Speonk is an unmanned railroad station on the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. How ...

of the

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 ...

. It is located on Phillips Avenue at Depot Road in

Speonk, New York Speonk (, ) is a hamlet located in the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County, New York United States. History As early as 1712, meadows in Speonk were leased to cattle owners from Southampton. Most of the early residents came west from Southam ...

, just north of

Montauk Highway Montauk Highway is an east–west road extending for across the southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It extends from the Nassau County line in Amityville, where it connects to Merrick Road, to Montauk ...

( CR 80). The station has two parking lots, one operated by the Long Island Rail Road, and the other operated by the Town of Southampton, both of which are free. It also lies adjacent to one of the largest railroad yards on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

's East End. This yard is mostly used to hold passenger consists, as a handful of trains terminate at Speonk rather than continue all the way to Montauk.

History

Speonk station was originally built in February 1870 along what was then the

Sag Harbor Branch The Sag Harbor Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road that was the eastern terminal on the south shore line of Long Island from 1869 to 1895 and then was a spur from Bridgehampton to Sag Harbor, New York from 1895 to 1939. It originall ...

. From 1895 to 1897 it was known as "Remsenburg station", acknowledging the hamlet of

Remsenburg, New York Remsenburg is a hamlet located in the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, United States. There are no stoplights and very few commercial businesses. History As early as 1712, meadows in Speonk were leased to cattle- ...

, which lies just south of Speonk. The station was struck by lightning and burned on June 22, 1901, and a second depot opened in December 1901. Railroad conductors frequently accentuated the name when calling it out as the next station. This latter agency and depot were closed in 1958, and the station has been unmanned ever since. The former station was converted into a snack bar that is still operating as the Trackside Cafe restaurant. When Eastport and

East Moriches East Moriches ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,249 at the 2010 census. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on ...

stations were closed by the LIRR on October 6, 1958, due to lack of usage, commuters were told to transfer either to this station or to Center Moriches station. The elimination of the latter on March 16, 1998, makes Speonk the next choice for commuters east of Mastic–Shirley station, almost ten miles away by road. The traffic from all three intervening stations which have been eliminated since 1950 has been transferred to these two stations. As part of its program to upgrade all stations to high-level platforms, the LIRR relocated the functional portion of Speonk station between 1996 and 1997. A new platform was built on the west side of North Phillips Avenue, along with a new parking lot; the aforementioned station house and former low-level platform were located to the east. The new platform includes an outdoor enclosure, but no new station building was constructed. The new station includes ticket vending machines and elegant lighting in the parking lots. The former station house and current cafe is across the tracks from the yard. The yard east of the station features a wye to turn locomotives around.

Service

Some trains on the Montauk Line terminate in Speonk. Weekdays there are 14 westbound trains towards NYC (5 of which come from Montauk) and 11 eastbound trains from NYC (5 of which go to Montauk). There are two large parking lots nearby.

Station layout

The station has one four-car-long high-level platform on the south side of the single track.

References

External links

SK Interlocking (The LIRR Today)Former Speonk Station(Snack Bar)
(Unofficial LIRR History Website) *TrainsAreFun.com
Speonk Freight Yard; 1950's or 1960's

Speonk Freight Yard; June 1, 2006

Old Water Tower; 1971

Speonk Railroad Station sign, by Joe Gregory
*Unofficial LIRR Photography Pages

Station from Phillips Avenue from Google Maps Street View
{{LIRR stations navbox Long Island Rail Road stations in Suffolk County, New York Southampton (town), New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1870 1870 establishments in New York (state)