Springfield Junction was a junction

Junction (rail)

A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...

 between the Long Island Rail Road

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...

's Montauk Branch

Montauk Branch

The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east...

 and Atlantic Branch in Laurelton, Queens

Laurelton, Queens

Laurelton is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is now a largely middle class neighborhood. In the 1930s through 1970s and beyond, the neighborhood was populated by many Jewish Americans, but succeeding generations have been made up of new migrants. The neighborhood is part...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was located at the place where those two branches now begin to parallel, just east of Laurelton

Laurelton (LIRR station)

Laurelton is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch, in the Laurelton neighborhood of Queens, New York. It is 14.9 miles from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. The station is at 225th Street and 141st Road and has an eight-car island platform. There are enclosed waiting rooms...

 station and half a mile east of Springfield Boulevard

Springfield Boulevard

Springfield Boulevard is a major north/south roadway that runs through the eastern section of Queens, New York. It goes from Northern Boulevard in Bayside, to 147th Ave in Springfield Gardens. Springfield Boulevard runs through Bayside, Oakland Gardens, Queens Village, Cambria Heights, Laurelton,...

.

History

The junction's location was set in 1871, when the LIRR's Rockaway Branch (now the Montauk Branch) was built, crossing the South Side Railroad of Long Island (now the Atlantic Branch). With the consolidation of the South Side into the LIRR system in 1876, all South Side passenger trains were rerouted to use the LIRR main line through Jamaica to Rockaway Junction and the LIRR's Rockaway Branch to this crossing, where a connecting track was built. This change took effect Sunday, June 25, 1876. A new Atlantic Division track opened alongside the Montauk Division east of the junction in 1906, changing the junction into a connecting track between the two lines. That connection was later removed on September 10, 1923.

External links

• Springfield Junction and SP Tower (Arrt's Arrchives)