New York & Atlantic Railway HO Scale Models

The New York and Atlantic Railway traces its origins to 1997, when the Long Island Rail Road, a publicly operated commuter agency, chose to divest itself of freight operations and contract that work out to a private operator. The NY&A was formally established to take over those responsibilities, and on May 11, 1997, it assumed control of freight service across the LIRR's track network on Long Island. The arrangement was structured as a franchise agreement with an initial term of twenty years. The railroad operates exclusively within the New York metropolitan area, confined to Long Island and the portions of Queens and Brooklyn through which the LIRR's lines pass. Because Long Island is physically separated from the North American rail network by water, the NY&A depends on two connections to reach interchange partners on the mainland. One is a routing via CSX's Fremont Secondary over the Hell Gate Bridge, linking the railroad to the broader national freight network. The other is a car float operation across New York Harbor, through which roughly fifteen percent of the railroad's traffic moves by barge between Bay Ridge in Brooklyn and rail facilities in New Jersey. The NY&A's primary yard is located at Fresh Pond Junction in Queens, while Pine Aire Yard in Bay Shore serves as a secondary facility on the main line. The railroad became a subsidiary of Anacostia Rail Holdings, a company that owns and operates several short line properties across North America. Since beginning operations with approximately 9,200 carloads in its first year, the NY&A grew substantially over the following two decades, handling around 30,000 carloads annually by 2018. Its traffic mix is diverse, encompassing lumber, construction materials, scrap metal, gravel, chemicals, food products, and municipal solid waste, among other commodities. The railroad serves approximately eighty customers, many of whom have private spurs, and also maintains team tracks at numerous locations throughout its operating territory for customers without direct rail access. A privately funded transload facility opened in Yaphank in 2011, adding capacity for bulk commodity handling. The NY&A's role in supplying a densely populated island with freight that would otherwise move entirely by truck gives it an outsized importance relative to its modest size as a Class III short line carrier.