Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 1 (1961).pdf/65

 50 Elizabeth, New Jersey, and that the company could develop a vast business in ferrying loaded freight cars across the bay and directly onto Long Island without breaking bulk.

In the effort of construction and land acquisition the company have over-extended itself, for, pressed by creditors, the road was foreclosed and sold at sheriff's sale to Electus B. Litchfield, the developer of Valley Stream on December 17, 1870. Just the day before, the lone engine and two cars had been seized and attached for debt by creditors. The trouble was not caused by any fault on the part of the company but by the shortcomings of the contractors who were for the time being running the road. As a by-product of the reorganization of the road the two original companies were merged on July 7, 1871 to form the New York and Hempstead Railroad. The new organization contained some powerful and wealthy men and completion of the road seemed assured.

The brief trouble was not permitted to disrupt the ambitious plans of the promoters. In December 1870 surveyors mapped out a continuation of the line eastward from Hempstead across the Hempstead Plains to Breslau. In February 1871 another change of route was made on the western end of the railroad, the track being now scheduled to pass through Jamaica and terminate in Garden City. In East New York several farmers donated a right of way to the railroad, and by March the contract was let for grading and constructing the road to one Patrick Shields of Jamaica who immediately put a large force to work at three points, Flatbush, New Lots and Woodhaven. By mid-June the grading gangs had progressed as far as Woodhaven Boulevard and by mid-August to Dunton.

In the midst of all this negotiating the directors of the road were startled to receive word that their one and only locomotive, the W. L. Wood, had blown up in Hempstead station on July 18, 1871. Investigation disclosed that the boiler had burst, scattering fragments in all directions. The afternoon train was just about to start when the explosion took place. The engine was immediately brought to Brooklyn for repairs which were expected to cost about $3000, and in the meantime such South Side engines as could be spared gave service on the branch.

The financial and administrative condition of the road meanwhile was getting more complicated daily. A Mr. Pusey, the must