Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/132

 116 neer decided that there was not time enough to reach Hinsdale siding before the regular express train would arrive. The railroad officials on board, nevertheless, ordered the engineer to rush on at the rate of 60 MPH to reach the turnout. The engine started, but in the vicinity of Stewart Manor, the whistle of the eastbound express was heard. The trains were about half a mile apart when warning signals were blasted by both engineers, and the engines were reversed. Both trains were traveling so fast that a stoppage could be effected only when the engines were within a stone's throw of each other. It was fortunate that the long straight road and elevation of the track made visibility clear! Stewart and Poppenhusen both may have been able financiers, but complete amateurs at running a railroad and had no moral right to overawe the operating officials with their position and so endanger lives.

A very similar narrow escape occurred not long after. On July 17, 1875, a Creedmoor special, crowded with National Guard reservists, was steaming westward and switched off onto the siding just beyond Kissena station, as usual, to await the eastbound train. When nothing happened after ten minutes, the conductor concluded to run to the next station, putting on steam to make up for lost time. When only a few yards from Hillside station, a man was seen running down with some danger signals, and the troops were thrown into a state of the wildest excitement for a few moments, fearing that a collision was inevitable. The engine was stopped and the trackman picked up, who reported that the eastbound had been just about to start from Central Junction siding, when the smoke of the Creedmoor train had been sighted. Had a collision occurred on the meadows, many soldiers as well as regular passengers in coaches and palace cars would have been killed.

From what we can tell at the distance of almost a century, maintenance was good and the roadbed first-rate everywhere except on the North Shore division. Perhaps this was so because of the very light traffic and the fact that the road was only leased. The Flushing Times in March 1875 appointed itself the champion of the people in "exposing" the "rotten, dangerous condition" of the Great Neck Branch. A reporter walking over the roadbed between Main Street and Broadway stations found that a large number of the ties were rotten, with the result that