Central Islip station

Central Islip
Central Islip
	The station house at the Central Islip station, as seen on May 22, 2008.
General information
Location	Suffolk Avenue & Lowell Avenue; Central Islip, New York
Coordinates	40°47′31″N73°11′41″W / 40.79188°N 73.19467°W Coordinates: 40°47′31″N73°11′41″W / 40.79188°N 73.19467°W
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Main Line
Distance	43.6 mi (70.2 km) from Long Island City
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	Suffolk County Transit : S42, S45, 3C, 3D
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes; Bike racks and lockers
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	10
History
Opened	1987
Electrified	January 18, 1988; 750 V (DC) third rail
Passengers
2006	3,574
Services
Former services

Last updated March 01, 2023

Central Islip is a station on the Main Line (Ronkonkoma Branch) of the Long Island Rail Road. It is at the southwest corner of Suffolk County Road 100 (Suffolk Avenue) and Lowell Avenue in Central Islip, New York. Short-term parking is also available on Suffolk CR 100 across from the intersections between Pineville and Hawthorne Avenues.

History

Suffolk station

Prior to the opening of the Central Islip station, the LIRR opened Suffolk in the present border between Brentwood and Central Islip on July 14, 1842 on the south side of the track and on the west side of Islip Avenue (also NY 111 and Fifth Avenue).^[3] A post office was opened on June 15, 1857, and continued to operate there until January 7, 1874 when it was transferred to Central Islip. This site was selected by President Fisk of the Long Island Rail Road as the most eligible site for a depot, car house, engine house and well, as long as the land on the north and south sides of the track were handed over. The owner on the north side complied, but the owner on the south side refused, so the idea fell flat. This site was on the main and most travelled route between the Town of Smithtown and Islip. This station was closed as it was replaced by the Central Islip depot that was built further east and opened on November 4, 1873 as a flag stop.^[4]^[5] Rail service in the vicinity didn't die out completely in that area however. A team track and a freight spur were located on the northeast and southwest corners of the railroad crossing until 1959, the southwest spur having been used by the Long Island Lighting Company.^[6]

Moving to Central Islip

Central Islip station was built between August and October 1873 and opened on November 4, 1873, on the southeast corner of Suffolk County Roads 17 & 100 as a replacement for the former July 14, 1842-built Suffolk station on Islip Avenue (now NY 111, then Fifth Avenue). The condition for getting the depot was that the people had to donate all the land that was needed in addition to $600. The land was deeded over on June 14, 1873 and the $600 paid by July 1, 1873. It was remodeled in 1916 and the original depot was razed in August 1958.^[7] On November 16, 1987, it was moved to the corner of Lowell Avenue as part of a major reconstruction of the line in Ronkonkoma, Central Islip, Brentwood, Deer Park, and Wyandanch. The station was built on the site of a former spur to the Central Islip Psychiatric Center, including the hospital's power plant that was abandoned years before the hospital was closed.^[8] Across Lowell Avenue is the site of a Waldbaum's warehouse that once had a freight spur leading to it. The site of the 1958-built station was used as an MTA Police station until that was moved to a larger facility across Suffolk CR 17.

Central Islip Hospital station

Central Islip State Hospital originally had two railroad spurs from the team track east of the former site of Central Islip station, although not necessarily used simultaneously. One which ran along what is today Audwin Road and curved southwest through Carleton Avenue and South Research Place was for passengers, patients, and visitors, and the other along Lowell Avenue was for freight, which by 1950 was used fuel the power plant at the station, and a state-run warehouse.^[9] The switching locomotives contained markings exclusively for the hospital, rather than the LIRR.

With medication, de-institutionalization, and social reforms that reduced the criteria for committing people, the use of rail service at the hospital was gradually reduced. The station house was moved from the Audwin Road spur to the Lowell Road Spur, around 1966. Passenger service was eliminated by 1971,^[10] and rail service was reduced to freight only. The Lowell Avenue spur was neglected through the years until it was finally demolished before the station was moved from Carleton Avenue in 1987.

