Medford (LIRR station)

Medford
View of Medford Station's sheltered platform from the parking lot.
Location	NY 112 & Railroad Avenue Medford, NY
Coordinates	40°49′02″N 72°59′57″W / 40.817356°N 72.999159°W / 40.817356; -72.999159Coordinates: 40°49′02″N 72°59′57″W / 40.817356°N 72.999159°W / 40.817356; -72.999159
Owned by	MTA
Line(s)	Greenport Branch
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	Suffolk County Transit: S61 McRide's Taxi
Construction
Parking	Yes; Free
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	10
History
Opened	June 26, 1844
Rebuilt	1889, 1940, 2000-2001
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	41
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Ronkonkoma toward New York terminals Main Line (Ronkonkoma Branch) Yaphank toward Greenport

Medford is a station in the hamlet of Medford, New York on the Main Line (Greenport Branch) of the Long Island Rail Road. Medford is located on New York State Route 112 between Peconic Avenue and Long Island Avenue. Access to the station is available from a narrow curving roadway leading off Route 112. This roadway used to connect with the Ohio Avenue intersection until Ohio Avenue was closed north of Peconic Avenue in 2007. It is also accessible from the north end of Oregon Avenue, although the Medford Fire Department periodically closes the Oregon Avenue access road for drills or other exercises.

Medford station was originally opened on June 26, 1844 when the main line terminated at the former Carman's River station east of Yaphank station. On August 20, 1863, the station burned down, but wasn't rebuilt until 1889. This version was a two-story structure located near an at-grade crossing with NY 112 that was considered one of the most dangerous crossings on the Long Island Rail Road. Demands for a bridge were ignored throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Only when a relative of a government official was killed at the crossing in 1940, was there any effort to build a bridge over Route 112. When the tracks were elevated, the station was rebuilt as a two-level station house along the embankment with the passenger waiting area on the top floor and an REA Express freight depot near the parking lot at ground-level. The bridge across NY 112, which has a low clearance of 12 feet, 9 inches, was designed for two tracks, but the second track was abandoned in the early 1960s. The station house was closed in 1958, with the first floor blocked off and second floor torn down in 1964 and filled in with dirt. A small wooden shelter was added to the platform in 1988, and was later replaced by a plexiglass one.

In the late 1990s, the station was rebuilt again in preparation for the new fleet of double-decker coaches, which require high-level platforms for boarding, and for future electrification of the line. In the rebuilding, the former ground-level platform was elevated, with a new stairway and a wheelchair access ramp from the parking area, and a small shelter was constructed at platform level. Parking at Medford station is free and unrestricted, in sharp contrast to the situation at many other LIRR stations.