Yaphank Station

[Frank]

Last November, I went to Yaphank and took these pictures of the station. I had a good time. The station is pretty typical of stations on the Greenport Branch. Its a small station that could only platform 1 car. The station seems to be little used despite having a parking lot. This is the last station on the Greenport Branch that I have photographed.

Here are the photos:











Enjoy!

[keyboardkat]

Thanks for the great photos. Although that platform looks longer than one car length to me. i bet it could platform 1and a half cars!

Yaphank was once the station for Brookhaven National Laboratory (originally Camp Upton. The WW I generation, if any are around, will remember the Irving Berlin musical "Yip Yip Yaphank"). There were freight sidings entering the laboratory grounds.

In the glory day's (mid '50s to mid '60s) the LIRR had a rush hour train that terminated at Yaphank. There was a wye east of the station for turning the locomotive.

[workextra]

MEDFORD, YAHPANK, RIVERHEAD, MATTATUCK, SOUTHOLD, GREENPORT.
AMAGANSETT, BELLPORT.
GLEN ST(?)
All are maximum 1 car + 1 door platforms. 3 doors total will be able to fit comfortably at these stations.
As per Special Instructions the platforms are "one car only" Keying that extra door leaf open may or may not result in disciplinary action.
They're several crews on the summer Montauks that do the 1car+1door stop at Amagansett This is actually done for safety and speeds up the boarding process. (Some folks don't exactly travel lite)
Also At Amagansett to not piss off the locals the some crews will platform the east car only because you can be over 5 minutes taking on passengers and this becomes a serious concern with traffic backing up there.

Money is tight now but smart planning while it was still a low platform may have solved the problem at Amagansett.
(nothing that cannot be corrected when money starts to flow again)

[jmeechum]

Nice pictures...I had been there a few times, and took these photos back in August of 2008. I guess I was there on the weekends, because I never saw cars in the parking lot and was wondering how many people actually used the stop. Looks like a few do...



http://www.lirrpics.com/yaphank.htm

[yonkwells]

Does anyone have any photos of the historic Yaphank station? Any information as to when the original was built/destroyed, and the new one constructed would be much appreciated!

[jonvit69]

i lived by the yaphank station. i do have pictures but do not know how to upload them here.any help to send pictures would be appreciated.

[Ocala Mike]

From Dave Keller's site, http://www.trainsarefun.com


YAPHANK MAIN LINE 1ST DEPOT APPEARS ON TIMETABLE
OF 6/14/1845 AS “MILLEVILLE”
PROBABLY REPLACING THE
TEMPORARY CARMAN’S RIVER/
FIRE PLACE STATION OPENED
AT OR NEAR THE SITE IN JUNE,
1844 WITH TEMPORARY END OF
TRACK. RENAMED “YAPHANK”:
1846.
2ND DEPOT BUILT: 1875. AGENCY
CLOSED: 1958, RAZED: 1961
3RD DEPOT BUILT WITH HI-LEVEL
PLATFORMS: 2000-01

[Morisot]

The book: Long Island Rail Road Stations by David D. Morrison and Valerie Pakaluk, Arcadia Publishing, 2003, has a picture of a small frame building with a prominent YAPHANK sign hanging from the overhang. The caption says that the depot was built in July 1875 and torn down in June 1941. It also says the building was located just east of Yaphank Road. For such a small building, it had quite a bit of gingerbread trim along the ridge-line and at the peaks of the roof.

[Jeff Smith]

Looks like they may want to relocate Yaphank Station: Newsday.com

My question is, with such low ridership, why not just close it?

