The Northport Branch was a spur off the

Port Jefferson Branch The Port Jefferson Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The branch splits from the Main Line (Long Island Rail Road), Main Line just east of Hicksville ...

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 ...

, running from between Greenlawn and Northport stations to directly within Northport Village. Northport became the

terminus Terminus may refer to: Ancient Rome *Terminus (god), a Roman deity who protected boundary markers Transport *Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination *Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end des ...

of an extension of the

Hicksville and Syosset Railroad Hicksville may refer to: Places *Hicksville, Arkansas *Hicksville, Kentucky, in Graves County *Hicksville, New York **Hicksville station, Long Island Rail Road station in Hicksville, New York *Hicksville, Ohio *Hicksville, Virginia *"Hicksville", ea ...

line (later the Hicksville and Cold Spring Branch Railroad), after some arguments with Oliver Charlick over the locations of stations in

Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Huntington, in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York. As of the 2010 United States census, the CDP population was 5,070. History Cold S ...

, and Huntington led to the line bypassing both towns, the latter of them two miles to the south, though a station was built for both of them. The line was extended from Syosset past Huntington to Northport in 1868, and in 1873 the

Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad The Port Jefferson Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch splits from the Main Line just east of Hicksville and runs northeast and east to Port Jefferson. Seve ...

opened from a mile south of Northport to

Port Jefferson Port Jefferson, also known as Port Jeff, is an Administrative divisions of New York (state)#Village, incorporated village in the Administrative divisions of New York (state)#Town, town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New Y ...

, turning the old line into Northport into the Northport Branch, the result of another argument between Charlick and Northport. Old Northport Station was abandoned in 1899, but the Northport Branch was used as a freight line throughout much of the 20th century. The spur was refurbished in the mid-1970s to prevent the loss of a local lumber firm, which had planned to move to New Jersey when the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...

previously announced it would abandon the line. Between the 1950s and early-1980s, the

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation'' (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit sys ...

wanted to use part of the branch for construction of the Babylon-Northport Expressway. Opponents of the expressway assumed that the NYSDOT was using the expressway as a plot against the railroad. In reality, the industries that previously used the line no longer found it useful, and it was abandoned in 1978, and dismantled in 1985. In 1987, the Long Island Rail Road leased the segment of the former

right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

from Elwood Road to Route 25A to a group of local developers that sought approval to build a car wash on the site. Construction of the car wash began in 1994 and the facility opened the following year. In 2007, a license agreement was made between the Town of Huntington and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to convert the segment of the former right-of-way between Laurel Hill Road and Elwood Road into a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

. The size of the greenway was nearly doubled two years later with the addition of of parkland from an adjacent undeveloped parcel that had been acquired by New York State through

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

for the proposed Babylon-Northport Expressway, which had been canceled in 1982. The side-by-side properties were named the Northport Rail Trail Park.

Stations

References

{{Long Island Rail Road Long Island Rail Road branches Transportation in Suffolk County, New York Huntington, New York Northport, New York Railway lines opened in 1868 Railway lines closed in 1978