Valley Stream (LIRR station)

Infobox Station
name=Valley Stream
style=LIRR


image_size=
image_caption=
address=Franklin Avenue & Sunrise Highway
Village of Valley Stream, NY
line=West Hempstead Branch;Rail color box| system=LIRR| line=West Hempstead
Atlantic Branch;rail color box|system=LIRR|line=Atlantic Far RockawayRail color box| system=LIRR| line=Long Beach
other=MTA Long Island Bus
Valley Stream Transportation
platform=1 island platform
tracks=4 (2 northernmost tracks inaccessible)
parking=Yes
bicycle=Yes
baggage_check=
passengers=
pass_year=
pass_percent=
pass_system=
opened=June 1869Vincent F. Seyfried, , © 1961]
closed=
rebuilt=1933
electrified=December 11, 1905
ADA=yes
code=
owned=MTA
former=
zone=4
services=
mpassengers=

Valley Stream is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch serving the residents of Valley Stream, and is the first station (travelling eastbound) in Nassau County. The station can platform a 10-car train, and service is provided on both the Far Rockaway Branch and Long Beach Branch. Valley Stream is also a terminal for off peak West Hempstead Branch trains. The station is fully wheelchair accessible with an elevator from street level. Parking facilities are also available. East of the station, the line splits into two branches. One continuing on as the Far Rockaway Branch in a southernly direction back to Far Rockaway in New York City, and the other continuing eastward to Lynbrook and Babylon alongside Sunrise Highway. The station is located at Franklin Avenue and Sunrise Highway, west of Rockaway Avenue, and is 17.7 miles (28.5 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.

History

Valley Stream station was originally built by the South Side Railroad of Long Island on October 28, 1867. The station house itself opened in July 1869 with the opening of the Far Rockaway Branch, and was built inside the legs of an old wye. It also served customers of the Southern Hempstead Branch which was built by the short-lived New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad between 1871 and 1900. Along with the rest of the SSRRLI, the station was acquired by the Long Island Rail Road in 1889. In 1893, the station began to serve trains along the West Hempstead Branch. When Nassau County separated from Queens in 1899, Valley Stream station became the first station in Nassau County along the Montauk Branch. The station was electrified with the rest of the Far Rockaway Branch on December 11, 1905, and the Long Beach Branch was extended from Lynbrook Station in 1910, and integrated into the Atlantic Branch.

In 1933, the original station was razed as part of a grade elimination project that was occurring along the Montauk, Atlantic and Babylon Branches throughout the mid-20th Century. Prior to this, a temporary station was relocated on a shoo-fly north of the former station in August 10, 1932, then moved to another one south of the former station on August 31 of the same year. The third elevated center-island structure that exists today was opened north of the former location on February 7, 1933, and although the wye was removed as part of the reconstruction, it remained on many maps well into the late-20th Century, and continues to be shown on some in the present.

MTA Long Island Bus Connections

*N1: Hewlett-Elmont or Jamaica
*N2: Green Acres Mall-Floral Park or Jamaica
*N3: Green Acres Mall or Malverne-Franklin Square or Jamaica

References

External links

* [http://lirr42.mta.info/stationinfo.asp?station=087 LIRR station information for Valley Stream]
* [http://subwaynut.com/lirr/valleystream/index.html Valley Stream Station (The SubwayNut)]
*Arrt's Arrchives
**Maps from [http://arrts-arrchives.com/images2/frvs73map.jpg1873] and [http://arrts-arrchives.com/images2/frvabp.jpg1910]
*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|40.661483|-73.704679