Hi Cameron,

I think your question might be better posed on a LIRR-specific discussion board, for example:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=63
There have been equipment-purchase related queries posted there in the past that have received a constructive response

Good luck,
Philip Marshall

Cameron -

Historic railroad signals are worth preserving. We have a very nice collection at HVRM. I hope you are successful in your efforts to save that Long Island signal. Good luck!

Les

You are better off looking elsewhere, this one has been shot up, shot at and is as good as scrap or parts for restoring others...Watch out kid, signal collecting is a slippery slope and I should know....

You might try the LIRR Procurement Department:

MTA Long Island Rail Road
90-27 Sutphin Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11435
Mail Code: 0335
Phone: (718) 558-4704
Fax: (718) 558-4735

Or:

Division of Materiel - Operations - Asset Recovery, 2 Broadway, 18th Floor, Room A18.71, New York, NY 10004.
Phone: 1(800) 543-VALU; Fax: (646) 252-6017

Please let us know how you make out!

Kind regards,
Philip Marshall

Cameron: Have you sent a postal letter, addressed to the director of that department? That is likely the only way you will get a response. If you have, follow that with a telephone call and/or subsequent, polite letter. In a case like this, email will get you nothing but ignored.

Don't make a request like this and expect to hear back within 5 minutes. These people are presumably busy with their regular daily jobs and it may take a few weeks to get an initial response. Send a follow-up email if you don't hear back after about 3 or 4 weeks. There would in all likelihood be any number of departments that would have to review a request like this before they could even give you a tentative response. You are dealing with a big bureaucracy at the Long Island so have some patience. Don't turn them off by pestering them too quickly after your initial inquiry. Slow and steady can often win the race in these situations.

In a case like this, email will get you nothing but ignored.

Which is unfortunate, especially if it was a well written email. More and more business is and can be done through email and eventually people are going to have to get with the times. I basically bought my car through email - why shouldn't he be able to buy a signal?

Because this is a public agency which deals with hundreds of thousands of commuters daily, and they receive an unbelievable number of criticisms, well founded and unfounded, on a daily basis. Anything that can be ignored or deleted makes life at work bearable. A person who collects signals is not a priority situation requiring action.

Why should he be able to buy a signal at all? Much easier to just scrap it, or, better yet, ignore it until it rusts away and disappears all on its own.

A general rule of thumb is, when asking for a favor, make it as easy to provide the favor as possible. This is not the sort of thing where one person is going to make the decision. A well written letter puts all the pertinent information; name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address, nature of the request and the arguments for granting said request, on ONE piece of paper that is easy to pass from desk to desk and department to department as the request wends its way through the bureaucracy, and even provides a place to record concerns and comments along the way. Yeah, the initial recipient of the e-mail could print it out and do the same... or, he could simply hit the delete button. Which do you think is easier?

Try to get a hold of their Asset Recovery. NYCT puts stuff up for bid all the time and also has a section for collectibles. Maybe LIRR does as well

http://web.mta.info/nyct/materiel/collectsales/index.html

Risk there is they may decide to list it and you'll get some competition for it once it's out from under the radar.

I don't understand why you think they have to respond to your email.

To repeat what both Richard and Dennis have said, a paper letter will be much harder for them to ignore. Just print out the text of your email and put it in an envelope. You can even use certified mail with a return receipt to confirm it was received by the railroad.

I want to see this signal saved, but you need to realize you're trying to catch the attention of a lumbering bureaucracy that is public-averse despite its public mission. Paper has power here.

-Philip Marshall

Wouldn't something like this have to be sold by bidding process?

I think that you will be very surprised, assuming the railroad agrees to sell, just how much buying a signal would cost you. Having been in railroad management many years ago, I can assure you that they will never let you remove the signal. It would require a crew from the signal department as well as insurance provided by you to cover any damage that might occur when removing the signal, including any possible personal injuries to the employees involved.
I can also tell you from personal experience that when the railroads receive requests like this, they mostly end up in the circular file.