by HSSRAIL
My Mothers Dad Sidney rode the Long Island Rail Road Starting in the 1920's up until the early 1970's. He bought a house in Woodmere in the late 1920's prior to that he rode from Far Rockaway on the old Rockaway Branch. He said the LIRR banned smoking on that train because the wooden trestle was constantly burning up account lit cigarettes being tossed out the windows by commuters. He would ride from Woodmere to New York where he worked in the families Hat Business their factory was in downtown New York. When Sid bought his house his dad Jake who founded the Hat Factory said why are you buying out in the boonies?
The answer to that question was affordable housing in which to raise his two daughters. His brother Leo shop foreman lived in the house adjoining his backyard and Leo would do the grilling on a brick barbeque that adjoined the two backyards the people who bought those houses are probably not related now and I wonder if they fight over who owns it?
Anyway suburban commuting on Long Island was well established by the 1940's it progressed in rings. The Inner Ring out to Queens was first established by the turn of the century and than the middle ring which went out as far as Babylon by the 1930's the outer ring began after World War II when the vets came home.
Sid enjoyed riding on the Long Island Rail Road and said it was mostly on time which is all you could ask from a railroad. He also never played cards with anyone but the same group of friends so he never fell pray to the card sharks. Incidently the card players didn't like the M1's because they didn't have roll over seats. Service deteriated during the period of State Takeover and than got better he didn't know why but it almost cost Gov Rockefeller an election. My dad rode the railroad out of Greenlawn just as the state was taking over, he said the service was terrible. The service improved with the electrification out to Huntington and he liked it better. But he said there was a point when you got on a train you had know idea when it would arrive at its destination. He said one day one of the passengers in his car shouted at a collector if you want to live you'd better get the "heck" out of this car. The collector disappeared he decided today wasn't a good day to be collecting the fare. The passengers were just climbing the walls this was in 1969-1970.
The answer to that question was affordable housing in which to raise his two daughters. His brother Leo shop foreman lived in the house adjoining his backyard and Leo would do the grilling on a brick barbeque that adjoined the two backyards the people who bought those houses are probably not related now and I wonder if they fight over who owns it?
Anyway suburban commuting on Long Island was well established by the 1940's it progressed in rings. The Inner Ring out to Queens was first established by the turn of the century and than the middle ring which went out as far as Babylon by the 1930's the outer ring began after World War II when the vets came home.
Sid enjoyed riding on the Long Island Rail Road and said it was mostly on time which is all you could ask from a railroad. He also never played cards with anyone but the same group of friends so he never fell pray to the card sharks. Incidently the card players didn't like the M1's because they didn't have roll over seats. Service deteriated during the period of State Takeover and than got better he didn't know why but it almost cost Gov Rockefeller an election. My dad rode the railroad out of Greenlawn just as the state was taking over, he said the service was terrible. The service improved with the electrification out to Huntington and he liked it better. But he said there was a point when you got on a train you had know idea when it would arrive at its destination. He said one day one of the passengers in his car shouted at a collector if you want to live you'd better get the "heck" out of this car. The collector disappeared he decided today wasn't a good day to be collecting the fare. The passengers were just climbing the walls this was in 1969-1970.
HSS
