Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/111

 The Central Railroad of Long Island Junction on May 26, 1873. This gave the inhabitants of Farmingdal seven trains a day, which contrasted noticeably with the two on the Long Island R.R. The people naturally patronized Stewart's road in preference to Charlick's, because of the fine appointments of the cars and the fact that Stewart charged only 65¢ compared with Charlick's 80¢. Even the village benefited, for, with railroad accommodation assured, every available house in Farmingdale was rented for the summer.

Once the Central R.R. of L.I. reached Babylon, all construction work on the road would be finished and the railroad would be complete as planned. To that end the directors now bent all their eports. In the last days of March 1873 Conrad Poppenhusen, in company with other railroad and real estate men, visited Babylon for the purpose of locating a depot there and settling other matters connected with the Babylon extension. The meadows along the east creek between the upper and lower docks were all bought up at $125 an acre for railroad purposes. In late April, twenty acres of land were purchased at the junction of Main Street (Merrick Road) and East Neck Road for depot purposes.

Grading all along the route was the first task facing the directors and the contract for this job was given to a Mr. Ryan in the first week of May 1873. The contract called for progress of at least one mile per week, and 200 men were to be put to work. By mid-July all the grading was complete and the iron laid to within two miles of Babylon. In the last week of July the grading gang was in sight of the terminus, and the iron had reached Mintern's Brook. On July 26 the track layers reached the South Side R.R., ready to install the crossing frogs.

The great day came on Friday August 1, when the firsttrain passed over the new track between 9 and 10 o'clock. In the afternoon service was initiated through from Hunter's Point to the Merrick Road with seven trains each way daily. A temporary depot was put into use at the southeast corner of the Merrick Road and East Neck Road on property purchased from William R. Foster. At this point the traveller boarded a "stage" for downtown Babylon, or for the steamer to Fire Island. Dropping passengers off at the Merrick Road was not the planned intention of the Central R.R. but merely a temporary expedient, so as not to lose the benefit of the remaining two months' excur-