End of LIRR's steam era, 190th birthday commemorated in Hicksville

Two important milestones in the history of the Long Island Rail Road were commemorated in Hicksville Tuesday: its 190th birthday, and one still fondly remembered by a person in attendance nearly seven decades later.

On Oct. 8, 1955, two steam locomotives met in Hicksville for a ceremony marking the LIRR’s transition from steam power to diesel fuel. On board one of the LIRR’s last steam trains that day was 15-year-old Fred Ruff, who was to take part in the ceremony along with his Boy Scout troop.

"They took me from Brooklyn, put me into a train, and dropped me off in Hicksville. I said, ‘My God. I’m in the middle of nowhere,’" said Ruff, who 17 years later moved to Hicksville and has lived in the community ever since. "I was so overwhelmed. I never saw a train up that close. Then they would put [the steam engines] away, and they would be gone forever."

On Tuesday, Ruff, now 84, joined with railroad officials and historians to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the event, and the 190th anniversary of the railroad, which was chartered in 1834. Ruff rang the original bell that was on the steam locomotive that transported him; it has been restored and preserved by the Railroad Museum of Long Island in Riverhead.

Ruff also helped unveil a plaque commemorating "Operation Changeover" that will be mounted in Kennedy Park in Hicksville, near the site of the original ceremony marking the LIRR’s retirement of its steam fleet.

"On that day, the age of steam locomotives huffing and puffing thick black smoke into the skies of Long Island ended," said LIRR historian David Morrison, who helped organize Tuesday’s ceremony. "At that particular time, most of the railroads were switching over to diesel, because it was a lot cheaper maintenance. Rather than having big coaling towers and water tanks all over Long Island, they could go to diesel power and just have diesel trucks fueling the locomotives."

Also unveiled at the ceremony was a portrait of Valentine Hicks, a co-founder of the LIRR and its second president. Nassau County is lending the painting to be displayed at the Hicksville Gregory Museum.

The railroad’s 42nd and current president, Robert Free, said Hicksville remains the LIRR’s busiest Long Island station, carrying nearly 10,000 riders each day. Free noted that the station again made history two years ago with the completion of the LIRR’s Third Track, stretching 10 miles from Hicksville to Floral Park.

"It always seems like Hicksville has been at the epicenter of all the positive changes throughout the years," Free said.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.