Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/149

 Collapse of the Poppenhusen System acceded to their nominee for the post of receiver, Colonel Thomas R. Sharpe. He was appointed on October 23 and took possession October 26. Sharpe had had railroad experience in pre-Civil War days in the South and had held responsible positions in the Railroad Department of the Confederate Government. After the war he rose to the highest levels in the Baltimore & Ohio R.R., a Drexel, Morgan property, and the banking house, in sending him to Long Island, felt that their investment would not only be protected but even enhanced through his skill and experience.

Their confidence was not misplaced. Sharpe took the ailing railroad into his strong hands and infused some of his own energy and competence into the management of the road. He traveled continually over the road, shrewdly noting weaknesses and areas susceptible of improvement. Like a wise man, he made no sudden radical changes on the road during the 1878 season, contenting himself with improving the service and attracting the maximum patronage at a minimum of operating expense. To assist him, he brought from the Baltimore & Ohio another veteran railroader, Samuel Spencer, who was appointed to the post of superintendent. Both men took up quarters in the hotel at Garden City, a village that has since become the traditional residence for successive presidents of the road.

Within a month of his appointment, Sharpe faced a near strike of the employees on the road. The men were two months in arrears on their wages and were getting understandably restive. Sharpe summoned their leaders and promised to get the court to release funds for their wages, which was done. Operating economies were made immediately, the advent of the winter season cushioning the effects of this move. Twenty of the locomotives were laid up for repairs, twenty fewer trains were run, and 150 employees including conductors, ticket agents, firemen, brakemen and switchmen were laid off.

Savings were made in track mileage as well. The Central Road between Garden City and Babylon was abandoned completely, since it ran through empty territory, but not torn up. The Long Island R.R. line to Hunter's Point was reduced to freight operation only for the winter. The receiver also terminated all service on the Grinnell Branch or Woodside Branch of the Flushing & North Side R.R. Since all the leases of the sep-