RARE Engraved Map - Long Island Railroad New York 1847 by Williams LI RR Erie

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Seller: dalebooks ✉️ (8,797) 100%, Location: Rochester, New York, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE & many other countries, Item: 303087344508 RARE Engraved Map - Long Island Railroad New York 1847 by Williams LI RR Erie.
RARE Original Map 
Long Island Railroad
by W. Williams
Dated 1847
 

For offer, an ORIGINAL map. Vintage, Old, antique, Original - NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed !! This interesting map has lots of detail. Dawn and engraved by W.Williams, 1847. At lower rh corner: Map of Long Island, Long Id. Railroad and the Connecticut shore, showing the railroad which terminate on the Sound with distances from New York. At Upper lh corner: New York and Erie Railroad from Piermont to the Delaware River. Map (entire sheet) measures 7 1/2 x 6 inches. Back is blank. In good to very good condition. Fold mark down middle, with small mount of old paper / glue residue on back along fold - nothing too major. Please see photos for details. If you collect American history, Americana 19th century geography, atlas, Pre Civil War, etc., this is one you will not see again. A nice piece for your paper / ephemera collection.  Perhaps some genealogy research information as well. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! 02030

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.[3][4] It is also one of the world's few commuter systems that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round.[5] 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] There are 124 stations and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of track[7] on its two lines to the two forks of the island and eight major branches, with the passenger railroad system totaling 319 miles (513 km) of route.[8] As of 2018, the LIRR's budgetary burden for expenditures was $1.6 billion, which it supports through the collection of taxes and fees.[9] The Long Island Rail Road is a railroad owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the U.S. state of New York. It is the oldest United States railroad still operating under its original name and charter.[1] It consolidated several other companies in the late 19th century. The Pennsylvania Railroad owned the Long Island Rail Road for the majority of the 20th century and sold it to the State in 1966. Gateway to Boston, 1832–1840s The LIRR's history stretches back to the Brooklyn and Jamaica Rail Road, incorporated on April 25, 1832[2][3][4][5] to build a ten-mile line from the East River in Brooklyn through the communities of Brooklyn, Bedford, and East New York to Jamaica. B&J engineer Major D. B. Douglass soon began planning for a continuation, forming part of an 11-hour combination rail and steamship route between New York City and Boston in cooperation with the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad and Boston and Providence Rail Road. The current all-land route (Shore Line) across southern Connecticut was considered impassable at the time due to numerous hills and river valleys. Douglass attracted wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians, who received a charter for the Long-Island Rail-Road Company on April 24, 1834,[5][6] with the right "to construct, and during its existence to maintain and continue a rail-road or rail-roads, with a single or double track, and with such appendages as may be deemed necessary for the convenient use of the same, commencing at any eligible point adjoining Southold Bay, in or near the village of Greenport, in the county of Suffolk, and extending from thence, on the most practicable route, through or near the middle of Long-Island, to a point on the water's edge in the village of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, to be designated by the trustees of that village, and to a point on the water's edge in the village of Williamsburgh, in the said county of Kings, to be designated by the trustees of that village, and in like manner to construct, maintain and continue a branch rail-road from the said main road to Sag Harbor". It was also authorized to unite with the Brooklyn and Jamaica with the consent of that company.[7] Since its plan was not to serve local traffic on Long Island, the LIRR chose not to serve existing communities along the shores of the island, but built straight down the middle of the island, which was largely uninhabited at the time and relatively free of grade crossings.[8] This straight route was the quickest and the easiest to build, compared to the options of being built along the northern coast of Long Island, or being built in a north-central route following the Middle Country Road.[5] The LIRR was organized on June 17, 1835, and Knowles Taylor was elected president.[9] Schedule for the first day of revenue operation to Greenport, July 29, 1844 See also: Main Line (LIRR) § History After one or more trial runs in February 1836, the Brooklyn and Jamaica opened its full line, roughly along the present Atlantic Avenue from South Ferry to 151st Street in Jamaica, on April 18, 1836.[3][4],[5] The B&J never operated its own trains, since that same day it was leased to the LIRR for $33,300 a year, a rather high amount for the time based on expected heavy traffic to Boston. Even before the B&J opened, the LIRR began planning a branch to the Grand Street Ferry in Williamsburg, leaving the B&J at Bedford, to avoid congestion in Brooklyn. The LIRR started to build the B&J's continuation beyond Jamaica immediately upon completion of the Brooklyn-Jamaica line,[10] opening to Hicksville on March 1, 1837.,[5] Hicksville remained the terminal for the next four years due to the financial panic of 1837.[5][11][12]The entire line was a single track, but the roadbed was graded for two tracks with a width of 28 feet.,[5] According to a February 24, 1837 announcement, a station called was called Westbury Hempstead was added. By June, the station was renamed Carle Place. At this location, passengers for Westbury and Hempstead would transfer to stagecoaches. As early as March 1837 a stop at the Union Course Race Track is listed, and as late as June 1837 the station is listed on timetables as Wyckoff's Lane.[13] The September 8, 1837 timetable shows Pennsylvania Avenue and Connecticut Avenue (later Woodhaven Boulevard) as stations instead of Union Course. Because steam trains were not allowed in the City of Brooklyn, from 1836 to 1839, trains were pulled by horses between Brooklyn and Bedford. Also along the way to Hicksville, a station was added at Willow Tree. An May 16, 1836 supplement to the charter authorized a branch to Hempstead, and surveying was done for the branch in 1838.,[5][10] The short Hempstead Branch, running south from the Main Line at Mineola, opened in July 1839 from Hempstead Branch station (later Mineola) down Main Street, terminating between Fulton Street and Centre Street.[2],[5][14] The branch was served using a small dummy train, shuttling passengers on the branch.,[5] The LIRR slowly extended east, reaching Farmingdale on October 18, 1841, and reaching Deer Park in 1842, which was the stopping place for the shore villages of Huntington and Babylon, even though they were miles away. Later in 1842, the line reached Suffolk station, and in 1844, it reached Medford and Millville. After this point, the building of the line was split into two sections, one from Greenport and one from Millville, both meeting up at St. George's Manor. These were the most difficult sections to complete, but the Main Line was completed, and service began on July 27, 1844.,[5] An opening excursion to Greenport was operated on July 27, 1844, making the trip in three and a half hours, and revenue service began over the full line on July 29.[4] Because the route bypassed the communities on the north and south shores, people from these areas had to drive between six and miles on stagecoach to get to the line.,[5] The LIRR bought the steamboat Cleopatra from Cornelius Vanderbilt, then known for his ferry empire, to cover the Long Island Sound crossing, and began operating to Stonington, Connecticut on August 10. Vanderbilt was elected to the LIRR board of directors on November 26. The opening of the Cobble Hill Tunnel along the Brooklyn and Jamaica west of downtown Brooklyn on December 3, 1844 decreased the grade to the waterfront and allowed locomotives to run through to South Ferry, eliminating a horse car transfer.[15] The LIRR began operating the Worcester and New Haven steamboats in 1845, and established a second route to Boston via steamboat to Allyn's Point and the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and Boston and Worcester Railroad. But competition from the Hartford and New Haven Railroad (completed 1844) and steamboats from New York caused the LIRR to sell the Worcester and Cleopatra to the N&W in July 1846, and the early 1847 completion of the Fall River Line cut into profits enough that the New Haven was sold to Jacob Vanderbilt, ending Boston express service.[8] Local focus, 1840s–1875 The final blow came in December 1848, when the New York and New Haven Railroad opened through the "impassable" country of southern Connecticut, forming part of an overland route via New Haven and Springfield.,[5] With only one short branch, the LIRR was not built to serve local Long Island traffic,[16] and it was decades before it had fully adjusted to its new role. In part due to the high cost of the Brooklyn and Jamaica lease,[10] the LIRR entered receivership on March 4, 1850,[17] but ended it without foreclosure on January 25, 1851.[18][19][20] Most of the population of Long Island was closer to the shores than the LIRR's central alignment; only limited success was had in inducing settlers on the central Long Island scrub oak and pine barrens.[21] An amendment to the LIRR's charter passed April 21, 1862 allowed it to build branches anywhere east of Jamaica.[22] Several branches on the north and south shores were built under this clause. Branches to the north and south shores In 1851, under the General Railroad Act, the Hicksville and Cold Spring Branch Railroad was organized to build a line running northeast from Hicksville to Cold Spring. Oliver Charlick was motivated to build the line because of his fear of competition. The railroad was chartered on November 7, 1853, and it was completed to Syosset by July 3, 1854, and the right-of-way to Cold Spring Harbor was graded to White Oak Tree. This line was leased by the LIRR and was successful, tapping the rich farmland of the central North Shore. Syosset got almost all of its ridership from the villages of Oyster Bay, Huntington and Northport.,[5][23] However, it was not yet complete. The line was intended to go to through White Oak Tree, present-day Laurel Hill before going to Cold Spring Harbor. There was not money for the project, and the LIRR got an extension from the Legislature in February 1858. Because of the Civil War the extension was impractical. The Hicksville and Cold Spring Branch Railroad had legislative approval to run as far as Cold Spring Harbor, but Charlick wanted an extension to Huntington. As a result, permission for the three miles of right-of-way had to be obtained. The iron to extend the railroad had been purchased in February 1866. The right-of-way began to be graded in May 1867. The right-of way and track that was once intended to terminate at Cold Spring Harbor was abandoned and a new right-of-way running east was built.[23] The line was extended to Huntington on January 13, 1868 and to Northport on April 25, 1868.[24] and to Huntington and Northport in 1868.[25] The Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad was organized on June 3, 1870 to build from Northport Junction, branching off of the Northport Branch, to Port Jefferson, opening on January 13, 1873. Northport then became the end of a mile and a half long branch.[2][26] Passenger service to Northport ended in 1899[27] When the LIRR was charted in 1834, it was authorized to construct a branch line to Sag Harbor, and in 1854, a survey was made for a branch from Riverhead to the Hamptons and Sag Harbor. However, the line was not built.,[5] The South Side Railroad of Long Island ran as far as Patchogue on the South Shore, and in order to insure a monopoly on the East End, President Oliver Charlick proposed building a branch to Sag Harbor, as it was originally planned, branching from Riverhead. However, Riverhead residents were not interested in a branch line, and Manorville was chosen as the split location. The line was to turn eastward to Sag Harbor at Eastport. The Sag Harbor Branch (now mostly part of the Montauk Branch), was finally opened from Manorville on the main line to Hampton Bays in 1869[28] and to Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor on May 9, 1870.[2][29][30] The Glen Cove Branch Railroad was incorporated on December 3, 1858. The Locust Valley Branch, now the Oyster Bay Branch, opened from Mineola on the main line north to Glen Head on January 23, 1865,[31] and to Glen Cove in 1867,[32] before finally being extended to Locust Valley on April 19, 1869.[28][33] However, the building of branches was retarded by the LIRR presidency of Oliver Charlick between 1863 and 1875. Charlick was known for only building branches where necessary to cut off plans by locals to build competing lines.[34] Charlick also rebuilt the wharf at Greenport in 1870, and operated a new Boston route via New London, the New London Northern Railroad, and the newly opened Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad from September 1872 to 1875.[8][35] Brooklyn The city of Brooklyn banned the LIRR from using steam propulsion within city limits effective July 1, 1851 (by ordinance adopted by the Brooklyn Common Council on June 9, 1851, and approved by the Mayor of Brooklyn on June 11, 1851).[36] The railroad refused to comply[37] until early October, when they stopped freight[38] and passenger trains at Jamaica, directing passengers to take Fulton Street stages to Bedford and transfer there to "Jamaica Line" stages.[39] The city granted permission to use steam under certain speed and noise restrictions on October 9.[40] Despite opposition from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,[41] Chapter 484 of the Laws of 1859, passed on April 19, 1859, allowed for the appointment of commissioners, empowered to contract with the LIRR to close the Cobble Hill Tunnel, cease using steam within city limits, and instead run horse cars for freight and passengers to the city line or East New York, connecting with steam trains to and beyond Jamaica there. The adjacent property were assessed, and from the assessment the LIRR was given $125,000 as compensation. By the fall of 1861, both use of steam as propulsion and of the tunnel had ceased.[42] The LIRR chartered the New York and Jamaica Railroad on September 3, 1859,[43] and a supplement to the LIRR's charter passed March 12, 1860 authorized it to buy the NY&J and extend to Hunters Point. The LIRR carried through with the NY&J purchase on April 25, along with the purchase of a short piece of the Brooklyn and Jamaica at Jamaica, and the next day it cancelled its lease of the Brooklyn and Jamaica,[44] but continued to operate over it. The Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad, a consolidation of the B&J with the new Brooklyn Central Railroad, began operating from South Ferry over the top of the tunnel, along the B&J tracks to Flatbush Avenue, and south on the new Fifth Avenue Line in August 1860.[45] The new line to Hunters Point was officially opened on May 9, 1861, with regular service starting May 10. A ferry connection (Hunter's Point Ferry) was initially advertised to James Slip;[46][47] connecting boats began running to East 34th Street Pier in October.[48][49] The BC&J soon began operating horse cars over the old line from South Ferry, connecting with LIRR trains at Jamaica.[50] The tunnel was closed off in December.