Locust Manor station

Locust Manor is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch in the Locust Manor neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The station is located at Farmers Boulevard and Bedell Street and is 14.0 miles (22.5 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. The stop serves the Rochdale, Queens section and its Rochdale Village apartment complex, and was also the stop for the racecourse on which Rochdale Village was erected, Jamaica Race Course. Today it contains fiberglass populuxe designed shelters on high-level platforms.

Locust Manor
Locust Manor Station in March 2015.
General information
LocationFarmer's Boulevard and Bedell Street
Rochdale, Queens, New York
Coordinates40.675022°N 73.764897°W / 40.675022; -73.764897
Owned byLong Island Rail Road
Line(s)Atlantic Branch
Distance12.2 mi (19.6 km) from Atlantic Terminal[1]
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsLocal Transit NYCT Buses: Q3, Q85
Construction
ParkingNo
Other information
Fare zone3
History
OpenedJune 1869 (SSRRLI)
ClosedJune 1876[2]
reopened soon after
Rebuilt1876, 1959[3]
ElectrifiedOctober 16, 1905
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous namesLocust Avenue (1867–1929)[2]
Passengers
2012—20141,389[4]
Rank64 of 125
Services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station
Jamaica
toward Penn Station or Grand Central
 Far Rockaway Branch
weekdays
 Laurelton
toward Far Rockaway
Long Beach Branch Laurelton
toward Long Beach
Former services
Preceding station Long Island
Rail Road		 Following station
Cedar Manor
toward Flatbush Avenue
 Atlantic Division Higbie Avenue
toward Valley Stream

History

In February 1956, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) petitioned the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) for permission to close and remove the station if racing was transferred from Jamaica Race Course to Belmont Park due to low ridership.[5] The station was used by 80 riders on weekdays, and by 30 riders on non-racing Saturdays. The LIRR suggested that riders use the Higbie Avenue station instead.[6] On August 23, 1956, the PSC rejected plans to build a permanent railroad station alongside Jamaica Race Course, and approved a revised plan to close the Locust Manor station and a bridge at 120th Avenue, which would save $1,087,000. The PSC ruled that it was not justified for the LIRR to spend $847,000 on a new station in light of public knowledge about the closure of the racetrack in 1958.[7] The PSC permitted the LIRR to construct temporary facilities instead.[8] The LIRR's application was opposed by the counsel for the Mayor's Committee on Slum Removal, who stated that as soon as racing ended in 1958 at the track following the rebuilding of Belmont Racetrack, and the modernization of Aqueduct Racetrack, a builder would start work on the site.[9]

On May 19, 1957, the PSC granted the LIRR permission to discontinue the Higbie Avenue and Locust Manor stations following the completion of a station between them at Farmers Boulevard. The new station would initially be accessed by a stairway at its southern end, and a pedestrian walkway at the northern end, which would be extended to Bedell Street after Jamaica Race Course was replaced by a housing project. The PSC also directed the LIRR to combine the project with its planned Old Southern–Rosedale grade crossing elimination project, and approved its $8,170,000 estimated cost.[10]

Station layout
The populuxe-designed shelters as seen on a rainy late afternoon. These shelters have since been replaced.

This station has two high-level side platforms, each eight cars long.

This station has two exits; one exit, adjacent to the Rochdale Village power house, is on the northeast portion of the sprawling Rochdale housing co-operative. At that end of the station, the staircase leads to a Bedell Street (southbound) walkway in between two private Rochdale parking lots, and to a northbound walkway leading to residential 134th Avenue. The southern exit leads to Farmers Boulevard, between Garrett Street and Bedell Street. There are short canopies near the exits. Ticket machines are at a pedestrian tunnel on the north end of the station, at the base of the eastbound LIRR station staircase.

P
Platform level		 Platform A, side platform
Track 1 ←      Far Rockaway Branch weekdays toward Grand Central Madison or Penn Station (Jamaica)
←      Long Beach Branch weekends toward Grand Central Madison or Penn Station (Jamaica)
Track 2 →      Long Beach Branch weekends toward Long Beach (Laurelton) →
→      Far Rockaway Branch weekdays toward Far Rockaway (Laurelton) →
Platform B, side platform,
G Ground level Entrance/exit, buses

References
  1. Long Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4" (PDF). p. VI. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  2. Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part One: South Side R.R. of L.I., 1961
  3. Long Island Railroad Station History (TrainsAreFun.com) Archived 2011-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "2012-2014 LIRR Origin and Destination Report : Volume I: Travel Behavior Among All LIRR Passengers" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. August 23, 2016. PDF pp. 15, 198. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  5. "LIRR Hearing Set". New York Daily News. August 30, 1956. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "LIRR Asks End Of a Station". New York Daily News. February 27, 1956. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "PSC ruling". New York Daily News. August 24, 1956. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Track Station Dropped; Plan for Jamaica Facility Is Turned Down by P.S.C." The New York Times. August 24, 1956. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  9. "Reports of Housing Project Premature". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Two L.I.R.R. Stations in Queens to Close". The New York Times. May 20, 1957. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
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