These new all-steel coaches of the Long 'Island Railroad are very handsome cars. They are the equal of the best steam railroad coaches in the United States. They are designated as Class MP-54. The railroad has also obtained many steel cars of almost exactly similar design for its steam passenger equipment. It also owns a number of steel parlor cars for the steam service. The Long Island Railroad has always operated its own parlor cars, never having surrendered this privilege to the Pullman Company. It is perhaps the only large railroad in the United States today which does this.
     In 1913 the railroad bought two multiple unit storage battery cars for use in the shuttle service between Mineola and Valley Stream on the West Hempstead Branch (New York Bay Extension). These cars operate at a speed of about thirty miles per hour, with all the advantages of electric traction. They are much cheaper to operate, as they require no third rail. The fact that they are equipped with multiple unit control is believed to be unique for storage battery cars; they are probably the only ones of their kind in the world.
     Perhaps the real underlying reason for the building of the New York Bay Extension Railroad in 1893 was that Austin Corbin desired to build up his property at Hempstead Gardens. He hoped to make Hempstead Gardens a rival of Garden City. These plans were brought to an untimely end by his death in 1896. It was then hoped to develop a resort and beach traffic to the Rockaways. This also failed to materialize and the line was still run at a loss, with four trains a day.
     In 1908 the old Stewart Road into Hempstead was electrified. When the original electrification was completed in 1906, it was suggested to President Peters that he electrify the Hempstead Branch. He replied that he did not have the money. It was found, however, that considerable material was on hand, 'and it was agreed that people along the line should pay for the labor, while the railroad supplied the material. This arrangement, unique in modern finance, provided that fifty per cent of the amount subscribed was to be returned by the rail- road as transportation. Accordingly, the electrification was extended from Queens to Hempstead, though the West Hempstead Branch was still unprovided for.

But in 1910, with the opening of the East River tunnels, practically all the passenger traffic from Manhattan was carried in electric trains over the Main Line. This made it impossible to route freight trains from the old North Side yards over the Main Line, as had been formerly done, as it would interfere with passenger train operation. Accordingly, this elevated freight connection, known as the Montauk Freight Cut-Off, was built from the North Side yards to a connection with the Montauk Division at Dutch Kills Creek, a distance of over two miles.
     A new sub-station had been built at Winfield in 1910. By August, 1912, the North Side Division from Winfield to Whitestone Landing was opened for electric operation, and in October, 1913, a second track from Whitestone junction to Great Neck was opened. A number of grade crossings through Flushing were eliminated at this time.
     In the month of March, 1913, the new passenger station at Jamaica was opened. This station was designed as a huge transfer station. It is located on an embankment about a half mile west of the old station. The Jamaica Station comprises ten tracks and five covered platforms. The station building is five stories high, of attractive brick construction, housing many of the offices of the operating officials. There are signal towers, each with over 150 levers, electro-magnetically controlled, at each entrance to the station.
     In 1910 a new type of electric coach was obtained from the American Car & Foundry Company. This car is sixty-five feet long and ten feet in width. It conforms to the Master Car Builders' standards. They are equipped with Westinghouse 308 motors and seat 72 people. They reach a speed of 58 miles per hour. These cars have the same control apparatus as the older cars and are also equipped with one motor truck and one trailer truck, the motor truck carrying the two 200 horsepower motors.     

©2001 The Composing Stack Inc. All right reserved