Re: (rshsdepot) Corona (Queens), NY

[luckyshow_@_mindspring.com]

what about Rego park?

- -----Original Message-----
>From: I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com
>Sent: Jun 12, 2007 11:49 AM
>To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net
>Subject: (rshsdepot) Corona (Queens), NY
>
>From today's Daily News.
> 
>Bernie Wagenblast
> 
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> 
>Justice is pulling in to station 
>
>By MICHAEL DALY
>DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST 
>Posted Tuesday, June 12th 2007, 4:00 AM  
> 
>The wheels of justice may soon cause the Long Island Rail Road to resume  
>stopping in Corona after nearly five decades of blowing past it with an upturned  
>nose.
>The wheels of justice may soon cause the Long Island Rail Road to resume  
>stopping in Corona after nearly five decades of blowing past it with an upturned  
>nose. 
>For almost a century, the LIRR stopped regularly at the modest little station 
> at what was then National Ave. in Queens. Residents were able to reach Penn  
>Station in little more than 15 minutes.  
>Then, railroad officials decided to spare the suburban commuters an  
>unnecessary stop that cost them a precious minute and brought aboard scruffier  types 
>for whom work was not just a noun but a verb. Never mind how many minutes  the 
>closing cost people in Corona. In 1963, the station in Corona was shuttered  
>and the steps to the platform were dismantled. Officials also closed the  
>Elmhurst station in what was presented as a cost-saving move.  
>Never mind that this was the same year the LIRR announced plans to build a  
>new station "of pure Colonial design" in suburban Islip, in keeping with "local 
> preference." The inside would be done with ceramic tiles.  
>"Commuters will be asked to choose from four colors for the interior walls,"  
>a reporter noted.  
>That was also the year the LIRR developed a special new cocktail for suburban 
> commuters, the "Dashing Dan," consisting of 1.6 ounces of vodka on the 
>rocks, a  triple dash of orange bitters and a sliver of fresh orange. The drink 
>cost 95  cents, but you got to keep the Dashing Dan glass emblazoned with the 
>same logo  painted on all LIRR trains. The logo depicted a man in a suit and tie 
>running as  he checks his watch.  
>"The Route of the Dashing Commuter," the logo read.  
>Real-life Dashing Dans sipped the new cocktail or whatever else they fancied  
>as they now roared on past what was demoted from National Ave. to National 
>St.  The route of the Corona commuter was now the packed No. 7 subway, where the 
> travel time to and from midtown was tripled and where having so much as an 
>open  beer would get you a summons. But even the relatively cushy LIRR was not 
>good  enough for commuters who remained Driving Dans. They began and ended 
>each  weekday by making the traffic and air in Manhattan all the more 
>intolerable.  
>Along came Mayor Bloomberg, who is not averse to riding the subway and who  
>wants to charge people each time they bring a car into Manhattan. In his effort 
> to make "congestion pricing" a reality, Bloomberg has secured the backing of 
> several politicians, including Rep. Joe Crowley, the Democratic boss of 
>Queens.  
>On his part, Bloomberg has said some of the proceeds from congestion pricing  
>could be used to build new LIRR stations in Corona and Elmhurst as well as 
>new  Metro-North stations in Parkchester and Co-op City in the Bronx, all of 
>which  happen to service Crowley's district. Bloomberg has indicated construction 
>could  begin soon after his congestion plan is approved.  
>All of which gave you a sense of impending justice yesterday as you traveled  
>nearly an hour by subway from Penn Station to Corona, then walked the six 
>blocks  to the former LIRR station. You watched an LIRR train roar overhead, the 
>people  aboard having made the same trip in a quarter the time.  
>The concrete abutment was inscribed with "1930," the year the tracks and the  
>station were elevated. The only other vestiges of the old stop were the faint 
> outlines where the stairs once stood. "As you can see, there are no steps,"  
>82-year-old Frances Rienzo said from her tidy home and its splendid garden  
>nearby. "They took the stop away."  
>Rienzo was uncertain why the station was closed. She is too deeply decent and 
> dignified a person to imagine that officials would turn their nose up at 
>her.  She noted that a local boy was killed playing on the tracks shortly 
>beforehand,  though such accidents have not led to closings on Long Island.  
>"Maybe they felt this stop wasn't necessary," she said.  
>More likely, LIRR officials were so intent on coddling the Dashing Dans they  
>did not want to bother losing a minute at Corona, however many minutes it 
>cost  the people there.  
>All these years later the money from the Driving Dans just might get the  
>trains stopping there again and once more whisking people to Penn Station in  
>less than a third of the time it takes by subway.  
>I'll drink to that.  
>_mdaly_@_nydailynews.com_ (mailto:mdaly@nydailynews.com)  
>
>
>
>************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
>
>=================================
>The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
>railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
>To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

------------------------------