Ronkonkoma (LIRR station)

Ronkonkoma

Ronkonkoma Station, Main Building
Coordinates 40°48′29″N 73°06′21″W / 40.808088°N 73.1059°W / 40.808088; -73.1059Coordinates: 40°48′29″N 73°06′21″W / 40.808088°N 73.1059°W / 40.808088; -73.1059
Owned by MTA
Line(s)
  Main Line
(Ronkonkoma Branch)
  Greenport Branch
Platforms 2 side platforms
1 island platform
Spanish solution
Tracks 2
Connections Suffolk County Transit: S57, S59, 6A, 7A
Colonial Transportation to Long Island MacArthur Airport
Sunset Taxi
Construction
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 10
History
Opened 1883
Rebuilt 1986-1997
Electrified January 18, 1988
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names Lake Ronkonkoma
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 17,278[1]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Main Line
(Ronkonkoma Branch)
toward Greenport
Clock tower with pedestrian bridge to Parking Garage on Lakeland Street (a.k.a. Railroad Avenue North)

Ronkonkoma is a major railroad station and transportation hub along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road in Ronkonkoma, New York. The station is the eastern terminus of the Ronkonkoma Branch and the western terminus of the out Branch.

The station is located on Lakeland Street or Railroad Avenue North across from the intersection of Hawkins Avenue, and has parking facilities and other amenities that extend beyond the central location. Free parking is available in the lots adjacent to the tracks on the north and south side. One parking garage north of the station was built in 1996 on a former freight spur.[2][3] The station has a total of about 6,100 parking spaces.[4] As of May 2011, 63 trains connecting to New York City stop at this station every weekday, while an additional nine make connections with stations to the east.[5]

History

Ronkonkoma Station was originally built as Lake Ronkonkoma station in 1883 as a replacement for the 1843-built Lakeland station designed to serve both Lakeland and Ronkonkoma, New York, as well as the 1853-built Hermanville station, designed for a former community along the south side of the tracks.[6]


Lake Road and Lakeland Stations

Lakeland was originally built in 1843 as Lake Road station. It was named for and located on Lake Road (now Pond Road), a street that once ran from Oakdale to the east side of Lake Ronkonkoma itself. By 1850 it was moved to the Dr. E. F. Peck General Store on the northwest corner of what is today Ocean Avenue and Lakeland Street. A freight house existed along the tracks close to Pine Avenue. Edgar Fenn Peck owned land as far south as Sayville, and in 1851 sold the store and the land to a developer named Charles Wood, who turned his land into a development named Lakeland Farms, which today includes land in Oakdale, Bohemia, and what is now Ronkonkoma.[7] The original Lake Road station operated simultaneously with the one at the general store on Ocean Avenue, and at some point was renamed "Lake station," until eventually being phased out. No record of the original station's existence can be found after 1857.

Hermanville Station

Hermanville or Hermannville was another station stop along the Greenport Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, located east of the former Lake Road Station. It first appeared on a 1850 map of the Long Island Rail Road.[8] The station had one side platform, and two tracks. An 1852 advertisement for Hermanville in a few books mention the Long Island Rail Road.[9][10] Hermannville also made an appearance on the 1855 Colton map.[11] On the Map of The Village of Hermannville, Town of Islip, Suffolk County, Long Island, Hemannville station[12] is shown as being at the intersection of the Main Line and Herman Avenue,[13][14] which today is part of the Ronkonkoma Yard.

After Lakeland

Lake Ronkonkoma station replaced Lakeland station in 1883 and was designed to serve both Lakeland and Ronkonkoma, New York. At some point, the word "Lake" was dropped from the station name. The station house was burned in 1934 and a temporary rectangular one-story building with a gabled roof was used until September 1937, when the second Ronkonkoma station was completed. Throughout much of the 20th Century, it also served as a sizeable freight hub for Central Suffolk County.

Since December 28, 1987, it has been the east end of the Main Line electrification[15] but stations east of Ronkonkoma have been modified for future electrification. The 1937 station was used for storage until it was razed in 1994 when part of the parking lot was extended westward. The current station was designed by architect Richard Henry Behr.[16] Ronkonkoma Yard is also located east of the station, in close proximity to the former Holbrook station, which was torn down in 1962,[17] and has taken in commuters from the former Holtsville station since March 16, 1998.

Platforms and tracks

1 ■ Ronkonkoma Branch toward New York (Central Islip)
■ Greenport Branch toward Greenport (Medford)
2 ■ Ronkonkoma Branch toward New York (Central Islip)
■ Greenport Branch toward Greenport (Medford)

This station has three high-level platforms each 12 cars long. The north one, Platform A, is a side platform next to Track 1. The central one, Platform B, is an island platform next to both tracks to facilitate cross-platform interchange when a Ronkonkoma Branch train is meeting a Greenport train (a.k.a. "The Greenport Scoot").[18] The south one, Platform C, is a side platform next to Track 2. The Main Line has two tracks here.

References

  1. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  2. ↑ Ronkonkoma Milepost 48-49; Emery map - October 1957
  3. ↑ View Wye North (1978 Photo by Steve Lynch)
  4. ↑ "Ronkonkoma Parking Lot Renovation Completed; Almost 300 New Spots Now Available" (Press release). Long Island Rail Road. 2010-03-04. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  5. ↑ "LIRR schedule for Ronkonkama" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  6. ↑ "HERMANNVILLE". arrts-arrchives.com.
  7. ↑ Lake Road Station, Hermanville Station, Lake Station, Lakeland Station, Lakeland Farms, and Wood Lawn, Long Island (Arrt's Arrchive)
  8. ↑ Hermannville Map
  9. ↑ The Cultivator by Luther Tucker Advertisement for Hermannvile mentioning Long Island Railroad
  10. ↑ The Genesee Farmer advertisement for Hermanville
  11. ↑ 1855 Hermannville Map
  12. ↑ Hermanville Station
  13. ↑ Hermannville Map
  14. ↑ Hermannville description
  15. ↑ "LIRR Ronkonkoma Electrification 1987". trainsarefun.com.
  16. ↑ "Richard Henry Behr Architect P.C.". rhbpc.com.
  17. ↑ Ronkonkoma/Holbrook Milepost 49-50; Emery map (TrainsAreFun.com)
  18. ↑ "e-Train - TCA, Toy Trains, Train Collectors Association". tcaetrain.org.

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