Evergreen Branch
| Evergreen Branch | |
|---|---|
1878 map, including the Evergreen Branch to Greenpoint
|
|
| Overview | |
| System | Long Island Rail Road |
| Status | Abandoned |
| Locale | Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Termini |
Greenpoint Cooper Avenue |
| Stations | 8 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1874 |
| Closed | 1984 |
| 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 Evergreen Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road that ran in Brooklyn and part of Queens in New York City. It was inherited as a former segment of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad and ran from Greenpoint, Brooklyn to what is today Ridgewood, Queens.
The origin of the Evergreen Branch traces back to the Glendale and East River Railroad, which was incorporated on March 26, 1874, to build from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, east to Glendale, Queens. It was acquired by Austin Corbin in November of 1876 to be integrated into the New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad.
The line north from East New York to Jefferson Street was built by the NY&MB under the charter of the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (Canarsie Line), which gave its right to construct an extension to Hunter's Point to the NY&MB. The rest of the line, from Jefferson Street to Greenpoint, was built by the G&ER and leased by the NY&MB. This extension beyond East New York to Greenpoint opened at the beginning of the season on May 16, 1878.
In 1883, the standard gauge connection from Cooper Avenue Junction to the Montauk Division at Fresh Pond was built, and the lines to Manhattan Beach from Cooper Avenue Junction and Bay Ridge were made standard gauge; the Evergreen Branch remained narrow gauge until 1884. From 1883 to 1885, a shuttle connected at Cooper Avenue Junction with every Long Island City train.
In 1886, Greenpoint service was abandoned and a Bushwick shuttle was instituted which ran through the 1894 season. Between 1896 and 1897 the right of way between Greenpoint and South Side Crossing was abandoned. There is supposedly no trace of the Greenpoint service to the west of South Side Crossing.
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Wikipedia