Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/123

 The Heyday of the Poppenhusens two trips a day and carried a maximum of fifty. Although there was a surcharge of 25¢, the car was always full. The first week of August witnessed the addition also of four new ordinary passenger coaches to the North Side fleet.

Although we have no evidence to shed light on the types of passenger coaches and their number series, the annual reports give us an inkling of the yearly roster increase:

Service and scheduling on the Flushing, North Shore & Central network was generally good and rarely evoked criticism, except on those occasions when some traveler's favorite train was lopped off on the change of timetable. The Whitestone Branch, always favored by the company because most of the high officials lived either in College Point or Whitestone, was served by eighteen to twenty trains a day consistently during the four-year period 1873–76. Occasional trains were short routed at College Point. The service was half-hourly during the morning and evening rush hour, and hourly to an hour and a half during the rest of the day. Fares were generally 25¢ to College Point and 30¢ to Whitestone with occasional fluctuations. The eleven-mile run usually consumed thirty-five minutes if all stops were made, or twenty-eight for expresses skipping all Newtown stops. The Whitestone Branch originated the heaviest riding on the system largely because of College Point, which had several large and many small factories (hard rubber, breweries) and a huge excursion business. The number of saloons and beer gardens in College Point far exceeded that of any other village on the road. Although the community was a large one by the standards of that day—4,500 people—thousands more came to enjoy the shooting galleries, beer gardens, dances, etc., and the place was a mecca for singing organizations, shooting companies,