Hi "Neighbor". We are fairly close to "the City" as we New Jersians call it. I have cousins who live on Long Island. Some of our 2017 family reunion activities were held at the Marriott In Melville, then a big party at my cousin's house after check out day. My son hated the idea of having to drive to L.I. though..he'd done so many times for his job.
The Marriott is the only real hotel on the sandbar nowadays. I take the Port Jefferson train From NYP to Huntington which is the last stop for electric service then take a cab to the Marriott. Last time I was there was quite a few years ago when the Blue Angels were performing at Republic Airport. I no longer stay with family at Hempstead or Central Islip because of the MS-13 killing sprees.
As for your son I'd bet the LIE did it to him. It got to me years ago. It was Southern State or Sunrise Hwy for me if I had to drive. When PRR & NYC merged into PC in 68 I wanted to hire on Atlantic Region which New Jersey was part of and it had a ton of yards from Weehawken to South Newark but I accepted Northeast Region.
New Jersey had a lot of railroads and I loved it. When I was still in high school every weekend I'd take Path from 33rd Street to Newark then ride the Newark City Subway which had those PCC trolleys all the way around the loop and back again. Rode the PC commuter trains to Poughkeepsie and Dover Plains too.
One of my best friends in schools father was a LIRR engineer who had the Ronkonkoma bid and would let us on the Alco in Central Islip and drop us off at Bethpage Station then we'd walk to B Tower and wait for his dads return run where his train would have to stop to grab train orders from the tower operator then back to Central Islip. I guess we kinda learned how to handle Alco's and an occasional S2 at Dunton Electric Shops.
We never touched anything I swear to the railroad GOD, we just assimilated this knowledge somehow. I mean what could the MTA do about it now? Everybody that watched us assimilate this knowledge is at that great train terminal in the sky. My friend got hired in LIRR but it wasn't my turn then because his dad explained to me that LIRR operating department positions were a closed shop, a father to son thing and I understood, my time would come and after great patience it came in 1968 when 2 of the finest railroads in North America the PRR & NYC railroad merged and formed the greatest railroad disaster in the history of modern railroads the Penn-Central fiasco.
It was such a pathetically run railroad rife with disparate management concepts, aging rolling stock, unbelievably overdue deferred maintenance, incompetence, petty jealousy, backbiting and 2 totally incompatible operating plants. The first video is a false depiction for potential consignees to sign up for the game.
The 2nd video is a last ditch pathetic attempt to garner more money from Congress to flush down the toilet of abject failure. To be perfectly honest I enjoyed PC the most because you worked with good skilled men who gave the company a good days work for a good days pay on real steel and not this new plastic covered microprocessor crap that AMTRAK seems to favor nowadays.
Geez, sorry I talk too much. Have a good night folks.