Douglaston (LIRR station)

Douglaston

Looking west from Douglaston Parkway overpass, with Bayside's Lakeside Towers complex in the background
Location 235th Street and 41st Avenue
Douglaston, New York
Coordinates 40°46′05″N 73°44′59″W / 40.768°N 73.7496°W / 40.768; -73.7496Coordinates: 40°46′05″N 73°44′59″W / 40.768°N 73.7496°W / 40.768; -73.7496
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)
  Port Washington Branch
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Connections NYCT Bus: Q12
MTA Bus: QM3
NICE Bus: n20G
Construction
Parking Yes (private)
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 3
History
Opened October 27, 1866 (NY&F)[1]
Rebuilt 1887, 1962
Electrified October 21, 1913
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names Little Neck (1866-June 1870)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 2,375[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
toward Penn Station
Port Washington Branch

Douglaston is a station in the Douglaston section of Queens in New York City on the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The station is at 235th Street and 41st Avenue, off Douglaston Parkway and Wainscott Avenue, and is 13.9 miles (22.4 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. The station is part of CityTicket, and has an underground walkway between the two platforms.

History

Douglaston Station was originally built on October 27, 1866 by the North Shore Railroad of Long Island, a subsidiary of the New York and Flushing Railroad that named it Little Neck Station. A depot at the station was built in April–May 1867 at the expense of William P. Douglas, owner of most of the land in the area, and was named Douglaston in his honor, though the station was listed on timetables as "Little Neck" from 1866 to June 1870.[3] The depot was repaired and furnished with a freight platform in June 1870, and it was made into a two-story building in the summer of 1871.[3] In 1870, a new Little Neck Station was built east of this one at its present location by the Flushing and North Side Railroad, and the existing station was renamed for land-owner and developer William P. Douglas.[3] In 1887, Douglas himself replaced the original station and built a Queen Anne-style building for $6,000.[3] The original depot was moved to a private site on Little Neck Parkway, where it was still in use as a storehouse in 1914.[3] Long after the F&NS was acquired by the LIRR, the Douglas-built depot was torn down and replaced with a one-story Mid-Century modern station house in 1962, as was the case with many LIRR stations during the 1950s and 1960s.[4] In this case, the previous station was genuinely in poor condition, and the newer station was designed by a local resident, and accepted both by the LIRR and Douglaston Residents. The wooden shelters were replaced with matching underground tunnel entrances.[5] Aside from the high-level platforms, the station has remained in the same condition ever since.

Platforms and tracks

1 ■ Port Washington Branch toward Penn Station (Bayside)
2 ■ Port Washington Branch toward Port Washington (Little Neck)

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long. The north platform next to Track 1, is generally used by westbound or Manhattan-bound trains. The south platform next to Track 2, is generally used by eastbound or Nassau County-bound trains. The branch has two tracks here.

References

  1. 1 2 Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part Two: The Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad, © 1963
  2. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History by Vincent F. Seyfried Part Two The Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad
  4. ↑ Pride in Port: The Jekyll & Hyde Branch of the Long Island Railroad; Part Two (Forgotten NY.com)
  5. ↑ Douglaston Train Station (The Douglaston/Little Neck Historical Society)
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