The Long Island Railroad has found the following advantages to accrue from the electrification of its lines: Better acceleration and braking, resulting in faster service on lines with frequent stops; cleaner and more attractive service, with possibility of extensive underground and elevated portions and underground terminals; greater ease and flexibility of operation in terminals and elsewhere; many operating economies, which in normal times would have brought a handsome profit to the company. It is safe to say that electricity has revolutionized modern railroading, and it was the Long Island Railroad that blazed the way, being the first trunk line railroad in the United States to electrify its lines. It is merely a question of attracting the necessary capital to defray the first cost, when all our railroads will follow the lead of the Long Island Railroad.

Afterword--At this point, the historical portion of Mr. Reifschneider's account ended, and he chronicled some of the LIRR's hopes for the future, many of them realized. These included electrification of the Babylon Line, finished in 1925. This line is now the busiest commuter line in the U.S. Also mentioned and accomplished were rebuilding of the Central Extension from Bethpage to Babylon, new equipment, further electrification and more grade crossing eliminations.
     One improvement achieved and lost was electrification on the Bay Ridge Line for freight service. For a while a vital connection between New England and the rest of the nation via car float, it is now a struggling mostly single-track diesel operation of the New York & Atlantic RR, a private concern to which the LIRR's freight business was spun off.
     Visit the links below for more contemporary and historical material about the LIRR.

     "The Dinky" has had more than its share of grade-crossing accidents. Its comparatively small size and none too imposing appearance encourage motorists to take unwarranted chances with it. In spite of the utmost care on the part of the motormen, many such attempts to beat it across have resulted in collisions. It is a tribute to the strength of construction of the cars that they have never come out second best, and such collisions have usually -resulted in more damage to the biggest motor trucks than to the storage battery cars. Like all trains, they run on steel rails and cannot dodge; they are of steel construction and operate at a speed of from thirty to thirty-five miles per hour. It is to be hoped that motorists will accord them the same respect as that given to a steam locomotive in the future.
     The Long Island Railroad had always conducted its own express business under the name of the Long Island Express Company. In 1913, it surrendered this privilege to the Adams Express Company, which has recently been absorbed by the American Railway Express Company. This gave the Long Island advantages of through express service, which it had previously been impossible to obtain with the local express company.
     In 1913, the Public Service Commission forbade the use of the wooden trailer cars which had been formerly operated to Brooklyn Bridge in conjunction with the B.R.T. between the steel electric cars. The railroad owned fifty-five of these cars, which were sold.
     In 1919, a new type of car, known as Class T-54, being 65-foot single sheathing steel trailer cars, was introduced. In 1921, single sheathing steel motor cars were also introduced. These cars are interchangeable with the MP-54 type. The old MP-41 type is not interchangeable with the others and is used for Jamaica and Rockaway Beach local service only.

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