[51] Competition and consolidation on Long Island, 1854–1880 From the 1850s through the 1870s rail service expanded considerably throughout Long Island, with several competitors vying for market share and making small if any profits. In 1875–76 a wealthy Whitestone, New York rubber baron named Conrad Poppenhusen acquired all the railroads. Poppenhusen, and his later successor Austin Corbin, were able to reorganize them under the umbrella of the LIRR thus forming the extensive network of lines that make up the railroad today. George Bradford Brainerd (American, 1845–1887). Long Island Rail Road Station, Jamaica, ca. 1872–1887. Collodion silver glass wet plate negative. Brooklyn Museum George Bradford Brainerd (American, 1845–1887). Railroad Station, Islip, Long Island, ca. 1872–1887. Collodion silver glass wet plate negative. Brooklyn Museum Main article: New York and Flushing Railroad The first non-LIRR line on Long Island was the Flushing Railroad, incorporated in 1852, which opened on June 26, 1854 from Long Island City to Flushing, before the LIRR opened its line to Long Island City.[24]This line ran from Hunter's Point east to Haberman, and then it went north following what is close to what are now Maurice and Garfield Avenues, and then to Winfield and Flushing along the current Port Washington Branch ROW. In 1854, the railroad had ambitions to continue further east all the way out to Huntington, going through Roslyn, Oyster Bay and Cold Spring, on the north shore of Long Island.[52][53] In 1857, it fell into the hands of a receiver, and it was sold under foreclosure the following year. The company was reorganized in 1859 as the New York and Flushing Railroad when Oliver Charlick took over the railroad,[43] which had fallen into a state of disrepair and whose quality of service had deteriorated. The residents of Flushing convinced the LIRR to incorporate the Flushing and Woodside Railroad on February 24, 1864 to build a competing branch to Flushing – Bridge Street and to Whitestone.[54] The line was intended to use the LIRR tracks from Hunter's Point to Woodside, where it would branch off and then run parallel to Jackson Avenue to Flushing, providing a more direct route than the New York and Flushing Railroad's. Work on the project begun in 1864, however, not much progress was made over the next three years because of legal problems in securing the right-of-way.[52] Despite service complaints, New York and Flushing established a subsidiary called the North Shore Railroad of Long Island in 1866 which extended the line from Flushing to Great Neck[55] Unfortunately, when the line was about half completed, the NY&F realized that they could not survive the competition, and sold their line (and their lease on the North Shore Railroad of Long Island.[55]) to the LIRR in the spring of 1867.[52] The LIRR benefitted by preventing the South Side Railroad from using the New York and Flushing access to the LIRR's Long Island City terminal, and by keeping the North Side Railroad from extending east to Huntington in competition with the LIRR.[32] The LIRR also stopped construction on the incomplete Flushing and Woodside as it felt that the Flushing and Woodside Railroad would end up being a direct competitor to the LIRR. Charlick's intention was to revitalize the NY&F and to run a profitable service to Flushing without any competition.[56][52][57] The New York & Flushing Railroad was operated as a branch, from Hunter's Point to Flushing. 1891 map of Winfield Junction Main article: Flushing and North Side Railroad A group of College Point and Whitestone citizens, feeling they had been tricked by the LIRR, convinced wealthy residents of College Point and Whitestone, including Conrad Poppenhusen, to buy out the stock of the old Flushing and Woodside Railroad and set out to complete the line. The construction of the line was done under the name of the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which was incorporated in 1868. This company had the right to build a line from Long Island City to Flushing and beyond to Roslyn, with a branch from Flushing to Whitestone. The group gained control of the unfinished Flushing and Woodside Railroad, and opened its line to Flushing, paralleling the LIRR from Long Island City to Woodside, in 1868[25] and to College Point and Whitestone in August 1869.[28] This new line attracted most of the traffic from the older New York and Flushing, and the LIRR wanted to get rid of its Flushing branch. In 1869, the state legislature authorized the Flushing and North Side to buy the New York and Flushing east of the LIRR crossing at Winfield;[28] connections were built by the Flushing and North Side at Woodside/Winfield and Flushing to connect its lines. The Haberman to Winfield portion of the New York and Flushing line was abandoned and a new right-of-way through Woodside was built. The New York and Flushing continued to own the line west of Winfield, and the Hunter's Point to Haberman portion soon became the South Side Railroad's access to Long Island City. The Flushing and Woodside was merged into the Flushing and North Side in 1871, and its line was abandoned in favor of the ex-New York and Flushing line.[57][58] The line was extended to Whitestone Landing in 1883 by the Whitestone and Westchester Railroad Company, having been consolidated with the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad in 1874, before it was built.[59] Main article: Newtown and Flushing Railroad Soon after it sold the New York and Flushing to the Flushing and North Side, the LIRR decided to enter the Flushing business again, and chartered the Newtown and Flushing Railroad ("White Line") on March 8, 1871.[58] It opened on November 10, 1873, paralleling the Flushing and North Side to the south and beginning a rate war.[26] Main article: Southern Railroad of Long Island The first major competitor to the LIRR, the South Side Railroad (SSRLI), was incorporated on March 23, 1860 to build from Brooklyn to Islip.[44][60] An 1867 supplement to its charter authorized an extension to East Hampton.[61] The company was partially owned by Willet Charlick, brother of the LIRR's Oliver Charlick. On October 28, 1867, it opened for service from Jamaica east to Babylon,[32] and it opened to Sayville in December 1868, and to Patchogue in April 1869.[28][60] Its Far Rockaway Branch opened in 1869[28] and it was extended by the Rockaway Railway to Seaside in 1872[35] and to the Neptune House at Beach 116th Street in 1875. In order to obtain a terminal along the East River, the SSRLI asked the LIRR if a track connection could be made in Jamaica so that the LIRR's line could be used to Hunters Point. However, the LIRR refused and it stopped attempts by the South Side to use the Brooklyn, Central and Jamaica Railroad and to purchase the New York and Flushing Railroad, which would have connected at Laurel Hill. Finally, South Eighth Street in Williamsburg was decided to be the terminal. Service was extended westward to Bushwick on July 18, 1868, and the line was completed to the East River on November 4, 1868. West of Bushwick, the cars were pulled by horses because the city of Brooklyn did not allow steam trains.[61] In 1872 the South Side opened a new alignment, the Hunter's Point and South Side Railroad, from its main line at Fresh Pond northwest to Long Island City, using the old New York and Flushing Railroad for part of the way.[35] The New York and Hempstead Railroad also opened in 1872, from Valley Stream on the South Side's main line northeast to Hempstead,[35] and was leased to the South Side in 1873.[8] Main article: Cedarhurst Cut-off Charlick decided to build his own line to the Rockaways, in competition with the South Side's branch, which was built three years earlier, and incorporated the New York and Rockaway Railroad on December 30, 1870 to build from the Main Line near Rockaway Junction.[29] Going south and west through the communities of St. Albans and Springfield Gardens, the line provided a more direct route to Cedarhust, crossing the South Side Railroad before paralleling it to Far Rockaway, where it once again crossed the SSRLI and ran to its terminal at Lockwood's Grove. On about July 1, 1871, the line was leased to the LIRR. The line, operated by the LIRR, opened in 1871 to Springfield Gardens[58] and it opened on May 14, 1872 to Far Rockaway.[35] The section of the line between Springfield Junction and Cedarhurst was abandoned a few years after the LIRR and the South Side merged in 1876, and from then on, the line through Valley Stream that belonged to the South Side was the only one used. In July 1876, the right-of-way for a connection between the Cedarhurst Cut-off and the South Side Railroad was obtained.[62][63] In 1904 – 1905, the line was going to be connected to the Atlantic Division, and property was purchased for the connection in March 1905, and it was completed and electrified in 1908. Service was never started and the line was unused until 1918, when the tracks were removed for other uses because of World War I. The line was rebuilt once again and was electrified once there was a building boom in the area in 1934. However, because of the Great Depression, the line was not used and it was torn up before being sold in 1934.[64] Main article: Central Railroad of Long Island The Central Railroad of Long Island was incorporated in 1871 by Alexander T. Stewart, an entrepreneur who was developing what is now Garden City, to build from Flushing southeast and east to Bethpage, giving the LIRR direct competition to its Main Line.[58] The line from Flushing to Hempstead via its Hempstead Branch opened in 1873, and was operated from opening by the Flushing and North Side; the rest of the line from Hempstead Crossing (where it crossed the LIRR's Hempstead Branch) to Bethpage opened later that year, as did the Central Railroad Extension to Babylon.[26] The Flushing and North Side Railroad, Central Railroad, and several smaller owned lines were merged on August 1, 1874 to form the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad, controlled by the Poppenhusens.[56][65] The South Side entered receivership in 1873,[26] and was sold in September 1874 to the Poppenhusens and reincorporated as the Southern Railroad of Long Island. The two Poppenhusen lines were connected at Babylon, and the Southern's branch to Hempstead was abandoned.[52][57][65] In 1876, the original LIRR (red) was combined with the Southern (orange) and Flushing, North Shore and Central (purple and blue). President Oliver Charlick died in 1875, and the Poppenhusens acquired a majority of the LIRR's stock on January 26, 1876, placing all the lines on Long Island under their control. Conrad Poppenhusen was elected president on April 11, 1876, and the LIRR and Flushing, North Shore and Central boards were now identical. On May 3, the LIRR leased the Flushing, North Shore and Central and Southern. In the next few years, a number of lines and services were consolidated, and redundant lines were closed, including the Newtown and Flushing, the parallel Flushing and North Side west of Winfield, the Central between Flushing and Creedmoor (forming the Flushing Branch and Creedmoor Branch), part of the New York and Rockaway (later rebuilt as the Cedarhurst Cut-off), and the LIRR's branch to Hempstead.[66] Amidst complaints over the way the consolidation was handled,[66] its $3 million cost,[56] and problems caused by Charlick's policies, the LIRR entered receivership in late 1877.[67] It was taken over by Colonel Thomas R. Sharp as receiver, who encouraged settlers to the island and travelers to the beaches, helping to promote the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad (opened in 1880, later the Rockaway Beach Branch).[68] In late March 1877, Brooklyn finally authorized the LIRR to return to Atlantic Avenue with steam locomotives, and the LIRR leased the main line of the Atlantic Avenue Railroad (the final successor to the B&J) east of Fort Greene Place (just east of Flatbush Avenue) on June 1, 1877[69] for $60,000 per year.[70] An opening excursion from the new Flatbush Avenue terminal was held on July 1, 1877, and regular service in the form of through trains to Long Island began on July 2.[71] Small Atlantic Avenue rapid transit steam locomotives began providing local service for five cents west of East New York on August 13,[72] later extended all the way to Rockaway Junction (east of Jamaica).[73] (The Brooklyn City Rail Road established a similar "rapid transit" service a week later on its Third Avenue Line to Fort Hamilton.[74]) On August 7, 1876, the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad (Brighton Line) opened to a junction with the LIRR's Atlantic Branch near Franklin Avenue, and began operating over the LIRR to Flatbush Avenue and Long Island City.[75] This agreement was terminated between the 1883 and 1884 seasons;[76][77] the BF&CI was later connected to the Fulton Street Elevated. Austin Corbin years, 1880–1900 1882 map of the Long Island Rail Road Hoping to build a line from Bay Ridge through East New York to Valley Stream, in 1870, the New York and Hempstead Railroad was incorporated. The line was leased by the South Side Railroad after two years of grading and excavating, but because of the financial panic of 1873 the project was drawn to a halt. This concept was resurrected when the New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad was created in 1875, with its line following the current path of the Bay Ridge Branch freight branch of the LIRR. The line was finished up to Bath Junction by the end of the Summer 1876, where it crossed the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad, the predecessor of the BMT West End line of the New York City Subway. In August 1876, the two railroads made a temporary agreement that allowed passenger trains to run from Bay Ridge to Coney Island.[78] Having been sold to Austin Corbin in November 1876, the line was reorganized as the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway with the purpose of building a line from Long Island City to Manhattan Beach. Originally conceived as a freight railroad, the line then became a passenger railroad serving the Manhattan Beach Hotel that was being built by Corbin on the east end of Coney Island. The railroad was rebuilt as a narrow gauge 3 feet line instead of the standard 4 feet 8.5 inches. The newly built branch to Manhattan Beach branched from the main Bay Ridge line at Manhattan Beach Junction, and then it paralleled the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad, today's BMT Brighton Line, to its east. The line was extended up to Atlantic Avenue after a deal was made with the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad, which allowed Corbin to built the new line along the right-of-way of the other road. The new line was inaugurated on July 19, 1877, with 13 trains running from both Bay Ridge and East New York to Manhattan Beach.[78] In order to continue the line into northern Brooklyn, the Glendale and East River Railroad was acquired. This line ran east from the terminal at Greenpoint to where it crossed the SSRLI’s Bushwick Branch at Varick Street, before running east to the Cemetery of the Evergreens, where it then turned south to hook up with the Bay Ridge line in East New York. For the summer season in 1878, the line was opened on May 15, 1878. The final line of the NY&MB, the Kings County Central Railroad, which was leased by the NY&MB opened for service on June 29, 1878. This line ran from the edge of Prospect Park at Flatbush Avenue and Malbone Street, before running east through Malbone to Clove Road, and then south on Clove to Clarkson prior to merging with the Manhattan Beach line. The line closed on September 30, 1878, when the summer season ended, after it had been sold to a group that desired to rebuild the line to standard gauge and compete with the NY&MB by building a new line to Manhattan Beach. Their plans were never realized, and the right-of-way had been totally stripped by July 1879.[78] In 1878, Austin Corbin organized the Eastern Railroad of Long Island to directly compete with the LIRR, planning a line from New Lots on the New York and Manhattan Beach to Babylon.