St. James station (LIRR)

St. James is a historic station on the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The station is located on Lake Avenue and Railroad Avenue, just south of New York State Route 25A in St. James, Suffolk County, New York. The LIRR gives the address as being at Lake Avenue and Second Street, however Second Street is across the tracks and terminates at Lake Avenue on the opposite side of a parking lot for a King Kullen shopping center. This train station is in the Smithtown Central School District.

St. James
St. James Long Island Rail Road station
LocationLake Avenue & Railroad Avenue
St. James, New York
Owned byLong Island Rail Road
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
ConnectionsNYS Bike Route 25
Construction
ParkingYes; Free and Town of Smithtown permits
Bicycle facilitiesYes
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Fare zone10
History
Opened1873[1]
Rebuilt1974, 1997
Traffic
Passengers (2006)588[2]
Services
Preceding station LIRR Following station
Smithtown
towards Jamaica, Atlantic Terminal, Long Island City or Penn Station
 Port Jefferson Branch Stony Brook
towards Port Jefferson
Smithtown
towards Huntington
 Port Jefferson Branch
diesel shuttle
Former services
Smithtown   Port Jefferson Branch   Flowerfield
Saint James Railroad Station
LocationSaint James, New York, USA
Coordinates40°52′59.78″N 73°9′29.35″W
Built1873
ArchitectCalvin L'Hommedieu
Part ofSaint James Historic District (ID73001275)
MPSSaint James District MRA
Added to NRHPJuly 20, 1973[3]

History

Built in 1873 by Calvin L'Hommedieu for the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad in the northern part of the Town of Smithtown, it remains the second-oldest existing station-house of the Long Island Rail Road, surpassed only by Hewlett Station, which was originally built in 1869 by the South Side Railroad of Long Island. When the Flowerfield station to the east was abandoned in 1958, the commuters who previously used that depot at the Gyrodyne Company of America were redirected to the St. James and Stony Brook, New York depots. Until 1964, the station also contained an express house and an outhouse, both of which were demolished along with some trees to make room for an expanded parking lot, much to the chagrin of the community. The station is located within the Saint James District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[4]

The station faced two restoration projects in the MTA era. The first took place in 1974, and the second took place in 1997, when the LIRR installed high-level platforms at the station.

No buses stop at the station. However, local suburban taxicab service is available, and the station serves as a stop along New York State Bicycle Route 25.[5] The only modifications to the depot in recent years have been to make the station more accessible to the disabled.

Station layout

This station has one 12-car-long high-level side platform north of the track.

Side platform, doors will open on the left or right
Track 1 ←      Port Jefferson Branch toward Huntington, Jamaica, Atlantic Terminal, Long Island City, or Penn Station (Smithtown)
←      Port Jefferson Branch toward Port Jefferson (Stony Brook) →
  • St. James Station looking west from Lake Avenue South crossing
  • Interior of the station
  • St. James Station war memorial, sponsored by the American Legion

References
  1. Port Jefferson Branch Stations (Unofficial LIRR History Website)
  2. Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  3. National Register of Historic Places Listings; October 2, 1986
  4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  5. "Long Island Bike Map". New York State Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 24, 2011.

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