The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part One: South Side R.R. of L.I./Foreword
Foreword
Although the Long Island Rail Road traces its history back to 1836 and is the third oldest line in the country, only two previous accounts of it have appeared: Elizur Hinsdale's brief history published in 1898, and Felix Reifschneider's longer and much fuller work published in 1922. In the forty years that have passed no comprehensive, intensively researched work has appeared.
The present volume seeks to present the full story of one of the Long Island Rail Road's first competitors: the South Side Railroad of Long Island, which operated the present Montauk Division as an independent railroad from 1867 to 1876.
After the lapse of almost a hundred years very few original sources have survived; only a single printed prospectus for a bond issue remains from South Side days. It has been necessary, therefore, to rely heavily on the contemporary newspapers for a day-to-day account of the road. Every surviving newspaper that published in any locality served by the South Side R.R. has been systematically searched for material. These include: The Picket, (Rockville Centre), 1865–1870; South Side Signal, (Babylon), 1869–1880; Flushing Daily Times, 1875–1880; Brooklyn Daily Times, 1863–1880; Newtown Register, 1873–1880; Long Island Farmer, (Jamaica), 1863–1871; Long Island Democrat, (Jamaica) 1863–1883. The valuable files of the Patchogue Advance and the South Side Observer (Rockville Centre) for the 1870's are unfortunately lost.
A considerable body of new information on the railroad is brought forward here, much of it not known before. Even with this new accession of information, the reader may sometimes feel that a certain area of the road's history remains obscure; this may well be true, but, barring the improbable appearance of important new sources, we must be grateful that even this much has survived the destructive effects of fire, negligence and the many changes of administration.
It is hoped that this volume will be the first of several successive histories covering the full Long Island Rail Road and its predecessors; a second book on the Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad is now in preparation. My thanks are due to Mr. William Rugen, who has furnished all the illustrations, and to Mr. Felix Reifschneider, who has read the manuscript, made many valuable suggestions, and arranged for the publication of the work.
Vincent F. Seyfried
July 1961