Bushwick Branch
| Bushwick Branch | |
|---|---|
In Bushwick
|
|
| Overview | |
| System | Long Island Rail Road |
| Status | Active Freight Service |
| Locale | Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Coordinates | 40°42′36″N 73°54′0″W / 40.71000°N 73.90000°WCoordinates: 40°42′36″N 73°54′0″W / 40.71000°N 73.90000°W |
| Termini |
South Eighth Street Bushwick Junction |
| Stations | 6 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1868 |
| Owner | Long Island Rail Road |
| Operator(s) | Long Island Rail Road |
| Technical | |
| Number of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Bushwick Branch, also called the Bushwick Lead Track, is a freight railroad branch that runs from Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Fresh Pond Junction in Queens, New York, where it connects with the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is owned by the LIRR but operated under lease by the New York and Atlantic Railway, which took over LIRR freight operations in May 1997.
The Bushwick Branch dates back to the South Side Railroad of Long Island. The South Side had been chartered on March 23, 1860 to build a railroad from Jamaica, Queens, all the way to Islip along the south shore of Long Island. The South Side sought to build a line west of Jamaica to the East River so its passengers could connect to ferries that would take them into Manhattan.
The South Side originally wanted to build to Long Island City, and tried to buy out the interest of the New York and Flushing Railroad, a small competitor to the FNSRR. However, the LIRR, which was also looking for access to Long Island City, beat out the South Side bid for the New York and Flushing and bought it out instead. Thus, the only recourse for the South Side was to build a line from Jamaica to Fresh Pond, Queens, and then southwest into Bushwick.
On July 18, 1868, service on the branch began running to Bushwick, and on November 4 to the East River at the South Eighth Street station in Williamsburg, where passengers would take a ferry into a Manhattan. Due to a law in Brooklyn banning steam locomotives, horses pulled trains from the Bushwick Depot to the East River Ferry Terminal in 1868. Steam dummy engines pulled trains from Bushwick depot to East River Ferry Terminal between 1869 and 1873. The two main railroad routes leading to the East River ferry terminals were along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a route owned by the LIRR, and in Long Island City, a route owned by the Flushing and North Side Railroad (FNSRR). To provide a marine freight terminal, in the summer of 1869, a spur was built to the Newtown Creek at Furman's Island, which today is connected by landfill to the rest of Brooklyn.
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Wikipedia