LIRR "Whitestone Branch"

I was perusing my SPV Railroad Atlas when I noticed a LIRR line stemming off the Port Washington branch into northern Queens, into the communities of College Point, Malba, and Whitestone. The line appears to connect to the Port Wash branch at a location called "Whitestone Junction".



As I was born and raised in the Whitestone/College Point area, I know for certain that there was never any railhead in my neck of the woods. The SPV atlas shows the line as abandoned (dashed line), but perhaps the authors confused it with never having been built, or a vision that never quite made it to reality.

Does anyone have any information on this line, or could shed some more light on this never-built vision? When was it proposed? Why were the plans dropped? Anyone knowledgeable about the area know the proposed right-of-way? Is there still a place on the Port Wash line known as "Whitestone Junction"?

Is there a resource or historical archives where I could further research this topic? Thanks in advance!

http://76.162.180.30/lirr/branchnotes.htm#Whitestone
(Research/Info - Dave Keller)

http://arrts-arrchives.com/wstone1.html
http://arrts-arrchives.com/cmfrt.html
http://arrts-arrchives.com/wstbrp3.html
http://arrts-arrchives.com/wstone2r.html
http://arrts-arrchives.com/wstone3.html
(research/info - Arthur John Huneke)

Dave Keller's Long Island Rail Road Photos & Recollections
http://76.162.180.30/lirrphotos/lirrphotos.htm

Arrts Arrchives
http://arrts-arrchives.com/

WOW! I had no idea that it was actually built! Why in the hell did they rip it up?

On a somewhat related note, many of you know that I am a model railroader who models the New York Central System had it survived into the current era. I came up with plans for a fictional branch into Whitestone that would serve industries along College Point Blvd. and more importantly the New York Times printing plant along the Whitestone Expressway. I planned all of this without knowing the LIRR's Whitestone Branch had actually existed. Here are some maps and images. The Right-of-Way is eerily similar to the prototype of which I had no prior knowledge.

Here is a very long panorama using stitched aerial photography. You will have to START at the RIGHT and scroll left, following the red line.

http://www.nycsystem.com/whitestonebran ... n1flat.jpg

Thoughts? Opinions?

Pretty cool!
It's a very nice vision for a model railroad. I have seen your site and your equipment It looks very good.
If I may add some. Why not sit down with the (begin fiction)LIRR and and negotiate to handle the freight over their trackage? You can the lower Montauk, Bushwick, Bay ridge branches and even some trackage rights on other parts of the system. But you'll have to limit them 6axel jobs down to NYCS GP40s!
I would like to see your plan for freight sidings on the LIRR with freight being contracted out to NYCS corp.
This is a fun thing, I love how you have it set up very realistic.

FWIW, the only thing carried over and is still in use today from the days of the Whitestone branch is the name of "Flushing Main St". station. For what ever reason they never chose to rename it "Flushing". The reason for adding Main St. To it was to differentiate between it's sister "Flushing Bridge St." which was the first station east of Whitestone Jct. On the Whitestone branch.

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirrphotos/ ... BRANCH.htm Additional photos available from Dave Keller.

My NY&W RR was pre NYAtlantic http://www.nyandw.com/ and has interesting parallels to the current LIsland freight carrier.

NYC great web concept!!!

Best,
Steve

http://www.lirrhistory.com/whistone.html

Bob Andersen's LIRR History
http://www.lirrhistory.com/

Info on Malba courtesy of NY Times Sun 7/17/1910

The new Malba station, at Twenty-first Street, west of Malba Drive, on the Whitestone Peninsula, has been added to the regular time tables of the Long Island Railroad, and will hereafter be a stop for all trains on the North Shore Division throughout the entire year. At present about fifty trains are operated daily over this division.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.h ... 946196D6CF

I read some where the reason the Whitestone branch was torn down and from my understanding the LIRR, was loosing money during the great depression and they offered to trasnfered to the city. The city was on hard times and they did not want it either.

