Douglaston (LIRR station)

Douglaston
Looking west from Douglaston Parkway overpass, with Bayside's Lakeside Towers complex in the background
Location	235th Street and 41st Avenue Douglaston, New York
Coordinates	40°46′05″N 73°44′59″W / 40.768°N 73.7496°W / 40.768; -73.7496Coordinates: 40°46′05″N 73°44′59″W / 40.768°N 73.7496°W / 40.768; -73.7496
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Port Washington Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	NYCT Bus: Q12 MTA Bus: QM3 NICE Bus: n20G
Construction
Parking	Yes (private)
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	3
History
Opened	October 27, 1866 (NY&F)[1]
Rebuilt	1887, 1962
Electrified	October 21, 1913 750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names	Little Neck (1866-June 1870)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	2,375[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Bayside toward Penn Station Port Washington Branch Little Neck toward Port Washington

Douglaston is a station in the Douglaston section of Queens in New York City on the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The station is at 235th Street and 41st Avenue, off Douglaston Parkway and Wainscott Avenue, and is 13.9 miles (22.4 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. The station is part of CityTicket, and has an underground walkway between the two platforms.

History

Douglaston Station was originally built on October 27, 1866 by the North Shore Railroad of Long Island, a subsidiary of the New York and Flushing Railroad that named it Little Neck Station. A depot at the station was built in April–May 1867 at the expense of William P. Douglas, owner of most of the land in the area, and was named Douglaston in his honor, though the station was listed on timetables as "Little Neck" from 1866 to June 1870.^[3] The depot was repaired and furnished with a freight platform in June 1870, and it was made into a two-story building in the summer of 1871.^[3] In 1870, a new Little Neck Station was built east of this one at its present location by the Flushing and North Side Railroad, and the existing station was renamed for land-owner and developer William P. Douglas.^[3] In 1887, Douglas himself replaced the original station and built a Queen Anne-style building for $6,000.^[3] The original depot was moved to a private site on Little Neck Parkway, where it was still in use as a storehouse in 1914.^[3] Long after the F&NS was acquired by the LIRR, the Douglas-built depot was torn down and replaced with a one-story Mid-Century modern station house in 1962, as was the case with many LIRR stations during the 1950s and 1960s.^[4] In this case, the previous station was genuinely in poor condition, and the newer station was designed by a local resident, and accepted both by the LIRR and Douglaston Residents. The wooden shelters were replaced with matching underground tunnel entrances.^[5] Aside from the high-level platforms, the station has remained in the same condition ever since.

Platforms and tracks

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long. The north platform next to Track 1, is generally used by westbound or Manhattan-bound trains. The south platform next to Track 2, is generally used by eastbound or Nassau County-bound trains. The branch has two tracks here.

References

External links

• Official LIRR station information page for Douglaston
• Station timetable for Douglaston
• Current Douglaston Station House Photo (Bob Anderson) (Forgotten NY.com)
• Station from Google Maps Street View