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  • Richmond Hill Station on Montauk (?) Branch

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1503136  by tomdoyle409
 
For several years during the late '70's, I was working in the Grand Central area, and I traveled on a through train from East Williston to Long Island City. During this time I often wondered why the Richmond Hill Station was relatively up to date, meaning above grade with high level platforms, while the remaining stations, i.e. Glendale, Penny Bridge, Haberman and LIC itself were on the primitive side.

I saw a B&W picture of Richmond hill recently, which brought me back to wondering about this stop.

Any input will be appreciated.
 #1503149  by Kelly&Kelly
 
Richmond Hill Station was replaced as part of a Queens County grade crossing elimination project in 1928. As such, it was nearly fully paid for with NYC highway funds and was constructed as specified by the PRR. The Railroad was moving toward high level platforms for all new construction, especially where someone else paid to build them. To old folks like me, Richmond Hill was one of the "newer" stations. If you compare it to other platforms built during the "pre-war" era -- Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Ozone Park, Bayside - you'll see the similarities. Glendale and the rest on the Lower Montauk remained essentially as they were in the 1870's...
 #1503177  by MACTRAXX
 
K&K: Interesting information about Richmond Hill Station...

I do remember that RH was once the only LIRR high-level platform in Diesel territory until Hicksville was opened in the middle 1960s.

MACTRAXX
 #1503784  by interface76
 
Some shots I'd been given of the station in 2009 (we had help from someone with an NYAR connection to get these) it was for a project of doing a photo shoot for a music group on an abandoned station platform. This was not allowed due to the inaccessibility of the station from the street level (how these were taken I don't know).

After barely a decade out of service, it was clear how dilapidated and decayed the station was. I've been by the station myself (I don't live terribly far away) and all of the staircases from street level have been removed.
Attachments:
Richmond Hill, October 2009
Richmond Hill, October 2009
DSCF0011.jpg (294.27 KiB) Viewed 3858 times
Richmond Hill, October 2009
Richmond Hill, October 2009
DSCF0012.jpg (236.14 KiB) Viewed 3858 times
Richmond Hill, October 2009
Richmond Hill, October 2009
DSCF0015.jpg (218 KiB) Viewed 3858 times
 #1503966  by Publius Plunkett
 
Richmond Hill station (street level portion) was featured in the movie Goodfellas. Johnny Roastbeef and his wife were shot to death in their brand new pink Cadillac. In the scene, children playing in the parking area under the station discover these two unfortunate souls.

That station was a common stop for crews that turned on the Montauk Branch for a trip east. You had to get behind Jay's home signal to change ends, which is towards the westend of Richmond Hill Yard. Instead of stopping when the rear cleared the signal, we would travel further west to the station and run downstairs to the diner or get chinese take-out for the trip east. The Railroad frowned on the practice, but they frowned on a lot of things.
 #1503985  by bellstbarn
 
Regarding the route that includes the Richmond Hill Station, is that (or was that) the Montauk Division or the Montauk Branch? I realize the usefulness in public timetables of using the term "Montauk Branch" for stations east of Babylon, but I still prefer "Montauk Division" from the old days. Is the term "division" completely gone from LIRR usage in 2019?
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Thanks.
 #1503986  by Kelly&Kelly
 
From what we've gathered through the years, the use of the term "Divisions" dates to the later 1800's when the LIRR expanded through acquisition of the Southern Railroad and the Flushing Railroad, as well as a dozen others. For many decades after that, the "Southern Road" was called the Southern Division and the Flushing Railroad was the "Northern Division". It appears that the term was used more loosely, and diminished under PRR control.

Internally, I haven't heard the therm "Division" used within the Railroad in 40 years, except where specified in one or two labor contracts that still specify manpower assignment by that criteria.
 #1503988  by freightguy
 
Good pizza at the bottom of the stairs across the street too! A lot of times we would ask Jay tower to stop either eastbound or westbound at night and it didn’t really same to bother them especially the old timers. One night we actually brought the block operator C Cosby a pizza pie and stopped yet again at Jay tower on the way east. This was all during the NYAR era on RS-80/50 nee RF-80/50 when it was LIRR.
 #1504012  by 452 Card
 
I remembered we called it "Downstairs" - The Deli (forgot the name), The Triangle Hofbrau and the gooks. It was a strange place to go but was a great supply for food not otherwise available at other locations. Also, because the traffic on the Timetabled Lower Montauk was sparse it was not unusual to stop there during off hours.