The branch separates from the Montauk Branch just east of Valley Stream, and runs northeast to West Hempstead. The line has one track between Westwood station and Hempstead Gardens and two from there to the end of the line in West Hempstead, the southbound or east track being a siding. The right-of-way of the West Hempstead Branch is wide enough for two tracks for its whole length.[2] There are three grade-crossings on the line, reducing the maximum speed to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), and because of curves at the Lakeview and Malverne stations, the speed is lowered to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) on that stretch.[3]
The branch had one manual block from "HC" to "VA" until "WM" block limit was installed in 1935.[4]
Modernization
As the smallest LIRR commuter branch,[3] the West Hempstead Branch was one of the last in the system to modernize. It was the last of the electrified LIRR branches to receive high level platforms, in the early 1970s, and the last of the electrified branches to be fitted with Automatic Train Control (known as Automatic Speed Control by the LIRR), which it received in October 2009 during a system overhaul and upgrade at Valley Interlocking.[5][4] The branch has the lowest ridership of any on the Long Island Rail Road.[3] Subsequently, the branch is one of the LIRR lines most vulnerable to closure, and has been threatened with abandonment in recent years.[6] From September 2010 until November 22, 2014, the line had no weekend service due to budgetary constraints, with St. Albans served by Babylon Branch trains on weekends.[7][8]
History
1897 map of Hempstead, including the West Hempstead Branch before it was truncated south of Hempstead Avenue.
The West Hempstead Branch was the indirect successor to the old South Side Railroad's Southern Hempstead Branch, which ran a similar route north from Valley Stream to Hempstead, before being torn up in the 1880s. On January 26, 1892, the New York Bay Extension Railroad Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of the Long Island Rail Road to build a line running from Garden City to a point in the town of New Lots in Kings County near the intersection with the New York, Brooklyn & Manhattan Beach Railway Company.[9] The 5.89 miles (9,480 m) line was built between Country Life Press to Valley Stream and opened in 1893.[10] The LIRR leased its property in 1897, and formally merged with the New York Bay Extension Railroad on August 29, 1902.[11][12][13] The West Hempstead Branch originally extended beyond its current terminus and through Hempstead. It connected with the current day Hempstead Branch at Country Life Press.[2] From the Country Life Press station, the line had several routings it could take. It could loop west and continue down the Hempstead Branch to Jamaica. Through an elaborate wye system, trains could also loop east and continue down the Central Branch to Babylon (the split between the Hempstead and Central Branches occur just west of Country Life Press). Trains could also head north on the wye and continue all the way north to Mineola and connect with both the Main Line and Oyster Bay Branches.
Storage battery cars ran on the non-electrified branch between June 1913 and May 1926. The upper end of the branch was electrified in 1911 or 1912 from Country Life Press to Franklin Avenue in Garden City to allow MU baggage cars access to the Doubleday plant.[4]
On October 19, 1926, the portion of the line between Valley Stream and Franklin Avenue in Garden City was electrified at the cost of $1 million and it was inaugurated with a special train.[14][4][15] New through service running between Valley Stream and Mineola began on the West Hempstead Branch the next day. The freight sidings, however, were not electrified until 1927 and 1928. The connection to the Oyster Bay Branch was severed in 1928, while the portions of the line between Mineola and Country Life Press and between Country Life Press and West Hempstead were taken out of revenue passenger service on September 15, 1935 due to the costly grade crossing elimination improvements imposed upon the LIRR by the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as the New York Public Service Commission. This meant that no more thru service between Valley Stream and Mineola could operate.[16][15]
The track connection at Country Life Press to the West Hempstead Branch was removed on August 19, 1960, and on this same date the tracks were cut back from Country Life Press to the west side of the Franklin Avenue crossing. The remaining tracks north of West Hempstead at Hempstead Avenue were removed sometime between 1967 and 1969. Freight trains and non-revenue rerouting trains continued down these portions up until their closure.[16] The rights-of-way remain intact.[17]
Prior to February 27th, 2023, off-peak service was provided by a bi-hourly shuttle service operating between West Hempstead and Valley Stream, with St. Albans being served by Babylon Branch trains. However, as West Hempstead branch trains crossed both tracks of the Montauk Branch to enter Track 1 at Valley Stream, this limited service that could be provided on both branches. This effect also extended to the Long Beach and Far Rockaway branches, as both branches would have to provide bi-directional service on a single track through the station. Following the full opening of Grand Central Madison, service to Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn was cut back to a shuttle to Jamaica. To compensate for the lack of through service to Brooklyn and to allow for cross-platform-transfers at Jamaica for Brooklyn-bound customers, off-peak West Hempstead trains stopped serving Valley Stream and began running hourly through to Atlantic Terminal with peak trains now serving both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal as of February 27th, 2023.[18][19]
Stations
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: New service pattern. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2023)
^ abcLong Island Rail Road (May 14, 2012). "TIMETABLE No. 4"(PDF). p. VII. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
^ ab"West Hempstead Stations". www.lirrhistory.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2000. Retrieved August 18, 2016.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ abcAin, Stewart (March 10, 2002). "West Hempstead Line's Squeaky Wheels". New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2011. West Hempstead branch had a daily ridership of 3,550, the lowest of the railroad's 11 branches. That compares with 58,000 [sic] on the Oyster Bay branch, which has the next smallest number of riders.
^Ain, Stewart (August 8, 2004). "M.T.A.'s Threat Drops Some Jaws". New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2011. Brian Dolan, a spokesman for the railroad, said the elimination of the [Oyster Bay, West Hempstead, and Greenport] branches would be a 'drastic step we would hope we would not have to implement.' He said the move was being considered because of a projected $1.3 billion budget shortfall that the transportation authority, the railroad's parent, is facing in 2006.
^Alcindor, Yamiche (September 18, 2010). "An empty feeling on LIRR's West Hempstead branch". Newsday. Retrieved November 1, 2011. The elimination of the branch's 17 weekend trains is aimed at helping the struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority close a $900-million budget gap. The cutback will save $474,000 a year, officials have said.
^"WILL HAIL ELECTRIC TRAIN; West Hempstead Branch Towns to Celebrate New Service Today"(PDF). New York Times. October 19, 1926. Retrieved November 1, 2011. The first electric train of the Long Island Railroad to run over the recently electrified West Hempstead branch will leave the Pennsylvania Terminal this afternoon, carrying railroad officials and delegations from the communities affected. The train will be an express to Mineola, where the principal celebration will be held.
^ ab"WHBrEL". www.arrts-arrchives.com. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
^"Mineola to West Hempstead". www.lirrhistory.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2000. Retrieved April 28, 2016.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
