Port Washington Branch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Port Washington Branch
Bombardier M7 7799 enters Flushing.jpg
Port Washington Branch train enters the Flushing Main Street station.
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerLong Island Rail Road
LocaleQueens and Nassau County, New York, USA
TerminiWoodside
Port Washington
Stations13
Service
TypeCommuter rail
SystemLong Island Rail Road
Services
Operator(s)Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Daily ridership46,808 (average weekday, 2006)
Ridership14,242,594 (annual ridership, 2018)
History
Opened1854 (as Flushing Railroad)
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification750 V (DC) Third rail
Route map

Legend
0.0 mi
0 km
Penn Station
BSicon SUBWAY.svg NJ Transit Amtrak
3.1 mi
5 km
Woodside
"7" train"7" express train
Elmhurst (closed)
Corona (closed)
West Flushing (closed)
6.7 mi
10.8 km
Mets–Willets Point
"7" train"7" express train
Zone 1
Zone 3
7.5 mi
12.1 km
Flushing–Main Street
"7" train"7" express train
8.4 mi
13.5 km
Murray Hill
9.2 mi
14.8 km
Broadway
9.9 mi
15.9 km
Auburndale
10.8 mi
17.4 km
Bayside
12.1 mi
19.5 km
Douglaston
12.7 mi
20.4 km
Little Neck
Zone 3
Zone 4
13.8 mi
22.2 km
Great Neck
15.4 mi
24.8 km
Manhasset
16.5 mi
26.6 km
Plandome
18.1 mi
29.1 km
Port Washington

The Port Washington Branch is an electrified two-track rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It branches north from the Main Line at the former Winfield Junction station, just east of the Woodside station in the New York City borough of Queens, and runs roughly parallel to Northern Boulevard past Mets-Willets Point (Citi Field), Flushing, Murray Hill, Broadway, Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, and then crosses into Nassau County for stops in Great Neck, Manhasset, and Plandome before terminating at Port Washington.[1][2]

The Port Washington Branch is the only LIRR branch to not serve Jamaica, a major LIRR transportation hub, as it branches off the Main Line several miles northwest of Jamaica at Winfield Junction.

Route description[]

Port Washington Station from the corner of Main Street and Haven Avenue in Port Washington, New York.

The line has two tracks from Woodside to Great Neck and one track from east of Great Neck past Manhasset and Plandome stations to Port Washington. This often causes slight delays during two-way rush hour operations. A second track cannot be added through Manhasset and Plandome due to the proximity of businesses to the narrow right-of-way in Manhasset, and the fact that the Manhasset Viaduct, which carries the line between Great Neck and Manhasset, has only one track.[3]

To reduce delays on the heavily used line, most peak-hour east-bound trains (weekday afternoons/evenings) are either local from Penn Station to Great Neck (making all stops in between the two) or express from Penn Station to Port Washington (making stops only at Great Neck, Manhasset, Plandome, and Port Washington, although some trains make their first stop at Bayside). A mix of local and express peak-hour trains go west on weekday mornings.

Extra service is offered during the U.S. Open tennis tournament and for New York Mets home games, both of which are held in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. These trains stop at a special Mets–Willets Point station between Woodside and Flushing Main Street.

The route also runs along a high train trestle over the marshes at the southern end of Manhasset Bay. The bridge stands 81 feet (25 m) tall and runs 678 feet (207 m) across the bay, offering a view of the Manhasset Bay. Scenes from the Hearst-produced silent film serial "The Perils of Pauline" are said to have been shot on the trestle.[4]

Winfield Junction
Manhasset Viaduct, viewed from East Shore Road
Manhasset Viaduct, viewed from below

There is only one grade crossing, Little Neck Parkway at Little Neck Station.

History[]

19th century[]

The Port Washington Branch was built by the Flushing Railroad, in 1854 from Hunters Point in Long Island City to Flushing, before the LIRR opened its line to Long Island City. It was the first non-LIRR line on Long Island. The company was reorganized in 1859 as the New York and Flushing Railroad, and established a subsidiary known as the North Shore Railroad to extend the line from Flushing to Great Neck in 1866.

