LIRR Trip

I am planning to purchase a weekly ticket and to ride the entire LIRR system between Saturday, July 18 and Friday, July 24. I will be staying in Manhattan and NYP will be my departure point for all trips. Any suggestions or advice for this excursion via post or private message will be most welcome. Thanks.

Bill O'Connell

Don't ride the Montauk Branch friday, saturday, or sunday as it will be very crowded with people going to the hamptons. Same goes for greenport.

Oyster Bay. It's a very nice train ride from Mineola to Oyster Bay. The train lets you off right at the beautiful park. Go in and walk the fence along the yard. Keep going to see some of the old equipment bits and pieces in the little museum area (even if it is closed [most of the time] you can see a lot through the fence.) Then turn around and walk back to the park, along the beautiful marina, the fishing pier, the beach, the boat-launch ramps, more beach, the big West-end pier, and more beach. Everyone stops at the little hotdog stand on the corner of Shore and Maxwell just a block south of the station -- you can swing by the little RR Museum on Audrey Avenue. (There a number of charming little eateries on Shore Avenue, and East and West Main Streets.) The Oyster Bay Public Library (open M-Th 10am- 9pm, Fri until 5PM) is an 8 minute walk to the east from the station if you want a cool(air-conditioned) beautiful place to stop in (and you can easily plug-in to re-charge there.) A lot to see and photograph in a very charming, compact area.

My vote goes to Montauk. It is the longest, most scenic and most interesting of all. The station at Montauk is sort of in the middle of not much but you can get a cab there. Gosmans Dock is about a mile away although I would not walk it because there are hills involved, fast moving traffic and no sidewalks. Gosmans Dock is an ideal place to eat whether it be lunch or supper. There is enough service so this time of the year you will more or less have at least some choice of your return. You will have meets with other trains as well, provide yourself with a Montauk Branch timetable for help on this. Plan on a full day for this sort of a trip. Whatever your choice, enjoy your trip.
Noel Weaver

jackintosh11 wrote:Don't ride the Montauk Branch friday, saturday, or sunday as it will be very crowded with people going to the hamptons. Same goes for greenport.

BAR:

Let me further clarify this statement:

Trains to Montauk are most crowded at the prime "getaway" hours which are Friday afternoons and evenings
and Saturday mornings during the Summer tourist season on the East End of Long Island...

The prime "return" time periods are on Sunday afternoons and evenings westbound to New York and to some extent
on Monday mornings...Remember that this can be dependent on conditions like weather and prime travel times
such as those occurring on major holidays...

Greenport trains do not have the ridership that would make traveling out east of Ronkonkoma a problem with added
crowding - unless there is a special event occurring out there such as the Tall Ships visit to Greenport back on the
July 4th holiday weekend...

This should more accurately address some peak travel times to avoid if it is possible depending on your schedule...

MACTRAXX

BAR wrote:I am planning to purchase a weekly ticket and to ride the entire LIRR system between Saturday, July 18 and Friday, July 24. I will be staying in Manhattan and NYP will be my departure point for all trips. Any suggestions or advice for this excursion via post or private message will be most welcome. Thanks.

Bill O'Connell

I suppose the way you can do that is to purchase a weekly ticket between zone 1 and zone 14, for a current fare of $155.25. In theory, and hopefully in practice, that should allow you 7 days of unlimited travel from any station to any station on LIRR. Is that the way you were planning to ride the entire system?

Since you want to ride the entire system, then do not forget to ride a train that originates/terminates at Long Island City and stops at Hunterspoint Avenue. It is a short piece of unique mileage in the Borough of Queens that some might overlook. Since you are staying in Manhattan, you might find it easiest to take a late afternoon Monday - Friday only train eastbound departure from Long Island City. You can take the subway from Manhattan over to the Long Island City area. If you ride as far east as Woodside, you have covered all of the unique mileage from Long Island City thru Hunterspoint Avenue to the mainline.

If you have the time and interest while laying over at Greenport, you could take the ferry from Greenport over to Shelter Island and then back to Greenport. The ferry terminal is right next to the train station. Claudio's Restaurant at Greenport would be a good place for a seafood lunch; there are other places to eat close to the railroad station.

For what it's worth, and you probably already know this, but you can do the Hempstead Branch and the West Hempstead Branch more or less in a loop on a weekday, as the terminal stations are only a mile and a half apart.

NYP to West Hempstead E/B, then over to Hempstead for the W/B return (or vice versa). The LIC to HPA move is a must, as the O/P suggested. Too bad no more Lower Montauk.

