East Williston | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | NY 25B & Pennsylvania Avenue East Williston, NY | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°45′22″N 73°38′22″W / 40.75614°N 73.639426°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | Long Island Rail Road | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Oyster Bay Branch | ||||||||||
Distance | 19.8 mi (31.9 km) from Long Island City[1] | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
Connections | Nassau Inter-County Express: n27 (n27 stops three blocks east on Roslyn Road) | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Parking | Yes | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Fare zone | 4 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | February 1880 | ||||||||||
Rebuilt | 1965-1966, 1982 | ||||||||||
Electrified | June 1934 750 V (DC) third rail | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
2006 | 859[2] | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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East Williston is the first station along the Oyster Bay Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, at Hillside Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in East Williston, New York. Electric third rail territory ends just north of the station, but all service is provided by diesel bi-level trains.
History
East Williston's station house opened in February 1880[3] by the Glen Cove Branch Rail Road.[4] It originally contained a freight house and wooden platform shelters that were closed during the mid-20th Century. The third rail was installed from Mineola to East Williston in June 1934 because there were originally plans to electrify the entire Oyster Bay Branch, however this did not occur.[4] It was also a convenient, less-busy location to turn back electric trains to Mineola, a service since made redundant by subsequent extensions of the electrification to Hicksville and beyond.
The canopies surrounding the station house began to sag by 1960, and the LIRR considered closing it along with Albertson station, and combining the two stations in between the current existing ones. However, after a great deal of community opposition, those plans were shelved,[5] and East Williston's canopies were restored between 1965 and 1966. High level platforms were added in December 1982.[6] These projects did little to keep the station house in stable condition, and it was closed on December 10, 1996. Since then, it has operated as little more than a pair of sheltered high-level platforms with ticket vending machines and accessible ramps. Efforts to preserve the original station house failed when it was found to be too structurally unstable, and it was razed on December 11, 2004. Some in the community[7] have been considering building a whole new version of the original station house, but have instead opted for a decorative open-air shelter.
Station layout
The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long.
Platform A, side platform | |
Track 1 | ← Oyster Bay Branch toward Long Island City or Penn Station (Mineola) |
Track 2 | Oyster Bay Branch toward Oyster Bay (Albertson) → |
Platform B, side platform |
References
- ↑ Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. VI. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
- ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
- ↑ The Long Island Rail Road: The age of expansion, 1863-1880 Vincent Seyfried Page 203 Archived December 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 Morrison, David D.; Pakaluk, Valerie (2003). Long Island Rail Road Stations. Chicago: Arcadia. p. 57. ISBN 0-7385-1180-3. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ↑ "2 L.I. Stations Kept: Railroad Bows to Opponents of Single One in Between". The New York Times. May 19, 1960. p. 7.
- ↑ East Williston Station History (Arrt's Arrchives)
- ↑ East Williston Train Station Project: Report of the Historic Committee (Incorporated Village of East Williston)
External links
Media related to East Williston (LIRR station) at Wikimedia Commons
- East Williston – LIRR
- East Williston LIRR timetable
- Unofficial LIRR History Website
- July 1993 Photo[usurped]
- June 2006: What currently passes for East Williston Station[usurped]
- Sam Berliner III's Long Island Railroad page
- 1999 Former East Williston Station Photos (Victorian Stations of the LIRR)
- The End of East Williston Station
- Station from Google Maps Street View
- Platforms from Google Maps Street View
- The decorative shelter from Google Maps Street View