Originally intending to run further east to Roslyn, Oyster Bay, and even Huntington, the NY&F's plans were thwarted by the LIRR who reached those destination first, as well as poor service and competition with the 1868-established Flushing and North Side Railroad. In 1869, the New York State Legislature authorized the Flushing and North Side to buy the New York and Flushing east of the LIRR crossing at Winfield Station, while the segment between Hunters Point and Winfield was acquired by the South Side Railroad of Long Island until it was abandoned for passenger service east of what was to become the former Laurel Hill Station in 1875. Part of the right-of-way ran through what is today the Mount Zion Jewish Cemetery in Maspeth.[5]

By 1874, all branches of the Flushing and North Side Railroad, including the Main Line to Great Neck were incorporated into the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad, which included the Central Railroad of Long Island. Two years later, it would become part of the Long Island Rail Road, which closed the line east of Flushing in 1881 and reopened it a year later as subsidiary known as the Long Island City and Flushing Railroad. The LIC&F was merged with the LIRR on April 2, 1889.[6]

Despite a failed attempt to extend the line from Great Neck to Roslyn in 1882, wealthy Port Washington residents persuaded the LIRR to bring the terminus to their hometown in 1895. This required the construction of the Manhasset Viaduct over the marshes at the southern end of Manhasset Bay, which was authorized by an LIRR subsidiary called the Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad (GN&PW).[7] According to Manhasset's website, "in 1897, a contract was given to the Carnegie Steel Company and a subsidiary, the King Iron Company, undertook the job of constructing the bridge." The trestle bridge cost about $60,000, and the first train to cross it was on June 23, 1898. The GN&PW was disestablished as a subsidiary in 1902, and that segment simply became part of the Port Washington Branch.

20th century[]

Two other early 20th-century stations built on the Port Washington Branch were in Auburndale (1901) and Plandome (1909). The branch was electrified from the main line to Winfield Junction by June 23, 1910, to Whitestone Junction onto the Whitestone Branch to Whitestone Landing Station by October 22, 1912, and to its terminus in Port Washington by October 21, 1913.[8] In 1910, the Public Service Commission approved the LIRR's application to eliminate grade crossings along the line. These projects were prerequisites for the extension of the line's second track to Great Neck and Whitestone and the electrification of the line.[9]: 21–22 

Grade crossing elimination projects took place during the 1910s and 1920s in Queens and Nassau County. These grade elimination projects included unique station reconstruction in places such as Murray Hill which had a station house built over the tracks and Great Neck which had an elaborate plaza built around it. In 1929, the station at Winfield Junction was eliminated, making Woodside Station the transfer point between Main Line and Port Washington Branch trains.

Despite the elimination of the Whitestone Branch in 1932, as well as Flushing Bridge Street station, Flushing station kept the name "Flushing-Main Street Station." A new station was built just in time for the 1939 New York World's Fair then reused for the United Nations, and then the 1964 New York World's Fair and simultaneously Shea Stadium, for which it would be renamed in 1966. This was the last station to be built on the line. By 1985, when Elmhurst station closed, Shea Stadium station would also become the westernmost station on the line before the junction of the Whitestone Branch and Main Line.

In January 1987, the station building at the Plandome station was burned to the ground by vandals.[10][11] Following the fire, the station building was rebuilt as a more modern version of the original.[11][12]

Stations[]

West of Woodside, all trips go on to terminate at Penn Station.[13]

