Central RR of Long Island ROW
These maps show my
best guess of the Central RR through Queens from Flushing to Floral
Park.
a. Flushing to Creedmoor - abandoned 1879, although the rails
were still in existence until about WWI. The line branched off
from what is now the Port Washington branch near the intersection
of Sanford Ave. and DeLong St. and ran SE through what is now
the Kissena Corridor
and Cunningham Park. Up to this point, there is very little evidence
of the old ROW. However, from there the evidence starts building
as, I assume, it followed Stewart
Rd. ("The Stewart Road" was the popular name for
the line in its day, since it was built by A.T. Stewart, who
also founded Garden City) and crossed Hillside Ave. just east
of Braddock. From there, current street patterns clearly show
the way as it crosses Winchester Blvd. a few blocks south of
Hillside. Then it contiued east to a point just south of the
current Little League ballfield, with a spur going north to the
now Creedmoor State Hospital.
(See Art Huneke's Creedmoor page HERE)
b. Creedmoor to Floral Park (formerly Hinsdale)- Abandoned
around the late-1960's, probably not used for years by then.
After the line from Flushing was abandoned in 1879, this portion
of the Central RR was used for freight traffic to the Hospital,
which sits on the location of the old Creedmoor Rifle Range (note
the street names - Winchester, Springfield, Range, Saber, etc.).
The current street patterns
again show the way as the line goes east, mainly between
87th and 88th Aves., crossing Jamaica Ave./Jericho Tpke. at the
intersection of Tulip Ave. and Little Neck Parkway. The trestle
over Jamaica Ave. was demolished in the mid '70's. and a Municipal Parking Lot exists
where the line heads toward the intersection with the LIRR main
line at Floral Park.
c. Floral Park to Garden City - currently in use as a portion
of the LIRR Hempstead Branch. Two of the oldest surviving trestles
are located on the ROW. The fiest is between Stewart Manor and
Nassau Blvd. at Tanners Pond Rd. (see pictures following). The
second is between Nassau Blvd. and Garden City at Cherry Valley
Ave. Both are dated 1871. Thanks to Ron C. for this information.
d. Garden City to Bethpage - Abandoned just before WWII.
A portion of it was rebuilt after the War and used to supply
materials for the building of Levittown. A short stretch (officially
known as Garden City Secondary) to just west of the Meadowbrook
Parkway is still used today for limited freight traffic and for
storing the Barnum and Bailey Circus train in the spring. There
is an old brick station
at the corner of Clinton Rd. at St James St. that is now used
for the Garden City Fire Dept. This is the former Clinton Rd.
station that was used in the shuttle
service which continued until the early 1950's from Garden
City along the old ROW, probably to the Meadowbrook station.)
East of the Meadowbrook, the ROW disappears through Eisenhower
Park. From there a line of high
tension wires traces the ROW to Bethpage. This area is also
near where the Long Island Motor Parkway used to run and at several
places, both the road and the RR were very close. Thanks to Vince
Fitzgerald and his excellent Hempstead
Plains website, the relationship between the two can be seen
in this
map that he has created.
e. Bethpage to Babylon - currently in use as the LIRR's Central
Branch, which allows trains fom the main line (Mineola, Hicksville)
to go to Babylon, Patchogue and Montauk.
