By Angela Marshall
Commuters quickly kicked out the emergency windows to let air in, but most remained on the train in the stifling heat for more than an hour waiting for help. Residents and employees of nearby businesses began throwing bottles of water in to the passengers.
Once on the scene, firefighters from Rockville Centre and Lynbrook quickly formed a human chain to help passengers out of the train's front door and down the steep embankment to the Waldbaums' parking lot.
All of the sudden it just came to a stop, said Nick O'Neill of Rockville Centre, who goes into the city twice a week for business.
The passengers saw that the street lights weren't working and realized there was a power outage. They learned more through radios and conversations among the few passengers with working cell phones.
It was deja vu for O'Neill, who said he spent the night in the LIRR's Sunnyside Yards during the blackout of 1965. O'Neill was grateful this ordeal was much shorter.
Janel O'Neill of Freeport, no relation to Nick, said some people were panicking and jumping off the train. But crew members worked hard to keep everyone calm. She said the crew, police and firefighter responses were excellent.
Stephanie McEvily of Rockville Centre, who wasn't a passenger, waited anxiously in front of the train as it was evacuated. She knew her son, Nick, was aboard. Nick, a junior at South Side High School and an actor, had gone into the city for an audition and was on his way home when the power went out.
Like many, McEvily had originally worried that the blackout might be a terrorist attack, and hurried to the train's location after her son called to say he was stuck.
Before firefighters arrived, McEvily climbed the embankment and walked along the tracks, hoping to see her son. She was pleased when employees of the neighboring businesses began throwing water to the passengers. They were just wonderful, she said.
Raymond Kay of East Meadow had one of the few working cell phones, and lent it to many of the other passengers while they waited. Once off the train, he comforted a passenger who was distraught because she was in an unfamiliar place and worried about getting home. She reached family members using Kay's phone and was finally able to relax.
Kay wasn't worried about any money the additional minutes might cost him. He was just happy no one was leaving the train on a stretcher. The Rockville Centre Fire Department did an awesome job, he said. That's the Fire Department Ñ you gotta love Ôem.
Many passengers lined up to use the pay phones outside Waldbaums and then sat on the grass along Sunrise Highway waiting for rides. Others, like Steve Gayne of Merrick, trekked toward the heart of the village to get their rides.
During the 1965 blackout, Rockville Centre firefighters rescued nearly 1,200 passengers from a commuter train stranded east of Forest Avenue. They used the Fire Department's aerial ladder and other ladders laid on the embankment to help the passengers to safety.