Station layout

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 12 cars long. Prior to substantial completion of the Main Line Double Track Project in mid-2018, trains mainly served Platform B in both directions.

M	Mezzanine	Crossover between platforms
P Platform level	Platform A, side platform
	Track 1	← Ronkonkoma Branch toward Grand Central Madison or Penn Station (Brentwood)
	Track 2	← Ronkonkoma Branch toward Ronkonkoma (Terminus) →
	Platform B, side platform
	Ground level	Entrance/exit and parking

Related Research Articles

Woodmere is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch in Woodmere, in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The station is located at Woodmere Boulevard and Cedar Lane, between Central Avenue and West Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cedarhurst station</span> Long Island Rail Road station in Nassau County, New York

Cedarhurst is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch in Cedarhurst, in Nassau County, New York, United States. The station is located at Cedarhurst Avenue and Chestnut Street, one block west of Central Avenue.

Babylon is a station on the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Babylon, New York at Railroad Avenue west of Deer Park Avenue. It is on the Montauk Branch and is the eastern terminus of the Babylon Branch service. To the west is the junction with the Central Branch, which heads northwest to join the Main Line at Bethpage Interlocking southeast of the Bethpage station. Babylon station is elevated with two island platforms and is wheelchair accessible through elevator access. The electrified portion of the Montauk Branch ends east of the station.

The Central Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York, extending from 40.734°N 73.470°W just east of Bethpage station to 40.696°N 73.341°W just west of Babylon station. It was built in 1873 as part of the Babylon Extension of the Central Railroad of Long Island (CRRLI), which was owned by Alexander Turney Stewart. The branch was mostly unused following the 1876 merger of the CRRLI and the LIRR, but in 1925 it was rebuilt and reconfigured to connect Bethpage and Babylon stations.

The Main Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It begins as a two-track line at the Long Island City station in Long Island City, Queens, and runs along the middle of Long Island about 95 miles (153 km) to the Greenport station in Greenport, Suffolk County. A mile east of the Long Island City station, the four tracks of the East River Tunnels join the two tracks from Long Island City; most Main Line trains use these tunnels rather than running to or from Long Island City.

Sayville is a station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Sayville, New York, on Depot Street between Greeley Avenue and Railroad Avenue. Ferries to Fire Island board from a port south of the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sag Harbor Branch</span> Former Long Island Rail Road branch

The Sag Harbor Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road that was the eastern terminal on the south shore line of Long Island from 1869 to 1895 and then was a spur from Bridgehampton to Sag Harbor, New York from 1895 to 1939.

Ronkonkoma is a major railroad station and transportation hub along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road in Ronkonkoma, New York. The station is the eastern terminus of the Ronkonkoma Branch and the western terminus of the Greenport Branch.

Queens Village is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line, located between 218th Street and Springfield Boulevard, in the Queens Village neighborhood of Queens, New York City. It has two side platforms along the four-track line, and is served by Hempstead Branch trains. Just east of the station is Queens Interlocking, a universal interlocking that splits the four-track line into two parallel two-track lines—the Main Line and Hempstead Branch—and controls the junction with the spur to Belmont Park. The station is elevated and the tracks leading in and out are on raised ground and only above the road at intersections.

Riverhead is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located on Osborne Avenue and Railroad Street in Riverhead, New York, north of NY 25 and the Suffolk County Court House.

Kings Park is a station on the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at the southwest corner of Suffolk CR 14 and NY 25A in Kings Park, New York.

Brentwood is a station on the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is officially located at Suffolk County Road 100 and Brentwood Road in Brentwood, New York. However, it has parking facilities and other amenities that are extended far beyond its given location. The actual station is located across the tracks from the dead end of Eighth Street near Leroy Avenue. The parking lot entrance is on Suffolk Avenue 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) east of Brentwood Road/Washington Avenue.

