This article is about the Long Island Rail Road line. For the section of the route which was incorporated into the New York City Subway in the 1950s, see IND Rockaway Line.
Far Rockaway Branch
Commuter rail
SystemLong Island Rail Road
StatusOperational
LocaleQueens and Nassau County, New York, US
StartValley Stream
EndFar Rockaway
Stations11
Ridership 25,541,238 (annual ridership, 2024)[1]
Open1869 (as part of South Side Railroad of Long Island)
OwnerLong Island Rail Road
OperatorMetropolitan Transportation Authority
Tracks2

The Far Rockaway Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley Stream station. From Valley Stream, the line heads south and southwest through southwestern Nassau County, ending at Far Rockaway in Queens, thus reentering New York City. LIRR maps and schedules indicate that the Far Rockaway Branch service continues west along the Atlantic Branch to Jamaica,[2][3] from where it can reach either Grand Central Madison or Penn Station, both in Midtown Manhattan.

History

Opening

The South Side Railroad (SSRLI) built the branch in 1869 under a subsidiary called the Far Rockaway Branch Railroad. While constructing it in summer 1869, the company installed about 700 feet (200 m) of tracks across William B. McManus's farmland near Lawrence. However, the transaction had not been completed, and McManus and some friends tore up the track the next night; after a legal battle, the company paid McManus.[4]: 30 The same year, the South Side established a subsidiary named the Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad (H&R) designed to connect the line to the up-and-coming Southern Hempstead Branch. The H&R was dissolved in 1871.

Expansion

Due to the success of the branch, the South Side built the 200-foot (60 m) South Side Pavilion, a restaurant on the beach at what is today Beach 30th Street. With an additional subsidiary known as the Rockaway Railway (1871-1872; Not to be confused with the Rockaway Village Railroad), the line was extended west to the Seaside House (Beach 103rd Street) in 1872 and Neptune House (Beach 116th Street) in 1875.[4]: 30-32 The Far Rockaway Branch, along with the rest of the South Side Railroad, was acquired by the Long Island Rail Road in 1876.

Two stations on the branch were built as Arverne, both of which were built by Remington Vernam. The first of which was in 1888 at Gaston Avenue (Beach 67th Street). It had a large tower, was shaped like a Victorian hotel and had a connection to the Ocean Electric Railway, as did much of the Rockaway Beach and Far Rockaway branches. Due to a quarrel between the LIRR and Vernam, another Arverne Station was built at Straiton Avenue in 1892. From then on, the original Arverne station was known as Arverne-Gaston Avenue to distinguish it from the Arverne-Straiton Avenue.[5]

In 1908, the line between Cedarhurst and Far Rockaway was triple-tracked.[6]: 19 During the early 1940s, the right-of-way was relocated from a ground-level routing to a concrete trestle. The ROW crossed Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway and returned to ground level, passing over Nameoke Street, continuing to Gibson Station and ascending back on a trestle to Valley Stream.

End of Jamaica Bay service

Until 1950 trains from Penn Station could leave the Main Line at Whitepot Junction (40.7254°N 73.8608°W) and head south past the Atlantic Branch connection at Woodhaven Junction (40.6871°N 73.8433°W) to the Hammels Wye at 40.5913°N 73.8088°W, turning right there to Rockaway Park or left to Valley Stream and Jamaica and maybe on to Penn Station. Frequent fires and maintenance problems, notably a May 23, 1950 fire between Broad Channel and The Raunt, led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route on October 3, 1955, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, with service provided by the A train.[7] Most Queens stations along the former Far Rockaway and Rockaway Beach Branches reopened as subway stations on June 28, 1956,[8] the exception being Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station, which was split between the NYCTA and LIRR on January 16, 1958.[9]

Recent changes

Between the late 1960s and 1990s, various stations along the Far Rockaway Branch were given high-level platforms in order to accommodate modern M1, M3, and M7 railcars.

The Far Rockaway Branch has the distinction of containing the oldest surviving railroad station on Long Island, and the only existing building constructed by an LIRR predecessor, specifically Hewlett. In 2003, the LIRR closed that station replacing it with a new one diagonally across the railroad crossing on Franklin Avenue; however, the original SSRLI Depot has remained intact.

Stations

West of , most trips go on to terminate at Grand Central or , while some late night trains terminate at Jamaica.[3] Stations past Far Rockaway were abandoned in 1955, though many of them were reopened as subway stations on the IND Rockaway Line in 1956. The location of the former Atlantic Park station is uncertain.

Zone[10]LocationStation
from via the [11]		Date
opened		Date
closed		Connections and notes
3Locust Manor, Queens12.2 (19.6)1869New York City Bus:
:
Springfield Gardens, Queens19081960
Laurelton, Queens13.1 (21.1)1907[12]New York City Bus:
:
Rosedale, Queens14.0 (22.5)1870[13]New York City Bus:
:
4Valley Stream16.1 (25.9)1869[13]

Nassau Inter-County Express: , Elmont Flexi
ZoneLocationStation
from Valley Junction[11]		Date
opened		Date
closed		Connections and notes
4Valley Stream0.8 (1.3)1928Nassau Inter-County Express:
Hewlett1.7 (2.7)1869[13]Nassau Inter-County Express:
Originally named Cedar Grove, then Hewletts
Woodmere2.3 (3.7)1869[13]Nassau Inter-County Express:
Cedarhurst3.2 (5.1)1869Nassau Inter-County Express:
Lawrence4.0 (6.4)1869[13]Nassau Inter-County Express:
Inwood4.4 (7.1)1905Nassau Inter-County Express:
Originally named Westville
Far Rockaway, Queens(Nameoke Street)5.0 (8.0)1958[7]New York City Subway: (at )
Nassau Inter-County Express:
MTA Bus:
 1869[13]1958[7]Now subway station
19281955Now subway station
Atlantic Park1875No remains left
Edgemere, Queens18951955Now subway station
19221955Now subway station
Arverne, QueensArverne–Straiton Avenue18921955Now subway station
18881955Originally named Arverne, now subway station
Rockaway Beach, Queens18801941Replaced the Eldert's Grove station (1872-1887)
18801955Now subway station
19031955Now subway station
18801955Now subway station
Rockaway Park, QueensRockaway Park18821955Originally named Rockaway Beach, now subway station

References

  1. ^ "2024 ANNUAL RIDERSHIP REPORT". mta.info. Retrieved March 26, 2026.
  2. ^ MTA LIRR - LIRR Map
  3. ^ LIRR Far Rockaway Branch Timetable
  4. ^ Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, 1965
  5. ^ LIRR Station History Archived January 6, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "The Long Island Railroad Twenty-Seventh Annual Report For The Year Ending December 31st, 1908". Report of ..., Trustee[S] of the Property of the Debtor, for the Year Ended ...1949-1953. Long Island Railroad Company. 1909.
  7. ^ "Fifty Years of Subway Service to the Rockaways". New York Division Bulletin. 49 (6). New York Division, Electric Railroaders' Association. June 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2016. – via Issuu.
  8. ^ Freeman, Ira Henry (June 28, 1956). "Rockaway Trains to Operate Today". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  9. ^ "New Subway Unit Ready: Far Rockaway IND Terminal Will Be Opened Today". The New York Times. January 16, 1958. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  10. ^ "New Fares — Effective April 21, 2019". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  11. ^ ett-20120514
  12. ^ Long Island Railroad Station History (TrainsAreFun.com) Archived January 6, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part One: South Side R.R. of L.I., 1961