Far Rockaway Branch

Infobox rail line
name = Far Rockaway Branch

---

image_width = 250px
caption = Far Rockaway Branch train 2820 is departing Cedarhurst Station.
type = Commuter rail
system = Long Island Rail Road
status = Operational
locale = Nassau County and Far Rockaway, New York, USA
start =
end =
stations = 7
routes = Rail color box|system=LIRR|line=Far Rockaway
ridership =
open = 1869 (as part of South Side Railroad)
owner = Long Island Rail Road
operator = Metropolitan Transportation Authority
character =
stock =
linelength =
tracklength =
notrack = 2
gauge = RailGauge|ussg
el = Third rail
speed =
elevation =

The Far Rockaway Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley Stream station; the Long Beach Branch also begins there, heading east and south to Long Beach, and the Atlantic Branch heads west to Jamaica. From Valley Stream, the line heads south and southwest through southwestern Nassau County, ending at Far Rockaway in Queens. LIRR maps and schedules indicate that the Far Rockaway Branch service continues west along the Atlantic Branch to Jamaica. [ [http://mta.info/lirr/html/lirrmap.htm MTA LIRR - LIRR Map] ] [ [http://www.mta.info/lirr/html/ttn/f.htm LIRR Far Rockaway Branch Timetable] ] This two-track branch provides 24-hour service in both directions to the Flatbush Avenue terminal in Brooklyn, with transfers required at Jamaica (on almost all non rush-hour trains originating in Far Rockaway) for Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. During rush hour, express service bypasses Jamaica station.

History

The South Side Railroad built the branch in 1869. While constructing it in summer 1869, the company installed about 700 feet (200 m) of tracks across William B. McManus's farmland near Lawrence. But the transaction had not been completed, and McManus and his rowdy Irish friends tore up the track the next night; a legal battle led to the company paying McManus.Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965]

Due to the success of the branch, the South Side built the 200-foot (60 m) South Side Pavilion, a restaurant on the beach. The line was extended west to the Seaside House (Beach 103rd Street) by 1872 and Neptune House (Beach 116th Street) in 1875.

The Far Rockaway Branch had originally been part of a loop that traveled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with other branches. Frequent fires and maintenance problems, most notably a May 23, 1950 fire between Broad Channel Station and The Raunt led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route on October 3, 1955, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, with service provided by the A train. [ [http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/rockaway.html IND Rockaway Branch/Jamaica Bay Crossing] , accessed June 14, 2006] Most Queens-based stations along the former Far Rockaway and Rockaway Beach Branches reopened as subway stations on June 28, 1956, the exception being Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station, which was split between the NYCTA and LIRR on January 16, 1958.

tation listing

References

*Vincent F. Seyfried, , © 1961

External links

* [http://www.lirr.org/lirr/ MTA Long Island Rail Road]
* [http://www.lirrhistory.com/farcksta.html Far Rockaway Branch Stations (Unofficial LIRR History Website)]
* [http://world.nycsubway.org/us/lirr/lirr-farrockaway.html NYCSubway.org Far Rockaway Line]
* [http://www.arrts-arrchives.com/frbr121105.html Far Rockaway Line; December 11, 1905 (Arrt's Arrchives)]