Photos show steam trains on the Long Beach Branch with the engine west pushing equipment eastward. I don't know if that was regular practice or not. I do know that often the smaller engines were operated in reverse without being turned.
There is a photo prior to the relocation of Long Beach station in 1909, of a wye track in the meadows in the vicinity of Lincoln Boulevard and Penn Street, along with a small engine house. When the new station was built, and for the short time before it was electrified there was also a wye track to the west in the bed of of Fulton Street. That was removed around 1913. There was also a substantial freight yard and large freight house several blocks west of the present station by the bay that was dismantled in the mid-1930s.
Before electrification, small engines known as "ping pongs" were used for this suburban service, as they were also used on local branches like the Port Washington... They had headlights on the tender so they could be operated in either direction.
The civil restriction on the old Lead trestle changed many times throughout the years, and the condition of the thing deteriorated and repairs were made. In its last months, speed was restricted to 5 MPH, with unnecessary acceleration and braking prohibited.
