LIRR shipping receipt Form 21 - Scott R163 Documentary stamp - Consigned to Winfield 10/02/1899 Archive: Dave Keller

LIRR ETT 1874 Rule no.70

Conductors Commutation Check 10/02/1882

"The Long Island Rail Road Company" Founded April 24, 1834 Private collection of Big John Fan of the Sunrise Trail.  Archive copy: Robert Andersen

"The Long Island Railroad Company" 
  April 24, 1834  Collection:  Dave Morrison

I’ve come upon similar items from the late 19th and very early 20th century that seem to have been personally issued by train crews to assist them in their daily routine.  Sort of like having a desk job and you like to cradle the phone on your shoulder, but the company won’t spring for any shoulder rests, so you go and buy your own for your own use and comfort.

Another example was a document from 1909 that had a rubber stamp imprint affixed that read “Conductor Noe, Train 60.” (And, as an aside, conductor Noe’s first initial was “O.”  I kid you not.)

Obviously, this conductor held his run for a goodly period of time that he would bother to have his own stamp made with the train number and he had no threat of someone taking train 60 from him.  Thus . . . the rubber stamp allowed him to just smack his documents rather than handwrite every one. 
Certainly not LIRR issued.

It appears that the Conductor with the seat check (above) devised a system of keeping track of his ticket collections from his passengers, by having his own seat checks printed. It was definitely a privately-printed item.  The back has a train schedule thereon, but also has an advertisement for a local theatre in NYC.

The theatre obviously paid for the cost of printing and while the conductor got free, personalized seat checks, the theatre got publicity and the riding public got a free timetable. They were perhaps  issued in different-colored cardstock for the use on the conductor’s different runs or days of the week.

This conductor may have started the whole seat-check thing that has been in use for so many years on the LIRR!  Insight and commentary: Dave Keller

LIRR Timetable Coney Island July, 1893

LIRR Home ad 6/1898

LIRR Ad Poster Montauk Point c.1928

LIRR Ad Poster c. 1929

Cold Spring General Order #90
Woodbury Station changed to Cold Spring  1015/1880

Found in the wall of the Stony Brook station during recent renovation. Stony Brook was massively remodeled in 1917, this bit of history was still trapped within its walls and did not come forth until about 10 years ago. Info: Dave Morrision

LIRR 100 Shares Specimen


Stock Trust Certificate ca.1897

1913 LIRR Ad for DD1 Electric Service to the Long Island Beaches from NY Penn Station 

LIRR Beach Service: Sheep'shead Bay, Coney Island and Manhattan Beach were accessed via the Manhattan Beach branch.

Rockaway Park , Seaside and Steeplechase were accessed via the Rockaway Beach branch, both over Jamaica Bay trestle or over land via Valley Stream and Far Rockaway.
Info/Research: Dave Keller

LIRR Brick Enginehouse Valuation specifications. 08-26-1916 Collection: Dave Morrison  

These are the job specifics for the construction of the standard, 4-bay, brick engine house.  It proscribes the construction materials to be used. Sort of like a “job standard” which the construction must follow.

Design of the OBay, Greenport and Patchogue engine houses, hence their references at the bottom of the document giving the ACTUAL BLUEPRINT reference numbers per structure. Info: Dave Keller

LIRR Brick Enginehouse Valuation Drawings 
Collection: Dave Morrison  

End of Steam Special 10/16/1965

Form C Clearance Card

Collection: Paul Strubeck 

Form 19 Train Order

Collection: Paul Strubeck

Form A Clearance Card
This card is basically a proceed order that shows when there is an exception to that train for instance when an extra that is not shown on the timetable would be placed on this card. Also shows if there are any train orders for that train.
Collection: Paul Strubeck 

Collection: Neil Feldman

K Card

Card used in replacement of block signals in dark/manual block territory.
Collection: Paul Strubeck

ASC Test Card

Collection: Paul Strubeck


Automatic Speed Control Test Report Card 5/29/1990 Archive: John Volpi

Misprinted K Card 2005,  soon spotted, recalled and fixed.

Collection: Paul Strubeck

Freight Train Delay Report

Archive: John Volpi

LIRR Form K 10/21/1982
Archive: John Volpi

Form R.D. 45 Medical Examination Request
03/1970

Form Spl. Exc. 1447-1 (9124)
One day excursion Jamaica to 
Bellaire returning ticket

Form 1B front (9124)
Jamaica to Woodside ticket 

One day excursion tickets were just that . . .. good for one day and were usually discounted and were good for a round trip made the same and as late as 4:00 am the following day (rush-hour, or "peak service" began shortly thereafter).  This ticket was between Jamaica and Bellaire.  Jamaica was the big shopping area for many years for those who did not go all the way into Manhattan.  Chances are a housewife bought this excursion ticket to do her shopping in Jamaica and return to her home in Bellaire the same day.

The other ticket is just a typical one-way fare and was good for use within one year of purchasing it.  If it were never used, you could return it within the year and get your money back via mail from Jamaica. Jamaica tickets were yellow color-coded.