[79] Corbin was however able to acquire control of the LIRR in 1880,[2] and brought it out of bankruptcy, becoming its president in 1881. Once Corbin had control of the LIRR, it was decided to standard gauge the Manhattan Beach Line and connect it with both the LIRR's Atlantic Branch and Lower Montauk Branch. This was completed in 1883, and this meant that Greenpoint segment was no longer necessary, and the portion west of South Side Crossing to Greenpoint was abandoned and torn up around 1890. The LIRR leased the NY&MB in 1882, not merging it until 1925. Under Corbin's entire 16-year control, the LIRR continuously paid dividends to its stockholders.[8] A number of new extensions and branches were built under his ownership.[57] The New York and Long Beach Railroad opened in 1880, from Lynbrook south to Long Beach, and it was operated by the LIRR. The Long Beach Marine Railway built a line on Long Beach to Point Lookout in 1881 and was bought by the LIRR in 1886, only to be torn up in 1895.[8][80] In June 1879, under a mortgage foreclosure, what was left of the South Side Railroad was sold, and it was conveyed to the newly organized Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad, which was immediately leased as the Montauk Division to the LIRR. In 1881, the line was extended east from Patchogue to Eastport by the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad, connecting it to the Sag Harbor Branch, opening on July 17, 1881.[70] This created a continuous rail line along the South Shore to Sag Harbor.[30] It was thought that the line connecting the Main Line to Sag Harbor via Eastport could be abandoned, but residents got the LIRR to use the line as a cutoff for trains between the Main Line and the Montauk Division, and as a way for passengers to travel between the North and South Forks. This service was termed as a "scoot". These trains ran from Greenport to Sag Harbor, and later to Montauk.[30] In October 1889, the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad merged into the LIRR.[60] The Long Island City and Manhattan Beach Railroad built a connection from the South Side (now the Montauk Branch) at Fresh Pond south to the New York and Manhattan Beach at Cooper Avenue in 1883, connecting the Manhattan Beach line with Long Island City.[81] The New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad opened in 1880 from Glendale on the South Side line (Montauk Branch) south to Rockaway Park. Corbin bought it at bankruptcy in 1887 and reorganized it as the New York and Rockaway Beach Railway, but operated it separately until the LIRR leased it on July 1, 1904.[8][57][70]The current Oyster Bay Branch was extended from Locust Valley to Oyster Bay in 1889.[8][33]The New York Bay Extension Railroad opened as a branch from the South Side at Valley Stream northeast to Hempstead in 1893.[70]The Wading River Branch opened from Port Jefferson east to Wading River in 1895.[2][82] Corbin attempted to buy the East River Ferry Company, which by then operated lines from Long Island City to James Slip, East 7th Street (abandoned within two years), and the East 34th Street (Manhattan) Pier, in December 1886, but was outbid by the Vanderbilts.[83] (The ferry company was bought by the newly formed Metropolitan Ferry Company in July 1887.[84]) Due to the slowness of the James Slip line, the LIRR began operating its own "Annex" line for businessmen to Pine Street (a block from Wall Street in the Financial District) at a loss in June 1887.[85][86] The LIRR acquired the ferry company in March 1892 and began operating the boats itself.[87] In 1890, the Main Line was double tracked to Hicksville.[88] The LIRR tried a Boston route again in 1891, this time from Oyster Bay at the end of the recently extended Oyster Bay Branch to Wilson Point, Norwalk, Connecticut on the Housatonic Railroad. Trains used the New York and New England Railroad to reach Boston; this combination was advertised as the Long Island and Eastern States Line. The service was a failure,[8] and it was abandoned in July 1892.[citation needed] But the most notable line built by Frank Sherman Benson was the Montauk Extension Railroad from Amagansett, NY east to Fort Pond Bay in Montauk. Austin Corbin purchased land in Montauk with a plan was to build a deep water port at Fort Pond Bay, where trans-Atlantic passengers could disembark and travel into New York at "a mile a minute" (100 km/h) and thus save a day in travel time. Arthur W. Benson, president of Brooklyn Gas and Light Company and founder of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, had acquired 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land at auction by court order pursuant to an action in partition in 1879 for $151. In 1882 Benson purchased 1,100 acres of land at Napeague sold Corbin's real estate company right-of-way through Montauk to Fort Pond Bay. By 1895 Corbin had acquired a further 4,000 acres (16 km²) from the Estate of Arthur W. Benson. The plans for Montauk Extension Railroad from Amagansett to Fort Pond Bay were signed by Frank Sherman Benson and are on file at the County Center in Riverhead. It was incorporated May 25, 1893 and opened in 1895.[2][70][89] In 1885, a connection was made between the Manhattan Beach Branch and Andrew Culver's Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad, the current Culver Line, which enabled Culver trains to go to Manhattan Beach. In 1893, the LIRR, under Corbin, bought control of the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad (Culver Line), which ran from Coney Island north across the Bay Ridge Branch at Parkville to Brooklyn.[90] It was operated as a division of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway[78] until 1899, when the line was leased by the BRT. Also in 1899, the line was electrified. The LIRR stopped operating trains over the Culver Line in 1909, prior to when the line was elevated in 1919.[91] Several inclined ramps were built in the next few years, connecting the lines of the LIRR and to those of the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad. A ramp at 36th Street and Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, connecting the Culver Line to the BERR's Fifth Avenue El, was completed in 1895; the BERR used it to operate to Manhattan Beach[78][92] and West Brighton.[93] In 1899, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the successor to the BERR, and the LIRR came to an agreement whereby the BRT would essentially have free rein west of Jamaica, and the LIRR would dominate to the east.[94] Pursuant to this agreement, the BRT leased the PP&CI later that year, taking the LIRR out of the arrangements relating to the incline at 36th Street.[95] An incline connecting the Brooklyn Elevated's Broadway El and LIRR's Atlantic Branch at Chestnut Street in Cypress Hills opened in 1898, allowing BERR trains to run from Broadway Ferry in Williamsburg to Rockaway Park[96] and Jamaica.[97] An incline at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, connecting the LIRR's Atlantic Branch to the Fifth Avenue El, was opened in 1899, allowing LIRR "rapid transit" trains to run to the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge.[98][99][100] The BERR soon began using this incline and LIRR trackage to Manhattan Beach and Rockaway Park,[101] but within a few months this service too was operated by the LIRR.[102] The Flatbush Avenue incline was last used (by the LIRR) in 1905, while the last BRT trains (then running from Lower Manhattan via the Williamsburg Bridge) used the Chestnut Street incline to Rockaway Park in 1917.[103] With the death of Austin Corbin in June 1896 the LIRR was reorganized and the decline of the Manhattan Beach line started.[57] Various rapid transit lines in Brooklyn had been unified under the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and a connection was built between the Fulton Street Elevated and the Brighton Line, which was long opposed by Corbin, and this led to a decline in revenue for the Manhattan Beach. The LIRR and BRT agreed to keep out of the other's business after an agreement was made on April 1, 1899. The BRT's acquisition of all of the Brooklyn Elevated railroads was no longer opposed by the LIRR, and a connection at Sheepshead Bay was built so that trains from the Brighton Line could go to the Manhattan Beach Hotel. Control of the Culver Line was given to the BRT soon afterwards.[78] In 1898, an extension of the current Port Washington Branch from Great Neck to Port Washington was opened.[2][70] With the completion of the Port Washington Branch, the LIRR reached its peak route mileage, and nothing has been added since. (This will change once East Side Access opens.) There had been previous talk of an eastern extension of the North Shore Branch to Roslyn to meet up with the Oyster Bay Branch. This would have created a more direct route to Roslyn, Glen Cove, and Locust Valley. In 1882, the first move to extend the line was made, when the officials of the LIRR toured Roslyn, Cold Spring and Oyster Bay, for a possible extension of the North Shore Branch from Great Neck to Roslyn and then through East Norwich to Syosset. Surveyors marked a route from Great Neck through Manhasset and Barrow Beach to Roslyn, and one more from Locust Valley to Northport. Because of the high cost of $400,000, this project was doomed. In December 1885, the farmers along the line of the proposed extension to Roslyn, and from Oyster Bay to Huntington were donating the right-of-way. Ten years later, in 1895, Austin Corbin was convinced by the residents of Port Washington to extend the line, but to their village. On March 30, 1896, the LIRR began staking off the line of the proposed extension between Great Neck and Port Washington. In April 1896, the Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad was incorporated to build the extension. Surveys of the right-of-way were completed in May 1896. Once Corbin died, it was unsure whether the new President of the LIRR Baldwin would finish it, but because it was such a short extension he agreed to finish it. Work progressed through March and April 1898 after some delays in the winter of 1896–1897, and July 1 was set as the completion date. In order to cross over Manhasset Bay, a viaduct was built. To this date, it is the highest bridge on the railroad, being 679 feet long, and 81 feet above the average height of water. Due to favorable spring weather, the branch opened early on June 23, 1898.[104] On May 13, 1899, the LIRR bought the Montauk Steamboat Company, which had competed with its own steamboats for connecting freight and passenger service. Routes operated under LIRR control included New York-Greenport and connections from the eastern terminals to New London and Block Island. Most of the lines ran until the 1910s, when they were abandoned due to competition from highways and the U.S. Navy Department prohibiting operation through Plum Gut (to Block Island) in 1917; the New London connection continued until 1927.[8][103] Pennsylvania Railroad ownership, 1900–1949 Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles Year Traffic 1925 1573 1929 1893 1933 1304 1944 2055 1960 1477 1970 1761 Source: ICC annual reports Keystone herald adopted under PRR ownership Corbin began planning for direct access to Manhattan by the late 1880s, considering plans to extend the Atlantic Branch under the East River in a tunnel and north to Grand Central Terminal (this was later built as part of the New York City Subway, now the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IRT Eastern Parkway Line), or to cross the East River on a bridge from Long Island City to near 37th Street and again run to Grand Central. The Pennsylvania Railroad simultaneously began planning access across the Hudson River to Manhattan, and LIRR president William H. Baldwin, Jr. started negotiating in 1900 to enter the PRR terminal. That year the PRR paid $6 million for a controlling interest in the LIRR, and soon incorporated the companies to build the New York Tunnel Extension from New Jersey through Manhattan to Long Island City. Simultaneously, the new Sunnyside Yard at Long Island City was built to provide a place to turn New Jersey trains. The new Pennsylvania Station opened on September 8, 1910, serving only LIRR trains for over two months before the New Jersey side was completed.[105] Electric coaches of the LIRR, ca. 1911 The James Slip and Annex ferries to Lower Manhattan were abandoned in 1907 and 1908, before the tunnel was completed, but the ferry to 34th Street continued to operate until 1925.[103] The new station and tunnel network provided direct rail service from Long Island to Manhattan, resulting in vast increases in both total passengers and daily commuters. Total annual ridership increased from 34 million in 1911, the first full year that Penn Station was in operation, to a peak of 119 million in 1929. By then, 61.7% of LIRR passengers were daily commuters, up from over 30% in 1911. But the IND Queens Boulevard Line subway reached Jamaica in 1937, and by 1940 80% of the short-haul commuters from Queens had switched to the five-cent subway ride; along with other factors such as trolleys and automobiles, this lowered the annual ridership to 67.5 million.[8][89] During this period, the LIRR gained control of most of the connecting and competing trolley lines on Long Island. Its first acquisitions were the Ocean Electric Railway and Huntington Railroad, both by 1899.[106] Several more lines were built in the early 1900s, and Long Island Consolidated Electrical Companies was incorporated in 1905 as a holding company for the LIRR's trolley properties.[107] It gained 50% ownership in the closely related New York and Long Island Traction Company and Long Island Electric Railway in 1905 and 1906 respectively, the other half going to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company.[108][109] Most of the lines had ceased operating by 1924, and the NY&LI and LIE were both sold at foreclosure in 1926. The final abandonment was the Ocean Electric on Rockaway Beach Boulevard in 1928.[103][110] In 1905, the Oyster Bay Branch was double-tracked to Roslyn.[33] Revenue freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles Year Traffic 1925 163 1933 97 1944 148 1960 77 1970 73 Source: ICC annual reports When Belmont Park opened on May 4, 1905, about 19,000 passengers—nearly half of all attendees—took the railroad to the racetrack on opening day.[111][112] The first electric trains to Belmont Park ran on October 2, 1905, the opening day of the fall meet.[113] The original station was located south of Hempstead Turnpike; the present terminal north of Hempstead Turnpike was opened in 1957.[114][115] The LIRR also began electrifying (with third rail direct current) and grade separating its urban and suburban lines in the 1900s. Because of increasing fatalities at the Atlantic Branch's 50 grade crossings, a law was passed from the City of Brooklyn and the City of New York to remove grade crossings in 1897. As part of the law, a tunnel would have been built to Lower Manhattan, but because of the large cost, it was removed in 1900. Work commenced in December 1901, after a new version of the law was passed on April 8, 1901 without any mention to the tunnel. The portion from Flatbush Avenue to Bedford Avenue the line was to be a tunnel, and the portion from Nostrand Avenue to Ralph Avenue was to be elevated. The next section, between Ralph Avenue and Howard Avenue was to be built as a tunnel, and the remaining portion to Atkins Avenue would have been an elevated structure. The first portion of the line to be opened was between Manhattan Crossing and Atkins Avenue. This portion opened on May 28, 1903, and the second part, the elevated from Nostrand Avenue to Ralph Avenue, opened on November 23. to Manhattan Crossing, The first tunnel segment, the one between Ralph Avenue and Howard Avenue, opened in 1904. Because of delays resulting in the construction of the new Flatbush Avenue terminal, service to the new underground Flatbush Avenue did not commence until November 5, 1905. Prior to the opening of the underground station, trains used a connection with the Brooklyn Rapid Transit's Fifth Avenue Elevated and temporary wooden platforms were built on the connection. The new terminal opened on April 1, 1907. The easternmost elevated section of the line was replaced by a tunnel around the year 1940.