Deer Park is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is officially located at Pineaire Drive, Executive Avenue, and Long Island Avenue near Deer Park, New York. The actual location is in Baywood, New York, directly over the Deer Park border.

Northport is a station on the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at the corner of Larkfield Road and Bellerose Avenue, north of Suffolk CR 11 in East Northport, New York.

Islip is a station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, off NY 111 and Nassau Avenue, north of Suffolk CR 50, and south of Moffitt Boulevard in Islip, New York.

Great River is a railroad station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, at Connetquot Avenue and Hawthorne Avenue in Great River, New York.

The Hillside Facility, also called the Hillside Support Facility or the Hillside Maintenance Complex, is a maintenance facility of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. The Hillside facility was built between 1984 and 1991 on the grounds of a section of Holban Yard, a railroad freight yard. The facility covers 30 acres (120,000 m²) east of the former Hillside station and can maintain 60 cars at a time.

The Creedmoor Branch was the name of a short branch that the Long Island Rail Road gave to the right of way of tracks between its Floral Park station and Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens, New York. The branch existed from 1879 to 1966 finally being torn up and demapped in the early 1970s.

The Bushwick Branch, also called the Bushwick Lead Track, is a freight railroad branch in New York City. It runs from Bushwick in Brooklyn to Fresh Pond Junction in Glendale, Queens, where it connects with the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is owned by the LIRR but operated under lease by the New York and Atlantic Railway, which took over LIRR freight operations in May 1997.

Bayport was a station stop along the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It was located on Railroad Street between Oakwood and Snedecor Avenues in Bayport, New York, and was the easternmost station along the Montauk Branch in the Town of Islip.

References

↑ Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. III. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
↑ Earliest stations of the LIRR (Unofficial Long Island Rail Road History Website)
↑ Seyfried, Vincent F. "The Long Island Rail Road, a comprehensive history. ... v.3. - Full View - HathiTrust Digital Library - HathiTrust Digital Library". hathitrust.org. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015.
↑ "LONG ISLAND STATION HISTORY". trainsarefun.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
↑ Bob Emery map of Central Islip MP42-43 October, 1957 (TrainsAreFun)
↑ "1958-built former Central Islip Station (Existing Railroad Stations in Suffolk County, New York)". Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
↑ Central Islip State Hospital Railroad Spur (Arrt's Arrchives)
↑ CISH Rail Spur (LIRR Oddities)
↑ The State Hospitals in Suffolk County, New York and the Long Island Rail Road (Arrt's Arrchive)

External links

Central Islip – LIRR
Central Islip LIRR timetable
Photo of Central Islip Station from the parking lot (Unofficial LIRR History Website)
Central Islip Station; 1910 and 1957 (TrainsAreFun.com)
Unofficial LIRR Photography Site (lirrpics.com)
- Central Islip Station
CI Interlocking (The LIRR Today)
Station from Lowell Avenue from Google Maps Street View

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[ett-20120514-1] Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. III. Retrieved August 4, 2022.

[2] Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study

[3] Earliest stations of the LIRR (Unofficial Long Island Rail Road History Website)

[4] Seyfried, Vincent F. "The Long Island Rail Road, a comprehensive history. ... v.3. - Full View - HathiTrust Digital Library - HathiTrust Digital Library". hathitrust.org. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015.

[5] "LONG ISLAND STATION HISTORY". trainsarefun.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2016.

[6] Bob Emery map of Central Islip MP42-43 October, 1957 (TrainsAreFun)

[7] "1958-built former Central Islip Station (Existing Railroad Stations in Suffolk County, New York)". Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.

[8] Central Islip State Hospital Railroad Spur (Arrt's Arrchives)

[9] CISH Rail Spur (LIRR Oddities)

[10] The State Hospitals in Suffolk County, New York and the Long Island Rail Road (Arrt's Arrchive)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]