Valley Stream (LIRR station)

Valley Stream
File:Valley Stream LIRR jeh.JPG
Location	Franklin Avenue & Sunrise Highway Village of Valley Stream, NY
Coordinates
Owned by	MTA
Line(s)	Atlantic Branch;
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	4
Connections	Nassau Inter-County Express: n1, n2
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	4
History
Opened	June 1869 (SSRRLI)
Rebuilt	1933
Electrified	December 11, 1905 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	4,852
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Rosedale toward New York terminals Far Rockaway Branch Gibson toward Far Rockaway Long Beach Branch Lynbrook toward Long Beach Terminus West Hempstead Branch Westwood toward West Hempstead Jamaica toward New York terminals Babylon Branch Lynbrook toward Babylon

Valley Stream is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch serving the residents of Valley Stream, and is the first station (traveling eastbound) in Nassau County. The station is located at Franklin Avenue and Sunrise Highway, west of Rockaway Avenue, and is 17.7 miles (28.5 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan via the Atlantic Branch east of Jamaica. The station is wheelchair accessible with an elevator from street level; parking facilities and taxis are available.

History

The first Valley Stream station was built by the South Side Railroad of Long Island on October 28, 1867. The station house itself opened in July 1869 with the opening of the Far Rockaway Branch, and was built as a Swiss chalet style station house inside the legs of an old wye. It also served customers of the Southern Hempstead Branch which was built by the short-lived New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad between 1871 and 1900. Along with the rest of the SSRRLI, the station was acquired by the Long Island Rail Road in 1889. In 1893 the station began to serve trains along the West Hempstead Branch. When Nassau County separated from Queens in 1899, Valley Stream station became the first station in Nassau County along the Montauk Branch. The station was electrified with the rest of the Far Rockaway Branch on December 11, 1905, and the Long Beach Branch was extended from Lynbrook Station in 1910 and became an extension of the Atlantic Branch.

In 1933, the original station was razed as part of a grade elimination project that was occurring along the Montauk, Atlantic, and Babylon Branches throughout the mid-20th Century. Prior to this, a temporary station was relocated on a shoo-fly north of the former station on August 10, 1932, then moved to another one south of the former station on August 31 of the same year. The third elevated center-island structure that exists today was opened north of the former location on February 7, 1933, and although the wye was removed as part of the reconstruction, it remained on many maps well into the late-20th Century, and continues to be shown on some in the present.

Clear Stream Station

Shortly after electrical service of the Far Rockaway Branch was established, the LIRR created a new station west of Valley Stream at Clear Stream Road (now Avenue) called Clear Stream Station. It was established in 1906, and used only for rush hour service. The station was eliminated after 1910.

Platform and tracks

	■ Babylon Branch	no stop
	■ West Hempstead Branch	no stop
	■ Babylon Branch	no stop
	■ West Hempstead Branch	no stop
1	■ Long Beach Branch	toward New York (Rosedale)
	■ Far Rockaway Branch	toward New York (Rosedale)
	■ West Hempstead Branch	toward West Hempstead (Westwood)
	■ Babylon Branch	toward New York (Jamaica)
2	■ Long Beach Branch	toward Long Beach (Lynbrook)
	■ Far Rockaway Branch	toward Far Rockaway (Gibson)
	■ West Hempstead Branch	toward West Hempstead (Westwood)
	■ Babylon Branch	toward Babylon (Lynbrook)

Four tracks pass the station, but the two north ones (the Montauk Branch) have no platform and are used by trains on the Babylon, Montauk and West Hempstead Branches that bypass this station. An eight-car long island platform is between the two south tracks, Tracks 1 and 2, of what is officially called the Atlantic Branch. These tracks are mostly used by trains of the Far Rockaway and Long Beach branches, and as a terminal for those West Hempstead Branch trains that terminate/originate at Valley Stream. On weekdays, two eastbound trains and one westbound train from the Babylon Branch serve this station.

At the east end of the station the Atlantic Branch designation ends: the two tracks become the Long Beach Branch continuing east to Lynbrook and Long Beach, while the Far Rockaway Branch curves south toward Far Rockaway in New York City.

External links

• Official LIRR station information page for Valley Stream
• Station timetable for Valley Stream
• Valley Stream Station (The SubwayNut)
• VALLEY Interlocking (The LIRR Today)
• Valley Stream (The LIRR Today)
• Arrt's Arrchives
  • Maps from 1873 and 1910
• Hicks Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Franklin Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View