@jkrspecnet

2 years ago

Great trip. The Calverton freight spur at 36:15 was originally installed 1953 to service the newly opened Naval Industrial Reserve Plant at Calverton built by the Navy for Grumman Aerospace final assembly and flight test operations, which had mainly outgrown the built-up Bethpage area in the heart of Nassau County. During my time at Grumman Calverton from 1962 to 1994 there were initially regular freight deliveries, including at first coal in coal hoppers then later fuel oil in tank cars for powering the main steam and power plant for the facility. The most memorable freight deliveries however remain the annual arrivals of a freezer freight car loaded with the frozen turkeys that were handed out to all Grumman employees at Christmas time. After Grumman ceased to exist in the Spring of 1994 and the Navy turned over the Calverton Facility to the Town of Riverhead, for a short time there were biofuel tank car deliveries on a somewhat regular basis made to a company doing business in the new Calverton Enterprise Park. Currently, there still may well be lumber and building material deliveries to the Riverhead Building Supply Corporation. The spur was refurbished circa 15(?) years ago with an aprox. $2M federal grant secured by then-Congressman Tim Bishop. That is when crossing gates were installed at River Avenue, tracks were replaced, and a new switch onto the main line installed.

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