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Re: (rshsdepot) Excellent 1898 western Long Island transportation map
> What I find fascinating with the map is its confirmation that the
> route of the Central Railroad of Long Island, from Creedmor to Flushing,
had
> already been abandoned by then. I had the following to say about this
line in the
> Seventh Edition of the New York Walk Book, for which I served as editor:
Not exactly true, AFAIK. The track remained for some years -- maybe until a
WW I scrap drive. The deep cut through the terminal morraine was filled in
when the Grand Central Parkway was built. Trees and thick fines covered the
area, and Robert Moses' engineers really didn't have any idea how deep the
cut was until they started dumping dirt into it. It took far longer (and far
more dirt) than expected.
And the story goes that as they started to fill, there were rattlesnakes
that emerged from the pile -- although the last LI rattlers were reported
extinct in the 1860s, there were lots of 'em escaping into the neighborhood
and Moses' people quickly devised some sort of way to capture them before
panic in the then-growing neighborhoods of Queens even discovered the
creatures. The story was told in relation to Moses' later efforts to hide
the fact that the ocean was breaking through under the parkway at Jones
Beach which he was promoting the idea of a parkway the length of Fire Island
the "Stabilize and Protect" the later.
And, technically, the entire Central RR was still an active railroad until
the MTA takeover in 1967 (and maybe later). To preserve the right to use the
right of way, LIRR employees would walk the entire distance, closing each
crossing along the way for awhile all the way from Flushing to Creedmoor,
and from Mitchel Field to Bethpage.
I believe one of the guys who had that duty may monitor this list from time
to time. Dick?
So -- I think it is only accurate to say that trains ceased using the
railroad in 1879, and it was abandoned by 1970.
Cheers,
Jim
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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