LIRR Wading River Extension

		Wading River Extension
North Shore Rail Trail - 8/09/2022 Photos/Archive: Dave Morrison
North Shore Rail Trail Wading River kiosk map			North Shore Rail Trail Wading River kiosk North Shore Rail Trail - Hallock Landing Rd view E			North Shore Rail Trail - Ordin Road crossing view E/W (below)		North Shore Rail Trail - Woodville Road view E - Bridge view S

Terrain map of Wading River Extension
Robert Emery Maps of the Wading River Extension - 1925 Archive: Dave Keller
MP57-58 Port Jeff	MP58-59			MP59-60		MP60-61 Miller Place	MP61-62		MP62-63
MP63-64	MP64-65 Rocky Point			MP65-66 Shoreham		MP66-67	MP67-68		MP68 Wading River
Emery Composite Map of the Wading River Extension - 1925 by Steven Lynch 11/18/2006
Google Earth of the ROW as it looks today, pieced together, highlighting the ROW route, and added the stations. Credit: Bob Andersen
1873 map of proposed LIRR connections from Miller Place and Wading River to Manorville Archive: NY State Library					Beers map 1873 Manorville zoom - Proposed LIRR connections from Miller Place/Wading River Archive: NY State Library
A Brief History of the Wading River Extension by Dave Keller
The Wading River Extension headed east from Port Jefferson in 1895, built by the “LIRR Co. North Shore Branch,” a subsidiary of the LIRR. The stations were as follows, after leaving Port Jefferson:
Miller's Place
MILLER’S PLACE: STATION STOP WITH OPENING OF BRANCH: 1895. APPEARS ON TIMETABLES WITH AND WITHOUT THE APOSTROPHE BUT NEVER AS " MILLER PLACE " AS THE TOWN LATER WAS NAMED. ORIGINALLY NO DEPOT BUILDING . STOP ONLY. 1st DEPOT BUILT: 1898, BURNED: 1902. Research: Dave Keller
Miller's Place c.1916 - Emery SUNY-Stony Brook Map key at right. MP60-61 Emery Map 1925, Collection: Dave Keller
Eastbound D52 approaching the Depot, c. 1898 Collection: Dave Keller						Holiday House Girls posing, c. 1900 – View looking northeast. The Holiday House was a local hotel. (T. Bayles-Keller)
MILLER’S PLACE: 2nd NEARLY IDENTICAL DEPOT BUILT: 1902. AGENCY CLOSED c. 1928. DEPOT BURNED: 10/1934 (per Bob Emery). THEREAFTER PLATFORM ONLY. LAST REVENUE TRAIN: 10/9/38. OUT OF SVC. PER G.O. #1006C: 3/29/39 AND BRANCH ABANDONED Per the Miller Place-Mt. Sinai Historical Society's website, Miller Place was originally a part of the Old Mans territory purchased in 1664 by the Town of Brookhaven which was in what is today Setauket. The name Miller Place derives from the first permanent settler in the area, Andrew Miller, and the name took hold sometime around 1700. In those days, roads did not have a name such as North Country Rd, but were referred to as the road from one location to another. In this instance the road was "From Town (Setauket) to Andrew Miller's Place." Eventually the "Andrew" was dropped, and finally the possessive "s" was dropped in the early 1900s. http://www.mpmshistoricalsociety.org/new_site/index.php?id=8 It was typical of the LIRR, as they did at other station locations, that they didn't follow suit immediately (or sometimes, like with Miller's Place . . . never) with the name change. You can clearly see on the c. 1914 and 1915 images of the depot (as well as on timetables of the era), the station name sign reads "MILLER'S PLACE," quite a few years after the town dropped the possessive "s!" (Dave Keller data)
Awaiting train time. View looking southeast 1910 Collection: Dave Keller Millers Place 2nd Station - View SW c.1916+ based on the Ford Model T Archive: John Jett						Awaiting train time. View looking east from express platform 1915 (T. Bayles-Keller) Millers Place 2nd Station - Train Time View E c.1914 Archive: Dave Keller
Removing wooden trestle at Miller Place Rd. Summer 1939 View NW (A. Bayles-Keller)						Removing wooden trestle at Miller Place Rd. Summer 1939 View E (A. Bayles-Keller)
Removing wooden trestle at Miller Place Rd. Summer 1939 View W (A. Bayles-Keller)

Rocky Point
ROCKY POINT: STATION STOP WITH OPENING OF EXTENSION BRANCH: 06/27/1895. NO DEPOT. DEPOT BUILT: 1898. LARGE, COVERED PLATFORM SHEDS ADDED: 1928 TO HANDLE CROWDS THAT ARRIVED WHEN BUILDING LOTS WERE BEING SOLD CHEAPLY BY THE “NEW YORK DAILY MIRROR” NEWSPAPER. AGENCY CLOSED: 1929. LAST REVENUE TRAIN: 10/9/38. OUT OF SVC. PER G.O. #1006C: 3/29/39 AND BRANCH ABANDONED. MOVED OFF R.O.W. A SHORT DISTANCE SOUTH OF TRACKS, AND 200' EAST OF ORIGINAL LOCATION c. 1940 (Robert Emery data). BECAME OFFICE FOR THURBER LUMBER CO: 19_?_. COVERED PLATFORMS ENCLOSED. HEAVILY REMODELED (per 2013 Google Maps Imagery). ONLY ROOF IS RECOGNIZABLE. STILL STANDING: 2019 (per Google Maps imagery).
