Long Island Rail Road: Port Jefferson Branch (Images of Rail)

The Long Island Rail Road is the oldest railroad in the countrystill operating under its original name. As the busiest railroad inNorth America, it carries 265,000 customers each weekday aboard 735trains on 11 different branches. The Port Jefferson Branch serves10 stations from Hicksville to Port Jefferson and carries nearly 20percent of the railroad's passenger traffic over its 32 miles oftrack. Hicksville Station is the site of the October 8, 1955, "Endof Steam Ceremony," when steam locomotives were retired fromservice. The oldest surviving station building constructed by theLong Island Rail Road is on this branch at St. James. Between 1895and 1938, the branch extended 10 miles east to Wading River. Thebranch was not electrified until 1970 and that was only toHuntington Station, east of which is served by diesel and dual-modelocomotives.David D. Morrison is a retired Port Jefferson Branch linemanager and railroad historian. The author of four other railroadhistory books, including Long Island Rail Road Stations and JamaicaStation, he is a charter member of the Railroad Museum of LongIsland and a member of the Oyster Bay Railroad Station RestorationCommittee.