The Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station (announced as Far Rockaway station) is the eastern

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

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. The trai ...

. Originally a

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system 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 Co ...

station, it is currently the easternmost station in the New York City Subway. It is served by the A train at all times. , this station is the busiest subway station on the

Rockaway peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of th ...

. The original surface station on this site was opened in 1869; the current elevated station began operation as a subway station on January 16, 1958. The station was renovated between 2009 and 2012.

History

LIRR use

Until 1950 the

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, th ...

of the

was part of a loop that traveled along the existing route. The line diverges from the present-day

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Long Beach Branch The Long Beach 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, where it merges with the ...

es east of Valley Stream station in

Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 ...

. Eastbound trains continued south then southwest, through

Five Towns The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County in New York City. Although there is no official Five Towns de ...

and the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of th ...

, and onto a trestle across

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...

through Queens where it reconnected with the

Rockaway Beach Branch The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica B ...

; westbound trains did the reverse, using the Rockaway Beach Branch to cross the trestle, go through the Rockaways and Five Towns, and continue northeast then north to join the westbound Atlantic Branch. Far Rockaway station itself was originally built by the

Far Rockaway Branch Railroad 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, th ...

, a subsidiary of the

South Side Railroad of Long Island The South Side Railroad of Long Island was a railroad company in the U.S. state of New York. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as a competitor to the Long Island Rail Road, it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad of Long Isla ...

. Construction on the line began in September 1868, and the station was opened on July 29, 1869. The station was later converted into a freight house, when a second station was moved from Ocean Point Station (a.k.a. Cedarhurst Station), remodeled, and opened on October 1, 1881. The third depot opened on July 15, 1890, while the second depot was sold and moved to a private location in October 1890. The surface station featured a large plaza and depot, serving horse-drawn carriages, taxis, and surface trolleys. The

Ocean Electric Railway The Ocean Electric Railway was a street car line that operated on The Rockaways. It ran parallel to parts of the Rockaway Beach Branch and Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The headquarters of the OER were at the Far Rockaway Long ...

terminated at the station between 1897 and September 2, 1926, and the station served as the headquarters for the Ocean Electric Railway. The station also served as the terminus of a

Long Island Electric Railway The Long Island Electric Railway was a streetcar company operating in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County, New York, United States between 1894 and 1926. The company was partially owned by the Long Island Consolidated Electric Companies, a holding ...

trolley line A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

leading to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, via New York Avenue (now Guy R. Brewer Boulevard). Following the end of trolley service in November 1933, the depot served buses from

Green Bus Lines Green Bus Lines, also referred to simply as Green Lines, was a private bus company in New York City, United States. It operated local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 9, 2006, when the city-operated MTA Bus Compan ...

and

Jamaica Buses Jamaica Buses, Inc., also known as Jamaica Bus Lines or the Jamaica Bus Company, was a bus company in New York City, United States, operating local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 30, 2006, when the MTA Bus Compan ...

; the former Jamaica trolley route became Jamaica Buses' Route B (now the and buses). Around noon on April 10, 1942, the surface station was closed, and a new elevated station on the current concrete trestle was opened as part of the Long Island Rail Road's grade crossing elimination project. This station had two low-level side platforms.

Subway use

There were frequent fires and maintenance problems on the Jamaica Bay viaduct. The most notorious of these problems was a fire in May 1950 between The Raunt and Broad Channel Stations. After this fire, the LIRR abandoned the Jamaica Bay viaduct and the Queens portion of the Rockaway Beach/Far Rockaway route. On June 11, 1952, the city acquired all trackage west of Mott Avenue, incorporating it as part of the

. Service provided by the A train over the line began in June 1956, with the full western spur to

Rockaway Park Rockaway Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area is on the Rockaway Peninsula, nestled between Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The neighborhood of Rockaway Beach lies on its eastern b ...

