Bethpage station

Distance27.9 mi (44.9 km) from Long Island City^[1]Platforms2 side platformsTracks2ConstructionParkingYes; Free, and Town of Oyster Bay permitsBicycle facilitiesYesAccessibleYesOther informationFare zone7HistoryOpened1856Rebuilt1959Electrified1987
750 V (DC) third railPrevious namesJerusalem Station (1854–1936)
Jerusalem (1863–1936)
Central Park (1867–1936)Passengers20064,963^[2] Services

Preceding station	Long Island Rail Road			Following station
Hicksville toward Penn Station or Grand Central		Ronkonkoma Branch		Farmingdale toward Greenport
Montauk Branch does not stop here

Former services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station Grumman toward Long Island City or Penn Station Main Line Farmingdale toward Greenport Terminus Central Branch South Farmingdale toward Lindenhurst

Location

Bethpage station is a commuter rail station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in Bethpage, New York, and serves Ronkonkoma Branch trains. Trains that travel along the Central Branch also use these tracks, but do not stop here.

History

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841.^[3] At first, trains did not stop here, with Bethpage appearing only as a notation ("late Bethpage") associated with the Farmingdale station to the east.^[4] By 1854, the LIRR stopped at a local station called Jerusalem.^[5][6] A local post office opened January 29, 1857, with the name Jerusalem Station.^[7] 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.^[8] In 1959, the station burned down and was replaced. Electrified service through the station was inaugurated in 1987.^[9]

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 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 0.75 miles (1.21 km) south of the present station.^[10][11][12] 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 platforms.

Platform A, side platform
Track 1	←      Ronkonkoma Branch toward Grand Central Madison or Penn Station (Hicksville) ←      Montauk Branch does not stop here
Track 2	←      Montauk Branch does not stop here → ←      Ronkonkoma Branch toward Farmingdale or Ronkonkoma (Farmingdale) →
Platform B, side platform

References

External links

• Works related to Bethpage station at Wikisource
• Bethpage – LIRR
• Bethpage LIRR timetable
• Unofficial LIRR History Website
  • Central Branch History^[usurped]
  • Bethpage Station (1990s)^[usurped]
  • B-Tower; 1986^[usurped] and July 1993^[usurped]
• 1873 map showing railways on Long Island
• Bethpage Junction History (Arrt's Arrchives)
• Trains Are Fun
  • May 11, 1947 and 1952 Photos
• NYCSubways.org
  • April 24, 1966 and September 1974 Photos
• BETH Interlocking (The LIRR Today)
• Station from Stewart Avenue from Google Maps Street View