Valley Stream is a station serving the residents of

Valley Stream Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census. The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of Hempstead, ...

, and is the first station (traveling eastbound) in Nassau County. The station is located at Franklin Avenue and

Sunrise Highway New York State Route 27 (NY 27) is a long state highway that runs east–west from Interstate 278 (I-278) in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, New York. Its two most prominent com ...

, west of Rockaway Avenue, and is from

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

. The station is

wheelchair accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

with an

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

from street level; parking facilities and taxis are available. The station is located on 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 ...

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger service in the borough of Brooklyn. The line consists of two sectio ...

; the tracks of 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 ...

pass directly north of the station. 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 ...

and

West Hempstead Branch The West Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York. It runs between Valley Stream, New York, and West Hempstead, New York. Route description The branch se ...

diverge east of the station. The station is served by trains on the Far Rockaway 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 F ...

, as well as select West Hempstead Branch trains. On weekends, the station serves as the westbound terminal for West Hempstead Branch shuttle trains, which require a transfer to continue towards New York City.

History

The first Valley Stream station was built by 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 ...

on October 28, 1867. The station house itself opened in July 1869 with the opening of the

, and was built as a Swiss chalet style station house inside the legs of an old wye. It also served customers of the

Southern Hempstead Branch The Southern Hempstead Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road from Valley Stream to Hempstead. It was established in 1870 and abandoned in May 1879, and is not the same route as the current West Hempstead Branch. History Hempstead res ...

which was built by the short-lived New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad between 1871 and 1900. Along with the rest of the SSRRLI, the station was acquired by the

in 1889. In 1893 the station began to serve trains along the

. When Nassau County separated from

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

in 1899, Valley Stream station became the first station in Nassau County along the Montauk Branch. The station was electrified with the rest of the Far Rockaway Branch on December 11, 1905, and the

was extended from

Lynbrook station Lynbrook is a Long Island Rail Road commuter train station in Lynbrook, New York. The station is located at the intersection of Sunrise Highway and Peninsula Boulevard and is located on the railroad's Montauk Branch and Long Beach Branch line ...

in 1910 and became an extension of the

. In 1933, the original station was razed as part of a grade crossing elimination project along the Montauk, Atlantic, and Babylon branches. Prior to this, a temporary station was relocated on a shoo-fly north of the former station on August 10, 1932, then moved to another one south of the former station on August 31 of the same year. The third elevated center-island structure that exists today was opened north of the former location on February 7, 1933, and although the wye was removed as part of the reconstruction, it remained on many maps well into the late-20th Century, and continues to be shown on some in the present.

Clear Stream station

Shortly after electrical service of the Far Rockaway Branch was established, the LIRR created a new station west of Valley Stream at Clear Stream Road (now Avenue) called Clear Stream. It opened in 1906 and used only for rush hour service. The station was eliminated after 1910. he Long Island Rail Road, a Comprehensive History - Part 6: The Golden Age 1881-1900, by Vincent F. Seyfried (1975; Page 267)]

Station layout

An eight-car long island platform is located between the two south tracks, The two bypass tracks north of the station are part of the

, while Tracks 1 and 2 are on the Atlantic Branch. At the east end of the station, the Atlantic Branch splits into the Long Beach Branch, continuing east to Lynbrook and Long Beach, and

, turning south toward

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 ...

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 ...

trains that terminate at Valley Stream on weekends also merge with the

right-of-way in order to switch onto the

track further east.

References

External links

*Arrt's Arrchives **Maps fro
1873
an
1910

Hicks Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

Franklin Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{LIRR stations navbox Valley Stream, New York Long Island Rail Road stations in Nassau County, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1869