Hunterspoint Avenue station (LIRR)

Hunterspoint Avenue
West end of station
Location	49th Avenue between 21st Street and Skillman Avenue Long Island City, Queens, New York
Coordinates	40°44′32″N 73°56′50″W
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Main Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	New York City Subway:  ​ at Hunters Point Avenue at 21st Street NYCT Bus: B32, B62 MTA Bus: Q67
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	1860
Closed	1902
Rebuilt	1878, 1903, 1914
Electrified	June 16, 1910 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	6,479
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Long Island City Terminus City Terminal Zone Jamaica toward Long Island

Hunterspoint Avenue is a station on the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road within the City Terminal Zone. It is located at 49th Avenue (formerly Hunters Point Avenue) between 21st Street and Skillman Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. This ground-level station has an island platform between two tracks and is not wheelchair accessible from the entrance above the station.

The station is served only during weekday rush hours in the peak direction (to Hunterspoint Avenue from Long Island in the morning, from Hunterspoint Avenue to Long Island in the evening). Trains serving here usually run on the Oyster Bay, Montauk, or Port Jefferson Branches, with one Ronkonkoma-bound train also departing from Hunterspoint Avenue in the late afternoon. Some westbound trains continue to Long Island City, and some eastbound trains originate in Long Island City. All service (except for one PM rush Ronkonkoma-bound train and one AM rush train from Huntington) is provided by diesel trains that cannot use the East River Tunnels, but the tracks are electrified.

History

Hunterspoint Avenue station opened in August 1860, three years before the New York and Flushing Railroad built their own Hunter's Point station. LIRR's Hunterspoint Avenue was renovated in April 1878, but burned in a fire in December 1902. The station was replaced on April 26, 1903, only to be rebuilt again nine years later. According to a New York Times article from May 1914, the third station was scheduled to open on July 1, 1914. Instead, the reopening date was delayed until October 18, 1914.

In June 1947, only two weekday trains were scheduled east from Hunterspoint Ave, one to Jamaica and one to Queens Village. Trains destined beyond electrified territory could leave Penn Station behind DD1 electric locomotives and change engines at Jamaica; thirteen weekday trains did so. That service ended in 1951, leading to Hunterspoint Avenue's present role.

Station layout

The station has one 10-car long high-level island platform between the two Main Line tracks, with stairways on both sides of 49th Avenue.

G	Street level	Entrance/exit to 49th Avenue
P Platform level
	Track 1	← Main Line toward Long Island City (Terminus) Main Line toward Long Island destinations via Jamaica (Jamaica) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left or right
	Track 2	← Main Line toward Long Island City (Terminus) Main Line toward Long Island destinations via Jamaica (Woodside) →

Gallery

• 

  Hunterspoint Avenue station, as seen from IRT Flushing Line subway train.

• 

  Junction; left branch crosses Borden Avenue to HP station.

• 

  A New Jersey Transit commuter train passes by on the way to Penn Station as it leaves the Sunnyside Yard.

• 

  So does an Amtrak train.

External links

• Hunterspoint Avenue – LIRR

• Hunterspoint Avenue LIRR Timetable

• Hunterspoint Avenue LIRR Station (TheSubwayNut)
• Hunterspoint Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platform from Google Maps Street View
• Wooden Station Sign and covered entrance from the bridge in 1958; by W.J. Edwards (TrainsAreFun)