I lived just down Metropolitan Ave. Station at end of block. Well 69ave crossed Metropolitan go west two blocks to station where it crosses Metro. Go in other direction you had Heinz Co. . Behind Heinz was lower Montauk. We used to hop freights to Richmond Hill station where the guys would get off and go to Jans( spelling? )Ice cream parlor. Made their own ice cream . I don't remember ever seeing a passenger train go through there. It sure is interesting. Brings back memories.
I hiked the entire Lower Montauk, Jamaica to LIC, in 1977 and 1997 (using nearby roads, not the tracks). Your video has it down pretty good. Glendale: No station sign or platform of any sort in 1977, and just a station sign 20 years later. Fresh Pond: Station was on the tracks, below street level. Penny Bridge: There once was a bridge crossing Newtown Creek, that you could cross into Brooklyn for a penny. Hence, Penny Bridge. And you can imagine it at, say, 21:34 on your video. At this point, I wouldn't attempt to reintroduce passenger service. Even when such service existed, you had just two trains a day westbound, and two eastbound (at hours when almost no one would use it). Today, Haberman and Penny Bridge: Forget it. You could argue for service at the other 3 stations going east with a reasonable schedule, but I think by now it wouldn't fly.
In the early 80's there were plans to connect Lower Montauk to 63rd tunnel when it opened. Residents and business owners protested. Especially in Glendale. I lived in Ridgewood where residents didn't really care because Fresh Pond was an embankment. Few even knew about the line. The Ridgewood Times published many stories and letters about the proposal and opposition. In the early 90's I would go to Fresh Pond and watch the trains go by. There was one customer who got on during PM rush. He told me that he worked at the auto dealer nearby and took the train daily. Nowadays NY Atlantic owns the line. They store garbage cars from Forest Park to LIC.
To access the tracks you just have to go to Park Lane and right at the overpass of the tracks there is an opening on the north/east side of the bridge and you just walk down the embankment to the tracks then you just walk east on the tracks to the station. Many urban explorers have done this. Richmond Hill was the only station with a high enough platform that can accommodate the newer bi-level diesel locomotives the LIRR uses. All the other stations were ground level which made them unsuitable for the newer coaches. The old LIRR single level coaches had the step down which allowed passengers to board from the ground up into the trains. One big reason the LMB was abandoned besides low ridership. Guess you can say the incompatibility of the newer bi level coaches for all the others stations on the LMB was basically the final nail in the coffin for that line.
Thanks for the information! I actually did go on the tracks that day. But for like a couple of minutes then left, it was interesting to see it though. Hopefully the branch can be reactivated but it’ll need good reasons
When I was in High School which was in Richmond Hill/Kew Gardens and would take the School Bus in the morning, we would sometimes pass by the Richmond Hill station. Also this was back when I didn’t even know what was even up on the elevated tracks.
Rego Park, Park Side, Brooklyn Manor, Woodhaven Junction, Ozone Park were part of the LIRR Rockaway Park branch. Not the lower Montauk line. The LIRR Rockaway Park branch use to cross over the lower Montauk line (via a long gone wooden trestle) near Woodhaven Blvd.
Good o’l Richmond hill station. Been to it lots of times and it’s super easy to get to. Just enter at forest park and walk the tracks to Richmond hill. No need to worry about getting in trouble because the trains that pass by are freight and pass by once a day and from what i heard they’re friendly as long as you don’t get in their way
penny bridge and Hagerman in its day supported the many factories that was in the area. I lat took the railroad ( old diesels) no longer stopped in penny bridge.
I have taken diesel powered commuter trains over this line many times before it was shut down. The schedule was two to four trains per day on the schedule. LIC and Richmond Hill were the only stations with a platform. The other stations were just a sign and some ballast rocks. It was closed due to low ridership and the cost of upgrading stations to high level platforms. Now the line is used by the NY & Atlantic Railway for freight operations.
