% of people who ride it are regulars who know all the stuff like which car to be in for their chosen stop (my stop only accommodated 8 or 10 cars, for example - I can't remember which but many trains were 2 cars longer). Also, you definitely can walk between train cars, whatever those signs say. (I don't blame you for not putting that in a video, though!) Anyway I definitely do not miss these trains - I never liked the M7's. The M3's were a little better, but you've really gotta be in that New York mood for any LIRR train.
It HAD shops and a waiting room and all that. Now there isn't really anything except scaffold and blue hoarding walls as the entire concourse is under reconstruction. LIRR is currently with Amtrak in Moynihan but will primarily be back in the rebuilt concourse when it is completed. NJT cannot use Moynihan as that concourse does not have access to tracks 1-4 which are used exclusively by NJT.
The time table has changed since your trip. I suspect from the reference marks in the current (Effective March 21 - May 22, 2022) time table that the time at Woodside was for a connecting train. Also regular passengers would buy one of several kinds of "commutation" tickets at a discounted rate.
It is very possible to go between cars while the train is moving thats how the conductors on the train go from car to car to check tickets the doors just carry alot of force and pressure to open.
Glad you had a chance to ride the LIRR and got to see Long Beach. As you saw, it is aptly named. Welcome Dylan, I'm a huge fan in California. Keep up your excellent work.
Dylan, you've got to come to Canada (specifically Toronto, where I'm typing this comment) and try out our GO (Government of Ontario ) Transit trains (the one from Toronto to Niagara Falls would be a good one.)
@@tsujimasen Thankfully GO is going to electrify most of their routes within the next several years. Sure, they should've done it already but better now than never.
I didn’t even think of using Wi-Fi, I guess I didn’t want to miss my stop. Thanks for letting us know Monihan station is open. Your right Amtrak and Long Island rail we’re all in the same building, that I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I go on Amtrak 🧐
Thank you for a most interesting video. I find the Long Island Railroad very good, and the newer EMUs like the M7 in which you rode are comfortable, and ideal for the runs they are used on. The later M8 EMUs are virtually the same except for a revised exterior livery. The really interesting LIRR trains are the Dual mode loco hauled double deck trains used on the longer runs to Montauk and Port Jefferson. I hope you can fit in a run on those trains which I am sure will impress you !
You should take the cannonball to Montauk.. it’s such a beautiful ride from the city, through the suburbs along the south shore of Long Island on a double decker train..I live near speonk where the beautiful view of nature begins for 40 miles until terminus at Montauk..
You, in my opinion, picked the wrong branch for seeing what the LIRR is all about. Other branches serve the new CITI Field home of the Mets and the former World's Fair site. In addition, LIRR serves Belmont Park home of the final jewel of the horse racing triple crown the Belmont Stakes, and the new USB Arena built for ice hockey. Besides the normal commuter traffic, the LIRR makes lots of revenue serving these sites.
Wow! That fare is outrageous. More than twice what I would expect for a journey that short. For that money they could have at least washed the windows. Congratulations on hitting at the 100K milestone! 👍
they're actually not dirty, they're sun damaged. The trains run east-west and never get turned around so the south side windows are ruined after ~20 years.
My only experience with the LIRR was after an ATA conference in a Times Square hotel over Halloween. I changed as Jamaica to a train to JFK for my flight home to Tōkyō.
Nearly an hour from Long Beach to Manhattan? Compare to Keikyu Railway serving Tokyo having the highest customer service rating. About an hour and ten ride on the entire main trunk from Shinagawa to Misakiguchi via the fastest express which can travel 70mph serving cities in the millions. Some trains continue with through service to the subway and another suburban railway.
Nice ride, and nice price too. That wheelchair bay had no window! Did you know that there is another line to the eastern tip of Long Island. Michael Portillo took a ride on that line in his Great Railway Journey tv show. Looking forward to your trainride to Chicago.
Took you long enough to do this! This is a route from TSW2, so nice to see reviews in the US of A again! Also, I see you brought Eli with you as well! Maybe she can feature in more videos, such as you can get her opinions on each journey!