Rocky Point depot 1928 View NE. Archive: Dave Keller	Rocky Point Station-View 1930. (Osborne-Keller)	MP64-65 Emery Map 1925 Archive: Dave Keller	Emery Map Rocky Point 1936 Archive: SUNY-Stony Brook
The large covered platforms were added to the tiny depot in 1928 for projected land purchase crowds visiting the area. Guess it wasn't too successful as the agency closed the following year (1929), and the 1903 photo (above) shot the year after that. Info: Dave Keller
The depot was moved a short distance south of the tracks and slightly east of the original location c.1940 and used by Thurber Lumber Co. ex-Rocky Point Station site 9/22/2020 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison	View NE - September, 1976 (Dave Keller photo and archive) ex-Thurber Lumber proposed VFW Museum 10/31/2019	Thurber Lumber, Rocky Point 8/1982 Photo/Archive: Bill Mangahas Proposed VFW Museum and Press Release 10/31/2019	Removing stone bridge at Hallock Lodge Rd. - 1939 ( A. Bayles-Keller) Rocky Point ex-Station-Thurber Lumber debris pile 9/22/2020 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison
Rocky Point 12/15/2021 Photo/Archive: Antonio Morrow	Rocky Point - VFW Museum 8/09/2022 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison
Shoreham
SHOREHAM: FIRST APPEARS IN TIMETABLE OF JUNE, 1900 AS “WARDENCLYFFE.” LOCATED ON WEST SIDE OF NORTH COUNTRY ROAD CROSSING. 2ND DEPOT BUILT: 1902, ON EAST SIDE OF NORTH COUNTRY ROAD CROSSING, .2 MILES EAST OF FORMER LOCATION. RENAMED “SHOREHAM”: 1906. AGENCY CLOSED: 1935. DEPOT CLOSED WITH LAST REVENUE TRAIN: 10/9/38. OUT OF SVC. PER G.O. #1006C: 3/29/39 AND BRANCH ABANDONED. (Per Vincent Seyfried: used as real estate office and 1950. Per Bob Emery, with photographic proof, building remained abandoned and was repeatedly vandalized for lumber as late as 12/1944. Demolished in 1950.) Research: Dave Keller
Nikola Tesla's Tower location map of Wardenclyffe (now Shoreham) 1909 ROW view W toward Woodville Road bridge 9/22/2020 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison	MP65-66 Emery Map 1925, Shoreham Station Archive: Dave Keller ROW view E toward Woodville Road bridge 9/22/2020 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison	The old stone bridge over Woodville Road just west of the Shoreham station looking north c. 1905. This bridge remains in place currently and, along with the relocated Rocky Point depot building, is one of the two remaining structures of any kind along the former Port Jefferson-Wading River extension that was placed out of service on March 29, 1939. (Photo by A. Greene, Dave Morrison archive) The old stone bridge over Woodville Road, Shoreham View S 7/14/2018 Photo: Robert Kryger
Here's a rear view of Shoreham station c. 1905 looking SE from within the rustic wooden entrance to the Shoreham Inn. Visible above the depot roof is the upper portion of Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower. Wardenclyffe was the original name of Shoreham. (Photo by Greene, Dave Keller archive) Nikola Tesla Tower (aka Wardenclyffe Tower) demolition view SE at Shoreham Station 7/04/1917		Shoreham station looking NE c. 1905. This was the "sister" station to the depot building at Auburndale in Queens , minus the Porte cochere that the Auburndale structure had. According to the late LIRR ticket agent Thomas R. Bayles, the Shoreham depot was considered one of the fancier stations on the LIRR, with wicker furniture in the waiting room and wooden shakes on the exterior walls. Teenage telegraph messenger Bayles would ride his bicycle daily to the station from his home on Rt. 25 in Middle Island and then deliver telegrams via bicycle from the depot into Shoreham village and return, then back home to Middle Island at the end of a long day. Note the old hand-pulled Long Island Express wagon loaded on the platform, awaiting train time. Also note the sole Dietz kerosene platform lamp at the foot of the wooden access stairs. There are three very old automobiles also awaiting train time and in the background behind the station can be seen the rustic wooden entrance to the Shoreham Inn. (Photo by A. Greene, Ken Brady archive)
