Babylon Branch - History

History

The South Side Railroad of Long Island in the 1860s built what was to become the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The Babylon Branch as a separate operational entity began as the electrification of the Montauk Branch between Valley Stream and Babylon on May 20, 1925. Eventually, this would also include the former "Springfield Branch" which the Montauk Branch was relocated to northeast of Springfield Junction. The tracks were elevated from ground-level from the 1950s through the 1970s. Elevation of the line sparked grass-roots efforts to preserve the previous versions of Wantagh and Lindendurst Stations, the former of which resulted in the creation of the Wantagh Railroad Museum. The last station to be elevated on the branch was Massapequa Park on December 13, 1980.

Since the 1990s, many station houses along the branch have been rebuilt, including the entire platform at Seaford from July 2008 to July 2009. Additionally, from July 2007 to April 10, 2011 the signals, switches, and gantries were replaced between the Wantagh Interlocking and Amityville Station and replaced the old PRR position signals with colored signals that were installed during the elevation of that section in 1973. Plans for the future include the modernization of Babylon Interlocking, viaduct track replacement at certain stations, replacement of platforms, escalators, and elevators at Babylon, Massapequa, and Wantagh (which will have an elevator installed to comply with ADA standards). There is the possibility that Massapequa Park, Amityville, Copiague, and Lindenhurst could get elevators installed at those stations to make them ADA accessible, and a pocket track east of Massapequa.