[116] The first electrification was on the Atlantic Branch and Rockaway Beach Branch from Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica and Rockaway Park, completed on July 26, 1905 (and eliminating the "rapid transit" service from 1877).[107] When the IRT expanded its service from Bowling Green to Atlantic Avenue, the usage of the Atlantic Branch went up.[89] By the 1910 opening of Penn Station, most of the lines in New York City had gained third rail, and the New York City-area electrification program was complete in 1913, with the Montauk Division as the only major holdout.[80] A big grade-elimination project was started on the Bay Ridge Branch in 1906 and was completed by 1915.[78] Later electrification included the Montauk Division from Jamaica out to Babylon in 1925[117] and the Bay Ridge Branch (for New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad freight off the 1916 Hell Gate Bridge) in 1927.[118] The PRR began directly operating the LIRR under lease on October 1, 1928.[119] The railroad continued to actively promote Long Island as an attractive residential area. The railroad's Passenger Department, led by Hal B. Fullerton, issued numerous publications touting the virtues of life on Long Island as compared with city life. As explained by historian Charles Sachs, Fullerton spent thirty years in the Passenger Department "promoting and advertising events, activities, or plans that would bring public attention to the island's potential for sport, recreation, business, and residential development for both the middle classes and urban elite."[120] The price of a monthly commute ticket was unchanged from 1918 to 1947: $10.56 Penn Station to Mineola, $13.81 to Babylon, $10.07 to stations from The Raunt to Rockaway Park. Monthlies to Brooklyn were $2.20 less.[citation needed] At the end of 1925 the LIRR operated on 397 miles of road and 957 miles of track; mileages in 1970 were 326 and 738.[citation needed] Palsgraf v. LIRR (1928) is a major case in American Tort law which established the legal standard of "proximate cause" based on foreseeability. The case involved a passenger (Palsgraf) who was injured on the platform as the result of a chain of events (another passenger dropping a package on the tracks which turned out to be fireworks that exploded and indirectly caused the injury to Mrs. Palsgraf) which the court deemed unforeseeable on the part of the LIRR. It is a milestone decision in American law.[citation needed] On October 19, 1926, the portion of the line between Valley Stream and Franklin Avenue in Garden City was electrified and it was inaugurated with a special train.[121] New through service running between Valley Stream and Mineola began on the West Hempstead Branch the next day. The freight sidings, however, were not electrified until 1927 and 1928.The connection to the Oyster Bay Branch was severed in 1928, while the portions of the line between Mineola and Country Life Press and between Country Life Press and West Hempstead were taken out of revenue passenger service in June 1935 due to the costly grade crossing elimination improvements imposed upon the LIRR by the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as the New York Public Service Commission. This meant that no more through service between Valley Stream and Mineola could operate.[122] It was anticipated that the Oyster Bay Branch would be electrified next, and in November 1928, railroad officials investigated the possibility. However, due to high costs, with the electrification of the branch necessitating grade-crossing elimination, the plan was shelved.[123] In the 1930s, the use of the Manorville Branch for service between the forks declined, and limited service using the line continued into the World War II years, and in 1946 the line was removed from timetables, and it was no longer used after March 3, 1949. On November 25, 1949, the Interstate Commerce Commission approved the LIRR's request to abandon the line, and the tracks were removed in the winter of 1950.[30] Lean years, 1949–1966 Rail service – and in particular passenger rail service – declined dramatically after World War II as it faced competition from the rise of the automobile and improved air travel. Passenger rail travel was very vulnerable because government regulations required certain levels of service even if unprofitable. Greater New York, unlike most other cities, fared much better due to the fact that day-to-day life was built upon the commuter culture mentality. Both its subway and commuter rail systems continued to be heavily used despite years of neglect. As Long Island's population increased dramatically after World War II it became readily apparent that the public parkway and highway system would prove to be totally inadequate for the population. The LIRR was looked to as the solution to the problem, however, the railroad was in a sad state of neglect.[citation needed] Herald adopted in 1950, after PRR operation ended[124] Despite a doubling of operating costs since 1917, the LIRR was not permitted to raise its fares.[125] It declared bankruptcy on March 2, 1949, after which the PRR stopped supporting its debts, transferring it to the subsidiary American Contract and Trust Company.[126] Direct PRR operations ended on May 1.[127] In the next year, the LIRR suffered three accidents, at Rockville Centre, Huntington, and Kew Gardens, killing a total of 115 passengers. The Jamaica Bay trestle on the Rockaway Beach Branch caught fire in May 1950, and it was abandoned on October 3, 1955 south of Ozone Park.[128] It was then sold to New York City, which rebuilt it for the IND Rockaway Line subway extension.[129] The LIRR rolling stock, most of which dated from the early 1900s, proved to be a major problem. Built at a time when the average person's height and weight was smaller, the seating arrangements in the cars proved to be completely inadequate for mid-century commuters, who were much bigger in stature. The antiquated stock was also noted for frequently breaking down. It was not uncommon in an average day for there to be nearly ten to fifteen cancelled trains. Noted New York writer Robert Caro states in his Robert Moses biography The Power Broker that around this time the LIRR gained the nickname "The Toonerville Trolley." Despite these setbacks, the LIRR forged ahead with enticing Long Islanders to commute to work rather than drive. The railroad was able to obtain a variety of different lightweight and heavyweight stock for both its diesel and east end parlor car service. Most of these new cars were obtained from the Pennsylvania Railroad and from other faltering railroads at the time. These cars were much newer and, together with some new electric MU cars and a fleet of new diesel-hauled coaches, provided the railroad with its first air-conditioned fleet. The railroad even made an attempt at expanding service. In the 1950s, there was a proposal[by whom?] to build a new high speed LIRR route down the center median on the newly built Long Island Expressway, however this idea was rejected by master highway builder Robert Moses.[130][131] The LIRR also took other steps to improve its physical image and its operations. In the 1950s they started a new publicity campaign, adopting a new "Dashing Dan" and "Dashing Dottie" logo and painted its trains in a gray color scheme.[125] The railroad also continued to perform major capital improvement projects. During the 1950s and 1960s the Montauk Branch between Jamaica and Babylon continued going through a massive grade crossing elimination project, with the line being elevated from street level over a number of years. Mandated by federal and state agencies after the 1950 Kew Gardens (Richmond Hill) train collision, the railroad began to install an Automatic Speed Control system to supplement (and later replace) the wayside automatic block signal system on a majority of its lines. Finally, the LIRR was able to completely replace its steam locomotives with diesels, with the last steam-hauled trains running on October 8, 1955.[89][88] Two of these PRR G5 class locomotives survive today.[citation needed] In the summer of 1951, as a cost-cutting measure, all trains operating in and out of Penn Station using electric locomotives were changed to originate and terminate in Jamaica of Long Island City. As a result, there was no direct service to New York, and passengers were forced to switch to an electric train, and "the moniker "change at Jamaica" became the norm".[132] In August 1954, the state of New York passed legislation that took the LIRR out of bankruptcy and designated it as a Railroad Redevelopment Corporation, and over twelve years, $60 million was provided to improve the LIRR. This improvement focused on the western electric territory. This was complemented by tax abatements for the LIRR and the PRR. It was then promised by the PRR that it would reinvest profits into the LIRR's improvement program. At this time, 220 new Pullman Standard coaches were ordered in order to replace older cars from before World War I, which were then scrapped. About 700 of the older cars were rebuilt with improved heating and ventilation, new floors, new seating, and new lighting. Many grade crossings were eliminated and heavily travelled lines were refurbished.[3] In 1956, some freight trains were moved by the LIRR to overnight hours, allowing for better running times and cutting service times to Eastern Suffolk County.[132] By 1963, the Main Line beyond Riverhead to Greenport was served by only one daily passenger train and a thrice-weekly freight train, though a bridge was proposed from Greenport to Rhode Island.[133] (Now (2018) there are four daily passenger trains east of Ronkonkoma to Greenport Terminal. [134]) Road n' Rail bus service For some time, the LIRR had tried to attract customers on the East End. In 1955, an attempt was made to do this. A single-car prototype train ran along the Main Line to Riverhead, but this turned out to be a failure. During the mid-1960s the LIRR lost mail contracts, which had justified service on the East End. One way to continue service to these stations would have been to implement bus service, which could then replace certain train trips, reducing the need of maintenance on the Montauk Branch and Ronkonkoma Branch. The LIRR decide to do precisely that. In the 1960s and 1970s, the LIRR operated a bus route between Greenport and Huntington as a combination "Road 'n' Rail" service, paralleling the Montauk Branch between Babylon and Montauk.[8] Passengers on short trips were expected to be attracted to the buses as they were cheaper than rail, and because they ran through a heavily populated area that had no rail stations.[135] An additional reason was competition. Long Island Transit Systems, Inc., at the end of 1960 sought permission to operate express bus service via the Long Island Expressway and New York State Route 25 between New York City and Riverhead, where it would continue easterly by arrangement with Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc. to Greenport. At around this time, the LIRR proposed its own bus plan, and in July 1961 the Public Service Commission (PSC) ruled that Long Island Transit's petition was not in the public's best interest. However, it would grant the LIRR’s proposal if the railroad received agreement from local governments along the route by January 18, 1962. On January 17, 1962, the PSC authorized service as far as Southold and an extension to Greenport was granted later on. The buses first ran on Monday, February 19, 1962, with the desire to triple passenger service in Central Suffolk and the North Fork. Because of its popularity, another bus route was initiated on the South Shore from Amityville to Montauk after approval from the PSC on May 10, 1963. This route ran along Montauk Highway from Shirley to the Shinnecock Canal. Six round trips a day would supplement rail service, and four new air-conditioned buses were ordered. Bus service began on this route on June 8, 1963.[135] The new plan replaced trains with six daily bus round trips between Riverhead and Huntington, half of which went on to Greenport, and two round trips on the weekend between Greenport and Huntington, where connections could be made for train service to New York. Bus service was one way to continue service to eastern stations, replacing certain train trips, and therefore reducing schedules. In turn came reduced maintenance, and extended trip times. The LIRR, with the bus service implemented, was allowed to discontinue one westbound train out of Greenport and one eastbound to Greenport. These buses also served new communities along New York State Route 25 in Central Suffolk, which were three to five miles from Main Line stations. This brought the railroad to passengers rather than having them travel to the railroad. In order to save time, buses ran express along the Smithtown Bypass. Zones were established by the PSC in order to prevent competition with local bus routes. The area between Huntington station and Deport Road and Jericho Turnpike was Zone one. The second zone was Jericho Turnpike between Larkfield Road and Veteran’s Memorial Highway. Middle County Road between Stony Brook Road and Evergreen Avenue was the third zone. The fourth zone was along Middle Country Road between Evergreen Drive and New York State Route 112. The fifth zone was from Riverhead to Greenport.[135] The original Road n' Rail buses were operated under contract with the LIRR, by Huntington Coach Corporation. In June 1973, the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority (MSBA) became the owner of LIRR Road n' Rail, and the "Town of Huntington" took over Huntington Coach routes as Huntington Area Rapid Transit (HART).The bus route primarily traveled along New York State Route 25 Jericho Turnpike. There were six bus trips each way weekdays, and four on the weekends.[135] In the beginning of Summer 1973, the LIRR discontinued direct Huntington to Riverhead bus service, relying on a faster route.[30] A total of eleven eastbound buses and twelve westbound buses were in service in Summer 1976, at the peak of the Road n' Rail service. The next summer, only seven eastbound and nine westbound buses were operated. Service continued to be reduced, with weekend service dropped by a round trip in 1978, and the service was reduced to only weekends during Summer 1981. In 1982, the service only operated during midday hours, showing the LIRR's desire to return train service. Bus service became unreliable and undesirable with population growth on the East End, and North Fork bus service to Babylon was reduced to a pair of daily round trips on October 18, 1982, before finally being eliminated. Road n' Rail bus service to Greenport ended on weekdays on September 8, 1981, and it ended on weekends on October 17, 1983. After repeated threats of abandonment, the Speonk to Montauk segment was rebuilt in the late 1970s, and the project was completed in time for the summer timetable of 1980. All remaining Montauk Branch Road-n-Rail service ended with this timetable. With the elimination of Road n' Rail, train service returned to its previous level.[135][136][137] 1963: the Better Rail Service for Nassau County Plan Long Island Rail Road trains at the World's Fair in September 1964 In June 1963, the Nassau County Planning Commission issued a report and the Nassau County Department of Transportation and Franchises issued a report called "Better Rail Service for Nassau County". Many projects were proposed in the report. As part of the project, the Main Line would have been electrified from Mineola to Bethpage, and grade crossings would be eliminated on the entire Main Line to Bethpage. Multiple stations would be rehabilitated as part of the plan. The New Hyde Park and Mineola stations would have been rebuilt, and using air rights, they would have been combined with new offices or other commercial structures. The Grumman station, in order to better serve employees of the aircraft plant, would have been relocated and improved. The Bethpage station was to be renamed Bethpage – Plainview, and it was slated to become a major bus-rail and park-and-ride interchange. The station would have been moved east 500 yards to go alongside the Oyster Bay Expressway with parking facilities provided on the south side of the tracks. The station would have become the terminal of the electrified Main Line, and would have become a transfer point with diesel trains running farther east on the Montauk and Ronkonkoma Branches. The Main Line would have been expanded to three or four tracks to allow for a branch running to Roosevelt Field, where a major transportation center including bus, rail, and helicopter services would be provided. The two-track branch would have come off of the mainline at Glen Cove Road in Carle Place before running in a new right-of-way to the proposed Roosevelt Field Transportation Center near the Meadowbrook Parkway. 