Robert Emery: LIRR Branch Notes:

WHITESTONE BRANCH
Built, Flushing (Bridge Street) to College Point, by the Flushing & North Side R.R.: 1868

Connection built, Whitestone Jct. to Flushing Creek Drawbridge on Whitestone branch: 1869

Built, College Point to Whitestone, by the F&NS RR: 1869

Built, Whitestone to Whitestone Landing, by the Whitestone & Westchester: 1883

All above railroads leased to the LIRR after 1876.

All above railroads became the Long Island City & Flushing R. R. (LIRR subsidiary): 1882

L. I. City & Flushing R.R. merged with the LIRR: 1889

Main tracks electrified: 10/22/1912

Freight sidings electrified: 1927-28

Pre-“staff” system, trains operated by timetable and watch from Flushing, (Bridge Street) to Whitestone Landing, with “train order signals” at Flushing (Bridge Street), College Point and Whitestone. Manual block from Flushing (Bridge Street) to Whitestone Landing with “meets” and train order signals prior to 10/21/1913

“Staff” system installed from Flushing (Bridge Street) to Whitestone Landing: 10/21/1913 to timetable effective 10/1926 by order of the Public Service Commission after the College Point wreck of 9/22/1913.

Electrically operated, manual block from “JC” to Flushing (Bridge Street): 10/21/1913 to 2/19/1932 inclusive. (semaphores installed)

Electrically operated, manual block from Flushing (Bridge Street) to Whitestone Landing: timetable effective 5/1927 to 2/19/1932 inclusive. (semaphores installed)

Entire branch abandoned from just west of Flushing Creek drawbridge to Whitestone Landing: 2/19/1932

pete1606 wrote:I read some where the reason the Whitestone branch was torn down and from my understanding the LIRR, was loosing money during the great depression and they offered to trasnfered to the city. The city was on hard times and they did not want it either.

Another branch line which fell in favor of the car.

<rivit counter>
But you started your branch on the wrong side of the water!!!

The only surviving trackage is located just NE of the Shea Stadium platforms:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... 9&t=h&z=20

</rivit counter>

Is the remnant of the Whitestone Branch the site where LIRR used to scrap passenger cars in the 1970s? I have some photos taken at that site, identified as "Corona", which I believe is the remnant of the Whitestone Branch east of the junction with the Port Washington branch and west of Flushing Creek. I would like to verify the location.

Bottom two photos of LIRR x-FEC coaches being scrapped at
http://www.dominionrailvoyages.com/jhd/ ... aches.html

Photos 9 thru 11 of LIRR x-KCS coaches being scrapped at
http://www.dominionrailvoyages.com/jhd/ ... aches.html

Yes, Jack.

The lead curving off the Port Wash branch to access the yard was the old ROW of the Whitestone branch.

Dave

Are there any visible remains at all up by Whitestone Landing? or along the creek just northeast of the Corona (Shea) yard?

Where the whitestone landing station and terminal was is now an shopping center. At the east end of the platfrom at shea stadium you can see an abandon spur where the whitestone branch split off from the PW branch. There is a book that I bough just a few days ago about Whitestone and it has a whole chapter on the Whitestone Branch. The book is called [Images of America Whitestone By Jason Antos.

The book claims that there are some concrete post that marked the ROW by 14 ave and the CIP service road, behind Whitestone Lumber. I took a ride past there today and I did not see anything that I noticed. Most of the ROW in Whitestone is now the CIP and its service road. (Robert Mosses and his infinite wisdom) A boarding house still exists at 14rd and clintionville st, that house LIRR workers and local factory workers.

Interestingly enough, when my father bought the house I now live in in 1982, he renvoated it. The house built during the civil war was in bad shape. Under some of the floor boards he found some old Whitestone RR timetables. I have to ask him to find them, he kept them they are just somewhere. I am really interested in the local history and any remaiming, aspects of the Whitestone row.

Peter