West Hempstead Branch

The branch separates from the Montauk Branch just east of Valley Stream, and runs northeast to West Hempstead. The line has one track between Westwood station and Hempstead Gardens and two from there to the end of the line in West Hempstead, the southbound or east track being a siding. The right-of-way of the West Hempstead Branch is wide enough for two tracks for its whole length.[1] There are three grade-crossings on the line, reducing the maximum speed to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), and because of curves at the Lakeview and Malverne stations, the speed is lowered to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) on that stretch.[2]

The branch had one manual block from "HC" to "VA" until "WM" block limit was installed in 1935.[3]

1897 map of Hempstead, including the West Hempstead Branch before it was truncated south of Hempstead Avenue.

The West Hempstead Branch was the indirect successor to the old South Side Railroad's Southern Hempstead Branch, which ran a similar route north from Valley Stream to Hempstead, before being torn up in the 1880s. On January 26, 1892, the New York Bay Extension Railroad Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of the Long Island Rail Road to build a line running from Garden City to a point in the town of New Lots in Kings County near the intersection with the New York, Brooklyn & Manhattan Beach Railway Company.[8] The 5.89 miles (9,480 m) line was built between Country Life Press to Valley Stream and opened in 1893.[9] The LIRR leased its property in 1897, and formally merged with the New York Bay Extension Railroad on August 29, 1902.[10][11][12] The West Hempstead Branch originally extended beyond its current terminus and through Hempstead. It connected with the current day Hempstead Branch at Country Life Press.[1] From the Country Life Press station, the line had several routings it could take. It could loop west and continue down the Hempstead Branch to Jamaica. Through an elaborate wye system, trains could also loop east and continue down the Central Branch to Babylon (the split between the Hempstead and Central Branches occur just west of Country Life Press). Trains could also head north on the wye and continue all the way north to Mineola and connect with both the Main Line and Oyster Bay Branches.

Storage battery cars ran on the non-electrified branch between June 1913 and May 1926. The upper end of the branch was electrified in 1911 or 1912 from Country Life Press to Franklin Avenue in Garden City to allow MU baggage cars access to the Doubleday plant.[3]

On October 19, 1926, the portion of the line between Valley Stream and Franklin Avenue in Garden City was electrified at the cost of $1 million and it was inaugurated with a special train.[13][3][14] New through service running between Valley Stream and Mineola began on the West Hempstead Branch the next day. The freight sidings, however, were not electrified until 1927 and 1928. The connection to the Oyster Bay Branch was severed in 1928, while the portions of the line between Mineola and Country Life Press and between Country Life Press and West Hempstead were taken out of revenue passenger service on September 15, 1935 due to the costly grade crossing elimination improvements imposed upon the LIRR by the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as the New York Public Service Commission. This meant that no more thru service between Valley Stream and Mineola could operate.[15][14]

The track connection at Country Life Press to the West Hempstead Branch was removed on August 19, 1960, and on this same date the tracks were cut back from Country Life Press to the west side of the Franklin Avenue crossing. The remaining tracks north of West Hempstead at Hempstead Avenue were removed some time between 1967 and 1969. Freight trains and non-revenue rerouting trains continued down these portions up until their closure.[15] The rights-of-way remain intact.[16]

Prior to February 27th 2023, off peak service was provided by a bi-hourly shuttle service operating between West Hempstead and Valley Stream, with St. Albans being served by Babylon branch trains. However, as West Hempstead branch trains crossed both tracks of the Babylon/Montauk branch to enter Track 1 at Valley Stream, this limited service that could be provided on both branches. This effect also extended to the Long Beach and Far Rockaway branches, as both branches would have to provide bi-directional service on a single track through the station. Due to the need to increase train service with the full opening of the new terminal at Grand Central Madison, as of February 27th 2023 West Hempstead trains stopped serving Valley Stream, with service running hourly through to Atlantic Terminal.[17]

West of St. Albans, most trips go on to terminate at Jamaica or Atlantic Terminal, with limited peak service also to Penn Station or Grand Central. Stations beyond West Hempstead were on a former connection to the Oyster Bay Branch that was abandoned in 1966.

Zone[18]	Location	Station	Miles (km) from Long Island City via the Lower Montauk Branch[19]	Date opened	Date closed	Connections and notes
3	St. Albans, Queens	St. Albans	11.8 (19.0)	1898[20]		New York City Bus: Q4
	Springfield Gardens, Queens	Springfield Gardens		c. 1870	1979	Originally named Springfield
4	Valley Stream	Valley Stream	16.1 (25.9)	1869		Long Island Rail Road: Babylon, Far Rockaway, Long Beach branches Nassau Inter-County Express: n1, Elmont Flexi
Zone	Location	Station	Miles (km) from Valley Junction[19]	Date opened	Date closed	Connections and notes
4	Malverne	Westwood	1.3 (2.1)	1929
		Malverne	2.1 (3.4)	c. 1909		Nassau Inter-County Express: n31, n32
	West Hempstead	Lakeview	3.3 (5.3)	1924		Nassau Inter-County Express: n15
		Hempstead Gardens	4.0 (6.4)	1893		Nassau Inter-County Express: n15
		West Hempstead	4.6 (7.4)	1928		Nassau Inter-County Express: n15, n31, n32
	Garden City	Country Life Press		1911	1939	Served by Hempstead Branch trains
		Stewart Avenue		1923	1926	Built to replace Hempstead Crossing, but abandoned upon electrification
		Hempstead Crossing		1894	1923	Also named Garden City[21]
	Mineola	Mineola Intermodal Center		1837	1928	Served by Main Line trains

• Media related to West Hempstead Branch (Long Island Rail Road) at Wikimedia Commons
• West Hempstead Branch Stations (Unofficial LIRR History web site)^[Usurped!]
• NYCSUBWAYS.org: West Hempstead Branch
• Power Car at West Hempstead Station and substation; April 20, 1969 (Joe Testagrose collection - Dave's Rail Pix)