28 minute express service between Roosevelt Field and Midtown Manhattan would have been available. Eight trains per hour in the peak, and four per hour in the off peak would have been in place. Possible long distance trains through Penn Station to Washington D.C. or Florida was also considered. Most trains to the new line would have terminated at Roosevelt Field, but with a new connection built to the Garden City–Mitchel Field Secondary some trains could run further east. The secondary would have been rebuilt and would have had stations built at East Meadow and Levittown. This would have been part of the Nassau Loop. Trains once leaving Levittown would loop to turn onto the Main Line stopping at Bethpage–Plainview before heading toward Manhattan.[138] Jamaica station would have been reconstructed, with direct access to the New York City Subway and a provision for express bus service to JFK Airport. Woodside would have been rehabilitated with provisions for the proposed Queens Bypass subway line that would have run alongside the Main Line before either using the abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch or merging with the IND Queens Boulevard Line at Forest Hills. A provision for express bus service running to LaGuardia Airport via the Brooklyn Queens Expressway would have been made. Service to Grand Central would have been provided with a one track loop, branching off in Sunnyside with a tunnel to 50th Street and Park Avenue. Three stations would have been built; one at 52nd Street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue, one under Grand Central Terminal between 45th Street and 47th Street, and a station on Madison Avenue between 35th Street and 37th Street. The line would connect with East River Tunnels at 33rd and 32nd Streets so that trains could continue to Long Island. A provision would have been built for a possible future extension down Madison Avenue. Also, as part of the plan, the Atlantic Branch would have been turned over to the New York City Subway to allow for a lower fare for people commuting to Lower Manhattan, and it would have provided a high speed subway service. This subway service, under the plan, would have ultimately been extended to Belmont Park eliminating the need for LIRR trains to serve local stations between Jamaica and Belmont Park. The whole project would have cost $103,000,000, taking six years to complete.[138] State ownership, 1966–present 1960s–1980s: M1s, push-pulls, and electrification extensions A LIRR ALCO Century 420 in 1967. Long Island Rail Road trains at Jamaica Station on November 9, 1969 The PRR was looking to rid itself of the money-losing LIRR, its most costly subsidiary,[126] but no one was willing to buy it. Various plans, including turning it into a monorail or abandoning the eastern extremities and turning the rest into part of the New York City Subway, had been proposed. On January 20, 1965, the state of New York decided to buy the LIRR. Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller set in motion work that was need to draft the enabling legislation, to determine a realistic value for the property. The Pennsylvania Railroad submitted a very high initial estimate, and the result of negotiations was a direct payment of $65 million and a similar amount of relief for unpaid taxes. In return, all shares of stock were surrendered to the State along with the property, rolling stock, and infrastructure. The Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (now the MTA) was formed to buy and operate the LIRR.[139][140] However, trimming the LIRR from its system did not provide the relief the PRR sought; after the 1968 merger into Penn Central Transportation it was bankrupt in 1970.[126]The MCTA set out to improve the LIRR by instituting massive capital improvements in the form of a strengthened electric traction substation system, accelerated track improvements, and new rolling stock. Once under State ownership, the Dashing Dan logo was dropped and a new paint scheme was created for locomotives and coaches. The new electric coaches, the M1 cars, replaced the aging Multiple Unit fleet. The cars were put into service between 1968 and 1972.[3] The cars were called "Metropolitans", and they were clad in stainless steel, with air-conditioning and lighting, as well as semi-bucket seating. Quarter point doors were installed in order to speed loading and unloading from high-level platforms. High-level platforms were required by the design of the M1 and LIRR carpenters engaged in a speeded up program to build temporary high-level platforms at all stations within electrified territory. All electrified branches became completely equipped with high-level platforms when the final branch, the West Hempstead Branch, was completed in 1973. A total of 53 new high-level platforms were constructed at 38 stations in electric territory that originally had low platforms.[3] Ultimately, they were replaced by permanent concrete platforms at a slower pace.[140] By the mid-1970s the M1s comprised the entire electric fleet, supplemented by 174 new M3 cars between 1985 and 1986. The newer, postwar single-level electric MU cars were converted to operate behind diesels, joining the postwar diesel-hauled coaches already in that service whose HVAC systems were converted from steam heating to head-end power (HEP). A modified type of push-pull operation was introduced to the diesel trains, using retired first-generation freight diesels from other railroads (mostly ALCO FAs) converted into control units capable only of HEP generation and controlling the locomotive at the other end of the train. The first 16 control cabs were created by GE using the last 16 Alco-GE FA-1 and FA-2 units in existence, all of which had been traded in to GE by the last four railroads to operate them: the Penn Central, Louisville & Nashville, Spokane, Portland and Seattle, and Western Maryland. Many of these units survive today in rail museums. New diesels for general use were purchased to replace the LIRR's ALCO Century 420s and other diesels, in the form of GP38-2s and MP15ACs. The latter switchers were innovatively used as "pull-pull" pairs on each end of short off-peak trains on the Oyster Bay Branch and the Greenport shuttle, whereby the leading unit would provide the motive power, and the trailing unit would supply the train with HEP, the process being reversed at the terminal.[141] By 1973, the LIRR had a completely air-conditioned fleet.[3] Two more electrification projects were undertaken under state ownership. Third rail electrification was extended on the Main Line and Port Jefferson Branch from Mineola to Hicksville and Huntington on October 19, 1970, after being started in 1968.[140][142][143] This was the first time in 43 years that electrified service was extended to previously non-third rail territory.[3] The Main Line beyond Hicksville (where the Port Jefferson Branch splits) to Ronkonkoma (also known as the Ronkonkoma Branch) was fully electrified in December 1987, however, in 1987 there was interim electric service to Farmingdale.[140][144] The improvement extended electrified service a full 50 miles east of Manhattan to Suffolk County's central corridor communities of Wyandanch, Deer Park, Brentwood, Central Islip, and Ronkonkoma. New electric service was also added to two station in Nassau County; Bethpage and Farmingdale. Peak period running times between Ronkonkoma and Penn Station were reduced to 60 minutes from 93 minutes. This time savings led to an increase in ridership on the Ronkonkoma Branch. In 2007, ridership on the branch had increased from 6,200 to 16,000 passenger trips every day, equaling a 150 percent increase. The Ronkonkoma Branch then became the second largest branch in total ridership after the Babylon Branch. In 1985, a second electrified track was built between Syosset and Huntington on the Port Jefferson Branch in order to eliminate a single track bottleneck. This helped boost ridership on the branch.[3] Further extensions of electrification (to stations such as Port Jefferson, Yaphank, Patchogue or Speonk) have been seriously considered from time to time, but no such short-term capital budget actions are currently contemplated.[citation needed] In June 1987, a new storage yard, the West Side Yard, was opened. The yard was built as a result of train capacity issues at Penn Station that forced terminating LIRR trains to make unneeded non-passenger trips to storage yards on Long Island during midday.[145][146] The West Side Yard, once opened, immediately increased train capacity through Penn Station.[147] The yard is located between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue, and 12th Avenue,[148][149] and it was previously used as a rail yard and freight terminal for the New York Central and later on the Penn Central until the 1970s.[146] The yard was bought by the LIRR in 1980 and it built a new 30-track yard with a tunnel connection to Penn Station. The new yard permitted midday and overnight storage and the cleaning and inspection of 320 cars, which formerly had to be shuttled to yard locations at Jamaica or as far east as Babylon.[3] The West Side Yard is named after John D. Caemmerer, a New York State Senator from East Williston who helped obtain $195.7 million for its construction.[146] A state-of-the-art repair facility at Hillside was opened in 1989, exactly 100 years after the Morris Park shops opened,[140] at a cost of $380 million.[150] In February 1988, the LIRR forbade smoking on its trains, as well as in all enclosed station areas.[3] During this time frame, wooden track ties on the Main Line, as well as other major lines, were replaced with new concrete ties. Major upgrades to signals and interlockings were done as part of bigger projects that provided electrification extensions or new main line tracks.[3] Major grade crossing elimination carried on through the 1970s, until the goal of a crossing-free Babylon Branch was finally achieved at Massapequa Park on December 13, 1980, when the station was elevated. This grade-crossing elimination project on the Babylon Branch had started in 1950, with this grade crossing elimination project completing it.[143] Selected single crossing eliminations have been undertaken since then. One such grade-crossing elimination was at Herricks Road in Mineola. On March 14, 1982, a car with ten teenagers was struck at this grade crossing, when the car did not stop at the crossing and nine of them were killed. On April 28, 1998, a railroad bridge over Herricks Road opened. The grade crossing was labeled as the most hazardous in the United States by the National Transportation Safety Board, and 20,000 cars every day crossed the tracks where 200 trains passed. The project took five years to build and it cost $85 million. The work was fully completed a year later when the rail overpass was widened to accommodate a third track.[151] The Long Island Rail Road celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1984.[152] A former logo used by the MTA 1990s–2000s: Penn Station, bilevels and dual-modes, and M7s Under Governor George Pataki the LIRR remodeled its lower level concourse of Penn Station between 1990 and 1994, increasing the ceiling height and making it less dreary, as well as opening two new entrance/exit corridors spanning various tracks and lengthening some platforms. The LIRR also added air conditioning, which was not in the original Penn Station.[140] On December 7, 1993, six people were killed and 19 others injured in a mass shooting on a train near Merillon Avenue station.[153] A 25-year decline in freight on Long Island led to the MTA selling the Long Island Rail Road's Freight operations to the New York and Atlantic Railway, a subsidiary of the Anacostia & Pacific, on May 11, 1997.[154] The MTA had decided that having an outside company might help bring back freight traffic, and it decided that the transfer would allow the LIRR to focus more on its passenger service.[155][156] More capital improvement projects took place during the late 1990s. In 1998, the railroad began to replace its aging diesel and parlor car fleet, which dated from the 1940s and 1950s, by purchasing new bi-level coaches. In doing so the railroad also began to install the rest of its stations with completely ADA-accessible high-level platforms. Some of these stations were closed rather than upgraded due to low patronage. On March 16, 1998, the LIRR closed ten stops with low ridership rather than modify them for access for people with disabilities and to accommodate the new double-decker trains. Five stations were on the Lower Montauk Branch (Glendale, Penny Bridge, Haberman, Fresh Pond and Richmond Hill), and five others were in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (Holtsville, Mill Neck, Center Moriches, Quogue, and Southampton Campus). The stations in Nassau and Suffolk had between 12 and 20 passengers per day, while the stations on the Lower Montauk had daily ridership between 1 and 5 passengers.[157] Trains to Long Island City continued to operate via the Lower Montauk, but instead bypassed the stations. The trains to Long Island City ran via the Lower Montauk until November 12, 2012, when the Lower Montauk was leased to and controlled by the New York and Atlantic Railway, which from then on has used the line exclusively for freight operation. In order to keep the Lower Montauk in service, the LIRR would have had to install the expensive Positive Train Control systems along the entire length of the Lower Montauk for just one train a day. As a result, the LIRR decided that it was not worth the expense and just shifted the one passenger and couple deadhead trains to the Mainline instead. The NY&A downgraded the branch to a secondary track.[158][159][better source needed] The railroad also purchased new DE (Diesel Electric) 30 and DE-DM (Diesel Electric and Dual Mode) 30 diesel engines capable of providing push-pull service with the bilevels. In October 2002, a total of 836 Bombardier-built M7 cars began to replace the entire M1 fleet. By the end of 2006, the M7s completely replaced the aging M1 fleet. The M7s were able to deal better with snowstorms than their predecessors.[3] The MTA had announced in October 2002 that it had planned to merge the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad into a new entity, to be called, MTA Rail Road,[160] a merger which required approval by the New York Legislature. It was announced in 2007, however, that the planned merger was rejected and will not be further pursued.[citation needed] On June 4, 2007, MTA announced the appointment of Helena Williams to the position of President of the LIRR. Williams succeeded Raymond P. Kenny, the interim President who had held the office since James J. Dermody stepped down in September 2006.[161] Williams's promotion marks the first time this position has been held by a woman.[162] The Long Island Rail Road celebrated its 175th anniversary on April 22, 2009 with a trip on the TC82 inspection car from Brooklyn to Greenport, the original LIRR main line. The train stopped along the way to pick up proclamations from county executives in Nassau and Suffolk counties.