Bethpage station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

station along the Main Line of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Isla ...

, and serves

Ronkonkoma Branch The Ronkonkoma Branch is a rail service operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York. On LIRR maps and printed schedules, the "Ronkonkoma Branch" includes trains running along the railroad's Main Line from Hicks ...

trains. Trains that travel along the Central Branch also use these tracks, but do not stop here.

History

(LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841. At first, trains did not stop here, with Bethpage appearing only as a notation ("late Bethpage") associated with the Farmingdale station to the east. By 1854, the LIRR stopped at a local station called Jerusalem. A local post office opened January 29, 1857, with the name Jerusalem Station. In 1867, the residents voted to change the name of the local post office to Central Park, and both that and Jerusalem appeared on LIRR schedules until 1936. The station and the post office were renamed Bethpage on October 1, 1936. In 1959, the station burned down and was replaced. Electrified service through the station was inaugurated in 1987. Two nearby stations also had Bethpage in their name: *Bethpage Junction was a connection to the east of the present station where the LIRR crossed with the Central Railroad of Long Island, which was built in 1873. A platform was built to enable passengers to transfer. This is the location where the present Central Branch splits from the Main Line at Beth Interlocking one mile southeast of the Bethpage station on the way to

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

station and the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City to Montauk. However, in LIRR maps and sche ...

. The LIRR built the B-Tower at Beth Interlocking in 1925 to replace hand-operated switching between the tracks. *Bethpage was also the name of the northern terminus of the former Bethpage Branch from Bethpage Junction to the former Bethpage Brickworks in the community now called Old Bethpage, but which was called Bethpage until 1936. From 1873 until 1876, the Central Railroad of Long Island had a regularly scheduled stop also named ''Central Park'' near Stewart Avenue and Motor Lane in Plainedge, approximately south of the present station. Service was continued by the LIRR at that location until about 1924.

Station layout

There are two tracks at this station with two 12-car high-level

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

References

External links

* * *Unofficial LIRR History Website ** ** ** and
1873 map showing railways on Long Island

May 11, 1947
an
1952 Photos
*NYCSubways.org
April 24, 1966
an
September 1974 Photos

Station from Stewart Avenue from Google Maps Street View
{{LIRR stations navbox Bethpage, New York Long Island Rail Road stations in Nassau County, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1856 1856 establishments in New York (state)