Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/131

 The Heyday of the Poppenhusens July 22, 1874—Manure on the Island Trees siding makes the passing siding so slick that one engine is unable to stop and slides into another. Only pilots of engines torn off, with no more serious damage.

December 1, 1874—Engine Bayside breaks a piston rod. Mayor Havemeyer of New York is forced to walk to Flushing and dies of apoplexy.

April 17, 1875—Engine Winfield derails at Whitestone.

April 19, 1875—Steam pipe bursts on the Winfield.

February 24, 1876—Forward truck on rear coach derails on Winfield Switch, throwing coach over both tracks.

November 15, 1876—Engine Woodside breaks a shaft and derails at Flushing depot.

February 11, 1877—Engine Bayside bursts a flue.

The North Side system made some definite safety efforts that may well have contributed to its good operating record. In December 1874 the roadmaster, H. C. Moore, patented a new "frog" for railroad switches in three sections, so that repairs on the steel head would be more quickly and cheaply made. In February 1876 the railroad adopted automatic electric gates at the Skillman Avenue crossing in Long Island City. This device, so commonplace today, had just been invented by a Jersey man, and the Flushing & North Side was one of the first to be attracted by its safety features. Another safety factor of the first importance was the completion of the installation of vacuum brakes on all the North Side, Central, and Southern cars by October 1875. Another more unusual precaution was the issuance of Babcock fire extinguishers to every depot building and guard house on the line of the Central road after fire had destroyed one of the palace cars at Hempstead in December 1873.

On the single track roads of those days, faulty dispatching was one of the most frequent sources of accident. The Southern R.R., under Poppenhusen management, experienced more than one bad wreck; the Central division got by with several narrow escapes. On a pleasant day in June 1873, Mr. A. T. Stewart, accompanied by Herman Poppenhusen and several other directors, arranged a joyride for themselves in a special train out of Hunter's Point, the movements of which were not telegraphed to the station agents or to the conductors of the regular trains. On the outward trip, when at the Garden City depot, the engi-