The South Side Railroad of Long Island was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

company in the U.S. state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as a competitor to 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, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

, it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad of Long Island and leased in 1876 to the LIRR. After a reorganization as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad in 1879 (immediately after which it was again leased to the LIRR) it was merged in 1889. The main line of the South Side Railroad is now 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. Howe ...

of the LIRR from

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

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 Hispa ...

, the Atlantic Branch from Jamaica to Valley Stream, and the Montauk Branch again from Valley Stream to

Patchogue Patchogue (, ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially kno ...

. The Brooklyn and Montauk extended the line to Eastport while leased to the LIRR. The South Side also owned or leased lines that are now the Bushwick Branch and

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, the ...

, as well as the IND Rockaway Line of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

from Far Rockaway to Hammels (abandoned beyond Hammels to Rockaway Park) and an abandoned branch from Valley Stream to Hempstead.

History

Incorporation and construction

The South Side Railroad was incorporated March 23, 1860, and organized April 20, 1860, to build from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to Islip, , May 2004 Edition with Willet Charlick, brother of the

LIRR 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, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average weekd ...

's Oliver Charlick, and Charles Fox of Baldwin in control.Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965 An April 12, 1867, supplement to its charter authorized an extension to East Hampton. Construction began in June 1866, , June 2004 Edition and it opened for regular service from

east to

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

on October 28, 1867. , June 2004 Edition Extensions opened to Islip on September 5, 1868,

Sayville Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Township of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,853 at the time of the 2010 census. History The ...

on December 11, 1868, , June 2004 Edition and

on April 10, 1869. , June 2004 Edition

Obtaining access to New York

It was forced to build its own line west of Jamaica due to the LIRR's purchase of the

New York and Flushing Railroad The Flushing and North Side Railroad was a former railroad on Long Island built by Conrad Poppenhusen as a replacement for the former New York and Flushing Railroad. The railroad was established in 1868, was merged with the Central Railroad of Lon ...

on July 13, 1867. The South Side had been looking at using the New York and Flushing Railroad for access to

. To gain access to ferry service to New York City, the South Side decided to build to Williamsburg. The line from Jamaica west to

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Pa ...

opened on July 18, 1868, with a

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

connection to the 8th Street Ferry in Williamsburg, and it opened its own track in Boerum Street, Broadway, and 8th Street to Williamsburg (operated by horses, soon replaced by steam dummies, west of Bushwick) on November 4, 1868. A branch was also built from Maspeth (west of

Flushing Avenue Flushing Avenue is a street running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens, beginning at Nassau Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and ending at Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It divides the neighborhood of Williamsburg from Clinton Hill a ...

) northwest to Furman's Island at the junction of

Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. Channelization made it one of the most heavily-used bodies of water in the Port of N ...

and Maspeth Creek for freight. However, the

Flushing and North Side Railroad The Flushing and North Side Railroad was a former railroad on Long Island built by Conrad Poppenhusen as a replacement for the former New York and Flushing Railroad. The railroad was established in 1868, was merged with the Central Railroad of Long ...

soon drove most traffic away from the New York and Flushing, leading to the portion east of Winfield being sold to the Flushing and North Side in 1869, and the rest lying unused.Peter Ross
A History of Long Island From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, History of the Long Island Railroad
1903 The Hunters Point and South Side Railroad was incorporated on January 5, 1870 to connect Fresh Pond on the South Side with the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

, , January 2005 Edition and opened in 1872 to a point on the New York and Flushing. The South Side thus gained a new freight terminal at Long Island City by rebuilding part of the old New York and Flushing, but passenger service continued to operate to Williamsburg. Since the LIRR built 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 original ...

in 1869 and 1870 to cut off the competition, an extension beyond Patchogue was not built. Prior to the acquisition by the LIRR, there was a proposal by the SSRRLI to extend the main line southeast towards Bellport, and then northeast to Brookhaven and

Southaven Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making Southaven the third-largest city in Mississippi and the second most populous ...

