Clifton (Staten Island Railway station)

Clifton
Staten Island Railway rapid transit station
St. George-bound SIR train leaves the station.
Station statistics
Address	Bay Street & Townsend Avenue Staten Island, NY 10304
Borough	Staten Island
Locale	Clifton
Coordinates	40°37′17″N 74°04′17″W / 40.6215°N 74.0715°WCoordinates: 40°37′17″N 74°04′17″W / 40.6215°N 74.0715°W
Services	SIR Main Line
Transit connections	New York City Bus: S51, Template:NYCS bus link
Structure	Embankment / Elevated
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	April 23, 1860[1]
Former/other names	Vanderbilt's Landing
Station succession
Preceding station   Staten Island Railway   Following station Stapleton toward St. George Main Line Grasmere toward Great Kills or Tottenville Terminus South Beach Branch closed Bachmann toward Wentworth Avenue

Clifton is a Staten Island Railway station in the neighborhood of Clifton, Staten Island, New York.

Station layout

P Platforms	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Southbound	← Main toward Tottenville (Grasmere)
	Northbound	→ Main toward St. George (Stapleton) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right for the first 3 cars only
G	Street level	Exit/Entrance

Northbound entrance, Bay Street

Clifton Yard

It is located at Norwood Avenue and Bay Street on the main line. It is located on an embankment with side platforms and beige canopies. The north end has exits on both platforms that lead to Bay Street. The southbound platform has winding stairs to Townsend Avenue while the northbound platform has stairs under the right-of-way to Norwood Avenue. The northbound platform also has a second staircase on Bay and Edgewater Streets, which is not present on the southbound side.

The station opened on April 23, 1860, with the opening of the Staten Island Railway from Vanderbilt's Landing to Eltingville.^[1][2][3] It also included a ferry port with ferries to Stapleton, Tompkinsville, and South Ferry in Manhattan.^[4] The port would be replaced by Saint George Terminal on March 7, 1886, which was also the day before Clifton would become the northern terminus of the South Beach Branch, a status it would maintain until 1953.

On Bay Street (sidewalk level) and facing the platform above, are remains of the original steps up to the old station platform, which became inaccessible when the platforms were extended in the 1990s. On the southbound side there is a station house on the outside, but only a shelter on the platform. Some of the boarded up windows and layout of the brick shelter suggest that it was originally a station house.

The SIR's Clifton Yard is next to the northbound track, with yard leads and signals north of Clifton station. South of the station are the remains of the South Beach Branch turnout and a dismantled bridge.^[5] To the south, a spur on a pair of I-beams on concrete pillars is the location of an old coal, concrete, and lumber business. South of this station, the SIR main line turns southwest to Tottenville, and no longer runs along the harbor front.

Due to the wide space from trains caused by the platform's curvature, the last car for St. George-bound trains do not open here.

References

1. Irvin Leigh and Paul Matus (December 23, 2001). "SIRT The Essential History". p. 4. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
2. Poster for opening of Staten Island Railway
3. "Staten Island News.". The New York Times. 1860-08-25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
4. New York and Vicinity Railroad Map from 1860 (BrooklynRail.net)
5. "Gary Owen’s SIRT Page". Retrieved 2009-03-01.

External links

• Staten Island Railway station list
• Staten Island Railway general information
• Bay Street and Townsend Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Bay Street and Greenfield Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View