This is yet another terrific image of the Shoreham station as photographed by A. Greene of Port Jefferson. This view is looking NE c. 1907 and approaching the station is class D16b (4-4-0) #206 with westbound train. Note the first two extremely old baggage cars. The agent or his clerk is pulling the loaded Long Island Express wagon, contents of which will be loaded into one of those two lead cars. (Dave Keller archive)		This 1912 view of Shoreham station is looking NE and was photographed by Albert Bayles, a LIRR carpenter and amateur photographer. He was the brother of Thomas R. Bayles mentioned previously. (Dave Keller archive)
Albert Bayles took his view the same day as the previous 1912 image. The camera is looking west with an eastbound class D56 (4-4-0) locomotive and train passing the freight house on the west side of North Country Road and is in about the same location as the original Wardenclyffe station that first appears on timetables of June, 1900. This 2nd depot was built in 1902 and the name changed to Shoreham in 1906. In this summer image, we see a couple of girls in their white summer finery heading for the stairs to meet the train. The rustic wooden entrance to the Shoreham Inn can be seen in the right background, and note that in both 1912 images, a low, white, fence border has been added around the roadway. (Dave Keller archive)		Thomas R. Bayles photographed this side view of the Shoreham depot with his little Kodak Brownie box camera in 1914. We're looking east and the roadway fence border is very visible. (Dave Keller archive)
After all that bicycle riding on a daily basis, Thomas Bayles must've had some stamina as a teenager, because one day in 1914 he climbed the many steps to the top of Nikola Tesla's abandoned Wardenclyffe tower and photographed this birds-eye view of the Shoreham station area. Visible at the right is the eastbound express house and at the left, the grade crossing of North Country Road . At the far left, inside the "V" of the tower's wooden timbers, the freight house / westbound express house is visible. This view is looking northwest. The rustic wooden entrance to the Shoreham in is in the background as is the little outhouse . . .the toilet facilities for the station and the low, wooden fence border. Not visible in this image are the remains of the curving siding that serviced Tesla's laboratory which was at the foot of the tower and still stands today. The tower was demolished in 1917. (Dave Keller archive)		This is an official Long Island Rail Road valuation image of Shoreham depot looking due north. What's great about this photo is that it not only shows the non-ADA handicap access to the tracks and/or depot (only wooden slat stairs!) but it also shows the wooden slatted baggage "slide" down which baggage and express were slid to be caught at the base and loaded onto the express/baggage wagon which appears in earlier photos on this page. This view is dated as June 26, 1918 and also shows another Dietz kerosene platform lamp at the head of the stairs as well as at their foot. (LIRR - Dave Morrison archive)
LIRR block operator James V. Osborne photographed the Shoreham station c. 1925 in this view looking NW. You'll notice the bushes have grown larger AND . . . the two Dietz kerosene platform lamps have been replace by electric lights on platform poles. Also gone is the rustic wooden entrance to the Shoreham Inn. (Dave Keller archive) Emery map - Shoreham 1932 - Archive: SUNY Stony Brook		Compare this sad image with the previous one as well as with the similar angle view from 1912 with eastbound train. This is the end for the once-fine Shoreham depot. This view, looking west, is not dated, but as it appears to have been shot from the rear of an eastbound train, and judging by the ramshackle condition of the structures and the overgrown grounds, it must've been photographed close to the end of scheduled revenue train service which occurred in October, 1938. The fact that the rails are very shiny indicate that daily train service is still in force, although minimal service at that. Note the distant freight house no longer stands and the platform electric lights and poles have been removed. The extension between Port Jefferson and Wading River , along which Shoreham was a station stop, was officially abandoned by general order effective March 29, 1939 and the tracks were torn up shortly thereafter. (Robert Emery collection: SUNY at Stony Brook)
