Bethpage is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 16,429 at the 2010 United States Censu ...

, and serves Ronkonkoma Branch trains. Trains that travel along the Central Branch also use these tracks, but none stop here.

History

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841. At first trains did not stop here, 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 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 branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. Ho ...

. 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 2 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 railway platform, platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or bus rapid transit, transitway. ...

History

Station layout

References

External links