Bethpage (LIRR station)

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Bethpage

Bi-level coaches at Bethpage grade crossing.
Station statistics
Lines
Main Line
(Ronkonkoma Branch)
Central Branch
Connections MTA Long Island Bus
Tracks 3
Parking Yes; Free, and Town of Oyster Bay permits.
Bicycle facilities Yes
Other information
Opened 1856
Rebuilt 1959
Accessible Handicapped/disabled access
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Fare zone 7
Formerly Jerusalem Station (1854-1936)
Central Park (1867-1936)
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 1.563 million ▬ 0% (LIRR)
Services
Preceding station   Long Island Rail Road   Following station
toward New York terminals
 Main Line
(Ronkonkoma Branch)
toward Greenport
Central Branch
toward Montauk

Bethpage Station is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Railroad. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in Bethpage, New York, and serves both the Ronkonkoma Branch, and the Central Branch.

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841,[1]. At first the trains did not stop here, Bethpage appearing only as a notation ("late Bethpage") associated with the Farmingdale station to the east.[2] By 1854, the LIRR stopped at a local station called Jerusalem Station.[3] A local post office opened January 29, 1857 with the name Jerusalem Station.[4] LIRR schedules also referred to the station as simply Jerusalem.[5] In 1867, the residents changed the name of the local post office to Central Park, and both that and Jerusalem appear on LIRR schedules until 1936. The station and the post office were renamed Bethpage on October 1, 1936. In 1959, the station was burned down and replaced. Service was electrified in 1987.[6]

Two nearby stations also had Bethpage in their name:

  • Bethpage Junction was a connection to the east of the present station where the LIRR crossed with the Central Railroad of Long Island, which was built in 1873. A station was built to enable passengers to transfer. This is the location where the present Central Branch splits from the Main Line at Beth Interlocking one mile southeast of the station on the Branch's way to Babylon Station and the Montauk Branch. The LIRR built the B-Tower at Beth Interlocking in 1925 to replace hand-operated switching between the tracks.
  • Bethpage was also the name of the northern terminus of the former Bethpage Branch from Bethpage Junction to the former Bethpage Brickworks in the community now called Old Bethpage, but which was called Bethpage until 1936.

In 1872, the Central Railroad of Long Island had a regularly-scheduled stop also named Central Park near Stewart Avenue and Motor Lane in Plainedge, approximately 0.75 miles south of the present station.[7][8][9]

[edit] MTA Long Island Bus Connections

  • N81: Sunrise Mall-Broadway Mall.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Early LIRR History.
  2. ^ 1841 Brooklyn Eagle LIRR timetable. Brooklyn Eagle (1841-11-02).
  3. ^ "RAILROADS", New York Times, 1854-04-13, pp. p7. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 
  4. ^ David Roberts. Nassau County Post Offices 1794-1879. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. John L. Kay & Chester M. Smith, Jr. (1982). New York Postal History: The Post Offices & First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980. American Philatelic Society. 
  5. ^ 1863 LIRR timetable. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. The schedule shows the stop is 2 miles from Farmingdale and 3 miles from Hicksville, the same distances as of 2008.
  6. ^ Eric Schmitt, New York Times, Electric Service Extended by L.I.R.R., December 31, 1987, section B, page 3
  7. ^ The Central RR of Long Island.
  8. ^ c1884 map of LI showing rail lines.
  9. ^ The Stewart Line (1874 & 1875 timetables show separate stations for Bethpage (now Old Bethpage), Bethpage Junction, and Central Park/Jerusalem).

[edit] External links