The South Side Railroad of Long Island was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

company in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as a competitor to 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 was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad of Long Island and leased in 1876 to the LIRR. After a reorganization as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad in 1879 (immediately after which it was again leased to the LIRR) it was merged in 1889. The main line of the South Side Railroad is now 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 ...

of the LIRR from

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, the

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger service in the borough of Brooklyn. The line consists of two secti ...

from Jamaica to

Valley Stream Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 40,634 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of ...

, and the Montauk Branch again from Valley Stream to Patchogue. The Brooklyn and Montauk extended the line to Eastport while leased to the LIRR. The South Side also owned or leased lines that are now the

Bushwick Branch The Bushwick Branch, also called the Bushwick Lead Track, is a freight railroad branch in New York City. It runs from the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn to Fresh Pond Junction in the Glendale neighborhood of Queens, where it connec ...

and

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, ...

, as well as 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. At its s ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

from Far Rockaway to Hammels (abandoned beyond Hammels to Rockaway Park) and an abandoned branch from Valley Stream to Hempstead.

History

Incorporation and construction

The South Side Railroad was incorporated March 23, 1860, and organized April 20, 1860, to build from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Islip Islip may refer to: Places England * Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire * Islip Manor Meadows United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County ** Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town **Central Islip, New York ...

, , May 2004 Edition with Willet Charlick, brother of the LIRR's Oliver Charlick, and Charles Fox of

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

in control.Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965 An April 12, 1867, supplement to its charter authorized an extension to East Hampton. Construction began in June 1866, , June 2004 Edition and it opened for regular service from

east 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 ...

on October 28, 1867. , June 2004 Edition Extensions opened to Islip on September 5, 1868, Sayville on December 11, 1868, , June 2004 Edition and Patchogue on April 10, 1869. , June 2004 Edition

Obtaining access to New York

The SSRRLI was forced to build its own line west of Jamaica due to the LIRR's purchase of the New York and Flushing Railroad on July 13, 1867. The South Side had been looking at using the New York and Flushing Railroad for access to

. To gain access to ferry service to New York City, the South Side decided to build to Williamsburg. The line from Jamaica west to

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southe ...

opened on July 18, 1868, with a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

connection to the 8th Street Ferry in

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

, and it opened its own track in Boerum Street, Broadway, and 8th Street to Williamsburg (operated by horses, soon replaced by steam dummies, west of Bushwick) on November 4, 1868. A branch was also built from

Maspeth Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnysid ...

(west of

Flushing Avenue Flushing Avenue is a street running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens, beginning at Nassau Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and ending at Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It divides the neighborhood of Williamsburg from Clinton Hill a ...

) northwest to Furman's Island at the junction of

Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. River engineering#Channelization, Channelization made it one of the most heavily-use ...

and Maspeth Creek for freight. However, the Flushing and North Side Railroad soon drove most traffic away from the New York and Flushing, leading to the portion east of Winfield being sold to the Flushing and North Side in 1869, and the rest lying unused.Peter Ross
A History of Long Island From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, History of the Long Island Railroad
1903 The Hunters Point and South Side Railroad was incorporated on January 5, 1870 to connect Fresh Pond on the South Side with the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

, , January 2005 Edition and opened in 1872 to a point on the New York and Flushing. The South Side thus gained a new freight terminal at Long Island City by rebuilding part of the old New York and Flushing, but passenger service continued to operate to Williamsburg. Since the LIRR built the Sag Harbor Branch in 1869 and 1870 to cut off the competition, an extension beyond Patchogue was not built. Prior to the acquisition by the LIRR, there was a proposal by the SSRRLI to extend the main line southeast towards Bellport, and then northeast to Brookhaven and

Southaven Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making it the 3rd most populous city in Mississippi and the largest suburb of Memp ...

. Rather than the Brookhaven station that existed on the LIRR between 1884 and 1958, the planned station in Brookhaven was to be named "Fireplace" after Fireplace Neck.

Far Rockaway Branch

The South Side Railroad incorporated a subsidiary, the

Far Rockaway Branch Railroad The Far Rockaway Branch is an electrified (rail), electrified 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 begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley St ...

, on June 22, 1868 to construct a branch from the main line at

to the Rockaways. The new line opened on July 29, 1869 to Mott Avenue at Far Rockaway. While constructing it in summer 1869, the company installed about 700 feet (200 m) of tracks across William B. McManus's farmland near Lawrence. However, the transaction had not been completed, and McManus and some friends tore up the track the next night; after a legal battle, the company paid McManus. The Far Rockaway Branch was extended September 2, 1869 to the Boardwalk at Beach 30th Street. The Rockaway Railway was incorporated September 5, 1871 to continue from Far Rockaway west to

Rockaway Point Breezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. The community is run b ...

, , January 2005 Edition and opened July 4, 1872 to Beach 103rd Street at Seaside, , February 2005 Edition. Both companies were merged into the South Side on September 14, 1872, along with the Hunters Point and South Side and New York and Flushing. Old Hewlett Station

South Hempstead Branch

The Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad was incorporated in April 1868 to build from Valley Stream on the South Side to Hempstead. The New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad was incorporated March 1, 1870, to build from

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 ...

east to Hempstead, and on August 10, 1871 the two companies merged to form the New York and Hempstead Railroad. The line opened on September 28, 1872, and was leased to the South Side on May 10, 1873. The South Side entered

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

on November 9, 1873, , February 2005 Edition and was sold on September 16, 1874 to the Poppenhusens, who also controlled the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad. The South Side was reincorporated as the Southern Railroad of Long Island on September 25, 1874. The two Poppenhusen lines were connected at Babylon, and the Southern's branch to Hempstead was abandoned temporarily after only two years of operation. , March 2005 Edition The Southern Hempstead Branch Railroad was incorporated on July 1, 1875 as a reorganization of the New York and Hempstead, and the Southern began operating it shortly thereafter. , February 2005 Edition It was however closed permanently in May 1879, since Hempstead was already served adequately from the north (effectively the LIRR's current

Hempstead Branch The Hempstead 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 the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village station. It p ...

).Felix Reifschneider
History of the Long Island Railroad
1925, reprinted winter 2001 in ''The Third Rail''

Acquisition by the LIRR

On January 26, 1876, the Poppenhusens acquired the LIRR. The line beyond Bushwick to Williamsburg was abandoned February 26, making the line to Bushwick a branch; passenger trains operated over a new connection into the LIRR's

terminal. The LIRR leased the Southern on May 3, 1876. In June, the Southern became the main passenger route from Long Island City to Jamaica; most passenger trains on the Southern from Jamaica east to

Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to th ...

were rerouted to the LIRR's Springfield Branch. , April 2005 Edition This route east of Jamaica is still the main one for trains using the ex-Southern (

) east of Valley Stream, but the "Lower Montauk" west of Jamaica has not been used by passenger trains since 2012. However, the LIRR entered receivership in late 1877, , April 2005 Edition and the Southern was reorganized on November 20, 1879 as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad,

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

Valuation Report, Long Island Railroad
The Brooklyn and Montauk opened an extension from Patchogue to Eastport to connect to the LIRR's Sag Harbor Branch in 1881, and on October 5, 1889 it was merged into the LIRR. The majority of the Southern is still intact; only its Hempstead Branch, Bushwick-Williamsburg line, and

west of Hammels have been abandoned. The Far Rockaway Branch from Far Rockaway to Hammels has been part of the

since 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Railroad Long Island Predecessors of the Long Island Rail Road Railroads on Long Island Railroad lines in Rockaway, Queens Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1860 Railway companies disestablished in 1880 Richmond Hill Historic District