. Rather than the Brookhaven station that existed on the LIRR between 1884 and 1958, the planned station in Brookhaven was to be named "Fireplace" after Fireplace Neck.

Far Rockaway Branch

The South Side Railroad incorporated a subsidiary, the

Far Rockaway Branch Railroad 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, the ...

, on June 22, 1868 to construct a branch from the main line at Valley Stream to the Rockaways. The new line opened on July 29, 1869 to Mott Avenue at Far Rockaway. While constructing it in summer 1869, the company installed about 700 feet (200 m) of tracks across William B. McManus's farmland near Lawrence. However, the transaction had not been completed, and McManus and some friends tore up the track the next night; after a legal battle, the company paid McManus.Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965 The Far Rockaway Branch was extended September 2, 1869 to the Boardwalk at Beach 30th Street. The Rockaway Railway was incorporated September 5, 1871 to continue from Far Rockaway west to Rockaway Point, , January 2005 Edition and opened July 4, 1872 to Beach 103rd Street at Seaside, , February 2005 Edition. Both companies were merged into the South Side on September 14, 1872, along with the Hunters Point and South Side and New York and Flushing. Old Hewlett Station

South Hempstead Branch

The Hempstead and Rockaway Railroad was incorporated in April 1868 to build from Valley Stream on the South Side to Hempstead. The New York and Hempstead Plains Railroad was incorporated March 1, 1870, to build from Bay Ridge east to Hempstead, and on August 10, 1871 the two companies merged to form the New York and Hempstead Railroad. The line opened on September 28, 1872, and was leased to the South Side on May 10, 1873. The South Side entered

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in c ...

on November 9, 1873, , February 2005 Edition and was sold on September 16, 1874 to the Poppenhusens, who also controlled the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad. The South Side was reincorporated as the Southern Railroad of Long Island on September 25, 1874. The two Poppenhusen lines were connected at Babylon, and the Southern's branch to Hempstead was abandoned temporarily after only two years of operation. , March 2005 Edition The Southern Hempstead Branch Railroad was incorporated on July 1, 1875 as a reorganization of the New York and Hempstead, and the Southern began operating it shortly thereafter. , February 2005 Edition It was however closed permanently in May 1879, since Hempstead was already served adequately from the north (effectively the LIRR's current Hempstead Branch).Felix Reifschneider
History of the Long Island Railroad
1925, reprinted winter 2001 in ''The Third Rail''

Acquisition by the LIRR

On January 26, 1876, the Poppenhusens acquired the LIRR. The line beyond Bushwick to Williamsburg was abandoned February 26, making the line to Bushwick a branch; passenger trains operated over a new connection into the LIRR's

terminal. The LIRR leased the Southern on May 3, 1876. In June, the Southern became the main passenger route from Long Island City to Jamaica; most passenger trains on the Southern from Jamaica east to

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 w ...

were rerouted to the LIRR's Springfield Branch. , April 2005 Edition This route east of Jamaica is still the main one for trains using the ex-Southern (

) east of Valley Stream, but the "Lower Montauk" west of Jamaica has not been used by passenger trains since 2012. However, the LIRR entered receivership in late 1877, , April 2005 Edition and the Southern was reorganized on November 20, 1879 as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad,

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to elimina ...

Valuation Report, Long Island Railroad
The Brooklyn and Montauk opened an extension from Patchogue to Eastport to connect to the LIRR's Sag Harbor Branch in 1881, and on October 5, 1889 it was merged into the LIRR. The majority of the Southern is still intact; only its Hempstead Branch, Bushwick-Williamsburg line, and

west of Hammels have been abandoned. The Far Rockaway Branch from Far Rockaway to Hammels has been part of the

's IND Rockaway Line since 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Railroad Long Island Predecessors of the Long Island Rail Road Railroads on Long Island Railroad lines in Rockaway, Queens Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1860 Railway companies disestablished in 1880 Richmond Hill Historic District