Zone[14] Location Station name Miles (km)
from NYP[15]
Date
opened
Date
closed
Connections and notes
1 Woodside, Queens Woodside Disabled access 3.1 (5.0) 1869[16] Long Island Rail Road: City Terminal Zone
New York City Subway: 7 and <7>​ (at 61st Street–Woodside)
New York City Bus: Q32
MTA Bus: Q18, Q53 SBS, Q70 SBS
Maspeth, Queens Winfield Junction 1854 1929
Elmhurst, Queens Elmhurst 1855 1985 Originally named Newtown
Corona, Queens
Corona 1853 1964 Originally named Fashion Race Course, then West Flushing
West Flushing 1854
Mets–Willets Point
(limited service)
6.7 (10.8) 1939 New York City Subway: 7 and <7>​ (at Mets–Willets Point)
New York City Bus: Q48
Originally named World's Fair, then United Nations, then World's Fair again, then Shea Stadium
3 Flushing, Queens Flushing–Main Street Disabled access 7.5 (12.1) 1854[16] New York City Subway: 7 and <7>​ (at Flushing–Main Street)
New York City Bus: Q12, Q13, Q15, Q15A, Q16, Q17, Q20A, Q20B, Q26, Q27, Q28, Q44 SBS, Q48, Q58
MTA Bus: Q19, Q25, Q34, Q50, Q65, Q66
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Originally named Flushing
Murray Hill Disabled access 8.4 (13.5) 1889 New York City Bus: Q12, Q15, Q15A
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Broadway Disabled access 9.2 (14.8) 1866[16] New York City Bus: Q12, Q13, Q28
MTA Bus: QM3
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Originally named Flushing–Broadway
Auburndale, Queens Auburndale Disabled access 9.9 (15.9) 1901 New York City Bus: Q12, Q13, Q28, Q76
MTA Bus: QM3
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Bayside, Queens Bayside Disabled access 10.8 (17.4) 1886[16] New York City Bus: Q12, Q13, Q28
MTA Bus: QM3
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Originally named Bay Side
Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens Douglaston Disabled access 12.8 (20.6) 1866[16] New York City Bus: Q12
MTA Bus: QM3
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
Originally named Little Neck
Little Neck Disabled access 12.7 (20.4) 1870[16] New York City Bus: Q12, Q36
MTA Bus: QM3
Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G
4 Great Neck Great Neck Disabled access 13.8 (22.2) 1866[16] Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G, n20H, n21, n25, n26, n57, n58
Originally named Brookdale
Manhasset Manhasset Disabled access 15.4 (24.8) 1899 Nassau Inter-County Express: n20H, n21
Plandome Plandome Disabled access 16.5 (26.6) 1909
Port Washington Port Washington Disabled access 18.1 (29.1) 1898 Nassau Inter-County Express: n23

References[]

  1. ^ "MTA LIRR - LIRR Map". mta.info.
  2. ^ LIRR Port Washington Branch Timetable
  3. ^ Image of single track across Manhasset Viaduct
  4. ^ King Bridge Company Manhasset viaduct
  5. ^ 1924 Long Island Railroad Corporate Blueprint (Arrt's Arrchives)
  6. ^ "Corporate Succession Long Island Railroad". pennsyrr.com.
  7. ^ Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NY-81, "Long Island Railroad, Manhasset Bridge, Manhasset Shore Road Vicinity, Flower Hill, Nassau County, NY", 1 photo, 1 data page, 1 photo caption page
  8. ^ "LIRR Branch Notes". trainsarefun.com.
  9. ^ The Long Island Railroad Twenty-Ninth Annual Report For The Year Ending December 31st, 1910. Long Island Railroad Company. 1911.
  10. ^ "Fire Guts Historic Station". Newsday. January 4, 1987 – via ProQuest.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b "Port Washington Branch". www.trainsarefun.com. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  12. ^ "After Fire, Plandome, LIRR Still Haggling". Newsday. February 26, 1988 – via ProQuest.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ LIRR Port Washington Branch timetable
  14. ^ "New Fares — Effective April 21, 2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  15. ^ Station pages linked from MTA LIRR - Stations, accessed April 24, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part Two: The Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad, © 1963

External links[]

Route map:

KML is not from Wikidata

Media related to Port Washington Branch (category) at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from ""