Morisot wrote:Oyster Bay. It's a very nice train ride from Mineola to Oyster Bay. The train lets you off right at the beautiful park. Go in and walk the fence along the yard. Keep going to see some of the old equipment bits and pieces in the little museum area (even if it is closed [most of the time] you can see a lot through the fence.) Then turn around and walk back to the park, along the beautiful marina, the fishing pier, the beach, the boat-launch ramps, more beach, the big West-end pier, and more beach. Everyone stops at the little hotdog stand on the corner of Shore and Maxwell just a block south of the station -- you can swing by the little RR Museum on Audrey Avenue. (There a number of charming little eateries on Shore Avenue, and East and West Main Streets.) The Oyster Bay Public Library (open M-Th 10am- 9pm, Fri until 5PM) is an 8 minute walk to the east from the station if you want a cool(air-conditioned) beautiful place to stop in (and you can easily plug-in to re-charge there.) A lot to see and photograph in a very charming, compact area.

Super advice, agree!

You can definately do the two Hempstead Branches. Just a word of caution, Hempstead is not a safe city. In fact, if I were you, I would either take a bus or a cab between the two stations. Those neighborhoods between the depots are shady.

You can do a trip to Montauk and see the main shopping and beach area in one day. I have done daytrips there a few times. Just watch the traffic on that road that runs between the station and downtown. The weekend schedule for the Montauk branch for points east of Speonk is laid out perfectly for those making long weekend or day trips.

If you ride down the Hempstead branch, Garden City has a number of small places to eat within walking distance of the station, as well as the library right at the station.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:You can definately do the two Hempstead Branches. Just a word of caution, Hempstead is not a safe city. In fact, if I were you, I would either take a bus or a cab between the two stations. Those neighborhoods between the depots are shady.

And that is sad. I lived in Hempstead during my teen years back in the 1960s. My mom was a teller at the Franklin National Bank (later European-American Bank) on Uniondale Avenue and my dad was a barber in West Hempstead. It's a shame to see it decline like that. I was there a few years ago and Jerusalem Avenue looked like a war zone.

How was the trip? (The weather was beautiful if you made it to The Island this past week!)

First off thanks to everyone for their advice and counsel. I had a great excursion on the LIRR and I was able to cover all routes. A number of year's ago I rode the Lower Montauk and am glad that I did that when it was still possible. I started on Saturday, July 19 and here's my week's travel history for those who are interested.

Saturday - NYP-Belmont Park, Queens Village-Hempstead, Hempstead-Atlantic Terminal, Atlantic Terminal-Far Rockaway, Far Rockaway- NYP. Two BNSF box cars at Belmont which I assume carried hay for the thoroughbreds. I walked from Belmont Park to the Queens Village Station and saw the former Dugan's Bakery location where I worked five summers during college and graduate school. During my time at Dugan's we received bulk flour via the LIRR. The stub end siding at Queens Village had some rail cars on it. One of my earliest railroad memories is seeing four or five snow plows stored on this siding in the mid 1940's.

Sunday - NYP-Greenport, Greenport-Jamaica, Jamaica-Long Beach, Long Beach-NYP

Monday - NYP-Montauk, Montauk-Jamaica, Jamaica-West Hempstead, West Hempstead-NYP. At West Hempstead a White Castle across the street beckoned to me and I walked over to enjoy a few sliders which are sadly not available in Virginia.

Tuesday - NYP-Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson-Mineola, Mineola-Oyster Bay, Oyster Bay-Jamaica, Jamaica-Wantagh, Wantagh-NYP. Enjoyed a reunion dinner and LIRR discussion in Wantagh with bellstbarn.

Wednesday - NYP- Port Washington, Port Washington-NYP, NYP-Babylon (via Central Branch), Babylon-NYP. Thanks to bellstbarn for the information on how to ride the Central Branch which is somewhat difficult to glean from the timetable.

Thursday - NYP-Montauk, Montauk-NYP. Number 7 subway to Vernon/Jackson Avenue and then walk to LIC terminal. LIC-Jamaica, Jamaica-NYP.

Friday - NYP-Greenport, Greenport-NYP. Most enjoyable LIRR route in my opinion. The crew presented me with a LIRR 175th anniversary pin a memento of the trip. I noticed that conductor's caps read Long Island Railroad not Rail Road.

The LIRR is an absolutely amazing operation. An enormous number of trains with convenient connections. Great weather and trains were almost always on the advertised. Buying a weekly ticket was a good idea in retrospect because it gave me a great deal of flexibility in my travels. I rode to Greenport and Montauk twice since I had the time and as a retired economist I wanted to get all the miles I could for my $155.25. I will tabulate my total mileage and I expect it to be somewhat over one thousand. Saw one NY&A train passing through Jamaica.

Thanks again to everyone.

Bill O'Connell
Williamsburg, VA

Bill, it's nice that you enjoyed your week and the LIRR's operations. Before going into practice, we worked at the railroad for many years. Few riders appreciate the magnitude and complexity of the operation, while many enthusiasts simply join in the complaints. Even now, after having left their employ many years ago, it warms my heart to hear a kind word about the railroad and the work that generations of railroaders have accomplished.

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the feedback. [I remember Dugan's donuts : ) ]