LIRR Runs Anniversary Train
Photo Vinny DuPre As part of the Long Island Rail Road's celebration of its 175th anniversary on July 25, a special train took 240 passengers on part of the line's original route from Jamaica to Greenport on Suffolk County's North Fork. The Long Island Rail Road offered a unique opportunity for customers and rail fans on Saturday, July 25 to retrace part of the line's original route from Queens to Greenport as part of the line's 175th anniversary celebration. Two hundred forty enthusiastic customers rode from Jamaica to Greenport on Suffolk County's North Fork aboard one of the LIRR's new diesel trains. The July 25 tour included stops at the Railroad Museum of Long Island in Riverhead and Greenport and gave participants a chance to spend quality time in the quaint New England-like Village of Greenport with its nautical attractions.
The LIRR, originally created as part of a boat-rail route from New York City to Boston, was founded Apr. 24, 1834, making it the oldest commuter railroad in the country still operating under its original name. The New England route became obsolete just four years after its completion, but the LIRR grew with Long Island and the metropolitan area.
In 1876, the LIRR was bought out by Conrad Poppenhusen. Four years later, in 1880, the LIRR was taken over by Austin Corbin and under him prospered and expanded from Patchogue to Eastport, Locust Valley to Oyster Bay, Bridgehampton to Montauk, Port Jefferson to Wading River and Great Neck to Port Washington. In addition, in 1882 the LIRR took over the NY, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway, which had been built in 1876 and part of which presently forms the LIRR's Bay Ridge branch, used for freight only. In 1893, the remaining Garden City to Hempstead line was repositioned to its present right of way and a new line was built from Valley Stream (the present West Hempstead branch), which connected to it just north of the present Country Life Press station.
By 1901, the LIRR had been bought by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Pennsylvania Station, the railroad's grandest edifice, was built in the middle of New York City to run passenger trains into a centrally located station, provide rapid transit from residential sections of Long Island, give Newark and other cities in New Jersey direct and quick access to New York City and resorts on Long Island beaches and give Queens and Brooklyn direct railroad connections with the rest of the region and the country.
The LIRR was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1949. Despite a doubling of operating costs since 1917, the LIRR had not been permitted to raise its fare. It declared bankruptcy on Mar. 2, 1949 and direct PRR operations ended on May 1 of that year, although the Pennsylvania Railroad officially owned the LIRR until 1966.
The railroad obtained a variety of newer, air conditioned cars from the Pennsylvania Railroad and other faltering railroads during the early 1950s and in a new publicity campaign the LIRR adopted a new "Dashing Dan" and "Dashing Dottie" logo and painted its trains gray. The railroad also completely phased out its steam operations to become a completely diesel and electrified operation. The LIRR's last steam train ran in October 1955.
In 1965, then Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed
come a completely diesel and electrified operation. The LIRR's last steam train ran in October 1955.
In 1965, then Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed that the state buy the LIRR and the newly formed Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority, now the MTA, acquired it from the PRR in August 1966, when the Railroad Rehabilitation Act expired. LIRR freight operations were sold off to the New York and Atlantic Railway in May 1997.
The LIRR in 1998 began to replace its aging diesel and parlor car fleet, which dated from the 1940s and '50s, with new bi-level coaches and also began to install completely ADA accessible high level platforms on all its stations. The railroad also purchased new Diesel Electric (DE) 30 and Diesel Electric and Dual Mode (DE-DM) 30 diesel engines capable of providing push pull service, eliminating the need for a turntable to turn the engines around. In 2002 the railroad began replacing the aging M1 fleet with the more modern M7 multiple unit fleet.
On June 4, 2007, Helena Williams succeeded to the position of president of the LIRR, replacing interim President Raymond P. Kenny who had held the office since James J. Dermody stepped down in September 2006. The Long Island Rail Road today is the largest commuter railroad in North America, with more than 87.4-million riders in 2008 and an on-time-performance of 95.14 percent, both modern day records.
