When Broad Channel Serviced the LIRR

This little-known station once was part of the Long Island Railroad.

by Rich Watson 

Between JFK Airport and the Rockaway Peninsula in southern Queens lies the island of Broad Channel, a largely forgotten corner of New York, comparable to Roosevelt Island or City Island in the Bronx. Its lone subway outpost, for the A train, is busiest in the summer, when beachcombers come and go from Rockaway Beach.

Once upon a time, though, the station was for not the MTA, but the Long Island Railroad.

The A train and Broad Channel

The A train, part of the IND Eighth Avenue Line with the B and C, goes through BC on its long journey from 

• Far Rockaway and eastern Queens, past JFK Airport and Aqueduct Racetrack,
• through Brooklyn to the Brooklyn Bridge,
• across Manhattan’s financial district,
• up Eighth Avenue, past Madison Square Garden and Port Authority, and
• up Harlem and Washington Heights into Inwood, a trip celebrated in song by Duke Ellington.

A shuttle train takes passengers from BC to Rockaway Park, in the western half of the peninsula. Of BC’s four bridges, the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge is tolled.

The neighborhood has about three thousand people. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is located there, a good spot for bird watchers and nature lovers. Everything else notable is either in the Rockaways or to the north, such as Aqueduct.

When Hurricane Sandy came in 2012, the area was hit hard, forcing evacuations, but it has since recovered.

The Long Island Railroad in Queens and Brooklyn 

The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) serves the far reaches of New York’s suburbs, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, connecting them with Manhattan. Of course, it goes through Queens and Brooklyn too. A CityTicket is cheaper than the peak fare for Nassau and Suffolk stations.

I live near a LIRR stop. On weekends, the off-peak time, if it’s late, I’ll buy a CityTicket home from Manhattan. It’s even cheaper, though still more than the subway.

In Brooklyn, the LIRR ends at Atlantic Terminal, at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, where the Barclays Center lies. 

The Rockaway Beach Branch of the LIRR

The LIRR dates all the way back to 1834, when it only connected Jamaica with the village of Brooklyn. 

In 1877, the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad was incorporated to connect Greenpoint, Brooklyn to Rockaway Beach. Three years later, the line, known as the Rockaway Beach Branch (RBB), opened. In 1910, a restructure of the line allowed RBB trains to go to Penn Station in Manhattan. By 1942, the line was elevated and completed.

The BC station also opened in 1880. 

The RBB, in the 1800s, included the stations:

• Brooklyn Hills
• Woodhaven Junction 
• Ozone Park
• Aqueduct 
• Howard Beach
• Howard’s Landing
• Goose Creek 
• The Raunt
• Broad Channel 
• Beach Channel
• Hammels 
• Holland
• Seaside
• Rockaway Park 

In the twentieth century, stations were added:

• Grand Street
• Rego Park
• Matawok 
• Parkside 
• Brooklyn Manor
• Hamilton Beach
• Playland

The last addition, Rego Park, was in 1928.

This page shows tickets, timetables, maps and other paraphernalia associated with the RBB.

The RBB’s decline

In 1950, a fire broke out between the Broad Channel and Raunt stations, on the nearby trestle bridge. Unlike a viaduct, a trestle has short spans supported by closely spaced frames.

The LIRR cut service as far as Howard Beach. In 1952, all portions of the line south of Ozone Park were sold to the city. The trestle was rebuilt for the A train.

By 1962, the LIRR discontinued all service on the RBB.

The BC station closed in 1950 and reopened in 1956, also for the A train. During Hurricane Sandy-related reconstruction, the A bypassed BC.

Rail or trail? The debate over the RBB revival

The RBB tracks and elevated platforms remain. You can see them when they cross with the A train at the Rockaway Boulevard station. They continue north to Rego Park, covering 3.5 miles.

In recent years, the success of the High Line in Manhattan has sparked discussion on what to do with the RBB right-of-way infrastructure. Should it be reactivated, for subway service, or should it become a bike and pedestrian trail, similar to how the High Line operates? Southeast Queens could use both additional transit and additional green space. 

There are good arguments for both.

There’s not much more to say about BC. Like many New Yorkers, I consider it the place to go through to get to the cooler Rockaways. No one has made a movie about it (unlike City Island) or written a song about it (unlike the Rockaways).

But it survived a hurricane. That’s noteworthy.

@byrichwatson

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Have you ever been to Broad Channel or the Rockaways?