Brooklyn Manor station

Brooklyn Manor was a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch located on the south side of Jamaica Avenue at 100th Street, straddling the border between Richmond Hill and Woodhaven in Queens, New York City. The station name referred to the nearby Brooklyn Manor section of Woodhaven, originally a 603-lot development bounded by Woodhaven Boulevard to the west, 96th/98th Streets to the east, Forest Park to the north, and Jamaica Avenue to the south. The station opened in January 1911, and was constructed as a replacement for the Brooklyn Hills station, which was located 3,000 feet (910 m) to the north. This station closed along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch in 1962, and was subsequently demolished.[4]

Brooklyn Manor
Former Brooklyn Manor station site beneath the BMT Jamaica Line
General information
LocationJamaica Avenue between 98th and 101st Streets
Richmond Hill, Queens, New York
Coordinates40.6949°N 73.8472°W / 40.6949; -73.8472
Owned byCity of New York[1][2][3]
Line(s)Rockaway Beach Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsNew York City Subway:
104th Street
Other information
Fare zone1
History
OpenedJanuary 9, 1911
ClosedJune 8, 1962
Electrified1905
Former services
Preceding station Long Island
Rail Road		 Following station
Parkside
toward Woodside
 Rockaway Beach Division Woodhaven Junction
toward Gibson or Rockaway Park
Grand Street
(before 1925)
Terminus

Station layout
3F BMT Jamaica Line ("J" train​"Z" train trains)
2F
Former platform level		 Side platform, demolished
Northbound Trackbed
Southbound Trackbed
Side platform, demolished
G Street level —

The elevated station was located on the south side of the overpass over Jamaica Avenue, with two side platforms and shelters on both platforms. The platforms at this station, like the others on the line, were constructed from wood.[5][6][7] While most of the other stations on the line south of here were rebuilt in the 1930s and 1940s with concrete platforms, the platforms at this station were not replaced.[8][9][10] The BMT Jamaica Line runs over the Rockaway Beach Branch tracks along Jamaica Avenue. This section of the Jamaica Line opened in 1917, built after the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station.[11] Connection was available to the Jamaica Avenue surface trolley,[11][12] and to the Jamaica Line two blocks east at the 102nd–104th Streets station.[13][14]

History

A new station along the Rockaway Beach Branch at Jamaica Avenue was proposed in 1909 by the LIRR. In April 1910, the LIRR applied to the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) for permission to discontinue service at the Brooklyn Hills station, which was built in 1882, and relocate it 3,000 feet (910 m) to the south of the station side at Myrtle Avenue in Forest Park.[12][15] The PSC granted the LIRR's application on May 20, 1910, on the condition that the LIRR submit plans for the new station to the PSC for approval, which it did on September 29, 1911.[16]

The station was built in conjunction with other projects along the line, including the elimination of grade crossings, its electrification, and its extension from the Glendale Junction with the Montauk Branch to the LIRR Main Line at Whitepot Junction, known as the Glendale Cut-off.[12][17] The new station opened on January 9, 1911, and was only served by electric trains, because the platforms could not accommodate the steam trains to Long Island City. Service was initially provided by six trains to Penn Station, and by eleven trains to Far Rockaway.[18] Following the opening of Brooklyn Manor, passengers were diverted away from the Atlantic Branch, leading to increased service to Penn Station.[19]

In the early expansion plans of the city's Independent Subway System (IND) in the 1930s, the Rockaway Beach Branch was planned to be absorbed into the new subway, which would have turned the Brooklyn Manor station into a stop on the IND Queens Boulevard Line or a new Queens crosstown line.[20][21][22] In 1950, the Rockaway Beach Branch south of Ozone Park closed after the trestle across Jamaica Bay between The Raunt and Broad Channel stations was destroyed by a fire. The city purchased the entire line in 1955, but only the portion south of Liberty Avenue was reactivated for subway service.[23] Ridership declined on the remaining portion of the branch.[4][24] Vandalism and criminal activity along the line also led the LIRR to take the two side platforms out of service in 1958, replacing these with a low-level platform in the former southbound trackway.[6][7][25] The station closed on June 8, 1962, along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch.[26][27]