[163] 2010s: Expansions and Hurricane Sandy Boats, containers and other items washed onto the Long Beach Branch by Hurricane Sandy just south of Island Park station. In 2007, the LIRR began work on East Side Access, a project to build a new branch off the Main Line in Queens that would terminate at a new station under Grand Central Terminal.[164] At the time, Penn Station was operating at capacity due to a complex track interlocking and limited capacity in the East River Tunnels.[165] The project has been delayed repeatedly, and is among the most expensive projects of its type in the world. As of April 2018, the project was expected to cost $11.1 billion and would open in December 2022.[166][167] As part of East Side Access, five "readiness projects" are also under construction to increase peak-hour capacity across the LIRR system in preparation for expanded peak-hour service after the completion of East Side Access. Together, they are expected to cost $495 million.[168][169] The projects include adding a new platform at Jamaica station for trains to and from Atlantic Terminal;[170] adding storage tracks near Massapequa station[169] and Great Neck station;[171] and expanding the Port Washington Yard near Port Washington station[169] and the Ronkonkoma Yard adjacent to Ronkonkoma station.[172][169] In 2012, the LIRR started work on constructing a second track along the Ronkonkoma Branch between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma stations. Before the start of the project, the largely single-track Ronkonkoma Branch limited train capacity to one train per hour in each direction.[173] The entire project cost $387.2 million and was completed in September 2018.[174][175] The LIRR was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In anticipation of the storm, the LIRR was shut down on October 29, 2012, and the railroad moved trains out of low-lying areas such as the West Side Yard. As a result of the storm's record breaking storm surge, many parts of the system were inundated with water, including the East River Tunnels, the West Side Yard, and the Long Beach Branch.[176] It took the railroad seven weeks to restore full rush hour service.[177] In the late 2010s, the LIRR began work on projects to replace components on the Long Beach Branch and West Side Yard that had been damaged during Hurricane Sandy. However, as of October 2018, the Long Beach Branch and West Side Yard projects had not been completed, and the replacement of the East River Tunnels has not started.[178] On January 4, 2017, a train derailed at Atlantic Terminal, injuring 103 passengers.[179][180] On February 26, 2019, a Ronkonkoma Branch train headed for Penn Station struck a truck and derailed, damaging the platform at the Westbury station, killing at least 3.[181] To accommodate an expected increase in Long Island Rail Road ridership once the East Side Access is completed, the LIRR plans to build a third Main Line track from Floral Park to Hicksville.[182][183] This would include purchasing properties in the track's right of way, eliminating grade crossings (in conjunction with New York State Department of Transportation), relocating existing stations, and reconfiguring Mineola station. The project was delayed several times, but in January 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a transportation improvement plan which included several million dollars in funding to restart third track development.[184] A groundbreaking ceremony for the third track project was held on September 5, 2018.[185][186] The project is expected to cost $1.8 billion and be completed in 2022.[187] See also List of former Long Island Rail Road lines Long Island Rail Road fleet List of presidents and trustees of the Long Island Rail Road 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting Montauk land claim he Long Island Rail Road Company was chartered in 1834 to provide a daily service between New York and Boston via a ferry connection between its Greenport, New York, terminal on Long Island's North Fork and Stonington, Connecticut. This service was superseded in 1849 by the land route through Connecticut that became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The LIRR refocused its attentions towards serving Long Island, in competition with other railroads on the island. In the 1870s, railroad president Conrad Poppenhusen and his successor Austin Corbin acquired all the railroads and consolidated them into the LIRR.[10] The LIRR was unprofitable for much of its history. In 1900, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) bought a controlling interest as part of its plan for direct access to Manhattan which began on September 8, 1910. The wealthy PRR subsidized the LIRR during the first half of the new century, allowing expansion and modernization.[6] Electric operation began in 1905.[11] After the Second World War, the railroad industry's downturn and dwindling profits caused the PRR to stop subsidizing the LIRR, and the LIRR went into receivership in 1949. The State of New York, realizing how important the railroad was to Long Island's future, began to subsidize the railroad in the 1950s and 1960s. In June 1965, the state finalized an agreement to buy the LIRR from the PRR for $65 million.[12] The LIRR was placed under the control of a new Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority.[13] The MCTA was rebranded the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968 when it incorporated several other New York City-area transit agencies.[14][15] With MTA subsidies the LIRR modernized further, continuing to be the busiest commuter railroad in the United States.[6] The LIRR is one of the few railroads that has survived as an intact company from its original charter to the present.[6] Major stations The LIRR ticket counter at Penn Station displays all locations accessible from Penn Station. Long Island City station and yard See also: List of Long Island Rail Road stations The LIRR operates out of three western terminals, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Expansion of the system into Grand Central Terminal is expected over the next few years. Major terminals include: Pennsylvania Station, in Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest of the western terminals, serving almost 500 daily trains.[7] It is reached via the Amtrak-owned East River Tunnels (the only LIRR-used trackage not owned by the LIRR) from the Main Line in Long Island City. The New York City Subway's 34th Street–Penn Station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) (1, ​2, and ​3 trains) and 34th Street–Penn Station (IND Eighth Avenue Line) (A, ​C, and ​E trains) stations are next to the terminal. It also connects LIRR with Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Atlantic Terminal, formerly Flatbush Avenue, in Downtown Brooklyn serves most other trains.[7] It is next to the New York City Subway's Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station complex (2, ​3, ​4, ​5​, B, ​D, ​N, ​Q​, R and ​W​ trains), providing easy access to Lower Manhattan. Rush-hour trains run to one of two stations in Long Island City, Queens: the Hunterspoint Avenue station, or the Long Island City station on the East River.[7] From Hunterspoint Avenue, the Hunters Point Avenue subway station (7 and <7>​ trains) can be reached for Midtown Manhattan access. The same subway trains can also be reached from Long Island City station at the Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue subway station. It also connects to the NYC Ferry's East River Ferry to Midtown or Lower Manhattan. Access to a fourth major terminal is under construction. As early as 2023, the LIRR intends to start service to Grand Central Terminal via the East Side Access; provision was made for this route on the lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel under the East River, which carries the New York City Subway's IND 63rd Street Line (F train) on its upper level. The East Side Access project will reduce congestion while increasing the number of trains during peak hours. However, some February 2014 estimates push the opening date as far back as September 2024.[16][17][18] In addition, the Jamaica station is a major hub station and transfer point in Jamaica, Queens. It has eight tracks and five platforms, plus yard and bypass tracks. Passengers can transfer between trains on all LIRR lines except the Port Washington Branch.[7] A sixth platform with two tracks is under construction and will serve Atlantic Branch shuttle trains to Brooklyn once completed.[19] Transfer is also made to separate facilities for three subway services at the Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK station (E​, ​J, and ​Z trains), a number of bus routes, and the AirTrain automated electric rail system to JFK Airport.[20] The railroad's headquarters are next to the station.[21] Passenger lines and services Schematic of LIRR's routes, as well as the fare zones. This schematic is not to scale. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Long Island Rail Road" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Long Island Rail Road system has eleven passenger branches. Three of them are considered main trunk lines: Main Line, running along the middle of the island, between Long Island City and Greenport, via Jamaica. Montauk Branch, running along the southern edge of the island, between Long Island City and Montauk, via Jamaica. Atlantic Branch, running mostly in New York City to the south of both the Main Line and Montauk Branch, between Atlantic Terminal and Valley Stream, via Jamaica. They spin off eight minor branches. For scheduling and advertising purposes some of these branches are divided into sections such as the case with the Montauk Branch, which is known as the Babylon Branch service in the electrified portion of the line between Jamaica and Babylon, while the diesel service beyond Babylon to Montauk is referred to as the Montauk Branch service. All branches except the Port Washington Branch pass through Jamaica; the trackage west of Jamaica (except the Port Washington Branch) is known as the City Terminal Zone. The City Terminal Zone includes portions of the Main Line, Atlantic, and Montauk Branches, as well as the Amtrak-owned East River Tunnels (Northeast Corridor) to Penn Station. Long Island is a densely populated island off the East Coast of the United States, beginning at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) from Manhattan Island and extending eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. The island comprises four counties in the U.S. state of New York. Kings and Queens Counties (the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) and Nassau County share the western third of the island, while Suffolk County occupies the eastern two-thirds. More than half of New York City's residents now live on Long Island, in Brooklyn and Queens.[2] However, many people in the New York metropolitan area (including those in Brooklyn and Queens) colloquially use the term Long Island (or the Island) to refer exclusively to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, which are mainly suburban in character, conversely employing the term the City to mean Manhattan alone.[3] Broadly speaking, "Long Island" may refer both to the main island and the surrounding outer barrier islands. North of the island is Long Island Sound, across which lie Westchester County, New York, and the state of Connecticut. Across the Block Island Sound to the northeast is the state of Rhode Island. To the west, Long Island is separated from the Bronx and the island of Manhattan by the East River. To the extreme southwest, it is separated from Staten Island and the state of New Jersey by Upper New York Bay, the Narrows, and Lower New York Bay. To the east lie Block Island—which belongs to the State of Rhode Island—and numerous smaller islands. Both the longest[4] and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 118 miles (190 km) eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point, with a maximum north-to-south distance of 23 miles (37 km) between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic coast.[5] With a land area of 1,401 square miles (3,630 km2), Long Island is the 11th-largest island in the United States and the 149th-largest island in the world—larger than the 1,214 square miles (3,140 km2) of the smallest U.S. state, Rhode Island.[6] With a Census-estimated population of 7,869,820 in 2017, constituting nearly 40% of New York State's population,[7][8][9][10][11] Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 18th-most populous island in the world (ahead of Ireland, Jamaica, and Hokkaidō). Its population density is 5,595.1 inhabitants per square mile (2,160.3/km2). If Long Island geographically constituted an independent metropolitan statistical area, it would rank fourth most populous in the United States; while if it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density. Long Island is culturally and ethnically diverse, featuring some of the wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods in the Western Hemisphere near the shorelines as well as working-class areas in all four counties. As a hub of commercial aviation, Long Island contains two of the New York City metropolitan area's three busiest airports, JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, in addition to Islip MacArthur Airport; as well as two major air traffic control radar facilities, the New York TRACON and the New York ARTCC. Nine bridges and 13 tunnels (including railroad tunnels) connect Brooklyn and Queens to the three other boroughs of New York City. Ferries connect Suffolk County northward across Long Island Sound to the state of Connecticut. The Long Island Rail Road is the busiest commuter railroad in North America and operates 24/7.[12] Biotechnology companies[13] and scientific research play a significant role in Long Island's economy, including research facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, the City University of New York, and Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. History Main article: History of Long Island Early history Long Island Native American settlements Prior to European contact, the Lenape people (named the Delaware by Europeans) inhabited the western end of Long Island, and spoke the Munsee dialect of Lenape, one of the Algonquian language family. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with the Lenapes, after entering what is now New York Bay in 1524. The eastern portion of the island was inhabited by speakers of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group of Algonquian languages; they were part of the Pequot and Narragansett peoples inhabiting the area that now includes Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1609, the English navigator Henry Hudson explored the harbor and purportedly landed at Coney Island. Adriaen Block followed in 1615, and is credited as the first European to determine that both Manhattan and Long Island are islands. Native American land deeds recorded by the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as Sewanhaka (Sewanhacky and Sewanhacking were other spellings in the transliteration of Lenape).[14] Sewan was one of the terms for wampum (commemorative stringed shell beads, for a while also used as currency by colonists in trades with the Lenape), and is also translated as "loose" or "scattered", which may refer either to the wampum or to Long Island.[14] The name "'t Lange Eylandt alias Matouwacs" appears in Dutch maps from the 1650s.