The Fishermen’s Special, a rail service that started in the early 1930s, was a convenient way for urban anglers to experience the myriad sportfishing pleasures of Montauk and Hampton Bays without braving traffic on Montauk Highway. These trains typically ran from the May weakfish season until November, so fishing enthusiasts could catch different fish throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Fares were kept deliberately low, allowing large numbers of urbanites to make the early-morning trip. In 1949, a Fishermen’s Special round-trip fare was $3 (roughly $41 today), which was about a 62-percent discount from the usual $8 round-trip fare to Montauk. As a further enticement, the Long Island Rail Road offered a special baggage car outfitted with iced compartments to keep the day’s catches fresh on the return trip to the city, all free of charge.
The service proved popular, serving 5,765 passengers in the 1932 season, a number that ballooned to 36,149 by 1934.
Once passengers arrived in Montauk, they could get charters on one of the many boats that operated out of Fort Pond Bay. The dock, bait, and tackle facilities there were ably managed by Capt. Herbert N. Edwards (1870-1941), who co-founded the Edwards Brothers fishing operation at Promised Land. Anglers could also find hot meals, lockers, and changing rooms at the Union News Dock.
The Fishermen’s Special grew in popularity until it was suspended during World War II. The service resumed in 1946, when this photo from The East Hampton Star’s archive was taken. Unfortunately, those postwar years were turbulent for the railroad, and in 1948 the service was suspended.
In 1949, the Long Island Rail Road declared bankruptcy. The company continued to flounder until being purchased by the State of New York in 1966. The Fishermen’s Special was offered sporadically for 25 or so years after the bankruptcy, with the last mention of it in local newspapers appearing in 1976.
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Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
