Ozone Park (LIRR station)
Encyclopedia
Ozone Park is a former Long Island Rail Road
station. Ozone Park station was set up to enable passengers from Pennsylvania Station and Flatbush Avenue to reach the Rockaway Park area or Far Rockaway section simply by changing trains ("Change At Ozone Park!"). The trains would stack end-to-end, and passengers would transfer back and forth on the platform. Operation in the reverse direction also occurred. Due to street restrictions below, which limited the right-of-way width above, platforms were on the outside of the four track right-of-way, making an across-the-platform exchange impossible. To accommodate this, the platforms were made exceptionally long, so that non-rush hour length MU trains could stack end-to-end and allow passengers to transfer. A set of crossovers from the outside tracks to the inner tracks were at the east end of the station, to permit trains stopping at Ozone Park to run express after the station stop, or to perform the reverse move.
Ozone Park along with remaining stations of the Rockaway Beach Branch still operated by the LIRR, after the 1955 takeover of the line south of Liberty Avenue by the transit authority, were abandoned in 1962 when service between Rego Park and Ozone Park ended. The station and right of way remained intact though with the thought that the transit authority would eventually take over the line north of Liberty Avenue, a proposal that never took place. Ozone Park station remains in place as of current (2009) though in a dilapidated state along with electric utility poles and signal bridges the adorn the right of way.
Since the closing of the line many businesses in the area have set up shop in the portion of trestle below the station. In the late 1980s the F.B.I. used the abandoned platforms to set up a sting operation to monitor the activities of John Gotti
and the Gambino crime family
, whose social club was down the street from the station.
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...
station. Ozone Park station was set up to enable passengers from Pennsylvania Station and Flatbush Avenue to reach the Rockaway Park area or Far Rockaway section simply by changing trains ("Change At Ozone Park!"). The trains would stack end-to-end, and passengers would transfer back and forth on the platform. Operation in the reverse direction also occurred. Due to street restrictions below, which limited the right-of-way width above, platforms were on the outside of the four track right-of-way, making an across-the-platform exchange impossible. To accommodate this, the platforms were made exceptionally long, so that non-rush hour length MU trains could stack end-to-end and allow passengers to transfer. A set of crossovers from the outside tracks to the inner tracks were at the east end of the station, to permit trains stopping at Ozone Park to run express after the station stop, or to perform the reverse move.
Ozone Park along with remaining stations of the Rockaway Beach Branch still operated by the LIRR, after the 1955 takeover of the line south of Liberty Avenue by the transit authority, were abandoned in 1962 when service between Rego Park and Ozone Park ended. The station and right of way remained intact though with the thought that the transit authority would eventually take over the line north of Liberty Avenue, a proposal that never took place. Ozone Park station remains in place as of current (2009) though in a dilapidated state along with electric utility poles and signal bridges the adorn the right of way.
Since the closing of the line many businesses in the area have set up shop in the portion of trestle below the station. In the late 1980s the F.B.I. used the abandoned platforms to set up a sting operation to monitor the activities of John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...
and the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
, whose social club was down the street from the station.