[15][16] Later, the English referred to the land as "Nassau Island",[17] after the Dutch Prince William of Nassau, Prince of Orange (who later also ruled as King William III of England). It is unclear when the name "Nassau Island" was discontinued. The c. 1806 Old Hook Mill in East Hampton is one of eleven extant windmills in Suffolk County. The very first settlements on Long Island were by settlers from England and its colonies in present-day New England. Lion Gardiner settled nearby Gardiners Island. The first settlement on the geographic Long Island itself was on October 21, 1640, when Southold was established by the Rev. John Youngs and settlers from New Haven, Connecticut. Peter Hallock, one of the settlers, drew the long straw and was granted the honor to step ashore first. He is considered the first New World settler on Long Island. Southampton was settled in the same year. Hempstead followed in 1644, East Hampton in 1648, Huntington in 1653, Brookhaven in 1655, and Smithtown in 1665. The Old House in Cutchogue, built 1649, is the oldest English-style house in the state. While the eastern region of Long Island was first settled by the English, the western portion of Long Island was settled by the Dutch; until 1664, the jurisdiction of Long Island was split between the Dutch and English, roughly at the present border between Nassau County and Suffolk County. The Dutch founded six towns in present-day Brooklyn beginning in 1645. These included: Brooklyn, Gravesend, Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Bushwick. The Dutch had granted an English settlement in Hempstead, New York (now in Nassau County) in 1644, but after a boundary dispute they drove out English settlers from the Oyster Bay area. However, in 1664, the English returned to take over the Dutch colony of New Netherland, including Long Island. The 1664 land patent granted to the Duke of York included all islands in Long Island Sound. The Duke of York held a grudge against Connecticut, as New Haven had hidden three of the judges who sentenced the Duke's father, King Charles I, to death in 1649. Settlers throughout Suffolk County pressed to stay part of Connecticut, but Governor Sir Edmund Andros threatened to eliminate the settlers' rights to land if they did not yield, which they did by 1676.[18] All of Long Island (as well as the islands between it and Connecticut) became part of the Province of New York within the Shire of York. Present-day Suffolk County was designated as the East Riding (of Yorkshire), present-day Brooklyn was part of the West Riding, and present-day Queens and Nassau were part of the larger North Riding. In 1683, Yorkshire was dissolved and the three original counties on Long Island were established: Kings, Queens, and Suffolk. 18th and 19th centuries Battle of Long Island Early in the American Revolutionary War, the island was captured by the British from General George Washington in the Battle of Long Island, a decisive battle after which Washington narrowly evacuated his troops from Brooklyn Heights under a dense fog. After the British victory on Long Island, many Patriots fled, leaving mostly Loyalists behind. The island remained a British stronghold until the end of the war in 1783. General Washington based his espionage activities on Long Island, due to the western part of the island's proximity to the British military headquarters in New York City. The Culper Spy Ring included agents operating between Setauket and Manhattan. This ring alerted Washington to valuable British secrets, including the treason of Benedict Arnold and a plan to use counterfeiting to induce economic sabotage. Long Island's colonists served both Loyalist and Patriot causes, with many prominent families divided among both sides. During the occupation British troops used a number of civilian structures for defense and demanded to be quartered in the homes of civilians. A number of structures from this era remain. Among these are Raynham Hall, the Oyster Bay home of patriot spy Robert Townsend, and the Caroline Church in Setauket, which contains bullet holes from a skirmish known as the Battle of Setauket. Also in existence is a reconstruction of Brooklyn's Old Stone House, on the site of the Maryland 400's celebrated last stand during the Battle of Long Island. The Brooklyn Bridge, the first of multiple crossings constructed across the East River, connects Long Island with Manhattan Island (background). Oheka Castle, a Gold Coast estate, is the second-largest private residence in the country. In the 19th century, Long Island was still mainly rural and devoted to agriculture. The predecessor to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) began service in 1836 from the South Ferry in Brooklyn, through the remainder of Brooklyn, to Jamaica in Queens. The line was completed to the east end of Long Island in 1844 (as part of a plan for transportation to Boston). Competing railroads (soon absorbed by the LIRR) were built along the south shore to accommodate travellers from those more populated areas. For the century from 1830 until 1930, total population roughly doubled every twenty years, with more dense development in areas near Manhattan. Several cities were incorporated, such as the 'City of Brooklyn' in Kings County, and Long Island City in Queens. Until the 1883 completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, the only means of travel between Long Island and the rest of the United States was by boat or ship. As other bridges and tunnels were constructed, areas of the island began to be developed as residential suburbs, first around the railroads that offered commuting into the city. On January 1, 1898, Kings County and portions of Queens were consolidated into the 'City of Greater New York', abolishing all cities and towns within them. The easternmost 280 square miles (730 km2) of Queens County, which were not part of the consolidation plan,[19][20][21][22][23][24] separated from Queens in 1899 to form Nassau County. At the close of the 19th century, wealthy industrialists who made vast fortunes during the Gilded Age began to construct large "baronial" country estates in Nassau County communities along the North Shore of Long Island, favoring the many properties with water views. Proximity to Manhattan attracted such men as J. P. Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt, and Charles Pratt, whose estates led to this area being nicknamed the Gold Coast. This period and the area was immortalized in fiction, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which has also been adapted in films. 20th century Charles Lindbergh lifted off from Roosevelt Field with his Spirit of Saint Louis for his historic 1927 solo flight to Europe, one of the events that helped to establish Long Island as an early center of aviation during the 20th Century. Other famous aviators such as Wiley Post originated notable flights from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, which became the first major airport serving New York City before it was superseded by the opening of La Guardia Airport in 1939. Long Island was also the site of Mitchel Air Force Base and was a major center of military aircraft production by companies such as Grumman and Fairchild Aircraft during World War II and for some decades afterward. Aircraft production on Long Island extended all the way into the Space Age – Grumman was one of the major contractors that helped to build the early lunar flight and space shuttle vehicles. Although the aircraft companies eventually ended their Long Island operations and the early airports were all later closed – Roosevelt Field, for instance, became the site of a major shopping mall – the Cradle of Aviation Museum on the site of the former Mitchel Field documents the Island's key role in the history of aviation. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms as developers created numerous suburbs. Numerous branches of the LIRR already enabled commuting from the suburbs to Manhattan. Robert Moses engineered various automobile parkway projects to span the island, and developed beaches and state parks for the enjoyment of residents and visitors from the city. Gradually, development also followed these parkways, with various communities springing up along the more traveled routes. Grounds of the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing, Queens. Shea Stadium can be seen in the background on the upper left. A post-war upper-middle class house After World War II, suburban development increased with incentives under the G.I. Bill, and Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in Nassau County and western Suffolk County. Second and third-generation children of immigrants moved out to eastern Long Island to settle in new housing developments built during the post-war boom. Levittown became noted as a suburb, where housing construction was simplified to be produced on a large scale. These provided opportunities for World War II military veterans returning home to buy houses and start a family. Nassau County Main article: Nassau County, New York Further information: List of places in Nassau County, New York City of Glen Cove Main article: Glen Cove, New York City of Long Beach Main article: Long Beach, New York Town of Hempstead Main article: Hempstead (town), New York The Town of Hempstead contains 22 villages and 35 hamlets: Villages: Atlantic Beach, Bellerose, Cedarhurst, East Rockaway, Freeport, Garden City, Hempstead (village), Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Island Park, Lawrence, Lynbrook, Malverne, Rockville Centre, South Floral Park, Stewart Manor, Valley Stream, Woodsburgh Hamlets: Baldwin, Baldwin Harbor, Barnum Island, Bay Park, Bellerose Terrace, Bellmore, East Atlantic Beach, East Garden City, East Meadow, Elmont, Franklin Square, Garden City South, Harbor Isle, Hewlett, Inwood, Lakeview, Levittown, Lido Beach, Malverne Park Oaks, Merrick, North Bellmore, North Lynbrook, North Merrick, North Valley Stream, North Wantagh, North Woodmere, Oceanside, Point Lookout, Roosevelt, Salisbury, Seaford, South Hempstead, South Valley Stream, Uniondale, Wantagh, West Hempstead, Woodmere Villages located partly in the Town of North Hempstead: Floral Park, Garden City (almost all in Hempstead), Mineola (almost all in North Hempstead), New Hyde Park Town of North Hempstead Main article: North Hempstead, New York The Town of North Hempstead contains 31 villages. Villages: Baxter Estates, East Williston, Flower Hill, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manorhaven, Munsey Park, North Hills, Plandome, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, Port Washington North, Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock, Sands Point, Thomaston, Westbury, Williston Park Hamlets: Albertson, Carle Place, Garden City Park, Glenwood Landing, Great Neck Gardens, Greenvale, Harbor Hills, Herricks, Manhasset, Manhasset Hills, New Cassel, North New Hyde Park, Port Washington, Roslyn Heights, Saddle Rock Estates, Searingtown, University Gardens Villages located partly in the Town of Hempstead: Floral Park, Garden City (almost all in Hempstead), Mineola (almost all in North Hempstead), New Hyde Park Villages located partly in the Town of Oyster Bay: East Hills, Old Westbury, Roslyn Harbor Sea Cliff Historic hamlet sea cliff Town of Oyster Bay Main article: Oyster Bay (town), New York The Town of Oyster Bay contains 18 villages and 18 hamlets: Villages: Bayville, Brookville, Centre Island, Cove Neck, Farmingdale, Lattingtown, Laurel Hollow, Massapequa Park, Matinecock, Mill Neck, Muttontown, Old Brookville, Oyster Bay Cove, Sea Cliff, Upper Brookville Hamlets: Bethpage, East Massapequa, East Norwich, Glen Head, Glenwood Landing (part), Greenvale (part), Hicksville, Jericho, Locust Valley, Massapequa, North Massapequa, Old Bethpage, Oyster Bay, Plainedge, Plainview, South Farmingdale, Syosset, Woodbury, Sea Cliff Historic Hamlet Villages located partly in the Town of North Hempstead: East Hills, Old Westbury, Roslyn Harbor The U.S. Postal Service has organized these 36 places into 20 different post offices with a total of 30 different 5-digit ZIP codes.[1] Some post offices have the same name as a hamlet or village, but the boundaries are seldom the same. Suffolk County Main article: Suffolk County, New York Town of Babylon Main article: Babylon (town), New York Villages: Amityville, Babylon, Lindenhurst Hamlets: Copiague, Deer Park, East Farmingdale, Gilgo, North Amityville, North Babylon, North Lindenhurst, Oak Beach & Captree, West Babylon, Wheatley Heights, Wyandanch Other communities: Copiague Harbor Town of Huntington Main article: Huntington, New York Villages: Asharoken, Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor, Northport Hamlets: Centerport, Cold Spring Harbor, Dix Hills, East Northport, Eatons Neck, Elwood, Greenlawn, Halesite, Huntington, Huntington Station, Melville, South Huntington, Vernon Valley, West Hills, Wincoma Hamlets located partly in the Town of Smithtown: Commack, Fort Salonga Town of Islip Main article: Islip (town), New York Villages: Brightwaters, Islandia, Ocean Beach, Saltaire Hamlets: Bay Shore, Bayport, Baywood, Bohemia, Brentwood, Central Islip, East Islip, Great River, Islip, Islip Terrace, North Bay Shore, North Great River, Oakdale, Ronkonkoma, Sayville, West Bay Shore, West Islip, West Sayville Hamlets located partly in the Town of Brookhaven: Holbrook, Holtsville Hamlet located partly in the Town of Smithtown: Hauppauge Town of Smithtown Main article: Smithtown, New York Villages: Head of the Harbor, Nissequogue, Village of the Branch Hamlets: Kings Park, Nesconset, Smithtown, St. James Hamlet located partly in the Town of Brookhaven: Lake Ronkonkoma Hamlets located partly in the Town of Huntington: Commack, Fort Salonga Hamlet located partly in the Town of Islip: Hauppauge Town of Brookhaven Main article: Brookhaven, New York Villages: Belle Terre, Bellport, Lake Grove, Old Field, Patchogue, Poquott, Port Jefferson, Shoreham Hamlets: Blue Point, Brookhaven, Canaan Lake, Center Moriches, Centereach, Cherry Grove, Coram, Crystal Brook, Cupsogue Beach, Davis Park, East Moriches, East Patchogue, East Setauket, East Shoreham, Farmingville, Fire Island Pines, Gordon Heights, Hagerman, Manorville, Mastic, Mastic Beach, Medford, Middle Island, Miller Place, Moriches, Mount Sinai, North Bellport, North Patchogue, Ocean Bay Park, Point of Woods, Port Jefferson Station, Ridge, Rocky Point, Selden, Setauket, Shirley, South Haven, Sound Beach, Stony Brook, Strongs Neck, Terryville, Upton, Water Island, West Manor, Yaphank Hamlets located partly in the Town of Islip: Holbrook, Holtsville, Ronkonkoma Hamlet located partly in the Town of Riverhead: Calverton Hamlet located partly in the Town of Smithtown: Lake Ronkonkoma Hamlet located partly in the Town of Southampton: Eastport Village located partly in the Town of Smithtown: Lake Grove Town of Southampton Main article: Southampton (town), New York Villages: North Haven, Quogue, Sagaponack, Southampton (village), Westhampton Beach, West Hampton Dunes Village located partly in the Town of East Hampton: Sag Harbor Hamlets: Bridgehampton, East Quogue, Flanders, Hampton Bays, Northampton, North Sea, Noyack (Noyac), Quiogue, Remsenburg, Riverside, Shinnecock Hills, Speonk, Tuckahoe, Water Mill (Watermill), Westhampton Hamlet located partly in the Town of Brookhaven: Eastport Town of Riverhead Main article: Riverhead (town), New York Villages: none Hamlets: Aquebogue, Baiting Hollow, Jamesport, Northville, Riverhead, Wading River Hamlet located partly in the Town of Brookhaven: Calverton Town of East Hampton Main article: East Hampton (town), New York Villages: East Hampton Village located partly in the Town of Southampton: Sag Harbor Hamlets: Amagansett, East Hampton North, Montauk, Napeague, Northwest Harbor, Springs, Wainscott Town of Shelter Island Main article: Shelter Island (town), New York Village: Dering Harbor Hamlets: Shelter Island, Shelter Island Heights Town of Southold Main article: Southold (town), New York Village: Greenport Hamlets: Cutchogue, East Marion, Fishers Island, Greenport West, Laurel, Mattituck, Orient, New Suffolk, Peconic, Southold Fire Island Fire Island National Seashore Map Fire Island is not a separate town, but its villages are listed here due to its geographical isolation. Villages in the Town of Islip: Ocean Beach, Saltaire Hamlets in the Town of Brookhaven: Cherry Grove (a.k.a. Fire Island), Fire Island Pines. Other communities: Atlantique, Bayberry Dunes, Corneille Estates, Davis Park, Dunewood, Fair Harbor, Kismet, Lonelyville, Long Cove, Ocean Bay Park, Point o' Woods, Robbins Rest, Seaview, Watch Hill, Water Island, West Fire Island The Erie Railroad (reporting mark ERIE) was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's former terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie. It expanded west to Chicago with its 1941 merger with the former Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, also known as the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad (NYPANO RR). Its mainline route proved influential in the development and economic growth of the Southern Tier, including cities such as Binghamton, Elmira, and Hornell. The Erie Railroad repair shops were located in Hornell, and were Hornell's largest employer. Hornell was also where Erie's main line split into two routes, one north to Buffalo and the other west to Cleveland. On October 17, 1960, the Erie merged with the former rival Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. The Hornell repair shops were closed, and repair operations moved to the Lackawanna's Scranton facility; this had a devastating effect on Hornell from which it has never recovered. (The repair shops have subsequently been used, intermittently, for the assembly of railroad/transit equipment.) Much of the former Erie line between Hornell and Binghamton was damaged in 1972 by the floods of Hurricane Agnes, but the damage was quickly repaired and this line is today a key link in the Norfolk Southern Railway's Southern Tier main line. What was left of the Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail in 1976.