Westwood is a station 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 ...

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 sepa ...

serving the villages of Malverne and

Lynbrook, New York Lynbrook is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 19,427 at the 2010 census. History The area currently known as Lynbrook has had other names, inc ...

. The station platform is located on Foster Avenue in Malverne, with parking facilities on both the Malverne (Foster Avenue at Motley Street) and Lynbrook (Whitehall Street at Whittier Street) sides of the tracks. It has no station building other than a pair of open shelters, the larger one on the Malverne side of the tracks. It also features a gated at-grade pedestrian crossing, one of only a few stations on the Long Island Rail Road to feature such crossings. No buses connect to Westwood station, however local suburban taxi cabs do stop there. A basketball court can be found on the Malverne side of the station between the platform and parking lot.

History

Before the establishment of Westwood station, the station itself was the site of a junction of two freight sidings in Lynbrook that existed only in 1924 both of which were abandoned in September of that year. The line was electrified on October 19, 1926 and the station itself was established in September 1929. The small station house had a single platform on the Malverne side, as well as an un-gated pedestrian crossing, and a pedestrian bridge over the tracks which existed only until 1938. By 1955, the station house was gutted, leaving only the roof and the frame, thus transforming it into an open shelter. At some point, an identical open shelter was built on the Lynbrook side of the tracks, which had a separate color scheme from the Malverne shelter until the 21st century.

Platform and track

This station has one four-car-long

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

on the west side of the single track, which was converted into a high-level platform in fall 1973.Westwood Shelter Track View High-level platforms under construction September 27, 1973 George Povall collection (TrainsAreFun)
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Gallery

File:West Hempstead-bound train at Westwood.jpg, A train bound for West Hempstead as seen from the Lynbrook side of the tracks. File:Westwood Station from Basketball Court.jpg, The station, as seen from an adjacent basketball court. File:Westwood Station Pedestrian Crossing.jpg, The pedestrian grade crossing at the station. File:Westwood Station from Malverne side.jpg, Westwood station's Malverne shelter. The Lynbrook shelter can be seen across the tracks.

References

External links

* [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.667634,-73.681607&spn=0.003914,0.013658&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.667634,-73.681607&panoid=pf7hMrAAoF4cwvpv85YO-A&cbp=12,343.88,,0,1.68 Station from Google Maps Street View]
Platform from Google Maps Street ViewThe gutted Station House 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 1929