I ride the LIRR 3 days a week and all of a sudden I noticed the connecting tracks from Jamaica to the Lower Montauk Branch in the direction to Richmond Hill station are being ripped out. But it appears that road bed is getting refurbished. For years I passed that junction point every day with no activity, now something interesting is going on there. Unless they are beefing it up for the Freight line, as I have noticed increased freight on Long Island lately. The LIRR is always a mystery.
Considering the cost of new lines and the MTA's discussion of a South Queens line, it shouldn't take much money to rebuild this line to subway standards and rehab it.
+/- 1990 the summer Friday night Cannonballs to the East End left from LIC and traveled on the Lower Montauk to Jamaica. I think Hunter's Point Ave was being worked on.
The MTA has brought up reactivation of the Lower Montauk Branch as part of their 20 year needs assessment, even though it’s only in its draft stage, I still think the MTA should see into reactivation of the branch as the areas around it form part of the large “subway desert” in Queens which are not served by any subway routes. The best plan I think would be to convert it into a light rail corridor similar to the future IBX, with most of the former stations and new stations as stops. Or for the branch to be electrified for use by the LIRR once again, but I would only re-open Richmond Hill and Fresh Pond as the areas that those stations served I think would have the highest ridership, despite it being at an all-time low in the late 90s, but times change, so who knows if more people need non-bus transportation.
At 7:47 that pic was a train thatskip all the st and was a ex but before 1998-2007 train was fo exp and than went atnyr bought the line no lirr train just it but cago train went on the ñine and that photo is a video
I was on top of the platform about three weeks ago don't go on top trains still run on top of there and mta workers on there and the lines are active the tracks don't have a third rail do you can walk in them just be aware they are working on it even though it's closed and i can send you video footage if you would like to use it as content
The MTA is studying the revision of regional services for the Montauk line. This is spectacular in its own way. The line passes through one of the most transparent starved..car dependent neighborhoods in Central Queens. The revitalization of this line has been blocked in the past by the residents with "nimby" motivations. Nimbus are basically the stubborn racist types who feel change might bring situations to "their neighborhoods " that effect others. A rail line would be the "getaway express" for "those people " to use after committing criminal acts. All of that describes what could happen even without a subway station nearby. Basically, the nimbly mentality is they don't care about other people they don't want them in their neighborhood or anything that changes their neighborhood. Every type of excuse was used to block the line in every plan placed forward. The MTA once looked at the line as a branch of the 63rd st line, which would save the expenses of constructing a new subway through forest hills under Yellowstone Avenue to the Queens Blvd subways lower level. The plan had the new line join the J line at Richmond Hills 121 st,then using the lower level Archer Avenue subway to Jamaica Center. A pretty good deal, with new elevated structures built to remove grade crossings. This was not enough to please the nimbus. They just didn't want the service through their neighborhoods. So,the MTA did nothing. Today, the area demands service improvements..but fights with the people who could make it happen. Even the Rockaway branch was fought tooth and nails. I say,don't bother giving them any thing. If they built something, don't build any stations. Montauk should be an elevated rail line passing over and through. No stops. Yeah. I know. Petty is as petty does. However, in this,I don't care.
It had nothing to do with NIMBYs. The MTA had no money to do anything with this line. The reason these stations closed was because they didn’t have the money to put high level platforms in for the new C3 cars in the late 90’s. Same reason they had to close other stations in eastern Suffolk like Southampton College, Quogue. It really didn’t cost anything before that to have occasional trains stop there if the timetable and crew schedule allowed it. If they didn’t have the money to put in simple one car platforms what makes you think they’d be able to afford some crazy bypass of the 63rd street line onto the J train? And electrify the tracks?
"Those people" will also take cabs into the suburbs and do a sort of drive through mugging. Therefore, we should get rid of all the cabs. And Ubers, too, while we're at it, cuz you never know.
It drives me crazy seeing all these potential rail lines that could be used for passenger service. Shame...
Nice video. Thanks for making and uploading.
I lived just down Metropolitan Ave. Station at end of block. Well 69ave crossed Metropolitan go west two blocks to station where it crosses Metro.
