Speonk (LIRR station)

Speonk

The Speonk Station sheltered platform
Station statistics
Address North Phillips Avenue at Depot Road
Speonk, New York
Lines
Connections Suffolk County Transit: S90
McRides Taxi
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 1
Parking Yes; Free
Bicycle facilities Yes
Other information
Opened 1870
Rebuilt 1901, 1958, 2001
Accessible
Owned by MTA
Fare zone 12
Formerly Remsenburg (1895-1897)
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 283[1]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Montauk Branch
toward Montauk
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Eastport station Montauk and
Manorville Branches
(current and former locations)
Westhampton station

Speonk is an unmanned railroad station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located on North Phillips Avenue at Depot Road, in Speonk, New York, just north of Montauk Highway (CR 80). The station has two parking lots, one operated by the Long Island Railroad, and the other operated by the Town of Southampton, both of which are free. It also lies adjacent to one of the largest railroad freight yards on Long Island's East End. This yard comes into play for passenger service as well, as most scheduled trains terminate at Speonk rather than continue all the way to Montauk.

Contents

History

Speonk Station was originally built in February 1870 along what was then the Sag Harbor Branch. From 1895–1897 it was known as "Remsenburg Station", acknowledging the hamlet of Remsenburg, New York, which lies just south of Speonk. The station was struck by lightning and burned on June 22, 1901,[2] and a second depot opened in December 1901. Railroad conductors frequently accentuated the name when calling it out as the next station. This latter agency and depot were closed in 1958, and the station has been unmanned ever since. The former station was converted into a snack bar that is still operating as the Trackside Cafe restaurant.[3]

When Eastport and East Moriches stations were closed by the LIRR on October 6, 1958, due to lack of usage, commuters were told to transfer either to this station or to Center Moriches station. The elimination of the latter on March 16, 1998, makes this the next choice for commuters east of Mastic–Shirley station, almost ten miles away by road. The traffic from all three intervening stations which have been eliminated since 1950 has been transferred to these two stations.

As part of its program to upgrade all stations to high-level platforms, the LIRR relocated the functional portion of Speonk Station between 2000 and 2001. A new platform was built on the west side of North Phillips Avenue (the aforementioned station house is on the east side), along with a new parking lot. The new platform includes an outdoor enclosure, but no new station building was constructed.

Platform and track

The station has one four-car-long high-level platform on the south side of the single track.

References

External links