New York and Rockaway Beach Railroad
| Rockaway Beach Branch | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Passenger; freight (former) Rapid transit; disused (current) |
| System | Long Island Rail Road |
| Status | Out of service (Liberty Avenue–Rego Park In service as IND Rockaway Line (Liberty Avenue–Rockaway Peninsula) |
| Locale | Queens, New York, United States |
| Termini |
Elmhurst (north) Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway, Rockaway Peninsula (south) |
| Stations | 19 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1880 (LIRR) 1956 (subway; south of Liberty Avenue and Rockaway Boulevard) |
| Closed | 1950 (Liberty Avenue–Rockaway Peninsula) 1962 (Liberty Avenue–Rego Park) |
| Owner | City of New York |
| Operator(s) | Long Island Rail Road |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 4.8 miles (7.7 km) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Operating speed | ~35-45MPH |
Route map: Google
The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica Bay to Hammels in the Rockaways, turning west there to a terminal at Rockaway Park. Along the way it connected with the Montauk Branch near Glendale, the Atlantic Branch near Woodhaven, and the Far Rockaway Branch at Hammels.
After a 1950 fire, the Jamaica Bay bridge was closed and the line south of Ozone Park sold to the city, which rehabilitated the portion south of Liberty Avenue and connected it to the New York City Subway system as the IND Rockaway Line. The portion north of the subway connection was closed in 1962, and three proposals exist for the reuse of the line.
The New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad was incorporated on March 21, 1877 and organized on March 24 to build a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge line from Greenpoint, Brooklyn (connecting with the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway) via Cypress Hills and Woodhaven to Rockaway Beach. This route was created in order to cut an hour off of travel times to the Rockaways. The new route would take 30 minutes, while the existing route to the Rockaway via the South Side Railroad would take an hour and a half. The plans were later changed (on March 13, 1878) to build a standard gauge line from Hunter's Point rather than Greenpoint.
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