In the days before the city of Riverhead's annual Railfest, rumors circulated throughout the online forums and servers that negotiations were in place for the LIRR's newly-repainted SW1001 to take a rare trip outside of Morris Park, down the Main Line, and to the Railroad Museum of Long Island for the festival.

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SW1001 101, one of the LIRR's oldest pieces of currently-operating equipment, was on lease to New York & Atlantic Railway for a number of years. When NYAR gave it back to the Long Island last year, the engine was repainted into its sleek, as-delivered scheme of blue and white. This was the first time in ages that the LIRR was the proud new owner of a Heritage Unit - and Long Island railfans were over the moon about it!

 

While the locomotive looked great, SW1001s are typically kept in and around the Morris Park shops. They don't have ACSES, so they generally stay close to home. Moving the unit over the road would take extra horsepower, and that would require more effort from the railroad. I certainly didn't believe the LIRR would have any interest in doing something as cool as sending her on the road to Riverhead for a glorified railfan gathering.

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I was proven wrong on the night before the festival, when a contact from Twin Forks sent me a text imploring me to rush to the Main Line as soon as possible. 101 was on the move, bracketed by two MP15AC locomotives, bound for LD Siding in Riverhead!

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I drove as quickly (and safely) as I could to Hicksville station, where I beat the engine move by just a few minutes. The low light conditions were difficult, but I'm glad I got anything at all. 

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That night, I decided I should get up bright and early the next day, drive the hour from my home in Glen Cove to Riverhead, and have some alone time with the engine to get the shots I wanted in sweet morning light.

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Of course, the "alone time" thing didn't work out. There were at least four photographers at LD Siding before sunrise, and that number doubled within the next half hour. Still, it was a successful, relatively quiet morning shoot of the 101 in beautiful weather. The impromptu photo group got both moody twilight and gorgeous low sunlight on the engine, and nice occasional side-by-side shots of the SW1001 next to DE30AC 403, which was powering the Greenport Scoot.

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On Sunday, I went to the festival. The high sun didn't do me any favors for photography, but it was great to meet with my friends from Twin Forks and RMLI, get a tour of the museum's railroad equipment, and enjoy a nice lunch together at Applebee's.

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Monday brought about the last chapter of the 101's exciting journey. While most of the railfans expected her to head home to Morris Park in darkness on Sunday night, she instead departed Riverhead mid-day on Monday. I had the day off, so I hurried out to the home signal east of KO (Ronkonkoma) for a photo of 101 with Position Lights. I met another friend there, and before long, we both heard MP15AC 152's ringing P5 in the distance at Holbrook. The engine move soon rolled past with 101 in tow. We didn't get sun for this shot, but the mid-day lighting wouldn't have helped us very much regardless.

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I rushed ahead to a parking lot in Farmingdale - not to see the train, but to quickly call my doctor. After a brief, uneventful conversation with her, I continued on the road to B Tower in Bethpage State Park. With its decrepit, abandoned control tower, Position Light signal bridge, and many surrounding trees, B is one of the most photogenic locations on the electrified Main Line.

 

That being said, the tower is right next to high-voltage right of way, so I would advise against getting too close to the tracks or hanging out in the area for too long. The other tricky part about shooting at B is that to safely park here, I had to leave my car a pretty long way down the bike path from the tracks.

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After running through the woods for about five minutes, I managed to beat the 101 to the interlocking with just moments to spare. It was here that I captured my favorite shot from the day. And the afternoon sun came out just time - now at the perfect angle!

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It was a truly unusual weekend on the LIRR. But, an amazing one, too.