300px, Approximate location of the former Springfield Junction today Springfield Junction was a

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

between 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 ...

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 ...

and

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an railway electrification, electrified Track (rail transport), rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger serv ...

Laurelton, Queens Laurelton is a largely middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens and part of the former town of Jamaica. Merrick Boulevard, which bisects the community in a generally east–west direction, forms its commercial spine. It is b ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was located at the place where those two branches now begin to parallel, just east of Laurelton station and half a mile east of

Springfield Boulevard Springfield Boulevard is a major north/south roadway that runs through the eastern section of Queens, New York. It is long and goes from Northern Boulevard in Bayside, to 147th Avenue in Springfield Gardens. Springfield Boulevard runs through ...

. No rail station was located at the junction itself, however

Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the we ...

station was located nearby.

History

The junction's location was set in 1871, when the LIRR's Rockaway Branch (now the Montauk Branch) was built, crossing 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 ...

(now the Atlantic Branch). With the consolidation of the South Side into the LIRR system in 1876, all South Side passenger trains were rerouted to use the LIRR main line through

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 ...

Rockaway Junction Rockaway Junction was a junction and station on the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line and Montauk Branch in Hillside, Queens, New York City, United States. It was located in the vicinity where the Montauk Branch now crosses over the two eastbou ...

and the LIRR's Rockaway Branch to this crossing, where a connecting track was built. This change took effect Sunday, June 25, 1876.

Vincent F. Seyfried Vincent Francis Seyfried (April 18, 1918-April 14, 2012, aged 93) was an American historian of Long Island. His work between 1950 and 2010 includes eleven books on trolley systems in Queens and Long Island, twelve books on areas of Queens, a seven- ...

, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part One: South Side R.R. of L.I., 1961 A new Atlantic Division track opened alongside the Montauk Division east of the junction in 1906, changing the junction into a connecting track between the two lines. That connection was later removed on September 10, 1923.Henry Wilhelm's Track Diagram (Arrt's Arrchives)
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

Long Island Rail Road Transportation buildings and structures in Queens, New York Rail junctions in the United States