Railroad Forums 

  • Parkside Station - Then and Now

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1449507  by interface76
 
Saw this photo recently on Arrts: http://arrts-arrchives.com/MATAWOK.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://arrts-arrchives.com/LIParksideStaRs.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It would be my "home" station were it open now (with proximity being the factor). Earlier, while out and about, I took a photo from the same spot as the original photographer (the corner of Metropolitan Ave and Trotting Course Lane)
IMG_3933b.jpg
IMG_3933b.jpg (289.24 KiB) Viewed 3216 times
The service station in front of eastbound (Rockaway bound) platform stairs was actually still there when I moved into the area in 2012 (though in pretty terrifying shape IIRC), the brick building you see there now is a Petco that opened up about 3-4 years ago. The other side of the tracks (where the station house used to be) is now the site of the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps headquarters.
 #1449515  by adamj023
 
Lots of abandoned stations in Queens. Considering the usage of train today, train stations seem to be making a comeback at least by the replacement Elmhurst station for instance.

Queens has way too much mass transit overall. It should focus on rail and subway improvements and eliminating redundant mass transit from other sources. I would be in favor of additional new train stations in Queens and cut off redundant bus routes.

Parkside was an example of a station which should never have been closed.
 #1450346  by whitepot46
 
I was aboard the last LIRR train to stop at Parkside on June 8, 1962. In the photo of that train stopped at Parkside on ARRT's-ARRCHIVES you can see me hanging out a window along with two of my buddies. By that time the eastbound track had been removed and the westbound track had a spring switch near the Whitepot under jump. The high eastbound platform had been demolished and a cinder ground-level platform put in its place. That served both the westbound morning train and the eastbound evening train that pulled in at 5:59 when it was on schedule.
The Rockaway Branch needs to be reactivated to relieve the horrendous traffic jams on Woodhaven Blvd. and Crossbay Blvd.
I hope I live long enough to ride the first train on restored service, as I rode the last train on the original service.
 #1450348  by whitepot46
 
Also, Hepburn's garage had live chickens running around way back then. When I was born, Vandeveer's Dairy Farm still had cows on the corner of Metropolitan Ave. and Woodhaven Blvd. And if you looked down at what is now the Little League field as the train passed over Fleet St., you would have seen a pig farm that looked like it belonged in the Ozarks! The old geezer who owned it used to come to the green grocer adjacent to Combe's meat market that became the Stadium Market to get refuse cabbage leaves for his pigs.
 #1450378  by newkirk
 
Whitepot46 wrote: The Rockaway Branch needs to be reactivated to relieve the horrendous traffic jams on Woodhaven Blvd. and Crossbay Blvd.
Yes, I agree with you that this strip of right of way needs to be repurposed for railroad or transit operations and not a bike and jogging path.
 #1463246  by queensdee223
 
adamj023 wrote:Lots of abandoned stations in Queens. Considering the usage of train today, train stations seem to be making a comeback at least by the replacement Elmhurst station for instance.

Queens has way too much mass transit overall. It should focus on rail and subway improvements and eliminating redundant mass transit from other sources. I would be in favor of additional new train stations in Queens and cut off redundant bus routes.

Parkside was an example of a station which should never have been closed.
I know it's off-topic, but could you elaborate a little bit? I live in Middle Village right off of Metropolitan Avenue, but most of my destinations are other locations in Queens or Brooklyn rather than Manhattan. I find there's too little mass transit for the trips I make!

Reactivating (after rebuilding!) this station would be great for me. Back on topic, to anyone, where were the termini for trains stopping there? Did the Glendale Cutoff join up with the Lower Montauk?
 #1463257  by Crabman1130
 
islanddon wrote:
adamj023 wrote:Lots of abandoned stations in Queens. Considering the usage of train today, train stations seem to be making a comeback at least by the replacement Elmhurst station for instance.

Queens has way too much mass transit overall. It should focus on rail and subway improvements and eliminating redundant mass transit from other sources. I would be in favor of additional new train stations in Queens and cut off redundant bus routes.

Parkside was an example of a station which should never have been closed.
I know it's off-topic, but could you elaborate a little bit? I live in Middle Village right off of Metropolitan Avenue, but most of my destinations are other locations in Queens or Brooklyn rather than Manhattan. I find there's too little mass transit for the trips I make!

Reactivating (after rebuilding!) this station would be great for me. Back on topic, to anyone, where were the termini for trains stopping there? Did the Glendale Cutoff join up with the Lower Montauk?
That was part of the Rockaway Branch. There was a connection to the Atlantic Branch at Woodhaven Jct. and the Lower Montauk at Glendale Jct.