If this were a ticket to Penn Station it would have been blue and if it were a ticket to anywhere along the Atlantic branch, and/or terminating at Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, it would have been pink.

The excursion ticket has not been punched, and I cannot see if it's got an official issuing dater die stamp on the back, so either it was blank ticket stock someone acquired over the years or it was purchased and never punched and/or lifted by a member of the train crew. Research: Dave Keller
 

General LIRR Notecard 

Collection: Paul Strubeck 

LIRR Retirement Form

LIRR June 29-1905 Timetable
Collection: Dave Morrison

LIRR Freight Schedule 
6/05/1974
Archive: Tim Darnell

Freight Pickup Slip Form 121

Bill of Lading

Freight Bill - Form 3 1888

Freight Waybill Dangerous Material
return to LI City from Pro-Go Corp Holtsville, NY 12/23/1991, car residue last contained LPG flammable gas. Placard placed on  GATX 97621


GATX car in the same series

Souvenir ticket generally used by 
Conductors to give to children.
 

1928 Trip Pass Sag Harbor
Collection: Dave Keller

Roundtrip pass Livestock Agent for UPRR NY- Port Jefferson issued 5/18/1950

     
1940 World's Fair             Freight Notice

 
1967 Parlor Car East

Souvenir Coupons Form 107-6  

These are the souvenir coupons of passenger ID tickets issued only in connection with a party ticket.  The group leader holds the party ticket good for X number of people.  Each person in the party is given one of these ID cards which are valid for their passage, including connections (e.g., to Penn or Flatbush Ave.).  Standing alone, they have no value. Issued in various colors over the years, but all carry the same form number. 
  

 Info/Archive: Brad Phillips

More LIRR Ticket Info

Party Group Round Trip ticket LH-363

Party Group Round Trip ticket City Zone 1 LH-364

Party Individual Coach Return ticket  LH-268Z 

Individual Return ticket LH-269

Tickets late 1980's  to early 1990's. Archive: Kevin Fehn

Student Pass Application
46 Trip Ticket  Archive: John Fusto

LIRR Form 53 Student Pass
46 Trip Ticket
Archive: John Fusto

Freight wheel report used by the LIRR to bill shippers. The locations are on the Garden City Garden City Secondary. The location numbers are as follows on the 1966 and 1978 LIRR maps:
Oxford #32 1966   #1 1978
Newsday #33 1966  #2 1978
Blanchard Press #42 1966  Mercury Litho #14 1978
Lee story #51 1966  #11 1978
 

LIRR Freight Service MTA Pamphlet Archive: John Fusto

 
St. James 1978 Photo: Steve Lynch

Form 166

500 Mileage Ticket Booklet 07/28/1917
Collection: John Fusto

500 Mileage Ticket Booklet Back 07/28/ 1917
Collection: John Fusto

Scrip tickets 07/28/ 1917 
Collection: John Fusto

Half Fare Ticket
It's a cash fare purchased ON BOARD the train and issued by trainmen/conductors/ticket collectors.

It had been issued under the authority of the United States Railway Administration (USRA) which took control of all  USA railroads beginning at the outset of WWI in 1917 until 1920.  

The LIRR used USRA marked forms until the early 1920s. I have a train order from 1921 that still says USRA across the top.  Just using up old stationery, I guess.  Why not?

Seeing the ticket also lists the Manhattan Beach branch, which was abandoned to passenger service in 1924, this ticket was issued between 1917 and 1924. 

Collection: John Fusto History: Dave Keller  

1. Each narrow piece of scrip is tear off.

2. The number in red is the ticket booklet ID # (see the top of the front cover and in the top of the inside of the cover. You'll see it's stamped identically on each piece of scrip.

Each piece of scrip is numbered individually in black for one mile. i.e. this book would have scrip numbered from  #1 to #500 indicating the number of miles. If your trip was from Port Washington to Penn Station, the trainman/conductor would know the mileage from his ETT and tear off the requisite number of scrip coupons for that mileage. (Read the very first instructions AT THE TOP OF THE COVER).

3. While the keystone with the words "Long Island" appeared beginning in 1906 and was the same on passes from 1915, it wasn't until 1917 that the intertwined initials were used. So I'd say the scrip dates from between 1917 and 1920. LIRR Conductor Jeff Skinner told me and gave me scrip collected by LIRR Conductor Oscar Anderson from Teddy Roosevelt. Skinner began his LIRR career in 1917 and Roosevelt died at Sagamore Hill 
in 1919. I'd say 1917-1920 was a good window of use.

Scrip is paper offered in lieu of payment. If you worked for NY State when they couldn't finalize their budget back in the 1980s, they paid their employees in scrip: worthless paper that was to be redeemed for cash once the budget was voted in.

Old-time miners who lived in company towns were paid in scrip. Scrip was then used at the company store to purchase goods, clothes, supplies, tools and food. This kept the miners slaves to their employers because they never received cash of any kind . . .strictly barter . . .hard work for goods.

