Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/153

 Collapse of the Poppenhusen System proached by a syndicate of bankers headed by Austin Corbin, owner of the hotels and railroad at Manhattan Beach, with an offer to buy out the Long Island R.R. and all its branches. During the year 1880 negotiations were perfected, and on January 1, 1881, Austin Corbin entered into possession of the Long Island R.R. system, supplanting Thomas R. Sharpe, the receiver.

Corbin immediately reorganized the old North Sideline and re-incorporated it as the Long Island City & Flushing R.R. Co. on March 21, 1881. The new road was then promptly leased in August to the Long Island R.R. for a period of fifty years; this was a necessary move, for the North Side R.R. owned no rolling stock of its own and logically was a natural part of the Long Island R.R. system.

When Austin Corbin took possession of the North Side road, he found himself in the peculiar position of operating trains not only from Long Island City to Flushing, but also over the North Shore R.R. to Great Neck as well, a section of railroad he neither owned nor leased and with whose receiver he had no operating agreement. He therefore sent a communication to the North Shore R.R.s receiver, Thomas Messenger, informing him that after August 14, 1881, he would no longer operate trains over his road. Mr. Messenger was in a bad position; he owned no rolling stock whatever, and the physical condition of his road was chronically far below standard. He appealed to Mr. Corbin to continue the old arrangement, now sanctified by years of custom, and reminded him of the hardships that would result for the residents of Bayside, Little Neck and Great Neck. Reluctantly, Mr. Corbin advanced the date to August 20 on condition that Mr. Messenger would undertake immediate and extensive repairs to the roadbed.

The bondholders of the North Shore road, faced with the prospect of an assessment for repairs, refused to do anything, and instead charged that no proper accounting had been made to them during Sharpe's receivership and that Corbin was stopping the trains solely to depreciate the property, with a view of becoming its owner at a nominal fee. Corbin refused to make any new concessions and on August 20, 1881, the trains stopped running. This created a small complication at Flushing. The Main Street depot now became a stub terminal and it soon became necessary to run shuttle trains between here and White-