Question About Former LIRR Track.

I have noticed along the Hempstead line where the Micthell Field Ext splits off that it looks like that tracks also ran south towards Old Country Rd. across Stewart in between 7th Ave and St. James N. and also behind the parking lot that spans from Stewart Ave down to 11th St.

The same goes for the border of Hempstead and Garden City, it seems that there use to be line that cut across Franklin Ave diagonally traveling northwest towards Hempstead Tpke crossing that to connect with what is now the West Hempstead Station.

This line should be discussed in a FAQ - we have covered these lines before, and they once provided a near seemless route from Valley Stream to Oyster Bay. However popular and useful that route would be now (and I believe it would be very useful), for some reason back in the 1920s the direct route was cut in Garden City (i.e. you couldn't run straight, but had to back up and then continue forward), and then two other key pieces (West Hempstead to Hempstead - ROW is still there as a utility corridor once you get past USA Car Wash) and Stewart Ave north to Old Country Road/Mainline (ROW is built upon) were abandoned sometime in the 1960s (maybe 1970s) period.
Hunt around Google for S. Berliners pages on the LIRR - they are very interesting.

One of One Sixty is a newcomer (no relation to Seven of Nine are you? )

Therefore let's cut him some slack and make him feel welcome.

Your first question:

What you can imagine once being there was the west leg of the wye that connected the Central Extension to the branch running northwards (NOT south) towards Old Country road and eventually Mineola. 9th, 10th and 12th streets dead-ended against this spur, once know as the LIRR's New York Bay Extension.

Here's a map of the area, courtesy of Bob Andersen's great website (the wye is at the right side of the map):



Your second question:

To what you are referring is most probably the right of way of the same line mentioned above, the LIRR's New York Bay Extension, which connected Mineola and Country Life Press with West Hempstead and eventually Valley Stream.

While today's tracks stop south of Hempstead Avenue at West Hempstead station, they once crossed Hempstead Avenue, Hempstead Turnpike, St. Paul's Road, Cathedral Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, crossing Franklin Ave on a diagonal (northeast, not northwest) at the old LILCO power plant, connecting with the LIRR's Hempstead branch at Country Life Press. Again, see map above!

When Hempstead Crossing was in service, one could take a train from Valley Stream, hit all the stops along the West Hempstead branch and continue to CLP, then over Hempstead Crossing and on to Mineola. Regular passenger service was provided along this branch between these stops for many years.

Hempstead Crossing was removed in 1939 and everything ended at CLP.

Hope this clears things up.

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask them. I'll provide you with whatever information I'm able.

Good luck!

Dave Keller

Thanks for the info,

Sir Ray wrote:This line should be discussed in a FAQ - we have covered these lines before, and they once provided a near seemless route from Valley Stream to Oyster Bay.

Sorry, I did not see any FAQ's for this section of the forums just basic stuff for proper use of the forum and so on.

Dave Keller wrote:One of One Sixty is a newcomer (no relation to Seven of Nine are you? )

As for my handle, its a play on my hobby of model railroading and Star Trek, I model in N Scale which is 1:160 of the real thing (for the people who did not know), and the way I wrote it out as you noticed is how the Borg is designated.

One last question:

Is there anyplace online that I can find out what some of the abbervated terminology means. Some stuff is easy others not being a native Long islander is alittle harder for me to try to figure out.

Way to go Dave, nice class, and well said. We should also warn him not to talk labor/union issues...

BTW;
Let's not forget to mention that the line from Mineola, behind Nassau Tower and across Hempstead Crossing to Hempstead was the original Hempstead branch for the LIRR.
The route now used was the route of the old Stewart RR or Central RR of LI

dukeoq wrote:BTW;
Let's not forget to mention that the line from Mineola, behind Nassau Tower and across Hempstead Crossing to Hempstead was the original Hempstead branch for the LIRR.
The route now used was the route of the old Stewart RR or Central RR of LI

Yeah I figured that one out reading the threads about the the RBBX trains when it pulls into Uniondale.

Dave Keller wrote:One of One Sixty is a newcomer (no relation to Seven of Nine are you? )

Therefore let's cut him some slack and make him feel welcome.

