Train in North Lindenhurst (Hempstead, Babylon: buying a house, buying, moving)

[melissa80]

Hello everyone...we were thinking of buying a house in North Lindenhurst and noticed there's a train that sort of runs through that area. Does anyone have any info on this line...is it commercial/commuter...when does it run...etc...any info is appreciated...thank you!

[HomeFinder15]

Melissa-
That is the LIRR you saw. See link for the schedule and parking information.

MTA LIRR - Schedules & Fares

[AMD411]

There is a railroad that was once used for freight that run north to south which merges into LIRR .Since you said North lindenhurst I assume the one along N Railroad Ave is the railroad you are talking about .I'll ask my friends in Lindy if it is still used for freight.

[Smash255]

Originally Posted by AMD411

There is a railroad that was once used for freight that run north to south which merges into LIRR .Since you said North lindenhurst I assume the one along N Railroad Ave is the railroad you are talking about .I'll ask my friends in Lindy if it is still used for freight.

Not sure if it is still used for freight, those tracks are sometimes used for trains going further east than Babylon.

[melissa80]

Yes, it's N Railroad Ave...it crosses N. Wellwood Ave.

[Transpl]

Originally Posted by melissa80

Yes, it's N Railroad Ave...it crosses N. Wellwood Ave.

Not sure of the usage other than the Speonk/Montauk trains use this track to connect from Babylon to the Ronkonkoma branch.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Transpl

Not sure of the usage other than the Speonk/Montauk trains use this track to connect from Babylon to the Ronkonkoma branch.

That's all these tracks are used for, moving trains between the Main Line and the Montauk Branch....there are no stations on it, and no freight service that I know of, although there are a lot of warehouses in the vicinity of Route 109 (which it runs parallel to) so I could be wrong about that.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by melissa80

Hello everyone...we were thinking of buying a house in North Lindenhurst and noticed there's a train that sort of runs through that area. Does anyone have any info on this line...is it commercial/commuter...when does it run...etc...any info is appreciated...thank you!

I think the train (rail line) you are talking about is the old Southside railroad branch that goes diagonally from Farmingdale to Babylon. It crosses N. Wellwood, Straight Path and Sunrise Highway near the town hall. There are no stations but it is still used by some passenger trains to Babylon as well as freight trains. The nearest active station to you will be the Lindenhurst village station on the Montauk (Southshore) line.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by LINative

I think the train (rail line) you are talking about is the old Southside railroad branch that goes diagonally from Farmingdale to Babylon. It crosses N. Wellwood, Straight Path and Sunrise Highway near the town hall. There are no stations but it is still used by some passenger trains to Babylon as well as freight trains. The nearest active station to you will be the Lindenhurst village station on the Montauk (Southshore) line.

South Side Rail Road was what became the LIRR Babylon/Montauk Branch. The diagonal route between Bethpage/Babylon was part of the Central Rail Road of LI. It originally ran from Flushing to the Fire Island ferry docks in Babylon, but now the only pieces intact are this one and the Hempstead LIRR branch, as well as the extension that the circus trains run on.

There are a lot of excellent web pages on Long Island's railroad history, if anybody is interested. Arrts-Archives has several articles on the Central (click around on the "Stewart" pages, it's the same thing).

Personally, I think we'd do pretty well if they re-activated a lot of these old lines. Here's a picture of a steam engine running on the Main Line in 1900 in Bethpage, this is the same spot where the Central & Main Lines still meet. Pretty cool, huh?

[sean sean sean sean]

Here's the whole set of articles from Arrts-Archives in order, since they're kinda disjointed on his page:

Central RR Part 1: "The Stewart Line"
Central RR Part 2: "Great Neck Junction / Flushing Branch"
Central RR Part 3: "Flushing to Creedmor (page 1)"
Central RR Part 4: "Flushing to Creedmor (page 2)"
Central RR Part 5: "Bethpage Junction (already linked above)"
Central RR Part 6: "Camp Black, WWI"
Central RR Part 7: "Shuttle Service (page 1)"
Central RR Part 8: "Shuttle Service (page 2)"
Central RR Part 9: "WWII to Present (page 1)"
Central RR Part 10: "WWII to Present (page 2)"