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. ; OReilly on Racing Railroad Service to Belmont On Upgrade-Coming or Going By TOM OREILLY BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y-., June 4. "These improvements should boost business about 20 per-cent, wouldnt you say, Ed?" remarked Mortimer Cheshire, the veteran railroad man with "the kittenish English name, to his fellow supervisor, Ed Butcher. They were seated in the Belmont Station "control tower," which is no tower at all, but a new, one-story building made of cement blocks and a poured concrete roof, which they call "The Bomb Shelter." The building contains a dispatchers office, a lounge for train crews, a rest room and windows which provide a beautiful view of the races from just beyond the stretch turn. "I hope so," said Ed. Then, Cheshire went on to point outthat, despite complaints about the stairs, to the "Bridge of Sighs," leading across the tracks, the public could find shelter under the train sheds and covered bridge until it got inside the grandstand. "We have a real lay-out here," continued Cheshire. "We can handle eight trains in the station and two more up the yard a bit. If we need any more, as we did on Memorial Day, we can keep them in Jamaica and phone when we need them. Right now, we are able to carry more people than ever before. And when they go up those stairs, theyre in. They dont have to fight-their way across that Hempstead turpike or worry about any dark, dank tunnel. "We were always getting flooded over in the old station because it was down so low. We had to keep pumps in the yard for floods on rainy days. Occasionally, the fire department would come over from the track to help us pump the place out and one time the water was so high we had to shut off power in the third rail. We had steam engines come from Jamaica to pull the trains out. "Weve put on some new. trains, too. On week days, we run six trains out of New York and four out of Brooklyn. The first leaves at 10:45 in the morning and last at 1 p.m. Going back, we send six trains to Brooklyn and seven to New York. "No, we dont send more trains back because they carry taxi patrons who cant afford more than a buck, after the races. Those extra trains are for the, early birds. Now, the first train back to town leaves at 2:10 p.m., right after the Double. There is also another early one at 3 : 10mand still another at 4:10. In the past, our only early train was the 3:55. We have learned, though, that quite a few people only come .out to play the Double." Why There Are Two Turnstiles Why do they still have two turnstiles when the fare is only one dollar? Why not tokens or silver dollars? "If we had tokens or silver dollars, the jam-up at the change windows would, be j fierce. Most people can rustle up a half dollar. Those coins are common in the East. But silver dollars are a rarity. Too many people would have to use the change windows. It would also mean importing about 25,000 silver dollars just for this operation alone. And if a man had a party of six with him, he wouldnt want to lug that, many cartwheels around. "Tokens would cause a similar jam. Everybody who came out would have to go to the change window. Now with half dollars, a great many people get the change before they even come to Penn Station. Of course, there is a bit of confusion. Some people, not knowing the routine, put both half dollars in the first turnstile. Then they are stuck when they come to the second one. -We have watchers there with special tools. They can use their tools to push the extra half dollar out of the first turnstile, and rescue the customer." The silver dollar situation was remindful of the time Ward Melville, the shoe man, paid off the good people around the north shore of Long Island in silver dollars. Melville had been filling in part of Long Island Sound to erect a show ground for the North Shore Horse- Show, back in the days of the depression. He stopped at a gas station where the proprietor, a local philosopher, sounded off about "that crazy Continued on Page Forty-Seven OReilly on Racing Continued from Page Three Melville spendin all that money for a horse show, when peoples starvin," Melville got so mad he paid off everybody connected with the job in silver dollars, which he brought in a bushel basket from Wall Street. The silver dollars were around that part of the island for almost a year and the people couldnt help admitting that Melville had put some dough in circulation. "Its funny the number of people who drop dimes in those turnstiles and expect them to work," continued Cheshire. "They dont, of course, and the people are so embarrassed that they simply drop a half in and -never bother to collect the dime. We -get a few dimes in the turnstiles every day. "Yes, we have stowaways who get on the trains and try to find another entrance to the track beyond the turnstiles. But this place is surrounded with cyclone fences, topped by barbed wire. If they cant find their way out, they have a choice. Either go with a cop or pay the dollar. They all pay in the end." Most of the railroads big brass was out opening day to see how the new set-up worked. The included Thomas M. Goodfel-low, the L.I.R.R. president; Henry A. Weiss, traffic manager; Russell D Spore, superintendent and H. J. Bellis, passenger train master. They mingled with the crowd, listening to comments. They must have received an earful. All aboard! y -1
