The Manhattan Beach Branch, Manhattan Beach Line, or Manhattan Beach Division was a line of the Long Island Rail Road, running from

Fresh Pond, Queens Fresh Pond was a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, separated from Juniper Valley by the Lutheran and Mount Olivet cemeteries. In present day, it is now considered part of the surrounding neighborhoods of Ma ...

, south to

Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn Manhattan Beach is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the south and east, by Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Sheepshead Bay on the north, and Brighton Bea ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It opened in 1877 and 1878 as the main line of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway. The tracks from Flatbush south to Manhattan Beach were removed from 1938 to 1941, while most of the rest is now the freight-only

Bay Ridge Branch The Bay Ridge Branch is a rail line owned by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway in New York City. It is the longest freight-only line of the LIRR, connecting the Montauk Branch and CSX Transporta ...

. At Manhattan Beach, the line extended east to Oriental Beach, and a branch to the Sheepshead Bay Race Track was provided north of

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...

. Other lines in the Manhattan Beach Division included the West Brighton Beach Division (Culver Line),

, and

Evergreen Branch The Evergreen Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) that ran in Brooklyn and part of Queens in New York City. The line, at its fullest extent, ran between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The line consisted of tw ...

History

Planning for a line to

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...

began in 1870 by the New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad (which built the Southern Hempstead Branch from Valley Stream, NY, Valley Stream to Hempstead (village), New York, Hempstead). By 1873, the line was to run from Bay Ridge to East New York, Brooklyn, East New York, where it would join the LIRR's Atlantic Avenue Division to Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica. The panic of 1873 struck after much work had been done in grading the new line.

Incorporation

The New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad was incorporated on November 20, 1875, to complete the work and operate the line to Jamaica, using the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (Canarsie Line) from New Lots, Brooklyn, New Lots to East New York and the LIRR Atlantic Avenue Division to Jamaica. The first piece, from the Bay Ridge Ferry (to South Ferry, Manhattan) to the crossing of the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad (West End Line) at New Utrecht, Brooklyn, New Utrecht, opened on August 23, 1876. Trains were operated over the BB&CI to Coney Island, Brooklyn, Coney Island via trackage rights from this junction. Banker Austin Corbin incorporated the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway on October 24, 1876, to build a branch of this line to Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach and extend it beyond East New York to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint and Hunter's Point, Queens, Hunter's Point. Corbin gained control of the New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad on November 15, 1876. The NY&MB bought the eastern half of Coney Island, Brooklyn, Coney Island from the town of Gravesend, Brooklyn, Gravesend and renamed it Manhattan Beach. The NYBR&J built the line from Bay Ridge east to New Lots, while the NY&MB built from Manhattan Beach north to the NYBR&J at Manhattan Beach Junction and from New Lots north to East New York on the west side of the Canarsie Line. The new Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge system opened to terminals at Bay Ridge and East New York on July 18, 1877, concurrently with the Manhattan Beach Hotel and the New York and Sea Beach Railroad. (The NY&MB leased the NYBR&J.) The Glendale and East River Railroad was incorporated on March 26, 1874, to build a narrow gauge line from Greenpoint east to Glendale, Queens, and was also acquired by Corbin in November 1876. The line north from East New York to Jefferson Street was built by the NY&MB under the charter of the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (Canarsie Line), which gave its right to construct an extension to Hunter's Point, Queens, Hunter's Point to the NY&MB. The rest from Jefferson Street to Greenpoint was built by the G&ER and leased by the NY&MB. This extension beyond East New York to Greenpoint opened at the beginning of the season on May 16, 1878. The Kings County Central Railroad was incorporated in 1877 by Electus B. Litchfield and Austin Corbin to build a narrow gauge line from downtown Brooklyn via the east side of Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to a connection with the NYBR&J east of Manhattan Beach, and to be leased by the NYBR&J. The line, operated by the NY&MB as its Prospect Park Division (along with the Bay Ridge and Greenpoint Divisions), was opened June 29, 1878, to Prospect Park, but was a failure and closed for good at the end of the 1878 season. The Eastern Railroad of Long Island was organized on November 28, 1878, to build a line from East New York, Brooklyn, East New York on the NY&MB east via Woodhaven, Queens, Woodhaven, Clarenceville, Queens, Clarenceville, Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica, Springfield, Queens, Springfield, Woodsburgh, NY, Woodsburgh, Valley Stream, NY, Valley Stream, East Rockaway, NY, East Rockaway, Christian Hook, New York, Christian Hook, Freeport, New York, Freeport, Merrick, NY, Merrick, and South Oyster Bay, NY, South Oyster Bay to Babylon (village), New York, Babylon in competition with the LIRR's Southern Railroad Division. Corbin, who owned a summer house near Babylon, put up the money to build the road, which was also planned to cross the Great South Bay, South Bay near Amityville, NY, Amityville to Fire Island, New York, Fire Island.

Post-incorporation

Corbin acquired a controlling interest in the Long Island Rail Road on November 29, 1880 and became list of presidents of the Long Island Rail Road, president on January 1, 1881. In December 1881, the LIRR leased the NY&MB and NYBR&J as the Manhattan Beach Division, with plans to change it to and build connections to the Atlantic Avenue Division and Montauk Division. The lines from East New York to Manhattan Beach and Bay Ridge were converted to after the 1882 season, and the Long Island City and Manhattan Beach Railroad (incorporated February 24, 1883) built a connection from the new Cooper Avenue Junction north to another new junction, Fresh Pond Junction, on the Montauk. Trains began running from Atlantic Terminal, Flatbush Avenue to Manhattan Beach via the Atlantic Avenue Division on May 30, 1883, and from Long Island City (LIRR station), Long Island City via the Montauk Division on June 2, 1883. For the 1884 season (opened May 29), the double-track narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge line between East New York and Greenpoint was replaced with a single standard gauge track. 1885 was the last year that trains ran to Greenpoint, and the line between Greenpoint and the Bushwick Branch crossing was abandoned in October; they started using Bushwick instead in the 1886 season. Passenger trains stopped serving the line, later the Evergreen Branch, to Bushwick in 1894. Neck Road LIRR jeh

The New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad, New York and Manhattan Beach Railroad, and Long Island City and Manhattan Beach Railroad merged on August 27, 1885 to form the New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway. This company was merged into the LIRR on June 19, 1925, and the Glendale and East River Railroad was absorbed in 1928.

Closure and post-closure

The line south of Manhattan Beach Junction was upgraded to a grade-separated Embankment (transportation), embankment shared with the Brighton Beach Line during 1907-1909. A New York State prohibition on racetrack gambling, wagering and the decline of the more Luxury good, upscale resorts on Coney Island, combined with more direct and lower-priced competition from nearby rapid transit and streetcar lines, led to a rapid decline in the Manhattan Beach's economic viability. Passenger service ended completely in 1924, and freight ended in 1935. On May 17, 1937, the LIRR applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to abandon the line. In 2011, the long abandoned right-of-way of the New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway was subject to legal action by some homeowners living adjacent to its route in Sheepshead Bay, who wanted to acquire undisputed title to it.

List of stations

References

External links

Long Island Railroad Evergreen Branch (ForgottenNY.com)
{{LIRR Long Island Rail Road branches Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn Railroads on Long Island Transportation in Brooklyn Railway lines opened in 1877 1877 establishments in New York (state)