Long Island: Long Island Snailroad (Long Island Rail Road or LIRR nickname)
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) provides transportation between Manhattan and Suffolk County on Long Island. Some people who have criticized slow LIRR service have dubbed it “Long Island Snail Road” (or “Long Island Snailroad”).
“Wonder why nobody has yet come up with this description: The Long Island Snail Road” was printed in Newsday (Long Island, NY) on April 6, 1950. “Long Island Snail Road” was an editorial cartoon in the Daily News (New York, NY) on November 21, 1978. “Long Island Railroad (known to its admirers as the Long Island Snailroad)” was printed in The Guardian (London, UK) on March 23, 1979.
Other LIRR nicknames include “Largely Incompetent Rail Road,” “Long Island Fail Road,” “Wrong Island Fail Road” and “Wrong Island Rail Road.”
Wikipedia: Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road (reporting mark LI), often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average weekday ridership of 354,800 passengers in 2016, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the world’s few commuter systems that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. It is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which refers to it as MTA Long Island Rail Road.
The LIRR logo combines the circular MTA logo with the text Long Island Rail Road, and appears on the sides of trains. The LIRR is one of two commuter rail systems owned by the MTA, the other being the Metro-North Railroad in the northern suburbs of the New York area. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is one of the oldest railroads in the United States still operating under its original name and charter.
6 April 1950, Newsday (Long Island, NY), “Heads and Tails” by Jack Altshul, pg. 46, col. 3:
Wonder why nobody has yet come up with this description: The Long Island Snail Road.
Newspapers.com
21 November 1978, Daily News (New York, NY), pg. 41, col. 2 editorial cartoon:
LONG ISLAND SNAIL ROAD
Newspapers.com
12 December 1978, Daily News (New York, NY), pg. 17, col. 2 headline:
Taking a slug at the Long Island Snail Road
Newspapers.com
23 March 1979, The Guardian (London, UK), “Linda Blandford’s American Diary,” pg. 13, cols. 3-4:
Anyone who has tried to rush to Quogue on the Long Island Railroad (known to its admirers as the Long Island Snailroad) will imagine the unpleasantness of arriving five hours later to discover no housesitter and not one but two squirrels, clawing, gnawing and hysterically demolishing.
Newspapers.com
28 September 1983, Daily News (New York, NY), “‘Snailroad’ speeds up” by Jerry Cassidy, pg. NS1, col. 2:
“I think that the Long Island Rail Road can no longer be called the Long Island Snailroad by Richie Kessel,” said the consumer advocate of himself.
Google Groups: misc.transport.rail.misc
Railroad Nicknames Oct. 1997
Tom Stolte
9/30/97
(...)
Long Island Rail Road
Wrong Island Rail Road
Long Island Snail Road
Least Intelligent Railroad
Original Hobo Nickel Society
Railroad Nicknames −by Christopher D. Coleman, 3/1/2002
(...)
Long Island Railroad
Dashing Dan
Least Intelligent Railroad
Long Island Snail Road
Wrong Island
,a href=“https://twitter.com/BrandonReilly/status/5398859120”>Twitter
Brandon Reilly
@BrandonReilly
Long Island Snailroad.
2:04 PM · Nov 3, 2009·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Amanda Marsh
@AmandaNMarsh
Replying to @dmlevitt
@dmlevitt On slow days, it’s also called the “Long Island Snail Road.”
6:10 PM · Nov 2, 2011·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Samuel Muggington
@SMuggington
Penn Station is closed #LIRR The Long Island Snailroad is at it again - Service with Slowness is our motto
7:08 PM · Feb 2, 2016·Twitter Web Client
CBS Channel 2 (New York, NY)
Study: LIRR Babylon Line Racked Up 450,000 Hours Of Delays In One Year
March 31, 2016 at 11:21 amFiled Under:John Montone, Long Island Rail Road
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — For the third year in a row, the Long Island Rail Road’s Babylon line took the gold in two categories in the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s “Laggy Awards.”
(...)
“Long Island Rail Road, also known as the Long Island Snail Road,” one commuter said.
Twitter
LIRR Statistics (Unofficial)
@LIRRstats
Launching February… an online shop of fun and ridiculous (and totally not trademark violating) LIRR parody merchandise!
Our first design “Long Island Snail Road” will be on sale 30 days starting Feb 1
We’re giving away 3 items randomly to people who re-tweet or favorite this!
4:02 PM · Jan 23, 2018·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
mick
@themick1969
Replying to @LIRR
Always an excuse for the Long Island snail road… signal trouble- again. Glad all our money is well spent on maintenance
6:21 PM · Feb 20, 2019·Twitter for iPhone