THESE are the remains of the old Ozone Park LIRR station just south of 101st Avenue at 100th Street. This was once a very important transfer point on the LIRR. The present remains of the old Ozone Park station date to 1930, when the elevated concrete station replaced the grade-level tracks. Service ceased on this line on June 8, 1962.
Herbert George, whose book Change At Ozone Park describes the various LIRR lines that extended to the Rockaway Peninsula, describes the Ozone Park station:
Ozone Park station was set up to enable passengers from Pennsylvania Station and Flatbush Avenue to reach the Rockaway Park area or Far Rockaway section simply by changing trains (“Change At Ozone Park!”) At certain times, the trains would stack end-to-end, and passengers would transfer back and forth on the platform. Of course, operation in the reverse direction also occurred. Due to street restrictions below, which limited the right-of-way width above, platforms were on the outside of the four track right-of-way, making an across-the-platform exchange impossible. To accommodate this, the platforms were made exceptionally long, so that non-rush hour length MU trains could stack end-to-end and allow passengers to transfer. A set of crossovers from the outside tracks to the inner tracks were at the east end of the station, to permit trains stopping at Ozone Park to run express after the station stop, or to perform the reverse move.
Sources: Herbert George, Change At Ozone Park, © 1993 RAE Publishing
There are two plans to do something with the old Rockaway LIRR: convert it to a linear park, a la the High Line in Manhattan, which was interesting when it first opened in 2009, but is now hemmed in by high rise towers, its views vanquished. The other plan is to revive it for transit, as a heavy rail LIRR or subway line or light rail.
Don’t bet on either.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
7/26/23
10 comments
There was a guy who sold and slaughtered live chickens in one of the bays under that track. My grandmother would buy one and make chicken soup. I’m not talking about the 1900’s either. This was in the very early 1960s!
There were also stores beneath the Woodside LIRR station into the 90s. There was a fairly large store with produce, and other item. There may have also been a florist.
I remember V&V Bakery, I could smell it.
The bays must be rented. Is the LIRR the landlord, or the City of NY?
Since 1952, NY City government has owned the former LIRR right-of-way.
The towers around the manhattan highline are awesome. Shit take on your part.
The views were decimated.
The High Line was magnificent when it was still an abandoned railroad right-of-way. I managed to get up there several times by climbing out an open window of an adjacent (and now demolished) factory building. The intitial idea of a park was fine. But the views and interesting old buildings are now gone, replaced by bland “luxury towers” no different than those you’ll see in dozens of other cities around the world. These days, even the tourists look bored with it all.
The old LIRR right-of-way is wide enough, in most locations, to permit two rail tracks plus a walking path. This concept was used successfully in Cleveland where unused rail tracks adjacent to an active rail transit route were converted to a walking and cycling pathway. It opened in 2021. Below are links to videos about this project.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-trp-001&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=trp&p=cleveland+red+line+greenway&type=Y21_F163_204855_110220#id=2&vid=713cca116eb5b0376ade4d178800b158&action=click
AND
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-trp-001&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=trp&p=cleveland+red+line+greenway&type=Y21_F163_204855_110220#id=3&vid=e61ea8544e5b7808f992538d7a08a91f&action=view
Knowing their nature, I wouldn’t count on either the MTA or the LIRR for restoring service on this line in the near future.