Elevated track, Montauk Div

For years, I've been travelling on the Montauk Division from Massapequa to Penn and back. Both sides of the elevated right-of-way at most of the stations have relatively narrow parking lots / access roads. I've always assumed these strips to be the original grade roadbed. Was the elevation done on only one side of the original (all elevated track on the southside of the original grade, for example) or did it alternate north and south of the original grade?

Actually, the elevated raight of way follows the original right of way. When the various stations were elevated they built a second temporary right of way along side the original, then did the elevating of the original right of way, and when that was finished they tore up the temporary line.

The main reason for the long narrow parking lots is the presence of Sunrise Highway, and that the towns grew alongside the railroad.

Stuart

Space was so tight in Rockville Centre that a gauntlet track was used, leading to the horrible and deadly collision of February, 1950!

In Baldwin, the temporary tracks were run BEHIND the depot (through the parking lot)!

Dave Keller

Clearances were so tight in Lynbrook they had to lop off the end of the station building!

Jay

Any one got pics that they can post.

this seems to have been like a massive undertakeing. does any one think that the modern LIRR would be able to raise a line as fast as they did the montauk in its sections.

When I "hired on" the railroad in 1973, Merrick, Bellmore, Massapequa Park, Amityville, Copiague, and Lindenhurst were all at street level. The first ones elevated were Amityville, Copiague, and Lindenhurst. Then Merrick and Bellmore went, then finally Massapequa park. I dont know the exact years though. It was like riding a rolller coaster on that line! Downhill east of freeport..(in fact it is still down and up between freeport and merrick because of the meadowbrook parkway overpass!) then uphill for wantagh, seaford, and massapequa, then downhill again for massapequa park, amityville, copiague, and lindenhurst, then up again for babylon. Wish I had taken pictures. By the way, they had no sooner opened up the viaduct between Amityville and babylon, when thay had to shut one track down during the off-peak hours for emergency track work. It seems they had not grounded things properly, and had to re-do the whole thing!

Long Island 7285:

My sequel book has a shot of a double decker train traversing the gauntlet track at RVC prior to the wreck in 1950. I'd never seen a shot of a train actually on the gauntlet track until I acquired this negative!

Kramer and Krauss' "Long Island Rail Road" has a shot of the Lynbrook station missing it's eave corner as Jay mentioned, on p. 52. Same page also shows the temporary block station "LYNN" with block operator Boerckel sitting out front. P. 53 shows some views of the grade elimination.

Dave Keller