You said at 8:25 that we branched off from the main line to the Long Beach Branch. Just to let you know that the cutoff after Jamaica is the Atlantic Branch and it runs the South Shore lines: West Hempstead, Long Beach, Far Rockway, Babylon (Midnight only), and the Montauk bound trains. The ACTUAL Long Beach branch doesn't start until Lynbrook
Well done. Where are u from in the UK? I'm an American living in Birmingham. When I return to NYC to work at diff times of the year I take the LIRR sometimes from Jamaica to Penn Sta, instead of the subway. I agree w/u that the tkt cost to LB from PS was high...also the LIRR sec of PS is indeed grim, reminds me a lot of Euston, my least fave London station. U were a good sport with the dirty windows.
I always love it to see Tourists ride New York trains and expect to see something from Europe. It's New York. Our subway has more diseases than a person dying from ebola.
Excellent trip report and if you want to copy Train Sim World 2 Long Island railroad route you could have actually flew into MacArthur Airport Ronkonkoma Long Island Railroad from Ronkonkoma to New York Penn that way you're on Train Sim World 2 section Hicksville to Penn Station. My mum did go on LIRR NY Penn Station to Bellmore 45 min. M7 LIRR Yellow and M7A Metro-North Blue have a toilet in Odd numbered carriage Even Carriages lack a toilet. If you have to choose between M7 LIRR UK equivalents 444 450 375 377/4 377/1 377/3 377/6 507 508. Also M8 Metro-North Railroad it's the American equivalent to a British Class 377/2 377/5 377/7 387 319 700 commuter OHLE Third Rail trains. You can actually move through between Carriages the guard does this. Do you own a Train simulator or not? If so Train Sim World 2
@@DylansTravelReports which one is it exactly and if Train Sim World 2 it has Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr where your DB BR101 video was. You can probably try going up the Tharandter Rampe Dresden Chemnitz Hof via Gutenfürst
Windows: Rule number 1 on the LIRR, you want a clean window, sit on the north side of the train. They almost never turn the trains around, so the south windows always get the sun and that kind of messes with them. Slow speed into Long Beach The LIRR has been a bit squeamish ever since there was a spat of over run accidents in the area, so since Long beach is a stub terminal they've been taking things slowly on approach. Costs When buying an LIRR ticket, it works a bit like the London Underground as a zone system. You bought a zone 1 to zone 7 ticket, so you effectually purchased travel to much further destinations, no questions asked. (the zones go 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12 and 14. Why? no one knows.) Zone 1 is everything west of Jamaica. this includes drawing a line straight up to cover the Port Washington Branch, which avoids Jamaica. Mets-Willets Point is zone 1. Nearby Flushing-Main Street is zone 3. Zone 3 is Jamaica and everything east to the city border (with the odd exception of Belmont park and Far Rockaway, which are both legally in the city) zone 4 is western Nassau County and 7 is eastern Nassau County. so you could have gone to Oyster Bay, Syosset, Farmingdale or Massapequa Park from Penn Station. the other four cover Suffolk County.
@@DylansTravelReports yeah… the prices often suffer because the state government has been treating the MTA like a piggy bank for much of the last 30 years. Any time they need money, the dip into transit’s accounts. They took several million dollars a few years ago from the MTA to buy snow making machines for some state owned ski resorts upstate. And don’t get me started on their payroll problems. That tunnel they’re building to Grand Central that should open this year? There was a report in the New York Times a few years ago that someone conducted an audit, and found they were paying 200 people $1000 a day to work on the project that didn’t actually have anything to do… www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html
Hey Dylan, it's Tony from NYC. How are you doing? It's nice to see you showcasing the best of NYC/LIRR. Different from what you have in Europe. 😅 These trains are built and designed to hold transportation of rush hour traffic. Lucky you.....😁 the loo was clean. Ha Ha Ha.....normally the loos are dirty, filthy, and smelly. You got a clean one on a good day. LMAOF! Minus the broken lock. Normally the bathrooms do lock. The price you paid is normal for us. Why are you complaining? LOOL! You're in the mean streets of NYC now. We aint London Bro! 😄 The shots you took of Long Beach compliments the nice scenery on Long Island. Take a trip out to Jones Beach. You'll love it out there. Better to go in the summer. I'm really glad you came out here to my city. I sometimes forget how nice our trains are. Still, I love international travel and prefer certain Western European trains. Your chsnnel has helped me connect to Europe during 2 years of covid. Keep up the good work. 😊
Yeah, it's expensive, but that's New York City for you. I don't know what you did once you got to Chicago, but Metra and South Shore can take you further (ignoring weekend passes, Metra is at most $9.50 and South Shore is at most 14.75 for a one way ticket on trips up to three hours) for less.
