West Hempstead Branch
The West Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York.
The branch separates from the Montauk Branch just east of Valley Stream, and runs northeast to West Hempstead. The line has one track between Westwood station and Hempstead Gardens and two from there to the end of the line in West Hempstead, the southbound or east track being a siding.
Since Valley Stream only has platforms on the Atlantic Branch, which parallels the Montauk Branch to the south, most West Hempstead Branch trains that serve Valley Stream are shuttles that terminate there.
As the smallest LIRR commuter branch, West Hempstead was one of the last in the system to modernize. It was the last of the electrified LIRR branches to receive high level platforms, in the early 1970s, and the last of the electrified branches to be fitted with Automatic Train Control (known as Automatic Speed Control by the LIRR), which it received in October 2009 during a system overhaul and upgrade at Valley Interlocking. Nevertheless, the branch is one of the LIRR lines most vulnerable to closure, and has been threatened with abandonment in recent years. In September 2010 until November 2014, the line had no weekend service due to budgetary constraints, (except for St. Albans, which has always had passenger services since Babylon Branch trains stop there on weekends).
West Hempstead, New York
West Hempstead is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 18,862 at the 2010 census. West Hempstead is an unincorporated area in the Town of Hempstead and is represented by Councilman Bruce Blakeman.
History
West Hempstead is served by the West Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, there are 3 stations within its borders, West Hempstead, Hempstead Gardens, and Lakeview. The line continues to Valley Stream where it joins the Babylon Branch.
West Hempstead is easily accessed from the Southern State Parkway at Exit 17N
The West Hempstead Union Free School District current operates 5 schools, 1 kindergarten, 2 elementary, 1 middle school and 1 high school.
Geography
West Hempstead is located at 40°41′47″N 73°39′9″W / 40.69639°N 73.65250°W / 40.69639; -73.65250 (40.696409, -73.652522).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.8 square miles (7.3 km2), of which, 2.7 square miles (7.0 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (3.64%) is water.
West Hempstead (LIRR station)
West Hempstead is the terminal station at the east end of the Long Island Rail Road's West Hempstead Branch serving West Hempstead, New York, United States. It is located at Hempstead Avenue and Hempstead Gardens Drive.
History
Between 1870 and 1879 the Southern Hempstead Branch of the South Side Railroad of Long Island had a terminal station located on Greenwich Street further to the east. The station and the line were abandoned in May 1879, but the station itself was converted into a skating rink that burned down in July 1888.
Hempstead Branch
The Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village station. It parallels the Main Line past Bellerose to Floral Park, where it splits southward and continues east via the village of Garden City to Hempstead Crossing. There it turns south to the final two stations, Country Life Press and Hempstead.
LIRR maps and schedules show Hempstead Branch service continuing west along the Main Line to Jamaica. The Hempstead Branch's trains stop at Hollis and Queens Village stations on the Main Line, but these two stations are not served by any other Main Line branch. The line is double tracked to just east of Garden City Station, where it is reduced to one track at Garden Interlocking for the final 1.4 miles to Hempstead station.
History
The original Hempstead Branch of the LIRR ran south from Mineola, ending just west of the current terminal in Hempstead. It opened on July 4, 1839 as the first branch of the LIRR.
Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway
The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) was a local passenger and freight-carrying railroad in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, connecting Cincinnati to Dayton via Lebanon. It was built in the late 19th century to give the town of Lebanon and Warren County better transportation facilities. The railroad was locally known as the "Highland Route", since it followed the ridge between the Little and Great Miami rivers, and was the only line not affected by floods such as the Great Dayton Flood of 1913.
The company went through multiple bankruptcies, both before and after its 1881 completion, until the Pennsylvania Railroad gained control in 1896 and leased it in 1921. Except for several years in the mid-1880s, when the line was under control of the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad, it was not a major line, in part due to its steep approach to downtown Cincinnati. For this reason, portions of the line have been abandoned, beginning in 1952 with a segment north of Lebanon.
Mineola (LIRR station)
Mineola is a station on the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Mineola, New York. All trains for the Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, and Oyster Bay branches run through this station, as well as a few for the Montauk Branch. As of May 2011, 145 trains stop at this station every weekday, more than any other station east of Jamaica. It is the eighth-busiest station on the LIRR in terms of weekday boardings, with 10,348 boardings per day in 2006.
Location
Mineola lies in the center of the town of the same name. Specifically, it is situated to the west of Mineola Boulevard between Station Road to the south and Front Street to the north.
Transit-oriented development
As one of the LIRR's busiest stations and near the center of Nassau County, the Village of Mineola Planning Committee created a master plan for the town meant to encourage transit-oriented development within a few blocks' radius of the station. Much of the plan involves creating links in the surrounding street grid, streetscape improvements, and pedestrian zones. The Long Island Index, which aggregates data and plans about the island, has listed Mineola as one of the most high-profile targets for smart growth, as of 2010 noting that the town is about halfway through the process of revitalization.
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