"Celebrating 75 Years of the LIRR"
Program April 22, 1910 


Its almost marvelous increase in mileage, equipment, traffic, earnings and expenses, as well as other startling statistics, are attractively compared in the following statement of the difference between the conditions obtaining at the opening of the line in 1844 (incorporated 1834), as they existed twenty-five years later in 1869, and the surprising development attained forty years thereafter in 1909.
  1845 1869 1909
Length of road and branches 98 148 390
Weight of rail   50 to 58 70 to 100
Number of engines 15 21 188
Number of passenger cars 22 41 727
Number of Baggage and mail 12 9 52
Number of freight cars 128 241 1,673
Number of passenger tain miles 156,000  267,956  4,334,700
Number of freight train miles 40,848 125,448 539,700
Number of passengers carried 191,414 840,177 27,466,700
Number of passengers carried, one mile   18,773,860 407,270,600
Average rate of speed for pass trains,
 miles per hour, including stops		   20 38
When in motion   25 48
Of express trains, including stops   25 52
When in motion   30 57
Weight of passenger trains, exclusive of
passengers and baggage 		  64 225
Weight of freight trains -- light   95 300
Rate of fare (ave. pass/mile)   2.75 ¢ 1.45 ¢
Population of Long Island   540,648 1,895,000
Assessed valuation of Long Island   $230,100,000 $1,675,000,000
Capital stock of Long Island Railroad $2,250,000 $3,000,000 $12,000,000
Funded Debt   $1,225,000 $48,481,654
Floating Debt $275,851.44 $200,000 $2,060,800
Average rate of interest   6 3/4% 4 1/2%
Earnings, Passenger $147,650.37 $349,675 $457,600
       "      Freight $19,675.21 $278,369 $2,971,300
       "      Mail   $13,085 $42,725
       "      Express   $5,000 $1,363,300
       "      Miscellaneous $172,909.23*  $13,025 $457,600
TOTAL $340,234.81  $659,155 $10,898,300
       
Expense-Maintenance of Way $18,715.21  $359,567 $1,020,800
                       and Equipment   $151,381 $1,304,000
      " Operating the Road ** $281,549.58 $182,923 $4,126,600
      " Interest   $55,350 $3,000,000
       
TOTAL $300,264.72 $751,221 $10,452,400

 *  Income from all other sources, including Ferry across the Long Island Sound, and other steam boats.
 ** Expenses for operating the road, ferry and other steam boats.

SUMMARY

Earnings $340,234.81 $659,155 $10,898,300
Expenses $300,264.79 $751,221 $10,452,400
Cost of Road $1,753,046.78 $3,616,377 $44,406,537
Cost of Equipment (incl. above)   $908,087 $8,375,500

From Trains: The Magazine of Railroading, December, 1957


A Lot in a Little LIRR

Incorporated: 1834
Date PRR acquired controls: 1900
Route mileage: 351
Number of employees: 7115 (in 1956)
   
Historical First Landmarks:  
Piggyback in 1885  
Major railroad electrification in 1905  
All-steel passenger equipment in 1905  
All-steel passenger-car fleet in 1927  
Double-deck suburban coach in 1932  
Automatic Speed Control in 1951  
   
Locomotives: 75 diesels
Passenger-train cars: 1280
Freight cars: 118
Marine equipment: 4 tugboats; 8 carfloats
Number of passengers: 75.2 million in 1956
Revenue train-miles in 1956:  
Passenger    $6,495,656
Freight    $280,976
Operating ratio: 86.06 % in 1956
Number of daily passenger trains: Almost 850
On-time record: More than 98 percent
   
   

Rank: Busiest passenger railroad in the U.S.; only U.S. road on which passenger revenues exceed those of freight.
Aim: To become "the nation's most modern passenger railroad."

Progress under Railroad Redevelopment Corporation Law: At date of third anniversary (August 12, 1957), LIRR had installed 222 new cars and rebuilt 306 existing cars to complete 45 percent of 45-million-dollar equipment program; completed dieselization of non-electrified trackage; repainted nearly 100 stations; revamped Jamaica station track and signaling; installed reverse signaling over 15.7 miles between Jamaica and Hicksville; renovated shops; and boosted
number of parking spaces at depots 65 percent.