operational. While the remainder of the line operated, with Beach 25th Street–Wavecrest serving as the eastern spur terminal, a new Far Rockaway subway station was constructed, opening on January 16, 1958. The Far Rockaway LIRR station was moved to a grade-level station at Nameoke Street on February 21, 1958—two blocks from the original station and three blocks from the subway station—becoming the terminus of the Far Rockaway branch. The original site of the LIRR's elevated station and the bus depot, located on the northeast side of Mott Avenue, were replaced with a shopping center and parking lot, which began construction in 1960. The Far Rockaway Shopping Center, as it was called, started undergoing redevelopment in 2017 as part of the Far Rockaway rezoning; it was proposed to replace the shopping center with affordable housing. In 1981, the MTA listed the Mott Avenue station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system, despite the fact that the station had become part of the subway system just two decades earlier. From 2009 to 2012, this and eight other stations were renovated for $117 million. At Far Rockaway, the 1950s design of the station house was replaced with metallic facades and a dome enclosure, and upgrading several features including staircases and employee areas. Elevators from the station house to the platforms were added, as were yellow tactile warning strips on the platform edges, making the station

ADA-accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

. A glass artwork titled ''Respite'' was installed as part of the MTA's

Arts for Transit MTA Arts & Design, formerly known as Arts for Transit and Urban Design, is a commissioned art program directed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems serving New York City and the surrounding region. Since 198 ...

program. The renovated station was unveiled on May 11, 2012.

Disputed age

Far Rockaway is the oldest currently operating

station, having originally opened years ago, on July 29, 1869, as a

station. By contrast, the Gates Avenue station on the

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

in Brooklyn is the oldest station to have been built specifically for rapid transit use, having opened in 1885 ( years ago). The Gates Avenue station is also the oldest continuously operating station in the subway system. The Far Rockaway station was converted from LIRR to subway

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...

s in 1958 and has only operated for years in this capacity. Therefore, by that interpretation, Far Rockaway is actually the fifteenth newest station in the subway system (behind Grand Street; Harlem–148th Street; 57th Street; the three Archer Avenue Line stations; the three IND 63rd Street Line stations; the new South Ferry station; 34th Street–Hudson Yards; and the three

Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...

stations).

Station layout

The Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station, the Rockaway Line's eastern terminus, is built on a concrete viaduct and has two tracks and an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. The tracks end at bumper blocks just beyond the northeast end of the platform. The former track connection to the current

LIRR The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...

station has been removed, and transferring now requires a walk of three blocks. A

NYCDOT The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Departm ...

municipal parking facility lies just east of the station between Beach 22nd and Beach 21st Streets, adjacent to the bus loop used by the and n33 services that terminate at the station. The doors at the northeast end of the platform lead to stairs down to the street level

fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

area. A tower and crew offices are at the southwest end. Two elevators and several staircases inside the station house lead to the platform level. A bodega called the "A Line Deli", previously called the "Last Stop Deli", is attached to the station entrance. It was originally a cafe, having been built along with the station in the 1950s. File:Rohlf RW 637T (7178214124).jpg, Jason Rohlf's ''Respite'' piece in the station File:Far Rockaway IND Platform jeh.JPG, On the platform File:JayWalderGreetsEvacuees.jpg,

Jay Walder Jay Walder was the CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One, an American transportation technology company. He has been the CEO of Motivate (company), Motivate, a bike sharing company, and of the Hong Kong transit company MTR Corporation (MTRC), before resi ...

, then-chairman of the MTA, greets

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...

evacuees File:Far Rockaway–Mott Av td 06 - Bus Terminal.jpg, The bus terminal and parking lot adjacent to the station

References

External links

* * Station Reporter �
A Rockaway
* The Subway Nut �
Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue Pictures
* Trains Are Fun �

Mott Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:Far Rockaway - Mott Avenue (Ind Rockaway Line) IND Rockaway Line stations Rockaway, Queens Former Long Island Rail Road stations in New York City New York City Subway stations in Queens, New York New York City Subway terminals Railway stations in the United States opened in 1869 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1958 1869 establishments in New York (state) 1958 establishments in New York City