So . . . the scrip was taken off the pack in mileage increments by the ticket collectors and then turned in to the ticket receiver's office along with their actual tickets sold. I gather it wasn't a very successful way of collecting fares so it didn't last very long. As a result, samples are rather rare. Info is courtesy of Dave Keller
 

Ticket receipts from stations were deposited in local banks.  However, when I started back in 1963 in Amityville, the cash would be placed in a heavy-duty pre-printed registered envelope, sealed with wax, and handed to a messenger on a designated Morning eastbound local train (the messenger had to sign for the envelope, or course).  I believe that process ended shortly thereafter as in later years working South Shore stations we used the bank.

 “Back in the day” when handling cash deposits, we just took the cash in the locked bag in our personal auto, walked to the night drop and dropped it in.  Can you imagine the risk of doing that today with the drug-induced criminal activity all around us?  I could have been robbed scores of times; weekend evenings, no one around, etc.!  I didn’t even think about it back then. Brad Phillips
 

Shipment of a bag of gold coins, valued at $1,000 going via Wells, Fargo & Co. from San Francisco on the steamer "Golden City" to Panama, then land transfer to Aspinwall  (now named Colon, Panama) on the east coast (Caribbean Sea) and whatever connecting steamer will take it on to New York City.  1864

(This was typical of the hazardous shipping of valued merchandise before the days of the Panama Canal! Transcontinental railroad wasn't yet in place, either, and there was a war going on! ) History: Dave Keller
 

LIRR freight receipt: Pearsalls Station - Agent E. P. Frost  - Consigned to J. H. L'Hommedieu for 1 case hardware and 2 bundles sash cord 5/16/1882

LIRR freight receipt: Pearsalls Station - Agent E. P. Frost  - Consigned to Long Beach Improvement Co.  for 27 lengths of iron pipe and 8 boxes white gloss. 5/16/1882

Wading River station - 1 box - 1877
Collection: Dave Keller

Wading River station - from Port Jeff 101 feet of molded white pine - 1896
Collection: Dave Keller

Riverhead station from Westbury - 3 bundles of trees - 1878 Collection: Dave Keller

Manor station - 1 barrel sweet potatoes 1877 Collection: Dave Keller

To Agent at Eastport - Shipping rates on berries - LIRR Traffic Dept. - 1890
Collection: Dave Keller

And another interesting one. A shipment of lime from Amityville to St. Catherine's Infirmary at Maywood Siding, the famous siding along the Central Extension where Charles "Mile-a-Minute" Murphy made his famous bicycle ride behind a LIRR train in 1899 (only 10 years earlier!). The directions on the bill say "Central Extension . . . near Farmingdale." Guess the train crew didn't know where it was . . . 

Back then, lime was used for two major purposes: 
1. Dump down the openings under the outhouse seats to kill the smell and disintegrate the waste collected
2. Use to assist in the decomposition of dead bodies

Being an infirmary, they may have used it for both those purposes, such as when they had a "John Doe" or "Jane Doe" in the morgue.

LIRR Waybill Blank 1965 "Dashing Dan" logo
Collection: Dave Keller

 
1962 Commutation Weekly Ticket for Henry Keller, Dave Keller's Father. 
 Collection: Dave Keller

Back in the early 1970's the LIRR was on a safety campaign much like today's Operation Lifesaver. This item is a book cover. Back in my school days we were required to cover our text books with either brown paper or an accepted book cover. They came to schools with a demonstration, and also gave out freebies to the students., one of which was the book cover pictured. How I managed to save it all these years is a miracle! I used it to cover my Electrical Installation notebook. I attended a vocational high school and it seemed appropriate for me to use a LIRR book cover, as I was a railfan even back then, on my way to becoming an electrician.  Info: Mike Kubiak

Most of the LIRR's art through the '70 and '80's, was drawn by Don Malone.  He had a trademark way of drawing people's hands. Note the kid waiting at the railroad crossing and compare it with any of Don's drawings. 

Don worked in Public Affairs back when it was called Public Relations and had a staff of three. 

He also illustrated the guy and gal holding the lantern in the Book of Rules' hand signals. When he had originally made the drawings in 1982, the characters had "flood water pants" on. Don thought that was funny. 

Transportation's Superintendent at the time, Pete Roche, said "Hay Don, what the hell is with the flood pants." He made them longer, and to this day in the illustrations you can see where he lengthened them.  

Don's son had become a block operator.  Currently,  Public Affairs employs over 80 persons and has to pay an outside artist.  The Long Island Tool  Drawing by: Mike Malone c.1980's

This was a program in the mid-80's to lend out the thousands of unclaimed lost and found umbrellas. It lasted perhaps a year, until all the lent umbrellas were stolen or lost. The work of public relations man Don Malone.

LIRR Freight Brochure 5/1986
Archive: Paul Strubeck

LIRR Freight Brochure reverse side 5/1986 Archive: Paul Strubeck