Far Rockaway (sometimes referred to as Far Rockaway—Nameoke Street) is the

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of the Long Island Rail Road's

Far Rockaway Branch The Far Rockaway 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 Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley Stream station. From Valley Stream, ...

in the

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...

neighborhood of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The station is located at Nameoke Avenue (formerly Nameoke Street) and Redfern Avenue, and is 23.0 miles (37 km) from

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...

in Midtown Manhattan, and mean travel time is 56 minutes, although most off-peak trains terminate at

Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost stop on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for th ...

, thus requiring a transfer for service to Penn Station. As the Far Rockaway Branch loops back through Nassau County and is in zone 4, this station is not eligible for the

CityTicket The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

program.

History

Far Rockaway station was originally built by the

South Side Railroad of Long Island The South Side Railroad of Long Island was a railroad company in the U.S. state of New York. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as a competitor to the Long Island Rail Road, it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad of Long Isl ...

on July 29, 1869. From 1872 to 1877, the station was located in close proximity to the southern terminus of the LIRR's Cedarhurst Cut-off. The original station house was converted into a freight house, and replaced by the 2nd station which was moved from Ocean Point Station (a.k.a. Cedarhurst Station), remodeled, and opened on October 1, 1881. The 3rd depot opened on July 15, 1890, while the 2nd depot was sold and moved to a private location in October 1890. From 1897 to 1926 the

Ocean Electric Railway The Ocean Electric Railway was a street car line that operated on The Rockaways. It ran parallel to parts of the Rockaway Beach Branch and Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The headquarters of the OER were at the Far Rockaway Long ...

used Far Rockaway station as both the eastern terminus and as their headquarters. It also served as the terminus of a

Long Island Electric Railway The Long Island Electric Railway was a streetcar company operating in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County, New York, United States between 1894 and 1926. The company was partially owned by the Long Island Consolidated Electric Companies, a holding ...

trolley line leading to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. The tracks and platforms were elevated as with much of the Far Rockaway Branch on April 10, 1942. The Far Rockaway Branch had originally been part of a loop that traveled along the existing route, continuing through the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...

and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and Lower Montauk branches, and even the Main Line. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led to the LIRR abandoning the Queens portion of the route (with the exception being this station), which was acquired by the city to become the

IND Rockaway Line The IND Rockaway Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, operating in Queens. It branches from the IND Fulton Street Line at Rockaway Boulevard, extending over the Jamaica Bay, into the Rockaways. The ...

, with service provided by the A train. The line was divided with the portions from Mott Avenue becoming part of the subway system on January 16, 1958, and the current Far Rockaway station becoming not only the terminus of the LIRR branch on February 21, 1958, but also the newest station on the branch. Although the station is located within New York City, it is not part of the CityTicket program as the line passes through Nassau County. Residents and politicians have asked the MTA to include the station in the program. The MTA has stated that they are concerned about customers from other stations along the line in Nassau boarding trains at the reduced CityTicket rate. As of March 2022, the MTA is investigating a way to provide some form of benefit or incentive to make up for the lack of CityTicket.

Station layout

This station has one 10-car-long

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. North of the station, the two tracks merge, then split into four tracks––two of which are used for storage and two continue on towards

. The station house dating to 1958 was demolished in 2020.

References

External links

Old Far Rockaway Station (c. 1905)
an
"FW" Tower (1907)
(Arrt's Arrchives)

Station House from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{LIRR stations navbox Long Island Rail Road stations in New York City Transportation in Rockaway, Queens Railway stations in the United States opened in 1958 Railway stations in Queens, New York 1958 establishments in New York City