It was the crash that doomed the Long Island Rail Road — and, ultimately, saved it.

A pivotal moment in Long Island and metro New York transportation history; one that led state officials to wrest control of the beleaguered, bankrupt LIRR from its long-absentee owner, the Pennsylvania Railroad, leading to millions of dollars in safety improvements and system upgrades and the creation of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the 1960s.

Got a complaint your train's running late? Back in 1950, then-Queens District Attorney Charles P. Sullivan suggested a ride on the LIRR was "an open invitation to the morgue."

Seventy-five years ago next week, the LIRR suffered what remains the worst crash in its history: the Nov. 22, 1950, Thanksgiving Eve crash on the Kew Gardens-Richmond Hill bor

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