LIRR Holtsville

Holtsville

General Joseph Holt 18^th Postmaster General

Holtsville Station - This view of the third depot building on site is looking east in March, 1952. In the distance can be seen a freight car spotted on the team track. It appears that the concrete footings for the end columns that were a feature of the previous depot were never removed and are visible in line behind the platform electric light pole. (Photo courtesy of the Robert M. Emery collection – SUNY @ Stony Brook)

Holtsville post office panoramic
This c. 1925 view is looking east from the west side of Waverly Ave. crossing. The depot is visible in the distance as well as the steel ramps leading up to the overpass of the Suffolk Traction Company’s 1912 steel trestle over the LIRR’s Main Line. At the left is the general store/gas station/post office. In later years, the old school house on Long Island Avenue (later the Holtsville Fire Department) became the post office, replacing the convenient trackside location of the general store. The postal worker now had to cart the mail bag back and forth between the depot and the post office in a wheelbarrow. In the 1950s, the store was owned by a family named Lydecker. At the far right, between the old house that is visible and Waverly Avenue, was the site of the original, pre-1843 structure which served as “Waverly” Station prior to the town’s name change in 1860. There was a town named Waverly in upstate New York so the name was changed in honor of General Joseph Holt who was the JAG of the United States Army, appointed by President James Buchanan to become the 18th Postmaster General, serving between March 9, 1859 and December 31, 1860.
(Photo courtesy of the Robert M. Emery collection – SUNY @ Stony Brook)

Holtsville bike crossing east of station	This 1897 view looking north shows a westbound Atlantic-type (4-4-0) locomotive #92 with oversized cab stopped at the north/south bicycle path crossing of the LIRR’s Main Line between Holtsville and Medford. The bike path ran from Patchogue on the south shore, around Bald Hill in the hamlet of Farmingville and on through Coram into Port Jefferson on Long Island’s north shore. (Harold Fullerton photo, Robert M. Emery collection courtesy of SUNY @ Stony Brook)
Holtsville viaduct construction	This 1912 view looking northeast shows the 1912 construction of the Suffolk Traction Company’s steel trestle over the LIRR’s Main Line just east of the depot at Holtsville. The lines four storage battery cars ran from the foot of Patchogue dock to Main Street, where the line branched west to Blue Point and north past Canaan Lake along Traction Blvd. until it entered the woods on a private right of way (PROW), heading in a northeasterly direction towards Holtsville station. The line was intended to extend over the trestle at Holtsville and on to Port Jefferson but, although the right of way was graded as far as north of Farm-to-Market Road, track was never laid and the trestle was never used. It remained in place in its entirety until the girders over the LIRR’s Main Line were removed c. 1920. The rest of the structure remained until 1930 when all but two stanchions, one concrete and one steel, were demolished. The steel stanchion disappeared over time, perhaps during the scrap metal drives of WWII, but the concrete stanchion just south of Long Island Avenue and opposite Woodland Avenue remained in place on private property as late as the late 1980s when your writer moved to sunny Florida. (Dave Keller archive)
Holtsville kerosene platform lamps	This c. 1925 view looking northeast from Waverly Avenue shows the old platforms and Dietz kerosene platform lamps in place. These lamps re-mained in use until c. 1942 when they were replaced by electric lights on poles. The traction company trestle is still visible in the center background with the depot in the right background. The structure at the left on the north side of the tracks was not a railroad structure. (Photo courtesy of the Robert M. Emery collection – SUNY @ Stony Brook)
Holtsville diagram - Emery collection at SUNY Stony Brook	Holtsville station diagram - Emery collection at SUNY Stony Brook	Holtsville viaduct diagram - Emery collection at SUNY Stony Brook
2nd Holtsville depot on opening day: 5/13/12. It appears the entire town’s population turned out for the photo. Unfortunately, this depot only lasted a short time and burned on January 4, 1914, being replaced with a depot of similar architectural style minus the end columns, centered ticket office bay window and upper dormer. View is looking southwest. (Dave Keller archive)	This color view is towards the end of life of the 3rd depot at Holtsville. This depot was opened in 1914 and replaced the 1912 structure which burned. During WWI, Holtsville was an active train order block office, and was identified with the call letters “HV.” By the time of this color image, the well-defined station platform is long-gone and the background is quite overgrown. The agency closed in January, 1959 and the depot building was vandalized and eventually razed in July, 1962. The view is looking southeast with Katz’s Dairy Farm in the right background. (Courtesy of Art Huneke)	Suffolk Traction Company storage battery streetcar #3 on the lay-up track at Holtsville at train time, c. 1913. In the background is an eastbound train of steel cars pulled by a class D16b (4-4-0) locomotive. The 2nd depot and station outhouse can be seen in the left background. View is looking northwest. Check out that quality streetcar roadbed!!! (Dave Keller archive)
A view of one of the electric platform lights with “integrated” station sign for Holtsville. This view from August, 1971 is looking southwest and shows the crushed cinder platform, and the entrance to the station grounds. The crossing is Waverly Avenue. (Dave Keller photo and archive)	Holtsville station, February, 1972. View is looking northeast showing the station area and electric platform lights. A metal shelter shed had been erected after the depot building was razed but the shed was later removed. Waverly Avenue crossing is in the foreground. No tire tracks in the snow indicates the business of this little station stop, which use was discontinued on March 16, 1998 (Dave Keller photo and archive)
		Form 19 train order #208 issued at “HV” block station on October 31, 1917. Employee timetables list the block office as “HV” but at that time, the block office name was spelled out in full, i.e. “Holtsville.” This order was made complete by block operator G. G. Powell at 6;53 pm, indicating that there were two tricks (shifts) of block operators on duty at what actually was a very slow, country station but for WWI underway at the time and Camp Upton further east on the Main Line in service. Troop trains were coming and going at this point in time, making Holtsville a busy place for the handling of through trains. “Extra #204 west” referred to class D16b (4-4-0) locomotive #204, while numbers 264 and 246 referred to scheduled eastbound trains. (Dave Keller archive)
	All captioning/data is per Dave Keller