Springfield Gardens was an island platform station that existed along the Babylon-Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, in the

Springfield Gardens, Queens 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 ...

section of

Queens, New York City 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 ...

. The station was located between St. Albans and Rosedale Stations, north of Springfield Junction. The only visible evidence of the station today is a wide gap between the tracks.

History

It first opened around the 1870s by the New York and Rockaway Railroad as Springfield Station (a name also given to a former station on the

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 ...

near Higbie Avenue). It was originally located on

Merrick Boulevard Merrick Road is an east–west urban arterial in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties in New York, United States. It is known as Merrick Boulevard or Floyd H. Flake Boulevard in Queens, within New York City. Merrick Road runs east from the Queens ...

until May 1885 when it was moved to the southeast side of Springfield Road (now Springfield Boulevard). The line was electrified on May 21, 1925 and the station was renamed Springfield Gardens in October 1927. On July 24, 1936, the station was rebuilt as part of a grade elimination project.

Closure

On May 21, 1973, the LIRR announced plans to significantly reduce service at Union Hall Street, Springfield Gardens, and

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...

, with only a few trains stopping during rush hours. At Springfield Gardens, service was limited to a single westbound train leaving at 7:41 a.m., and a single eastbound train, leaving at 5:20 p.m.. The station closed on October 13, 1979 due to very low ridership, nearby alternate forms of transportation, and the high cost of maintaining the station. In July 1979, only 51 people used the station. A LIRR spokesperson said that more frequent service was available at the nearby Locust Manor and Laurelton stops, and that bus service stopped nearby. The spokesman said that the high $500,000 cost of doing need maintenance work to the station building and platform meant it had to be closed.

References

Former Long Island Rail Road stations in New York City Railway stations in Queens, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1873 1873 establishments in New York (state) Railway stations closed in 1979 1979 disestablishments in New York (state) Jamaica, Queens {{QueensNY-railstation-stub