Bethpage station

Bethpage is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in Bethpage, New York, and serves Ronkonkoma Branch trains. Trains that travel along the Central Branch also use these tracks, but none stop here.

Bethpage
A westbound train arrives at the Bethpage station in September 2014.
Coordinates40.742994°N 73.483359°W / 40.742994; -73.483359
Owned byLong Island Rail Road
Line(s)Main Line
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Construction
ParkingYes; Free, and Town of Oyster Bay permits
Bicycle facilitiesYes
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Fare zone7
History
Opened1856
Rebuilt1959
Electrified1987
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous namesJerusalem Station (1854–1936)
Jerusalem (1863–1936)
Central Park (1867–1936)
Traffic
Passengers (2006)4,963[1]
Services
Preceding station LIRR Following station
Hicksville
towards Atlantic Terminal or Penn Station
 Ronkonkoma Branch Farmingdale
towards Farmingdale or Ronkonkoma
     Montauk Branch does not stop here
Former services
Grumman   Ronkonkoma Branch   Farmingdale

History

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841.[2] At first trains did not stop here, Bethpage appearing only as a notation ("late Bethpage") associated with the Farmingdale station to the east.[3] By 1854, the LIRR stopped at a local station called Jerusalem.[4][5] A local post office opened January 29, 1857, with the name Jerusalem Station.[6] In 1867, the residents voted to change the name of the local post office to Central Park, and both that and Jerusalem appeared on LIRR schedules until 1936. The station and the post office were renamed Bethpage on October 1, 1936.[7] In 1959, the station burned down and was replaced. Electrified service through the station was inaugurated on 1987.[8]

Two nearby stations also had Bethpage in their name:

  • Bethpage Junction was a connection to the east of the present station where the LIRR crossed with the Central Railroad of Long Island, which was built in 1873. A platform was built to enable passengers to transfer. This is the location where the present Central Branch splits from the Main Line at Beth Interlocking one mile southeast of the Bethpage station on the way to Babylon station and the Montauk Branch. The LIRR built the B-Tower at Beth Interlocking in 1925 to replace hand-operated switching between the tracks.
  • Bethpage was also the name of the northern terminus of the former Bethpage Branch from Bethpage Junction to the former Bethpage Brickworks in the community now called Old Bethpage, but which was called Bethpage until 1936.

From 1873 until 1876, the Central Railroad of Long Island had a regularly scheduled stop also named Central Park near Stewart Avenue and Motor Lane in Plainedge, approximately 0.75 miles (1.21 km) south of the present station.[9][10][11] Service was continued by the LIRR at that location until about 1924.

Station layout

There are 2 tracks at this station with two 12-car high-level side platforms.

Platform A, side platform
Track 1 ←      Ronkonkoma Branch toward Atlantic Terminal or Penn Station (Hicksville)
←      Montauk Branch does not stop here
Track 2 ←      Montauk Branch does not stop here →
←      Ronkonkoma Branch toward Farmingdale or Ronkonkoma (Farmingdale) →
Platform B, side platform

References
  1. Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  2. "Early LIRR History".
  3. "1841 Brooklyn Eagle : LIRR timetable". Brooklyn Eagle. October 26, 1841. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  4. "Railroads". The New York Times. April 13, 1854. p. 7. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
  5. "1863 LIRR timetable". Retrieved December 31, 2011. The schedule shows the stop is 2 miles from Farmingdale and 3 miles from Hicksville, the same distances as of 2020.
  6. David Roberts. "Nassau County Post Offices 1794-1879". Retrieved December 23, 2007. John L. Kay; Chester M. Smith, Jr. (1982). New York Postal History: The Post Offices & First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980. American Philatelic Society.
  7. Logerfo, John (August 3, 2015). Bethpage. Arcadia Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 9781439652565.
  8. Schmitt, Eric (December 31, 1987). "Electric Service Extended by L.I.R.R." The New York Times. Section B, p. 3. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  9. "The Central RR of Long Island".
  10. "c1884 map of LI showing rail lines".
  11. "The Stewart Line" (1874 & 1875 timetables show separate stations for Bethpage (now Old Bethpage), Bethpage Junction, and Central Park/Jerusalem).
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