Liberty Jct.

[newkirk]

Your comments welcome

[Crabman1130]

I'd say it was the morning rush hour. A Manhattan bound E train and an MP 54 laid up.

[frankie]

Same locale but at street level. Note the building at the left and the two towers with the el between them.

Frankie

[newkirk]

What puzzles me on this image is what happened to those two running rails on the northbound express track ?

Did the TA remove them to replace rails on the IND subway line ?

I doubt if the LIRR removed them.

[BuddR32]

What puzzles me on this image is what happened to those two running rails on the northbound express track ?

Did the TA remove them to replace rails on the IND subway line ?

I doubt if the LIRR removed them.

My assumption is what you said, at the junction, the TA tracks use the center, express tracks, so the three leftmost tracks were cut back for the cutover. I doubt the track on the right continued much further than where the photographer is standing however. looking at a google overhead view, you can see it still extends southward but gets lost in trees that have grown.

[krispy]

Well, I'm stumped! Where the heck is this? At first I thought it the LIRR Mainline just west of Jay, where there is a subway that curves along side and then goes underground, but then I don't recognize what subway going over where Met signal bridge would be.. Then I noticed ML 1 and 4 torn up so obviously I'm wrong. Is this the Rockaway Beach Branch? It must have been near the abandonment, as there is a MU laid up against a bumper block (improvised, 2 crossed ties are used today for a temporary bumper block). The last service offered was very small, where they used just one track as a secondary with one set of equipment as a "scoot" probably running from Woodside to the end of active rail. I can't figure out where that is though, I thought they ran down as far as the racetrack, but the station in the distance doesn't look like that. I can just make out crossovers in the distance, so there was a tower there once. Ozone Park? Got a date for this? Thanks in advance...

[Teutobergerwald]

You're looking north. Liberty Ave. in Ozone Park runs east-west under the el.

[Crabman1130]

Well, I'm stumped! Where the heck is this? At first I thought it the LIRR Mainline just west of Jay, where there is a subway that curves along side and then goes underground, but then I don't recognize what subway going over where Met signal bridge would be.. Then I noticed ML 1 and 4 torn up so obviously I'm wrong. Is this the Rockaway Beach Branch? It must have been near the abandonment, as there is a MU laid up against a bumper block (improvised, 2 crossed ties are used today for a temporary bumper block). The last service offered was very small, where they used just one track as a secondary with one set of equipment as a "scoot" probably running from Woodside to the end of active rail. I can't figure out where that is though, I thought they ran down as far as the racetrack, but the station in the distance doesn't look like that. I can just make out crossovers in the distance, so there was a tower there once. Ozone Park? Got a date for this? Thanks in advance...

This is in Ozone Park, Queens. It is just south of Liberty Ave. at Rockaway Blvd. It is the old LIRR Rockaway Branch. It is between the old Ozone Park station and the Aqueduct station. The IND "A" Fulton line branches off and becomes the Rockaway line, using the old LIRR ROW.

[krispy]

Ah, now it makes sense. So this is looking up at what was the final phase of LIRR operations on the RB Branch, a single track line serving Ozone Park north until they called it quits in the early '60s. Amazing at how overbuilt the line was when they elevated, and then they gave it up to the City in just over 10 years, yes? Wonder if the scoot pulled up to the bridge to take advantage of the shade for the crew (were the MP-54's air conditioned?)

Thanks for the answers!

ps Good luck fishing Crabman, watch out for the plataweasels!

[newkirk]

"(were the MP-54's air conditioned?)"

Nope, they were hot. the MP-72's were air conditioned.

[newkirk]

Last day of service June 8, 1962. Last train was at 6:09PM. This may be the last train out of South Ozone Park

[krispy]

Talk about a lost era - very cool thread, thanks for posting Newkirk! Great pics too...

[nyandw]

Nice... Rockaway Beach Branch: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/rockaw ... branch.htm

The OZONE PARK STATION Sign Story

Ozone-Park-sign_Brad-Phillips.jpg (23096 bytes)Shortly after we rode the final train to Ozone Park on June 8, 1962, my good friend Dick Makse contacted the NY City Transit Authority (by then the owner of the abandoned line) and inquired about purchasing relics which would otherwise have been left to rust or be discarded. For the consideration of $1.03 (yes, $1.03), the Authority awarded Dick a written contract selling him various signs, signals and hardware. His Dad being the owner of Winfield Trucking, a trip to the Liberty Avenue interlocking tower in Ozone Park was quickly made to pick up the waiting material.

Having several duplicate items, Dick graciously offered me an assortment of signs (Woodhaven and Ozone Park being the most significant). The only hitch: getting them from Woodside to my home in Amityville. Being too young to drive (legally, anyway), my only option was the train. The Woodhaven sign and some other small items weren't too difficult; they were heavy and awkward, but manageable on the long walk to the Woodside station. The Ozone Park sign, however, was the typical PRR keystone cast iron sign, about 5 feet in length, and weighed about 150 lbs. A separate trip, and handling equipment, for that sign alone would be required.

Dick's Dad had a small dolly which did the trick. You should have seen the looks on people's faces as I carted the rusty sign through Winfield and down to the LIRR platform at Woodside. Loading the sign on the train from the high-level platform was no problem but the dolly had to come too. I diligently propped-up the sign and dolly in a vestibule, the trainman being unusually patient during the trip to Amityville. Then it was down the steps to the low-level platform at Amityville. At this point, the patient trainman offered no help and it took me about 5 minutes to get the sign and dolly safely off the train in one piece. The amused and unbelieving stares of commuters made the whole tedious process worthwhile! Then another mile-plus hike to my home and down 15 steps to the basement.

Over the next month I scraped, sanded, and then painted the sign with my best attempt at PRR red and gold. It looked great in my basement model train room.

A few years later I was off to college, marriage, the US Navy, and a business career which moved me from Long Island to several states and, eventually and finally, to California. The signs gathered dust at my parent's Amityville home for 20 years. Then, on relocating to California with a change of job, I took the signs with me. Finally, after another 25 years in my garage and realizing that I'd never have the proper place to display them, I sent them back home to the Railroad Museum of Long Island in Riverhead where they reside today. Having not been back to Long Island for almost 20 years to see for myself, I'm hoping they're on display for visitors to enjoy. Courtesy of Dick Makse and Brad Phillips

[newkirk]

nyandw,

Thanks for the nice write up on the Ozone Park sign and sharing with us your mission to rescue it from eternity.

$1.03 ?

Perhaps $1.00 plus sales tax ? Bargain of the century if you ask.

[frankie]

This is in Ozone Park, Queens. It is just south of Liberty Ave. at Rockaway Blvd. It is the old LIRR Rockaway Branch. It is between the old Ozone Park station and the Aqueduct station. The IND "A" Fulton line branches off and becomes the Rockaway line, using the old LIRR ROW.


The subject at hand from above. Rockaway Blvd runs diagonal below Liberty Ave.