Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/135



VEN at the very moment that the Poppenhusen railroad empire was at the peak of its prosperity, powerful forces were at work undermining the system. The arch rival of the Poppenhusens in the struggle for control of Long Island's rail traffic was Oliver Charlick, president of the Long Island R.R. It will be recalled that Charlick first clashed with the Poppenhusens in 1868 when the latter began to parallel Charlick's New York & Flushing R.R. In the face of this threat Charlick considered it prudent at the time to sell out to his rivals. What he did not and could not foresee was that the Poppenhusens would soon become such formidable rivals of his own Long Island R.R. Charlick was probably reluctantly willing to sacrifice the Flushing and College Point business to his rivals, but when they joined with Alexander T. Stewart to build a large system threatening him at every point, it was time to stage a counter blow.

As early as June 1869 a rumor flew that Charlick would build a branch from his own Long Island R.R. to tap the profitable traffic of Flushing. Such a branch would attack the Poppenhusens in their own stronghold. The year 1870 passed without action and the Poppenhusens breathed easier, but in April 1871 they were horrified to learn that Charlick had quietly filed articles of association for the Newtown and Flushing Railroad. Charlick's notorious obstinacy made any ideas of dissuasion futile.

As projected by Charlick, the new road was to branch off from the Long Island R.R. at Maurice Avenue and run through Newtown, Corona, and across the meadows, entering Flushing precisely where the Poppenhusens were planning to locate Central Junction station on the Central Railroad of Long Island. Since a roundhouse and yard were to be erected there as well as a depot, the track of the Charlick road cutting diagonally across the site would ruin everything. During April 1871 Char-