Travel back to 20th century New York along the historic tracks of
the Long Island Railroad through this stunning image collection.
Chartered
on April 24, 1834, as a route from Brooklyn to Boston, the Long Island
Rail Road commenced in 1836 with service between Brooklyn and Jamaica,
New York. The railroad has linked Long Island and New York City through
several periods of increasing immigration and population beginning in
the 1880s. Farmers and fishermen have depended on the railroad for their
livelihood, and every summer thousands of tourists flock to Long Island
beaches on the Long Island Rail Road. It is still the nation's largest
commuter railroad, transporting an average of over two hundred fifty
thousand commuters daily. The Long Island Rail Road: 1925–1975 offers a
behind-the-scenes look at freight and passenger activities and the
people who worked on the railroad. These one-of-a-kind photographs
depict structures no longer in use, such as towers, water tanks, and
crossing shanties, as well as electric motive power and other facets of a
working railroad.
