⁴ᴷ MTA Long Island Railroad: On Board a Budd Company M3 on the Atlantic Terminal Shuttle

On February 27th 2023, full service to Grand Central-Madison began, which changed the Long Island Railroads schedules to fit the new service to the long awaited terminal. However, with these schedule changes, in order to accommodate full service to Grand Central, full service to Atlantic Terminal was officially cut at the same time, leaving service to Brooklyn being a short 4-5 stop shuttle from Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica, usually comprising of the usual M7/M9 fleet that every other route accommodates. However, with this shuttle, during the weekdays (particularly during rush hour), Long Island Railroad operates at least 1 set of Budd M3's on the route, due to its lower ridership count, short distance, and convenience leaving the newer fleets to be available to run on other routes that are more high demand, leaving less wear and tear on the M3 fleet as a whole. Sometimes, there might even be multiple M3 sets on this shuttle if these cars are not needed on other branches quite yet. After the activation of the M3's, it was pointed out that these cars could not run into Grand Central-Madison because of a lack of power on the tunnel slopes, only being restricted to full service to Penn Station instead. This also restricts them to the Atlantic Terminal Shuttle, which thus gives them the perfect opportunity to operate normally without any struggle, crowding or delay. #LIRR
0:00 - Context
1:08 - Video
Video Clips Taken: March, 28th, 2023.
Enjoy!

[@KingofGamingAndTrains456]

Nice!

[@calvinh2196]

I like that they put the LIRR M3s that's still here on the Atlantic Av shuttle. Makes it easier to catch and avoid long distance travel in mechanical problems. Even though a few are to or from Penn Station, they need extra trains to accommodate extra passengers but easier to see most of them at Jamaica station.

[@railfannerjs6308]

2:08 I like how M3’s that reroute HVAC (not MNRR) have been so old that when cycling it the lights can’t figure out what to do
Here’s the lightbulb, FREAK I BROKE IT WAI WAI WAIT. W w w wait wait wait
Here yall go, it’s on this time 😂

[@somecallmeelvis]

I would love to see some LIRR M3 go to Grand Central

[@Emperor_NYC]

Me too. Unfortunately though, they’re not strong enough to make it up the slopes that were dug when the tunnel was being built, as the tunnel itself was pretty rushed and M3’s weren’t exactly in mind when they did it, which is why they’re restricted from going there. Still, it condenses them to being either Penn Station bound or Atlantic Terminal shuttle trains, so it’s a little easier to see them by their city terminals because of it being less spread apart, 2 instead of 3.

[@SomeTrainEnthusiast]

@@Emperor_NYC Funny how the M3's, railcars that would have used the tunnel along with the M1's if it opened with the upper level, can't even traverse it now that it finally is open.
Also it seems recently they've been stuffing M3's on the shuttle, last week there were four of them there!

[@railfannerjs6308]

Lack of power on tunnel slopes Mk
*notches 9 on the deadman handle* 😂