Far Rockaway Branch


The Far Rockaway Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley Stream station. From Valley Stream, the line heads south and southwest through southwestern Nassau County, ending at Far Rockaway in Queens, thus reentering New York City. LIRR maps and schedules indicate that the Far Rockaway Branch service continues west along the Atlantic Branch to Jamaica. This two-track branch provides all day service in both directions to the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, with limited weekday peak service to/from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. During peak hours, express service may bypass Jamaica station.

History

Opening

The South Side Railroad built the branch in 1869 under a subsidiary called the Far Rockaway Branch Railroad. While constructing it in summer 1869, the company installed about 700 feet of tracks across William B. McManus's farmland near Lawrence. However, the transaction had not been completed, and McManus and some friends tore up the track the next night; after a legal battle, the company paid McManus. The same year, the South Side established a subsidiary named the Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad designed to connect the line to the up-and-coming Southern Hempstead Branch. The H&R was dissolved in 1871.

Expansion

Due to the success of the branch, the South Side built the 200-foot South Side Pavilion, a restaurant on the beach at what is today Beach 30th Street. With an additional subsidiary known as the Rockaway Railway, the line was extended west to the Seaside House in 1872 and Neptune House in 1875. The Far Rockaway Branch, along with the rest of the South Side Railroad, was acquired by the Long Island Rail Road in 1876.
Two stations on the branch were built as Arverne, both of which were built by Remington Vernam. The first of which was in 1888 at Gaston Avenue. It had a large tower, was shaped like a Victorian hotel and had a connection to the Ocean Electric Railway, as did much of the Rockaway Beach and Far Rockaway branches. Due to a quarrel between the LIRR and Vernam, another Arverne Station was built at Straiton Avenue in 1892. From then on, the original Arverne station was known as Arverne-Gaston Avenue to distinguish it from the Arverne-Straiton Avenue.
In 1908, the line between Cedarhurst and Far Rockaway was triple-tracked. During the early 1940s, the right-of-way was relocated from a ground-level routing to a concrete trestle. The ROW crossed Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway and returned to ground level, passing over Nameoke Street, continuing to Gibson Station and ascending back on a trestle to Valley Stream.

End of Jamaica Bay service

Until 1950 trains from Penn Station could leave the Main Line at Whitepot Junction and head south past the Atlantic Branch connection at Woodhaven Junction to the Hammels Wye at, turning right there to Rockaway Park or left to Valley Stream and Jamaica and maybe on to Penn Station. Frequent fires and maintenance problems, notably a May 23, 1950 fire between Broad Channel and The Raunt, led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route on October 3, 1955, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, with service provided by the A train. Most Queens stations along the former Far Rockaway and Rockaway Beach Branches reopened as subway stations on June 28, 1956, the exception being Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station, which was split between the NYCTA and LIRR on January 16, 1958.

Recent changes

Between the late 1960s and 1990s, various stations along the Far Rockaway Branch were given high-level platforms in order to accommodate modern M1, M3, and M7 railcars.
The Far Rockaway Branch has the distinction of containing the oldest surviving railroad station on Long Island, and the only existing building constructed by an LIRR predecessor, specifically Hewlett. In 2003, the LIRR closed that station replacing it with a new one diagonally across the railroad crossing on Franklin Avenue; however, the original SSRLI Depot has remained intact.

Stations

West of, most trips go on to terminate at, with some trips ending at or. Stations past Far Rockaway were abandoned in 1955, many of them were reopened as subway stations on the IND Rockaway Line in 1956.
ZoneLocationStationMiles
from NYP		Date
opened		Date
closed		Connections and notes
3Locust Manor, Queens1869New York City Bus:
3Springfield Gardens, Queens19081960
3Laurelton, Queens1907New York City Bus:
3Rosedale, Queens1870New York City Bus:
4Valley Stream 1869Long Island Rail Road: Long Beach, West Hempstead branches
Nassau Inter-County Express:, Elmont Flexi
4Valley Stream 1928Nassau Inter-County Express:
4Hewlett 1869Nassau Inter-County Express:
Originally named Cedar Grove, then Hewletts
4Woodmere 1869Nassau Inter-County Express:
4Cedarhurst 1869Nassau Inter-County Express:
4Lawrence 1869Nassau Inter-County Express:
4Inwood 1905Nassau Inter-County Express:
Originally named Westville
4Far Rockaway, Queens 1869New York City Subway:
Nassau Inter-County Express:
MTA Bus:
Far Rockaway, Queens19281955Now subway station
Far Rockaway, Queens1955
Edgemere, Queens18951955Now subway station
Edgemere, Queens19221955Now subway station
Arverne, Queens18921955Originally named Arverne–Straiton Avenue, now subway station
Arverne, Queens18881955Originally named Arverne, then Arverne–Gaston Avenue, now subway station
Rockaway Beach, Queens18721887Replaced by NYW&R-built Hammels station in 1880
Rockaway Beach, Queens18801955Now subway station
Rockaway Beach, Queens18801955Originally named Seaside, now subway station
Rockaway Park, Queens18821955Originally named Rockaway Beach, then Rockaway Park, now subway station
Rockaway Park, Queens1875