- Southern Railroad of Long Island
The Southern Railroad of Long Island was a
railroad company in theU.S. state ofNew York . Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as the South Side Railroad, a competitor to theLong Island Rail Road , it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad and leased in 1876 to the LIRR. After a reorganization as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad in 1879 (immediately after which it was again leased to the LIRR) it was merged in 1889.The main line of the Southern Railroad is now the
Montauk Branch of the LIRR from Long Island City to Jamaica, theAtlantic Branch from Jamaica to Valley Stream, and the Montauk Branch again from Valley Stream to Patchogue. The Brooklyn and Montauk extended the line to Eastport while leased to the LIRR. The South Side also owned or leased lines that are now the Bushwick Branch andFar Rockaway Branch , as well as theIND Rockaway Line of theNew York City Subway from Far Rockaway to Hammels (abandoned beyond Hammels to Rockaway Park) and an abandoned branch from Valley Stream to Hempstead.History
The South Side Railroad was incorporated
March 23 ,1860 and organizedApril 20 ,1860 to build from Brooklyn to Islip,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1860%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1860] |91.7 KiB , May 2004 Edition] with Willet Charlick, brother of theLIRR 's Oliver Charlick, andCharles Fox of Baldwin in control.Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965] AnApril 12 ,1867 supplement to its charter authorized an extension to East Hampton. Construction began in June 1866,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1866%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1866] |89.2 KiB , June 2004 Edition] and it opened for regular service from Jamaica east to Babylon onOctober 28 ,1867 .PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1867%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1867] |98.3 KiB , June 2004 Edition] Extensions opened to Islip onSeptember 5 ,1868 , Sayville onDecember 11 ,1868 ,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1868%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1868] |93.8 KiB , June 2004 Edition] and Patchogue onApril 10 ,1869 .PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1869%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1869] |114 KiB , June 2004 Edition] It was forced to build its own line west of Jamaica due to a lease made of theBrooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad (including the Atlantic Avenue Line) by the LIRR in November 1866Fact|date=February 2007 and the LIRR's purchase of the New York and Flushing Railroad onJuly 13 ,1867 . The line from Jamaica west to Bushwick opened onJuly 18 ,1868 , with astreetcar connection to the 8th Street Ferry in Williamsburg, and it opened its own track in Boerum Street, Broadway, and 8th Street to Williamsburg (operated by horses, soon replaced bysteam dummies , west of Bushwick) onNovember 4 ,1868 . A branch was also built from Maspeth (west of Flushing Avenue) northwest to Furman's Island at the junction ofNewtown Creek and Maspeth Creek for freight. [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3804n+ct001862)) Map showing the route & connections of the Central Rail Road Extension Company of Long Island] , 1873] However, an extension beyond Patchogue was not built, because the LIRR built theSag Harbor Branch in 1869 and 1870 to cut off the competition. At the beginning, the South Side was looking at the New York and Flushing Railroad for access to Long Island City, but the LIRR bought it in 1867 and forced the South Side to build to Williamsburg. However, the Flushing and North Side Railroad soon drove most traffic away from the New York and Flushing, leading to the portion east of Winfield being sold to the Flushing and North Side in 1869, and the rest lying unused.Peter Ross, [http://www.dunton.org/archive/LongIslandRailroad.htm A History of Long Island From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, History of the Long Island Railroad] , 1903] The Hunters Point and South Side Railroad was incorporated onJanuary 5 ,1870 to connect Fresh Pond on the South Side with theEast River ,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1870%20Jan%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1870] |57.0 KiB , January 2005 Edition] and opened in 1872 to a point on the New York and Flushing. The South Side thus gained a new freight terminal at Long Island City by rebuilding part of the old Nev York and Flushing, but passenger service continued to operate to Williamsburg.Far Rockaway Branch
The
