Bellmore (LIRR station)

Bellmore
The south side of Bellmore Station from the parking lot
Location	Sunrise Highway between Bedford & Center Avenues Bellmore, New York
Coordinates	40°40′08″N 73°31′44″W / 40.668766°N 73.528833°W / 40.668766; -73.528833Coordinates: 40°40′08″N 73°31′44″W / 40.668766°N 73.528833°W / 40.668766; -73.528833
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Babylon Branch
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	NICE Bus: n45
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	7
History
Opened	October, 1869 (SSRRLI)
Rebuilt	1968-1975
Electrified	May 20, 1925 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	6,535[1]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Merrick toward New York terminals Babylon Branch Wantagh toward Babylon

Bellmore is a station on the Babylon Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located on the north side of Sunrise Highway between Bedford and Centre Avenues in Bellmore, New York, however the actual land area occupied by the station's several parking lots begins west of Centre Avenue and continues east of Bellmore Avenue.

History

Bellmore Station was established by the South Side Railroad of Long Island in October, 1869, and the original structure was replaced sometime in the early-20th Century. As with many other ground-level stations along the Babylon Branch in Nassau and Western Suffolk Counties which had been elevated during the 1950s and 1960s, preliminary work began on February 18, 1968, to raise the tracks in Bellmore. Like Merrick station, temporary facilities containing a ticket window and a waiting room opened on December 4, 1970, but the elevated station wasn't completed until June 28, 1975.

The station today

The small structure occupying the grassy island on the north side of the station's waiting room began as an open shelter for LIRR customers waiting for eastbound trains. Constructed at the same time as the early-1900s station, it had been located on the south side of the grade-level tracks, just west of Bedford Avenue. At one point, it was partially enclosed, and became the dispatch office for Bellmore Taxi. When the tracks were elevated, the cab company moved its facilities to a storefront on Pettit Avenue, and the shelter was relocated to preserve it from the destruction which saw the demise of the old station itself. After many years of neglect, it was renovated and further enclosed to its present condition. The Bellmore Historical Society has occupied the small building for the past several years, making its treasury of antique photographs and historical artifacts available to school groups as well as to visitors to the annual Bellmore Family Street Festival hosted each fall by the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce.

Platform and tracks

The station has one 14-car-long high-level island platform between the two tracks.

References

External links

• Official LIRR station information page for Bellmore
• Station timetable for Bellmore
• Pre-1968 Bellmore Station (Arrt's Arrchives)
• Former Bellmore Station Shelter (Taken February, 2006) (TrainsAreFun.com)
• Station House from Google Maps Street View
• Bedford Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Present-day view of the north side of Bellmore Station (in the background) with the restored former shelter which had been preserved from the early-1900s grade-level station complex (in the middle-ground, on the right) and the pavement of Pettit Avenue (in the foreground).