Type Passenger and Freight Opened 1869 (1869) Locale Queens | Status Abandoned Number of tracks 1–2 Stations 5 | |
 | ||
Closed February 19, 1932 (1932-02-19) Track gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Terminis Whitestone (north), Willets Point (south) Operators Flushing and North Side Railroad, Long Island Rail Road | ||
Whitestone branch lirr 1868 1932 updated
The Whitestone Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road, running north and east along the left bank of the Flushing River from the Port Washington Branch near the modern Willets Point/Flushing sections of Queens, New York. It crossed the river on one of the three bridges that were later torn down for the Van Wyck Expressway, then ran north along Flushing Bay and east along the East River to Whitestone.
Contents
Lirr port washington line new york penn station bound m 7 local train arriving great neck
History
Originally conceived as a branch of the Flushing and North Side Railroad that was intended to lead into Westchester County, New York (a connection that never materialized) in 1869, it was consolidated into the Long Island Rail Road in 1876 when its owners, the Poppenhusen family, took over the bankrupt LIRR. It later became part of a subsidiary called the Long Island City and Flushing Railroad.
On October 12, 1912 the branch was electrified. In the 1920s the branch began to lose patronage and the LIRR sought to rid itself of the line. There was a proposal for the city owned IND subway to buy the line and incorporate it into the subway system. The deal never panned out most likely due the numerous grade crossings that would have cost the city a large amount of money to remove. The Interstate Commerce Commission allowed the LIRR to abandon the line in 1932.
Most of the branch was removed, except a small section of the line leading to the Corona Yard which remained well into the 1970s when the LIRR closed the Corona Yard and turned it over to the New York City Transit Authority for subway use. Today only a small section of track, just east of Mets – Willets Point, remains, branching off from the Port Washington branch. The Flushing – Main Street station of the Port Washington Branch was so named to distinguish it from the Whitestone's Flushing – Bridge Street station. Despite the closing of the Bridge Street station, the LIRR continues to use the name "Main Street" for the Port Washington Branch station to this day.
Flushing Bay Freight Spur
The Flushing Bay Freight Spur was as the name implied, a freight-only spur that lead to a freight dock on Flushing Bay just west of the Flushing River delta. It began at the Whitestone Branch just north of the junction with the Port Washington Branch, then crossed a junction with a spur of the Woodside Branch leading to Great Neck Junction and the Central Branch, and a second junction with Woodside Branch that lead to the Whitestone Branch, and crossing a short bridge before finally terminating at the freight dock. No trace of the spur is known as of 2016.
Stations
The entire line was abandoned on February 15, 1932.