[1] In 1983, Erie remnants became part of New Jersey Transit rail operations, including parts of its Main Line. Today, most of the surviving Erie Railroad routes are operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. History New York and Erie Rail Road: 1832–1861 1834 plan The New York and Erie Rail Road was chartered April 24, 1832 by Governor of New York, Enos T. Throop to connect the Hudson River at Piermont, north of New York City, west to Lake Erie at Dunkirk. On February 16, 1841 the railroad was authorized to cross into the northeast corner of Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River. Construction began in 1836, and it opened from Piermont to Goshen on September 23, 1841. After some financial problems, construction resumed in August 1846, and the next section, to Port Jervis, opened on January 7, 1848. Further extensions opened to Binghamton December 27, 1848, Owego January 1, 1849, and the full length to Dunkirk May 19, 1851. At Dunkirk steamboats continued across Lake Erie to Detroit, Michigan. The line was built as 6 ft (1,829 mm) wide gauge; this was believed to be a superior technology to standard gauge, providing more stability. In 1848 the railroad built the Starrucca Viaduct, a stone railroad bridge over Starrucca Creek in Lanesboro, Pennsylvania which has survived and is still in use today. The viaduct is 1,040 feet (317 m) long, 100 feet (30.5 m) high and 25 feet (7.6 m) wide at the top. It is the oldest stone rail bridge in Pennsylvania still in use. The Erie's charter was amended April 8, 1845 to allow the building of the Newburgh Branch, running from the main line near Harriman north-northeast to Newburgh, also on the Hudson River. The branch opened January 8, 1850. It was later used as a connection to the New York and New England Railroad via a car float operation across the river to Beacon, New York. The Paterson and Ramapo Railroad and Union Railroad opened in 1848, providing a connection between the Erie at the village of Suffern in Ramapo and Jersey City, across the Hudson River from New York City. Through ticketing began in 1851, with a required change of cars at Ramapo due to the gauge break. In 1852 the Erie leased the two companies along with the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, and Erie trains begin operating to the New Jersey Rail Road's Jersey City terminal on November 1853 after a third rail for wide gauge was finished. In 1852 the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, part of the New York Central Railroad system, completed a new alignment between Buffalo and Batavia. The alignment from Buffalo to Attica was sold to the Erie's Buffalo and New York City Railroad, a reorganization of the Attica and Hornellsville Railroad, and converted to the Erie's wide gauge. The extension from Attica southeast to Hornellsville opened on November 17, 1852, giving the Erie access to Buffalo, a better terminal than Dunkirk. The Erie began operating the Chemung Railroad in 1850; this provided a branch from Horseheads north to Watkins. The Canandaigua and Elmira Railroad opened in 1851 as a northern extension from Watkins to Canandaigua and was operated by the Erie until 1853. At this point, the Erie subleased the Chemung Railroad to the Canandaigua and Elmira. The C&E went bankrupt in 1857 and was reorganized in 1859 as the Elmira, Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad, at which time the Erie leased it again. The Chemung Railroad reverted to the Erie in 1858 during the bankruptcy. 1855 map The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad continued this line beyond Canandaigua to North Tonawanda with trackage rights over the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad to Niagara Falls and the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge into Ontario. This was leased by the Canandaigua and Elmira from its opening in 1853 to 1858, when it went bankrupt, was reorganized as the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad, and was leased by New York Central Railroad. The NYC converted it to standard gauge and blocked the Erie from it. The Erie pushed southward into the coal fields of Elk County, Pennsylvania, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and Clearfield County, Pennsylvania to acquire a source of fuel for its locomotives. This action began with the February 26, 1859 merger of two earlier roads to form the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad Company. The new organization was sponsored by the New York and Erie Railroad Company, later known as the Erie. The B.B.& P. ran for 25.97 miles through Bradford, Pennsylvania after connecting with the primary line of the Erie at Carrollton, New York. The line came to a point known as Gilesville, the site of a bituminous mine, by January 1, 1866.[2] Erie Railway: 1861–1878 In August 1859, the company went into receivership due to the large costs of building, and on June 25, 1861 it was reorganized as the Erie Railway. This was the first bankruptcy of a major trunk line in the U.S. Former Erie Railroad tracks pass through Nutley, New Jersey. Track on left is out of service In 1863, the Erie leased the Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad and its subsidiary the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad,[3] jointly operating it with the Pennsylvania Railroad's Northern Central Railway. The BNY&E had taken over the Buffalo and New York City Railroad in 1857 due to the Erie's bankruptcy, and the BNY&E used it west of Attica to reach Buffalo from its southeast end at Corning. The R&GV split from the main line at Avon, running north to Rochester. A joint through line was created between Philadelphia and Buffalo. At this time, the Northern Central leased the Elmira and Williamsport Railroad, forming the part of the line from Elmira south into Pennsylvania. After disputes due to charges of the Erie using its own line via Hornellsville (the B&NYC) too much, and problems with the gauge break at Elmira, this contract was cancelled in 1866. The Elmira, Jefferson and Canandaigua Railroad (and its Chemung Railroad) was transferred to the Northern Central, and a third rail was built to allow the Northern Central's 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge trains to operate over it. To restore access to the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, the Erie got the Suspension Bridge and Erie Junction Railroad chartered in 1868. The line opened in 1871, running from eastern Buffalo to Tonawanda and then alongside the New York Central Railroad's Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad to the bridge. The Erie International Railway, chartered 1872 and opened 1874, provided a branch to the International Bridge, and the Lockport and Buffalo Railway, chartered 1871 and opened 1879, provided a branch to Lockport. Railway switch in Nutley, New Jersey In the Erie War of the 1860s, four well-known financiers struggled for control of the company; Cornelius Vanderbilt versus Daniel Drew, James Fisk and Jay Gould. Gould ultimately triumphed in this struggle, but was forced to relinquish control in 1872–73, due to unfavourable public opinion following his involvement in the 1869 gold-rigging scandal and to his loss of $1 million of Erie Railroad stock to the British con-man Lord Gordon-Gordon. In 1869, the railroad moved its main shops facilities from Dunkirk to Buffalo. Rather than demolishing the shops in Dunkirk, the facility was leased to Horatio G. Brooks, the former chief engineer of the NY&E who was at the controls of the first train into Dunkirk in 1851. Horatio Brooks used the facilities to begin Brooks Locomotive Works, which remained in independent business until 1901 when it was merged with seven other locomotive manufacturing firms to create ALCO. ALCO continued new locomotive production at this facility until 1934, then closed the plant completely in 1962. New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad: 1878–1895 The Erie Limited, which traveled between New York-Chicago The Erie still did not see profits and via bankruptcy was sold in 1878 to become the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad. The New York, Lake Erie, and Western Coal and Railroad Company pushed the line south to Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania in 1881 - 1882, a distance of 29.68 miles (47.77 km). This section encompassed the once significant Kinzua Bridge.[2] In 1883 the Erie expanded west beyond New York State when it leased the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad which ran westward from Salamanca. Eventually, the Erie would reach as far west as Chicago. In 1886, it was reported that the Erie and the Reading Railroad shared ferry services between their two Jersey City terminals, the larger being Pavonia Terminal, and Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, New York for 11 round trips on weekdays and Saturdays, and four round trips on Sunday.[4] In 1889, it opened a new bridge across the Hackensack River improving service to its terminals.[5] Erie Railroad: 1895–1960 By 1893, the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad went into bankruptcy reorganization again and emerged in 1895 as the Erie Railroad.[1] In 1897, trackage rights were obtained by the Erie over the Pennsylvania Railroad, from Johnsonburg to Brockway, Pennsylvania, then known as Brockwayville. The distance was 27.76 miles. Jamestown, New York station, about 1909 On May 1, 1907 the Erie obtained new trackage rights over the Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway from Clarion, Pennsylvania, north of Johnsonburg to Eleanora Junction (later called Cramer) in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. This covered a distance of 50.67 miles.[2] George W. Perkins brought Frederick D. Underwood into the Erie Railroad in 1910. During the eastern railroad strike of 1913 Underwood agreed to accept any ruling made by mediators under the Newlands Reclamation Act. One of the demands made by Erie employees was a 20% increase in wages. Erie management had refused a wage increase but compromised by asking employees to wait until January 1915 for any advance. Union leaders agreed to make this an issue which Erie management would settle with its own men. However, W.G. Lee, president of the brotherhood of railroad trainmen, asserted that the only way "to deal with the Erie is through J.P. Morgan & Company, or the banks". Underwood responded from his home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, saying "I am running the Erie Railroad: not George W. Perkins, nor J.P. Morgan & Co., nor anybody else."[6] In mid-1920s the successful Van Sweringen brothers gained control of the Erie, improving operations (such as standardizing the railroad's locomotives and rolling stock) and bottom-line earnings. Unfortunately, both brothers—who at the time owned several other railroads—died at an early age but had they lived the shape of railroads in the east would likely look very different today.[citation needed] An Alco RS3 with Erie Railroad markings at Hoboken terminal, September 3, 1965 Despite the revages of the Great Depression, the Erie managed to hold its own until it entered bankruptcy on January 18, 1938. Its reorganization, accomplished by December 1941, included the purchase of the leased Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad, swapping high rent for lower interest payments, and the purchase of formerly subsidized and leased lines. The reorganization paid off, as the Erie managed to pay dividends to its shareholders after the dust had settled.[1] In 1938, the Erie Railroad was involved in the famous U.S. Supreme Court case of Erie R.R. v. Tompkins. The Erie doctrine, which governs the application of state law in federal diversity cases, is still taught in American law schools today. On September 15, 1948, the Cleveland Union Terminal Company allowed the Erie to use the Union Terminal adjacent to Terminal Tower in lieu of its old station.[7] Steam last operated on the Erie on March 17, 1954, when the fires were dropped on K-1 class Pacific locomotive No. 2530, used on a commuter run between Jersey City and Spring Valley, New York.[8] Revenue freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles. Year Traffic 1925 9474 1933 6318 1944 15004 1960 8789[note 1] Source: ICC annual reports The Erie prospered throughout the mid-1950s, but then began an irreversible decline. The company's 1957 income was half of that in 1956; by 1958 and 1959, the Erie posted deficits. Passenger service, in steep decline, ended in 1959. The business recession that occurred in the 1950s led the Erie to explore the idea of doing business with the nearby Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The first result of this was the abandonment of duplicate freight facilities in Binghamton and Elmira, New York. Between 1956 and 1957, the Erie shifted its passenger trains from its former Jersey City terminal to the DL&W's newer Hoboken Terminal. Also, the DL&W's main line between Binghamton and Elmira was abandoned in favor of the Erie's parallel main line in 1958. These successful business consolidations led to merger talks (which, at first, also included the Delaware and Hudson Railroad); on October 17, 1960, the two railroads merged to create the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.[1] Erie's large repair facility in Hornell closed — an economic impact from which the city has never recovered — and operations were consolidated at the Lackawanna's Scranton facility. Year-end mileage operated, including C&E but not NYS&W/WB&E: 2451 route-miles, 6013 track-miles in 1925; 2320 route-miles, 5395 track-miles in 1956. NJ&NY adds 46 route-miles in 1925, 39 in 1956. The former Erie tracks between Hornell and Binghamton were destroyed in 1972 by Hurricane Agnes. Passenger service Erie Railroad passengers at Rutherford station, circa 1940 One of the Erie's electric commuter trains on its Rochester Branch, ca. 1911 The Erie Railroad operated a number of named passenger trains, although none were as well-known or successful as others like the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited or New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited. Some of the Erie's most well known trains included the Erie Limited, Lake Cities, Pacific Express, Atlantic Express, Midlander, Southern Tier Express and Mountain Express. All of these had their western termini in Chicago, except the Mountain Express which terminated in Hornell, in the Southern Tier of New York.[9]:52–53 In addition to its steam and diesel services the Erie also operated an electric commuter rail line to its terminal station in Rochester, New York. The station was one of the Erie's few electrified railroad stations,[10] and the railroad became one the first to provide electric commuter services in 1907.[11]
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