OLD TRACKS by Stewart Ave

I was driving down Stewart Avenue the other day and noticed some old abandoned tracks on the north side of Stewart Ave, just west of South Street across from the Sunoco gas station in Garden City. Does anyone know what these tracks were used for or what line they were part of?

This link to Arrt's Arrchives should help explain the old LIRR track system in and around Garden City.

http://www.arrts-arrchives.com/cext6.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now that you question has been answered about the 'Mitchell Secondary', note in this thread that I posted here about 10 months ago that the bridge the branch used to cross the Meadowbrook Parkway was repainted last year(pretty decent job too), even though both ends are disconnected and have been for some time (I think the Stewart Avenue crossing was removed maybe 10 years ago) - I included in that thread some images of the ROW as of 2013, since then the Fortunoff's Clearance center building is being demolished for yet another health & fitness center.
IIRC, no freight customers have existed North of the Meadowbrook (heck, north of Stewart Ave) since the turn of the century, I think the cold storage place on Dribblee, now the site of the Lowes Home center, was the last consignee.

LB wrote:This link to Arrt's Arrchives should help explain the old LIRR track system in and around Garden City.
http://www.arrts-arrchives.com/cext6.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of favorite sections on Art's site. Thank you Ray for the link; nice to see your material once again!

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrtr ... ler%29.jpg Emery 6/1958 (Mitchell Field platform)

nyandw wrote:Thank you Ray for the link; nice to see your material once again!

My material is good only because I've been in the area on and off for 25+ years now, otherwise it blows chunks . I even walked the east end of the line from South to Endo (gasp! trespassing - oh wait, that was 20 years ago, as there were still lots of covered hoppers by Continental Extrusion - statute of limitations and all). I don't think I even owned a 35mm Camera till the early 1990s, so you see the problem. Also, I didn't quite have the foresight I should have had.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrtr ... ler%29.jpg Emery 6/1958 (Mitchell Field platform)

That map is really sketchy, the alignments don't match up, and it purports to be to scale.
On to the Historical Aerials Topo-maps of the area - 1947 and 1957 (wow, do those show up zoomed in on my browser when I previewed - if they do on your browser, just scroll out a small bit and you should be OK).
There is indeed a curve on the Central branch and Stewart Ave., but nowhere sharp as shown in the Emery image - Merrick Ave. is slanted too far East/West I think.

Thanks for all the insight guys! On a slightly related note, does anyone know where the old Meadowbrook Station used to be? I'm guessing somewhere in the Endo/Selfridge neighborhood before the Meadowbrook Pkwy but I'm not sure

Also, if you look at the T1947 image on the aerials, it looks like there was a spur that branched off the old Mineola-West Hempstead line that ran north-south through Garden City, possibly just north of 11th Street? Any ideas?

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... year=T1947" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The tracks north of 11th St. used to go to the Garden City Water Works. The old ROW ran just north of where the Senior Citizen building on Golf Club Lane is today.

Here are the Emery maps of the area

up to 1926
http://www.lirrhistory.com/gcwwemery1926.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
After 1926
http://www.lirrhistory.com/gcwwemery1927.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bob Andersen

Awesome! Thank you! You never would have known that this spur existed, as there is no evidence, right-of-ways, etc. If anyone has old photos of this spur, they would be greatly appreciated.

I live in Garden City and it's so cool to picture what the town would have been like when some of the old lines were still active. Can you imagine a train nowadays from Mineola to Country Life Press and then on to West Hempstead? There would be crossings at Old Country Rd, 11th St, Stewart Ave, Franklin Ave, Hilton Ave, Cathedral Ave, Hempstead Tpke, etc. Traffic would be crazy.

I also think it would be cool if they re-activated the old Central Line towards Mitchel Field, especially as a means of public transportation to Islanders games, but obviously that ship has long since sailed.

Sir Ray wrote:That map is really sketchy, the alignments don't match up, and it purports to be to scale...but nowhere sharp as shown in the Emery image - Merrick Ave. is slanted too far East/West I think.

Robert Emery first drew these by hand on lined notebook paper; as any of you have seen, and later as more "polished" maps with photos residing at Stony Brook U. as best I understand. Scale they were not... Accurate as to location/information; I'd say 98% of the time.

Jack, you asked earlier about the old Meadowbrook Station on the Central Branch? It was located between Merrick Ave. and the parkway exit ramp to Stewart Ave. The old structure survived until the 1600 Stewart Ave. office building construction at Stewart and Merrick Ave's. maybe 25 years ago. Also it was so named because it was just east of the Central Branch's overpass over the Meadow Brook which I don't think exists anymore. You can still see the remains of the overpass in the woods inside the parkway entrance cloverleaf just west of where the station was.

Head-end View wrote:Jack, you asked earlier about the old Meadowbrook Station on the Central Branch? It was located between Merrick Ave. and the parkway exit ramp to Stewart Ave. The old structure survived until the 1600 Stewart Ave. office building construction at Stewart and Merrick Ave's. maybe 25 years ago. Also it was so named because it was just east of the Central Branch's overpass over the Meadow Brook which I don't think exists anymore. You can still see the remains of the overpass in the woods inside the parkway entrance cloverleaf just west of where the station was.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrtr ... ler%29.jpg Lower right corner on the Emery map 5/1958

Yeah the bridge isn't there and not much is visible from Google Maps either, but I believe there are some remnants left slightly off the Meadowbrook Parkway. Sounds like a good exploring opportunity next time I'm in the area

What's left of the bridge might be camouflaged in the woods by now. You might be able to see it during the winter. Used to be visible from the south end of the cloverleaf ramp from Stewart Ave. Eastbound to Meadowbrook Pkwy. Northbound. All that was there was the side girders. The inside of the underpass was filled in many years ago. Don't remember why they did that.

didn't post the first time