Even sadder than the previous image is this view looking SE on December 19, 1944. While the Shoreham station was taken out of service and the branch abandoned in March, 1939, it appears the old depot building stood for a number of years afterward. Vincent Seyfried in his LIRR history states the building was used by a realty company, but that was probably only for a few years after the 1939 abandonment, because one can clearly see that the structure had been heavily vandalized as a second-hand lumber source for quite some time for it to be in this poor a condition by the end of 1944, only 5 ½ years later. What's even more amazing, is that it wasn't completely demolished until 1950 . . . another 5 years later! (Robert Emery collection: SUNY at Stony Brook)		Fast-forward to the winter of 1969 and this image was photographed looking east along the LIRR's former right-of-way towards the former location of the Shoreham depot, which was approximately between the two power poles at the left. The original cut below grade is still evident at the time of this photo. (Dave Keller photo and archive)
Wading River Dave Morrison holding the Wading River Station to be restored by Carl Dimino and returned to the Wading River Historical Society. Photo: Dave Morrison 5/09/2014
WADING RIVER: BUILT: 1895, REMODELED TO TWO STOREY: 1906. AGENT AND FAMILY LIVED UPSTAIRS. AGENCY CLOSED: c. 1933. TRACKS CUT BACK AND STATION FACILITIES RELOCATED 1 MILE WEST OF FORMER LOCATION TO RANDALL ROAD: 1/18/38 (MILLER FAMILY RECLAIMED THEIR PROPERTY FROM RIVERHEAD TOWN LINE EAST TO ORIGINAL END OF TRACK). WOODEN DEPOT RAZED SOMETIME AFTER AND LUMBER USED TO BUILD STORE NORTH OF STATION SITE. LAST REVENUE TRAIN: 10/9/38. RELOCATED STATION OUT OF SVC. PER G.O. #1006C: 3/29/39 AND BRANCH ABANDONED.
Wading River Station - View S 1895 Archive: Wading River Historical Society Wading River winter 1912 A rare image this is. The upstairs has recently been added so the agent and his family could live on site. There are his two kids in the foreground: the boy in the sleigh wearing no hat and freezing his ears off and the little girl, well-bundled up and walking along the freshly-shoveled wooden platform. In the background it appears that the agent is sweeping off the remainder of the platform and some LIRR men are clearing snow from around the switch which allowed the engine to be cut off and run around the train at end-of-track. You can see the switch target to the right of the single guy at the right . . . it towers over him as does the lone, Dietz kerosene platform lamp towering over the sweeping agent. Collection: Dave Keller		Wading River 1907, In red it says "George Schultz" and dimensions are 50' x 100' Collection: Art Huneke Wading River Station - Experimental Greenery c.1898 Engine house, coaling bunker and water tank at Wading River terminal June, 1918. View looking southeast. Archive: Dave Keller
Wading River Station 1905 Photo: Harold B. Fullerton Collection: Queens Library		Wading River Station 8/1905 - Surrey's 19th & early 20th century carriages wait to take passengers to their destinations. Photo: Harold B. Fullerton Collection: Queens Library
Wading River - MOW boxcar to be used as housing 1905 Photo: Hal Fullerton Archive: Queens Public Library		Men hauling a LIRR condemned boxcar that served as living quarters for laborers who were clearing land for Experimental Station No. 1 near the old Wading River railroad station in Wading River, 1905. The Experimental Station was an 80-acre agricultural project that was set up to show how crops can be raised in the soil of Wading River and the Central Pine Barrens region around the area of Long Island Avenue in Medford. The project was started by Hal and Edith Fullerton to show how crops would grow in what seemed to be infertile, sandy soil of Long Island. The first of these experimental stations was located in Wading River and yielded such great results that a second site was chosen in Medford. Hal and Edith lived in Huntington and routinely made trips out to each of the stations. Hal was a well-known, accomplished photographer who documented the success of these farms through the lens of his camera showing the potential that Long Island soil brought to produce farming.
Wading River - MOW boxcar housing 1905 Photo: Hal Fullerton Archive: Suffolk County Historical Society		Hal B. Fullerton photo (left) 1905 from Ron Ziel's The Long Island Rail Road in Early Photographs. This temporary MOW (maintenance of way) housing for the Italian "Gandy Dancers" (track workers) was typical, rugged, with no frills. The man, newly arrived immigrants in many cases, were typically Brooklyn residents transported back for the weekends to join family.