Actually, I didn't mean for my FAQ response to read as 'snarky', although now that I look at it again it does seem a bit mean.
What I mean though, was (if possible) we should have a FAQ on common questions like that, to help get new-comers up to speed. It didn't even occur to me that that comment would come off as a 'RTFM' type response (e.g. "Read the freakin' manual" before asking silly questions, foo'!"), just that maybe we should have a commonly asked question, er, page.
I did try to add a little history, although since I was at work I couldn't do full Railroad.net style research. Sorry...

Sir Ray, the only section of the Mineola-CLP-WH ROW built upon is the 1 block from Old Country Rd to the LIRR Mainline. And even if the line were to be rebuilt, it'd have to be put in a tunnel under that section anyway, so the one building there doesn't really matter.

They'd have to put it in a tunnel b.c there is no way they'd ever make a grade crossing with Old Country Rd or try to cross the mainline at grade.

As as said in another posting not long ago, all of this would have been nice to have in service nowadays. The West hempstead branch would have seen a higher ridership. Passengers would have been able to travel from Valley Stream up to Oyster Bay or other destinations, possibly Huntington, etc.... There could have been a variety of options for commuters if this was all in place today, this and the Creedmore branch, I'd say that the LIRR would have been making quite a bit of money, and commuters would have been given more options when traveling. I see it everyday, more and more commuters showing me via tickets where they want to travel from say Hicksville to Valley Stream, or any other combination stations that require you to go into Jamaica and back track on another branch. I actually had a guy get on at Brentwood the otherday who wanted to go to Speonk! Care to guess how long it took that guy to get there??

Sir Ray wrote: Actually, I didn't mean for my FAQ response to read as 'snarky', although now that I look at it again it does seem a bit mean.
What I mean though, was (if possible) we should have a FAQ on common questions like that, to help get new-comers up to speed. It didn't even occur to me that that comment would come off as a 'RTFM' type response (e.g. "Read the freakin' manual" before asking silly questions, foo'!"), just that maybe we should have a commonly asked question, er, page.
I did try to add a little history, although since I was at work I couldn't do full Railroad.net style research. Sorry...

Don't worry about it, although you would think with the amount of posting and repeat posts that there would be a Sticky with some of the commonly asked questions about the LIRR.

Maybe we should create one, well as long as the Mods dont mind, which I don't know why they would.

For the last time, when was the last scheduled service on the WH-CLP (the last freight, I believe, was 3 flat cars of telephone poles for the LILCO plant near Franklin Ave/Second St. in 1964, just prior to track removal) line? The CLP-Mineola line? When did daily (M-F) freight service for Mitchell Field end? Passenger service east of Meadowbrook PW? Thank-you Oracle!

Mark777, again, you are right. In a LITP2000 study, out of 1 million people, I think only 250,000 of them were traveling to city limits. That means that 750,000 of those people were traveling within LI! That number will only increase after Nassau Hub gets that huge expansion. We really need those old lines today. Fortunately the ROWs of most, if not all of them, are still clear.

One of One Sixty:

To what sort of abbreviations are you referring?

List them and I and the others will do what we can to answer them for you!

Dave Keller


BTW, JJ Earl is quite correct. What later became the New York Bay Extension was originally the LIRR's Hempstead branch, crossing Stewart's Central branch. Today's line through Stewart Manor, Nassau Blvd. and Garden City was Stewart's domain. DK

thrdkilr:

Here's all I can help you with:

1. Passenger service between Mineola and West Hempstead ceased in 1939 with the removal of Hempstead Crossing.

2. The spur from CLP to WM was used for freight thereafter.

3. I'm not sure when the last freight ran there and the tracks were removed: possibly mid-1960s. I remember seeing the ROW clear as day around 1967 when I photographed the West Hempstead station (but not the ROW!!!) JJ Earl . . . any ideas here?

4. Special Instructions from LIRR Employee timetable #7, effective 6/19/60, p. 359 indicates a hand-operated switch at CLP equipped with electric lock controlled by "GARDEN" cabin leading to the West Hempstead connecting track.

5. Special Instructions from LIRR Employee timetable #8, effective 6/18/61 no longer lists this switch and/or connection.

6. Therefore, the CLP-WM connection was removed during this time period.

7. Any freight activity after then would have had to originate from the Valley Stream end.

Best I can do for you!

Dave Keller