Go in other direction you had Heinz Co. . Behind Heinz was lower Montauk. We used to hop freights to Richmond Hill station where the guys would get off and go to Jans( spelling? )Ice cream parlor. Made their own ice cream . I don't remember ever seeing a passenger train go through there. It sure is interesting. Brings back memories.
I hiked the entire Lower Montauk, Jamaica to LIC, in 1977 and 1997 (using nearby roads, not the tracks). Your video has it down pretty good. Glendale: No station sign or platform of any sort in 1977, and just a station sign 20 years later. Fresh Pond: Station was on the tracks, below street level. Penny Bridge: There once was a bridge crossing Newtown Creek, that you could cross into Brooklyn for a penny. Hence, Penny Bridge. And you can imagine it at, say, 21:34 on your video.
At this point, I wouldn't attempt to reintroduce passenger service. Even when such service existed, you had just two trains a day westbound, and two eastbound (at hours when almost no one would use it). Today, Haberman and Penny Bridge: Forget it. You could argue for service at the other 3 stations going east with a reasonable schedule, but I think by now it wouldn't fly.
In the early 80's there were plans to connect Lower Montauk to 63rd tunnel when it opened.
Residents and business owners protested. Especially in Glendale. I lived in Ridgewood where residents didn't really care because Fresh Pond was an embankment. Few even knew about the line.
The Ridgewood Times published many stories and letters about the proposal and opposition.
In the early 90's I would go to Fresh Pond and watch the trains go by. There was one customer who got on during PM rush. He told me that he worked at the auto dealer nearby and took the train daily.
Nowadays NY Atlantic owns the line. They store garbage cars from Forest Park to LIC.
To access the tracks you just have to go to Park Lane and right at the overpass of the tracks there is an opening on the north/east side of the bridge and you just walk down the embankment to the tracks then you just walk east on the tracks to the station. Many urban explorers have done this. Richmond Hill was the only station with a high enough platform that can accommodate the newer bi-level diesel locomotives the LIRR uses. All the other stations were ground level which made them unsuitable for the newer coaches. The old LIRR single level coaches had the step down which allowed passengers to board from the ground up into the trains. One big reason the LMB was abandoned besides low ridership. Guess you can say the incompatibility of the newer bi level coaches for all the others stations on the LMB was basically the final nail in the coffin for that line.
Thanks for the information! I actually did go on the tracks that day. But for like a couple of minutes then left, it was interesting to see it though. Hopefully the branch can be reactivated but it’ll need good reasons
When I was in High School which was in Richmond Hill/Kew Gardens and would take the School Bus in the morning, we would sometimes pass by the Richmond Hill station. Also this was back when I didn’t even know what was even up on the elevated tracks.
Rego Park, Park Side, Brooklyn Manor, Woodhaven Junction, Ozone Park were part of the LIRR Rockaway Park branch. Not the lower Montauk line. The LIRR Rockaway Park branch use to cross over the lower Montauk line (via a long gone wooden trestle) near Woodhaven Blvd.
Good o’l Richmond hill station. Been to it lots of times and it’s super easy to get to. Just enter at forest park and walk the tracks to Richmond hill. No need to worry about getting in trouble because the trains that pass by are freight and pass by once a day and from what i heard they’re friendly as long as you don’t get in their way
yeah you make it sound like it's no problem lirr and or MTA policecwill site you for trespassing wich is a misdemeanor, just don't get caught.
penny bridge and Hagerman in its day supported the many factories that was in the area. I lat took the railroad ( old diesels) no longer stopped in penny bridge.
I have taken diesel powered commuter trains over this line many times before it was shut down. The schedule was two to four trains per day on the schedule. LIC and Richmond Hill were the only stations with a platform. The other stations were just a sign and some ballast rocks. It was closed due to low ridership and the cost of upgrading stations to high level platforms. Now the line is used by the NY & Atlantic Railway for freight operations.