Far Rockaway Branch Railroad was incorporatedJune 22 ,1868 and opened onJuly 29 ,1869 from the main line at Valley Stream to Mott Avenue at Far Rockaway, and was extendedSeptember 2 ,1869 to the Boardwalk at Beach 30th Street. From opening it was leased to the South Side.Fact|date=February 2007 The Rockaway Railway was incorporatedSeptember 5 ,1871 to continue from Far Rockaway west toRockaway Point ,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1871%20Jan%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1871] |72.9 KiB , January 2005 Edition] and openedJuly 4 ,1872 to Beach 103rd Street at Seaside,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1872%20Feb%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1872] |86.1 KiB , February 2005 Edition] again leased by the South Side.Fact|date=February 2007 Both companies were merged into the South Side onSeptember 14 ,1872 , along with the Hunters Point and South Side and New York and Flushing.outh Hempstead Branch
The Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad was incorporated in April 1868 to build from Valley Stream on the South Side to Hempstead. [ [http://www.lirrhistory.com/SSRR.html The South Side RR of LI(Unofficial LIRR History Website)] ] [ [http://www.lirrhistory.com/nov2001/hempmap1873.jpgWest Hempstead Line map, 1873] ] The New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad was incorporated
March 1 ,1870 to build from Bay Ridge east to Hempstead, and onAugust 10 ,1871 the two companies merged to form the New York and Hempstead Railroad. The line opened onSeptember 28 ,1872 , and was leased to the South Side onMay 10 ,1873 .The South Side entered
receivership onNovember 9 ,1873 ,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1873%20Feb%2004.pdf PRR Chronology, 1873] |100 KiB , February 2005 Edition] and was sold onSeptember 16 ,1874 to the Poppenhusens, who also controlled the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad. The South Side was reincorporated as the Southern Railroad of Long Island onSeptember 25 ,1874 . The two Poppenhusen lines were connected at Babylon, and the Southern's branch to Hempstead was abandoned temporarily after only two years of operation.PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1874%20Mar%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1874] |95.9 KiB , March 2005 Edition] Peter Ross, [http://www.dunton.org/archive/LongIslandRailroad.htm A History of Long Island From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, History of the Long Island Railroad] , 1903] The Southern Hempstead Branch Railroad was incorporated onJuly 1 ,1875 as a reorganization of the New York and Hempstead, and the Southern began operating it shortly thereafter.PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1875%20Feb%2006.pdf PRR Chronology, 1875] |113 KiB , February 2005 Edition] It was however closed permanently in May 1879, since Hempstead was already served adequately from the north (effectively the LIRR's currentHempstead Branch ).Felix Reifschneider, [http://www.thethirdrail.net/0103/reif1.html History of the Long Island Railroad] , 1925, reprinted winter 2001 in "The Third Rail"]On
January 26 ,1876 , the Poppenhusens acquired the LIRR. The line beyond Bushwick to Williamsburg was abandoned February 26, making the line to Bushwick a branch; passenger trains operated over a new connection into the LIRR's Long Island City terminal. The LIRR leased the Southern onMay 3 ,1876 . In June, the Southern became the main passenger route from Long Island City to Jamaica; most passenger trains on the Southern from Jamaica east to Springfield Gardens were rerouted to the LIRR's Springfield Branch.PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1876%20April%2006.pdf PRR Chronology, 1876] |116 KiB , April 2005 Edition] This route east of Jamaica is still the main one for trains using the ex-Southern (Montauk Branch ) east of Valley Stream, but the "Lower Montauk" west of Jamaica is almost unused by passenger trains now.However, the LIRR entered
receivership in late 1877,PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1877%20Jun%2006.pdf PRR Chronology, 1877] |156 KiB , April 2005 Edition] and the Southern was reorganized onNovember 20 ,1879 as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad,Interstate Commerce Commission , [http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/rail/prr/Corphist/lirr.html Valuation Report, Long Island Railroad] ] immediately re-leased to the LIRR.Fact|date=February 2007 The Brooklyn and Montauk opened an extension from Patchogue to Eastport to connect to the LIRR'sSag Harbor Branch in 1881, and onOctober 5 ,1889 it was merged into the LIRR.The majority of the Southern is still intact; only its Hempstead Branch, Bushwick-Williamsburg line, and
Far Rockaway Branch west of Hammels have been abandoned. The Far Rockaway Branch from Far Rockaway to Hammels is now part of theIND Rockaway Line of theNew York City Subway .References
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