G5s #29 Last revenue train on Wading River Extension preparing to leave the relocated Wading River station at Randall Road - 10/09/1938		Wading River 1918 View E.	Depot building looking northeast 9/06/1937 (Votava- Keller)
End of track of Wading River extension as cut back to 1,550' east of the east leg of the wye at Port Jefferson with line abandonment effective March 29, 1939. (see General Order below) View is looking due east in 1968. (Dave Keller photo and archive)		MP68 Emery Map 1925 Collection: Dave Keller	Former Site Wading River Station after Cut-Back to Randall Rd on 1/18/1938 - Wading River, NY (View SW) - 08-2012 (Google Maps)
The Wading River terminal had a wye, located north of the tracks to turn engines around. It also had a wooden, two-stall engine house south of the tracks along with coaling and watering facilities. The LIRR’s main track ended on the west side of Wading River-Manor Road, with the depot building on the north side of the tracks. However, a siding used to service a coal supplier branched south off the main and extended further east across Wading River-Manor Road a distance. So . . . . while the LIRR’s end-of-track was technically on the west side of Wading River-Manor Road, it really extended further, via the siding. As business got really slow, the railroad stopped running actual trains out to Wading River, but ran a shuttle service between Port Jefferson and Wading River utilizing a self-propelled gas car, nicknamed a “doodlebug.” This car ran on gasoline and carried passengers as well as baggage and could operate with only a motorman and a conductor. Quite a bit of savings from a steam locomotive and tender using lots of coal and water had having a full crew of engineer, fireman, conductor, trainman and brakeman. An interesting point to note is that in January, 1938, the end-of-track was cut back one mile west with a low-level platform constructed for use as the new station as the description above for Wading River station mentions. Per official LIRR General Orders, the following information may be of interest to you as it spells out the final days of service: GENERAL ORDER #811C, EFFECTIVE 1/18/38: WADING RIVER STATION AND STATION FACILITIES RELOCATED 1 MILE WEST OF FORMER LOCATION. GENERAL ORDER #1006C, EFFECTIVE 3/29/39: SINGLE TRACK FROM A POINT 1,550’ EAST OF EAST LEG OF WYE, PORT JEFFERSON STATION TO WADING RIVER STATION OUT OF SERVICE. (Last revenue train was on 10/9/38. DK) MILLER PLACE STATION AND STATION FACILITIES OUT OF SERVICE ROCKY POINT STATION AND STATION FACILITIES OUT OF SERVICE SHOREHAM STATION AND STATION FACILITIES OUT OF SERVICE WADING RIVER STATION AND STATION FACILITIES OUT OF SERVICE PO (Port Jefferson) UNATTENDED BLOCK STATION OUT OF SERVICE MI (Miller Place) UNATTENDED BLOCK STATION OUT OF SERVICE WY (Wading River) UNATTENDED BLOCK STATION OUT OF SERVICE JF (Port Jefferson) EASTWARD BLOCK SIGNAL OUT OF SERVICE WESTWARD LOWER QUADRANT SEMAPHORE DISTANT SIGNAL LOCATED EAST OF PORT JEFFERSON STATION OUT OF SERVICE The right-of-way was acquired by Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) to run their power lines. The right-of-way is now used by LIPA, the successor to LILCO. The late Robert Emery, railfan and LIRR Conductor walked the remains of the right-of-way in October of 1957 and provided the following data regarding mileposts: Location of mileposts in relation to Route 25A, all located on north side, as of 10/1957: MP 58 300’ east of Columbia Street - Port Jefferson MP 59 On embankment 400’ west of Gulf gas station - Mt. Sinai (still in) MP 60 Back of Miller Machine Tool factory – Miller Place MP 61 100’ east of Miller Place Road – Miller Place (still in) MP 62 North on Harrison Ave. where it crossed the LIRR tracks – Sound Beach MP 63 About 400’ north of the point where LILCO high tension feeder line to RCA crosses Route 25A – Rocky Point MP 64 500’ north of Rocky Point School – Rocky Point (still in) MP 65 300’ east of Harding Street – Rocky Point (still in) MP 66 Approx. ___’ north of Miller Ave. on ROW – Shoreham (still in) MP 67 400’ west of “Nike” Air Base Road – Wading River (still in) MP 68 Approx. 300’ north of hollow on Route 25A which is 1,000’ west of Riverhead Town Line – Wading River The stone overpass at Woodville Road in Shoreham is the last of the right-of-way structures that is still intact. The wooden trestle over the tracks at Miller’s Place was dismantled in 1939. The stone overpass at Rocky Point was demolished around the same time and the reddish-brown stones were shipped up the road and used as a retaining wall at Cedar Beach. The depot building at Rocky Point is still standing, having been moved slightly south of the original right-of-way and onto private property and has been incorporated into the structures on their grounds. As far as I know it is still standing. Dave Keller 11/2006 (updated: 02/25/17)

03/13/2024