Yaphank is a station in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Yaphank, New York Yaphank () is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,945 at the time of the 2010 census. Yaphank is located in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven. It is served by the Lo ...

on the

Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

(

Greenport Branch The Ronkonkoma Branch is a rail service operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York. On LIRR maps and printed schedules, the "Ronkonkoma Branch" includes trains running along the railroad's Main Line from Hicksv ...

) 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 Park Street near Suffolk County Road 21 (Yaphank Avenue). It is also accessible from streets in and around Suffolk County. The distance between Yaphank and the next station, Riverhead, is the longest distance between stations in the LIRR at . Government buildings are located on the north side of the tracks at the bottom of the Yaphank Avenue overpass. The two sites that are closest to the station are the

Suffolk County Police Department The Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) provides police services to 5 of the 10 Towns in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York. It is one of the largest police agencies in the United States, with approximately ...

auto mechanics shop (a.k.a. "Vector Center") as well as a

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and r ...

railroad lumber yard. The historic Suffolk County Almshouse Barn and the former Suffolk County Sanitorium can be found northwest of the station, as well as the Yaphank Avenue bridge over the tracks.

History

Yaphank station was originally built as Milleville station in 1845, and was spelled both as Millville or Milleville on LIRR timetables. It was renamed Yaphank a year later, and has kept that name ever since. The station also included a hotel until December 1873. Yaphank station was replaced by a second station building in 1875 that contained elaborate gingerbread woodwork. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Yaphank station was known as the stop for the "Camp Siegfried Special", a train that took members of the

German American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FoN ...

from parts of

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 ...

to an infamous

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

camp known as

Camp Siegfried Camp Siegfried, a summer camp which taught Nazi ideology, was located in Yaphank, New York, on Long Island. It was owned by the German American Bund, an American Nazi organization devoted to promoting a favorable view of Nazi Germany, and was ...

. The decorative features were reduced considerably in June 1941, and then the station house was closed in 1958 and burned down in 1961. After this, it was little more than a sheltered platform surrounded by concrete. During the late-1970s, it became the stop for special trains with a connecting bus to

Parr Meadows Suffolk Meadows was a quarter horse racing facility on Long Island that operated during 1977 and 1986. The racetrack was situated on a parcel located in Yaphank northwest of the William Floyd Parkway interchange on the Long Island Expressway. T ...

Racetrack. High-level platforms replaced this configuration during the 1990s. This station will be replaced by a stop in East Yaphank, which will better serve the local community and will also serve Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Carman's River station

Just east of Yaphank station, another station in Yaphank, Carman's River station, opened on June 26, 1844. It served as the temporary terminus of the LIRR main line until Manorville and Riverhead stations were built in 1845. The station was removed from the June 14, 1845 timetable.

Station layout

This station has one high-level

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 ...

north of the track that is long enough for one and a half cars to receive and discharge passengers.

References

External links

*Unofficial LIRR History Website
Yaphank Station, 1973
an
July 1992 PhotosNYA & LIRR at YAPHANK STATION
(Webshots.com) *Unofficial LIRR Photography Site (lirrpics.com)

Station from Yaphank Avenue from Google Maps Street View
{{LIRR stations navbox Long Island Rail Road stations in Suffolk County, New York Brookhaven, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1845