...
Madigan and other residents and officials hope the hard-to-find Yaphank station — berthed adjacent to a Yaphank Avenue overpass — will be relocated and enlarged to better serve the community.
The Long Island Rail Road is using $20 million in state funds to study possible sites and other issues related to potential relocation, said Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Mitchell Pally, who supports the move. The study is in its early stages and he could not estimate when the move would occur or how much it would cost.
...
Service is limited at the Yaphank stop: The LIRR weekday schedule lists only four eastbound trains and five westbound trains. LIRR officials have said daily ridership at the Yaphank station is 30.
Residents and officials long have complained that the current station, with only a small gravel parking lot and an unheated shelter, is inconvenient for most commuters. It's also notoriously difficult to locate.
...

[fender52]

They can move it all they want, but, unless they increase the service, it won't help.

They have been talking for years about extending the service to Yaphank and adding a yard. Unless they dig up more than 20M, it will be a non-starter.

[Jeff Smith]

Yeah, when I was searching Yaphank I found another topic discussing electrification extension to Yaphank and/or Riverhead, with mention of a Yaphank yard. Not sure where there’s more space.

4 trains is pitiful. It’s 45 minutes to Riverhead, at the end of the LIE. Think how much traffic you could take off the road with a couple extra turns there instead of adding lanes.

Still I think moving the station could be good.

[fender52]

I agree that moving the station is a good idea.

I can see the NIMBYism creeping in somehow when the traffic/parking and a new yard is brought up.

As much as I hate to bring it up, DMUs would probably work best and you could add service between Riverhead and KO. The problem is they shot that down a few years ago. They are a dirty word with them for some reason. It was that way when I was there.

[MACTRAXX]

JS and Everyone:

I will start by mentioning that the pictures posted by the OP (Frank) no longer are available.
The Newsday story does have paywall limitations.

One of the prime reasons that the station was not relocated is that the Suffolk County Police
headquarters are nearby just to the south of the station on Yaphank Road. There are some
other County facilities located in the station vicinity.

With the limited train service available commuters from that area do drive to Ronkonkoma to
take advantage of the more frequent and faster train service offered.

Relocating Yaphank about 1.5 miles east to William Floyd Parkway may be a good idea for an
expanded station - but would only be three miles north of the Mastic-Shirley Station on the
Montauk Branch which is also on WFP.

From Ronkonkoma (48.5) to Riverhead (73.3) there is just Medford (54.1) and Yaphank (58.6)
for that roughly 25 mile distance. Since the late 1980s and earlier the area has grown eastward
turning Ronkonkoma into a major "magnet" station which has only become even larger over the
last 31 years with the success of the Hicksville-Ronkonkoma Electrification.

It is about 15 miles to Downtown Riverhead from Yaphank. The current station is off Long Island
Expressway (I-495) exit 67 Yaphank Road (1/2 mile south) and would be moved to be adjacent
to Exit 68 William Floyd Parkway (CR 46) just south of the LIE interchange.

I have been going east to Riverhead on a regular basis to RMLI and will mention that time wise it
is much less than 45 minutes into Riverhead from Exit 67 on the LIE - taking Exit 71 east (NY 24-
Nugent Drive) to enter Riverhead. The next time I go out there I am going to clock how long it
actually takes from my exit (58-Old Nichols Road) to Exit 67 and then into Riverhead from that
point with regular daytime weekday traffic.

In closing unless there is to be a increase in train service along with raising the train speeds on
the Greenport Scoot I do not think that much anything will change from what there is today.

MACTRAXX

[Jeff Smith]

Great synopsis Mactraxx. One note: the 45m is from KO, not YH. And the parking situation and traffic at KO can be time consuming.

I lived off exit 62 for a couple years, not far from the old Holtsville flag stop. The drive on backroads to KO wasn’t bad; to avoid parking I’d get a ride from someone; if not I’d take my chances parking. I didn’t realize the Montauk line was that close, but then again should have as I used to hang out in Patchogue and Blue Point sometimes. But KO has a clear advantage with frequent electric service and so it’s a better connection.

Might move back when I retire.

[Kelly&Kelly]

Twenty million dollars to study the feasibility of moving the single car station used by fifteen people twice a day.

That's $ 1,333,333 per passenger.