Re: (rshsdepot) MTA Is Correcting Its Neglect of New York City LIRR Stations

["Jim Guthrie" <jguthrie_@_pipeline.com>]

> How'd we miss?  I lived in Lynbrook from 1949 (age 6) till leaving for
> college (1961), rode my bike to Rockville Centre for the switching,
> Malverne/Hempstead Ave, just to hear a whistle blow and see/hear
> gates/lights/bells, etc, etc.  Come to think of it, in the 2nd or 3rd
grade
> around 1951 at West End School there was a kid named Patricia Guthrie . .
.

Well -- we obviously didn't miss by much. Patricia is my older sister. I
lived on Taft Avenue, but we moved to Smithtown in 1958, and I was out of
commission for health reasons for two years.

My 4th Grade (Mrs Cuddy) MO was generally to head over to Westwood after
class, catch the 2:38 to West Hempstead and return, then scrounge for nickel
deposit bottles until I had the 30 cents for the round trip fare for the
next day. There was an engineer named Donovon who'd usually let me ride
[free], but then he "hurt his back"  and I needed the 30 cents again.

I also did lots of Far Rockaway and Long Beach round trips mostly from
Westwood ("Change at Valley Stream") and then there were the regular bike
trips to Jamaica to raid the timetable rack. "Foreign" timetables came from
either discards at Lynbrook -- or more often, raiding the "rack" at the
Herren-Rogers Travel agency.

An afternoon highlight was always the Mitchel Field Freight, which ran via
the West Hempstead Branch since it could clear up at Holban in the rush hour
without screwing up anything at Park or Hollis Interlocking. It often ran
with a couple of boxcars ahead of the locomotive for Baisley Lumber. Empties
would be pulled out -- secured on the hill up to Valley Stream and the loco
would clear on the lumber siding, then cars would be rolled back into the
train by gravity. The freight would then head up the "siding" so as to allow
the first eastbound commuter train to pass, then head west to Holban.

To keep on topic -- Westwood was a neat "Station Roof" with an open waiting
area. There was a nice little park with a pond and a stream next to it --
very picturesque.  It's still there.

Malverne had a big pot-belly stove, which was tended by the taxi company
operator. Lakeview and Hempstead Gardens were simple platforms and sheds.
West Hempstead had a very nice station (built in the 1920s) that was torn
down in favor of a concrete-block building. The "real" action there was in
the Railway Express Yard.

Cheers,
Jim



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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