Central Islip (LIRR station)
Central Islip | ||||||||||||||||
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Central Islip Station. Taken on May 22, 2008. | ||||||||||||||||
Location |
Suffolk Avenue & Lowell Avenue Central Islip, New York | |||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°47′31″N 73°11′41″W / 40.79188°N 73.19467°WCoordinates: 40°47′31″N 73°11′41″W / 40.79188°N 73.19467°W | |||||||||||||||
Owned by | MTA | |||||||||||||||
Line(s) | ||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Connections |
Suffolk County Transit: S42, S45, 3C, 3D Lindy's Taxi | |||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||
Parking | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Yes; Bike racks and lockers | |||||||||||||||
Disabled access | Yes | |||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||
Fare zone | 10 | |||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1987 | |||||||||||||||
Electrified |
January 18, 1988 750 V (DC) third rail | |||||||||||||||
Traffic | ||||||||||||||||
Passengers (2006) | 3,574[1] | |||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||
Ticket vending machines
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Central Islip is a station on the Main Line (Ronkonkoma Branch) of the Long Island Rail Road. It is at the southwest corner of Suffolk County Road 100 (Suffolk Avenue) and Lowell Avenue in Central Islip, New York. Short-term parking is also available on Suffolk CR 100 across from the intersections between Pineville and Hawthorne Avenues.
History
Central Islip depot and station was built in August – October 1873 and opened on November 14, 1873, on the southeast corner of Suffolk County Roads 17 & 100 as a replacement for the former July 14, 1842-built Suffolk station on Islip Avenue (now NY 111, then Fifth Avenue). The condition for getting the depot was that the people had to donate all the land that was needed in addition to $600. The land was deeded over on June 14, 1873 and the $600 paid by July 1, 1873. It was remodeled in 1916 and the original depot was razed in August 1958.[2] On November 16, 1987, it was moved to the corner of Lowell Avenue as part of a major reconstruction of the line in Ronkonkoma, Central Islip, Brentwood, Deer Park, and Wyandanch. The station was built on the site of a former spur to the Central Islip Psychiatric Center, including the hospital's power plant that was abandoned years before the hospital was closed.[3] Across Lowell Avenue is the site of a Waldbaum's warehouse that once had a freight spur leading to it.
Central Islip Hospital Station
Central Islip State Hospital originally had two railroad spurs from the team track east of the former site of Central Islip Station, although not necessarily used simultaneously. One which ran along what is today Audwin Road and curved southwest through Carleton Avenue and South Research Place was for passengers, patients, and visitors, and the other along Lowell Avenue was for freight, which by 1950 was used fuel the power plant at the station, and a state-run warehouse.[4] The switching locomotives contained markings exclusively for the hospital, rather than the LIRR.
With medication, de-institutionalization, and social reforms that reduced the criteria for committing people, the use of rail service at the hospital was gradually reduced. The station house was moved from the Audwin Road spur to the Lowell Road Spur, around 1966. Passenger service was eliminated by 1971,[5] and rail service was reduced to freight only. The Lowell Avenue spur was neglected through the years until it was finally demolished before the station was moved from Carleton Avenue in 1987.
Platforms and tracks
A | ■ Ronkonkoma Branch | toward New York (Brentwood) |
■ Ronkonkoma Branch | toward Ronkonkoma (Terminus) | |
B | ■ Ronkonkoma Branch | toward New York (Brentwood) |
■ Ronkonkoma Branch | toward Ronkonkoma (Terminus) |
The station has two high-level side platforms, each 12 cars long. The north platform is next to the siding track, while the south platform is next to the main track. Most trains on weekdays and all trains at all times serve Platform B, and a few weekday trains serve Platform A.
References
- ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
- ↑ 1958-built former Central Islip Station (Existing Railroad Stations in Suffolk County, New York)
- ↑ Central Islip State Hospital Railroad Spur (Arrt's Arrchives)
- ↑ CISH Rail Spur (LIRR Oddities)
- ↑ The State Hospitals in Suffolk County, New York and the Long Island Rail Road (Arrt's Arrchive)
External links
- Official LIRR station information page for Central Islip
- Station timetable for Central Islip
- Photo of Central Islip Station from the parking lot (Unofficial LIRR History Website)
- Central Islip Station; 1910 and 1957 (TrainsAreFun.com)
- Unofficial LIRR Photography Site (lirrpics.com)
- CI Interlocking (The LIRR Today)
- LIRR Oddities: State Hospital Spurs - Central Islip (Archived Link)
- Station from Lowell Avenue from Google Maps Street View