Current status

In the 1950s, following the fire that led to service reductions on the line, the QM23 express bus was created by Green Bus Lines to replace LIRR service between this station and Manhattan.[13][20] After takeover by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in 2006, the route was discontinued on June 27, 2010, due to budget cuts.[28] Alternate service is provided by the nearby 104th Street subway station on the Jamaica Line.[13][14]

While few remnants of the station site remain,[4] there still is dilapidated track and signal infrastructure. Signal towers can still be seen on the path to Brooklyn Manor. Much of the roadbed is overgrown with trees and weeds. Access to the area is currently limited, although Queens Community Board 9 has proposed to redevelop the right-of-way into a greenway bike path.[26]

References
  1. "'Forgotten' Spur Is Back In Limelight: Long Island Rail Road's Request for Approval of Abbreviated Service Brings Protests from Local Civic Leaders, Who Demand City Operation of Line". Leader-Observer. February 27, 1958. p. 1. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  2. George, Herbert (1993). Change at Ozone Park. Flanders, New Jersey: RAE Publishing, Inc.
  3. "Forgotten Spur: TA Gets Plea To Study Plan For Subway". Long Island Star-Journal. March 19, 1957. p. 5. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  4. Bresiger, Gregory (July 18, 2012). "The Trains Stopped Running Here 50 Years Ago". Queens Gazette. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  5. Keller, Dave. "Rockaway Beach Branch". trainsarefun.com. trainsarefun.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  6. "L.I.R.R. Asks Cuts in Queens Branch: Seeks Reduction of Service on Rockaway Beach Spur-Request Is Opposed" (PDF). The New York Times. February 20, 1958. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  7. Noyes, Thomas (December 27, 1961). "'Forgotten Spur' a Painful Reminder". Long Island Star-Journal. p. 17. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  9. "Last Grade Crossing In Rockaways Ends" (PDF). The New York Times. April 11, 1942. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  10. "Pushes Grade Separation" (PDF). The New York Times. January 24, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  12. "Richmond Hill to Be Served: Many Trains Will Run to Tunnels by Montauk Division and Glendale Cut-Off". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 7, 1909. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  13. "NYCDOT Bus Ridership Survey and Route Analysis Final Report: Chapter 3 Transit System Characteristics" (PDF). nyc.gov. New York City Department of Transportation. May 2004. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  14. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: neighborhood". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  15. "Wants to Move Station". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. April 23, 1910. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  16. Report of the Public Service Commission for the First District of the State of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1911 Vol. 1. New York State Public Service Commission. 1912. p. 284.
  17. "Millions Spent On Long Island R.R.; First Full Details of Improvements and What They Have Cost the Pennsylvania" (PDF). The New York Times. April 10, 1910. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  18. "Indignant Over Library's Location". Brooklyn Times Union. January 9, 1911. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  19. "New Train Service; Inaugurated by Long Island Railroad Big Increase of Commuters" (PDF). The New York Times. June 30, 1912. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  20. Roger P. Roess; Gene Sansone (August 23, 2012). The Wheels That Drove New York: A History of the New York City Transit System. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 416–417. ISBN 978-3-642-30484-2.
  21. "City Board Votes New Subway Links". The New York Times. March 19, 1937. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  22. Martin, Douglas (November 17, 1996). "Subway Planners' Lofty Ambitions Are Buried as Dead-End Curiosities". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  23. Freeman, Ira Henry (June 28, 1956). "Rockaway Trains to Operate Today" (PDF). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  24. "L.I.R.R. Will Drop 2 Queens Trains; One Morning, One Evening Run on Ozone Park Spur Will Be Halted Nov. 24". The New York Times. November 14, 1958. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  25. "L.I.R.R. Stops Called Criminal Hangouts". The New York Times. September 23, 1958. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  26. Dunlap, David W. (July 30, 2014). "Clashing Visions for Old Rail Bed (Just Don't Call It the High Line of Queens)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  27. "An Era Ends at 6:09: Last Train Rides Forgotten Spur". Long Island Star-Journal. June 8, 1962. p. 11. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  28. "2010 MTA Bus Company Service Reductions One Year Evaluation Bus Company September 23, 2011" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 23, 2011. pp. E-5, E-6. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
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