Long Beach Branch

Long Beach Branch
Long Beach Branch train #853 departs Lynbrook, en route to New York Penn Station.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
System	Long Island Rail Road
Status	Operational
Locale	Nassau County, New York, USA
Termini	Jamaica Long Beach
Stations	5
Services	Long Beach Branch
Operation
Opened	1880 (as New York and Long Beach Railroad)
Owner	Long Island Rail Road
Operator(s)	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	750 V (DC) Third rail
Route map Lynbrook ◄ Babylon Branch (east) ► Centre Avenue East Rockaway Atlantic Avenue closed 1951 Oceanside Simpsons Channel Jekyl Island closed 1922 Island Park Reynolds Channel Wreck Lead closed 1927 Long Beach Marine Railway Company abandoned 1890 Queenswater closed 1936 Club House closed 1909 Long Beach Distances shown in miles from Pennsylvania Station. This diagram:

External video

LIRR Time Lapse: Penn Station to Long Beach, MTA's LIRR; May 20, 2010; 2-minute YouTube video clip

LIRR Time Lapse: Long Beach to Penn Station, MTA's LIRR; May 20, 2010; 2-minute YouTube video clip

Distances shown in miles from Pennsylvania Station.

The Long Beach Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, at Valley Stream station, where the Atlantic Branch tracks from the west are redesignated Long Beach Branch and the Far Rockaway Branch curves south. East from there the Long Beach Branch parallels the Montauk Branch to Lynbrook, where it turns south toward Long Beach.

The Long Beach Branch began as the New York and Long Beach Railroad Company from Lynbrook to Long Beach in 1880. The original southern terminus was along the Atlantic Ocean. LIRR leased and operated the NY&LB RR from 1880 to 1904, at which time the NY&LB RR merged with the LIRR. Five years later, the station was moved from the ocean front to Reynolds Channel, where it remains today.

A five-mile (8 km) extension to Point Lookout, New York owned by the Long Beach Marine Railway Company existed between 1881 and 1895. When the LIRR bought the line in 1886, they continued to operate passenger trains along the line until 1890.

The branch was extended westward from Lynbrook to Valley Stream in 1910 as part of its integration into the Atlantic Branch. The line was double-tracked from Valley Stream to Lynbrook in late 1910, then from East Rockaway to Wreck Lead (“WL”) on January 15, 1927. Electrification of the main tracks from Valley Stream to Long Beach was finished in September 1910. Electrification came to freight sidings between 1928 and 1930. Color light signals were installed in January, 1927; they were later replaced by PRR-style position light signals.