You mentioned the carriages being a little wider than those in the UK, do they use a different guage of track in America or just have slightly wider rolling stock? As a new subscriber I'm loving the channel, so thank you and keep up the good work!
Same track gauge, but different loading gauge, which is basically the profile trains are allowed to have so that they fit in tunnels and don't collide with things on the side of the track. LIRR M7 is 3.2 meters vs 2.8 meters for a London suburban train (depending on the line presumably).
7:13 That’s my local stop… not that I use it much since about a block north there’s the Forest Hills 71st-Continental subway station on Queens Blvd. On the rare day when something disrupts subway service though… everyone stuffs themselves into this station to get into the city. Not every LIRR train stops here either, so it can be rather dangerous to stand near the edge when an express blows through on the “local” track. (Most “city terminal zone” stations west of Jamaica get much less frequent service compared to stations east of Queens.)
Just a remark about the subtitles. I do appreciate them, because I find the combination of text and speech easier to process. But I feel that the automatically generated translation does a better job. Especially towards the end it got a bit sloppy, with "quarter to 10" when you said "quarter to 11", and the "M&" instead of M7 EMUs. So you may wonder if it's worth the extra effort.
I would have told you to get off at Lynbrook, get some White Castle burgers, then catch the next train to Long Beach, go across the street to Gino's Pizza, then take a taxi to West Beech Street where the pubs and restaurants are, then ask someone where the boardwalk is, check that out too .I hope you had a good day and I wish I was there myself I haven't visited in a good 5 or 6 years
The steps you walked down to the platform are from the original Penn Station prior to the 1960s demolition of the head house. Such a shame it was not saved. Great video.
Actually all of the stairs, railings, platforms and track layout at Penn is left over from the original. You can still detect remnants of the original architecture on the platforms etc. if you take the time(or the crowd let’s you take the time!) to look for it.
What a great surprise. It's good to see you in America again after so long. I remember your transcontinental trips on Amtrak. Sorry about the windows on that train, but the BART trains in the Bay Area are no better and don't even have toilets.
They do have "toilets" - it's the area between each car. I've seen this being used on multiple occasions. Especially if you're going from downtown SF to dublin/pleasanton.
The windows aren’t dirty, they’re permanently streaking because of the way the sun hits them. It’s only on the right side of the train (or left going towards Manhattan)
I really think at the very least the LIRR and NJTransit should integrate their services to do through running (it's perfectly possible to have dual mode railcars/locomotives that can handle both overhead and third rail power). It would greatly increase the capacity of both and provide a more logical RER-style service that would benefit anyone not terminating in Manhattan. When you don't have to turn around at Penn Station, the platforms can be used much more efficiently, and you can also avoid that NJT train that we saw at 6:43 that went through the East River tunnel without even carrying a passengers. Long term the same would be great with Metro North as well, but that would probably require new infrastructure at Grand Central.
Pity about the windows. Adelaide had a similar problem with their Class 3000/3100 Diesel Multiple Units (perspex scratch - not helped by the local ferals). At your comment regarding slow speeds, I noticed the train was crossing a bascule lift bridge which would explain the 5mph at that location. I must say that Long Island metro scenery is somewhat bland compared with other landscapes I have experienced, Long Beach obviously lives up to its name. The condo units adjacent don't exactly look inviting from the outside but I suppose the wealthy owners would want that to discourage the great unwashed from entering their territory (legally or otherwise). Something else caught my eye - the number of ships off-shore awaiting entry to port - port and general logistics still suffering from COVID restrictions. Now let's see what the Viewliner 2 coaches are like. Cheers from Downunder.
You got a bit lucky. You should try commuting on that train or any LIRR train during rush hour on a weekday. Not nearly as pleasant, nor clean, nor timely. At any rate, great job.
Just so you know, the bathrooms aren't always this clean, and the doors aren't always broken. So you say the M7s have more room than the commuter cars you have in Europe. Would you mind bringing this up with others in the UK and Europe who think they're so much better than us for focusing more on train travel?