I ride the LIRR 3 days a week and all of a sudden I noticed the connecting tracks from Jamaica to the Lower Montauk Branch in the direction to Richmond Hill station are being ripped out. But it appears that road bed is getting refurbished. For years I passed that junction point every day with no activity, now something interesting is going on there. Unless they are beefing it up for the Freight line, as I have noticed increased freight on Long Island lately. The LIRR is always a mystery.
Thanks for the information man!
Considering the cost of new lines and the MTA's discussion of a South Queens line, it shouldn't take much money to rebuild this line to subway standards and rehab it.
It can be used for a RER network
+/- 1990 the summer Friday night Cannonballs to the East End left from LIC and traveled on the Lower Montauk to Jamaica. I think Hunter's Point Ave was being worked on.
The MTA has brought up reactivation of the Lower Montauk Branch as part of their 20 year needs assessment, even though it’s only in its draft stage, I still think the MTA should see into reactivation of the branch as the areas around it form part of the large “subway desert” in Queens which are not served by any subway routes. The best plan I think would be to convert it into a light rail corridor similar to the future IBX, with most of the former stations and new stations as stops. Or for the branch to be electrified for use by the LIRR once again, but I would only re-open Richmond Hill and Fresh Pond as the areas that those stations served I think would have the highest ridership, despite it being at an all-time low in the late 90s, but times change, so who knows if more people need non-bus transportation.
At 7:47 that pic was a train thatskip all the st and was a ex but before 1998-2007 train was fo exp and than went atnyr bought the line no lirr train just it but cago train went on the ñine and that photo is a video
It’s pretty fun to urbex at Richmond hill
richmond hill close 1998
I was on top of the platform about three weeks ago don't go on top trains still run on top of there and mta workers on there and the lines are active the tracks don't have a third rail do you can walk in them just be aware they are working on it even though it's closed and i can send you video footage if you would like to use it as content
I would love to have the video! I’ll give you credit. You’re brave to go up there and check it out.
I know a way to get down there but it runs on the active but I think the train runs on a shedule
The MTA is studying the revision of regional services for the Montauk line.
This is spectacular in its own way.
The line passes through one of the most transparent starved..car dependent neighborhoods in Central Queens.
The revitalization of this line has been blocked in the past by the residents with "nimby" motivations.
Nimbus are basically the stubborn racist types who feel change might bring situations to "their neighborhoods " that effect others.
A rail line would be the "getaway express" for "those people " to use after committing criminal acts.
All of that describes what could happen even without a subway station nearby.
Basically, the nimbly mentality is they don't care about other people they don't want them in their neighborhood or anything that changes their neighborhood.
Every type of excuse was used to block the line in every plan placed forward.
The MTA once looked at the line as a branch of the 63rd st line, which would save the expenses of constructing a new subway through forest hills under Yellowstone Avenue to the Queens Blvd subways lower level.
The plan had the new line join the J line at Richmond Hills 121 st,then using the lower level Archer Avenue subway to Jamaica Center.
A pretty good deal, with new elevated structures built to remove grade crossings.
This was not enough to please the nimbus.
They just didn't want the service through their neighborhoods.
So,the MTA did nothing.
Today, the area demands service improvements..but fights with the people who could make it happen.
Even the Rockaway branch was fought tooth and nails.
I say,don't bother giving them any thing.
If they built something, don't build any stations.
Montauk should be an elevated rail line passing over and through. No stops.
Yeah.
I know.
Petty is as petty does.
However, in this,I don't care.
It had nothing to do with NIMBYs. The MTA had no money to do anything with this line. The reason these stations closed was because they didn’t have the money to put high level platforms in for the new C3 cars in the late 90’s. Same reason they had to close other stations in eastern Suffolk like Southampton College, Quogue. It really didn’t cost anything before that to have occasional trains stop there if the timetable and crew schedule allowed it. If they didn’t have the money to put in simple one car platforms what makes you think they’d be able to afford some crazy bypass of the 63rd street line onto the J train? And electrify the tracks?
"Those people" will also take cabs into the suburbs and do a sort of drive through mugging. Therefore, we should get rid of all the cabs. And Ubers, too, while we're at it, cuz you never know.