Montauk Branch revisited

During a recent visit to my parents on Long Island, I had occasion to stop off at the Babylon station on a summer Saturday around mid day. Babylon is the end of the electric MU district on the Montauk Branch; passengers for points further east transfer to diesel trains.  Back in the day, mid-day locals were met by the "Scoot" which shuttled eastward between Babylon and Patchouge which was essentially the east end of the commuter district.  East of Patchouge the line continues another 50 miles to Montauk, but was (and is) lightly traveled other than during the summer season when New Yorkers all head to the Hamptons.  Up until the late 1970's LIRR ran actual named varnish (Montauk Cannonball, Sundowner, Weekend Chief) complete with heavyweight parlor cars and open end observation cars for the east end summer trade.

When I was a kid the Scoot was typically an RS-3 and two random coaches, except during the summer when the train could really swell up as it made stops in Bayshore, Brightwaters and Islip, all south shore towns that had ferry service to the Fire Island beaches. Then it was often a C-420 and as many as 8-10 cars!   Here's a 1970's 6 car summer scoot at Bayshore, just east of Babylon

and here's a Montauk express led by an FA-1 converted to push-pull cab car

Okay here's the 2013 edition of the same service at Babylon, awaiting the MU train from Penn Station, with a diesel on either end.  These are EMD DE-somethings, basically LIRR-only budget F-59s designed for low clearances.  No more parlor cars or Alcos...

the MU connection from Penn Station rolls in from the west. Pennsy heritage lives on in the form of position light signals

conductors shepherd aboard the last of the transferring beach goers and highball the engineer

 and away they go!

the final act was a westbound local for Penn Station running with a set of M-1 "relics". I remember when these replaced the owl-eye PRR MP-54's and MP-72!!

old and new MU's share the lay-up yard just east of the station