Public timetable of January 1, 1869 indicates Sayville was the terminus (left). Service began to Patchogue April 1869.   The Public timetable of May 30, 1870 no longer lists Islip Centre.  Islip Centre Depot location (12/1868-6/1889), one mile west of the Islip Depot MP43, may have served the Olympic Boat Club members at the foot of Saxon Ave., Islip as the property of the Olympic Club.

The siding was for the use of the Olympic Club, on the Great South Bay funded by William H. Moffitt, a member of the Olympic Club and a real estate developer. Located on the south side of the tracks and crossing Saxon Ave. (Islip 1915 Hyde map, below).

South Side Rail Road Depot opened: 5/20/1868
Replaced: 1881 by new LIRR Depot. Razed? ⁽¹⁾ 
2nd depot built:1881, razed: 12/1963
Track re-alignment 1906 as per Robert Emery; original Main #1 moved north, 2nd track added 1908. 
3rd depot dedication and opening: 12/7/1963 ⁽²⁾ North of tracks, Remodeled 1997
1999: Hi-level platforms and shelter installed to accommodate newly arrived C3 bi-level cars which were placed in service July, 1999
(Robert L. Myers data)  Research: Dave Keller

Note 1: After the LIRR acquired the S.S.R.R. in 1880, the depot may have been razed/moved as was known to happen at the time. 

Note 2: Both the first and LIRR 2nd depot both occupied the south side of the tracks location. The 3rd depot opening was on the current north of tracks location.

South Shore Islip Township
c. early 1870's

 
Islip 1905 post card view S
Collection: John Fusto

Let me deal with “the wrong side of the tracks”, if I may. The build out on the Montauk Branch of the South Side Rail Road from Babylon eastward towards Patchogue (as the short term goal) 1867-1880.  Sep. 5, 1868 South Side Railroad of Long Island opens between Babylon and Islip. Dec. 11, 1868 South Side Railroad of Long Island opens between Islip and Sayville.  April 10, 1869 South Side Railroad of Long Island opens between Sayville and Patchogue. (Info: PRR Chronology by Christopher T. Baer)

The reality at the time in rail line building, primitive at the time, was to build the least expensive right of way (ROW) requiring the fewest grades, crossing, bridges, etc. Building directly east from Bay Shore, with no major roads, streams, AND unoccupied land made the previous SSRR and current Islip station location the ideal price/performance solution. There was no wrong side of tracks as the Village and homes didn't exist in this area. I'll concur that “the wrong side of the tracks” occurred in thousands of urban areas as the railroads split older neighborhoods during the 1880-1920's and beyond.  Evidence the Robert Moses Cross Bronx Expressway as a road building project as the same phenomena, as it destroyed the South Bronx area, for example. The phrase has emanated from either the wind blowing the soot/ashes from the steam locos into specific areas AND/OR the part of town that is not inhabited by the more well to do. Thus, the working class, poor or the extremely poor areas.

A fallacy, in the case of Islip and the entire South Shore Suffolk County LIRR Montauk Branch (in my opinion), at the onset. The folks with better houses/locations in the Victorian 19th Century typically lived in/nearer the center of a town's commerce, entertainment, ferry access, government services, etc. Check Bay Shore, Islip, Patchogue, just for example. The reality of the SSRR/LIRR Station being over a 3/4 mile carriage ride from the Grant Ave/Montauk Hwy location meant the need to "call a carriage taxi" to greet passengers, board a train, pick up goods, etc. 

The South Side Rail Road, later LIRR, did NOT divide Islip into a two sided socio-economic group, but rather spurned the growth of the entire area.  William H. Moffitt developed the entire Moffitt Blvd area at the turn of the 20th Century and after WW I Andrew Wolpert built the entire Islip Manor affordable Cape Cod housing community.   Steven A. Lynch
 

The building would be located (red X) on this 1915 Hyde map Islip segment, below: The Olympic siding was located .27 miles west of Islip station, based upon mileage indicated in the 1913 and 1919 CR4.  It was for the use of the Olympic Club, funded by William Moffitt, on the Great South Bay.  It was on the south side of the tracks and crossed Saxon Ave.

By 1914, Moffitt was said to have been worth over $2 million and had bought and sold over $20 million in property.  He had become a distinguished businessman whose company and accomplishments had been praised in the papers.  However, the real estate industry began to decline and Moffitt found himself so greatly indebted he sold his home on Orowoc Pond to Walter G. Oakman, (who in 1918 sold it to George Graham, a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives) in order to pay his mortgage.  Moffitt was also forced to sell a factory he owned in Bay Shore and continued to sell off his assets for the next three years to make ends meet.

Unable to pay back creditors, Moffitt fled to California and then became a fugitive.  He had been indicted back in New York with a grand larceny charge as a result of real estate deals totaling $4 million and chose to not appear.  Moffitt also spent time hiding in London but did come back to the United States where he was finally arrested and investigated.  Eventually, Moffitt was able to pay back his creditors and returned to California where he established another real estate business in the 1920’s.  All that was remembered of Moffitt however back in New York was Moffitt Boulevard located in Bay Shore.

His estate eventually became the new Islip High/Middle School location by the lake behind McDonalds on Main Street when it opened 1965 when I attended.

My “guess” with Moffitt in deep trouble financially, but the siding still in place for another 10 years until 1924. The LIRR may have spotted freight cars there for Baileys and a load for the Ice Company (team track style!?) across the street for wagon pickup.  Similar to Grinnell Lithograph on Moffitt Blvd over in the area across from the Islip Freight station/later team track.  Info: Steven Lynch

 In 1869 Edwin Bailey started the lumber business of E. Bailey & Sons which employed about 300 men for many years on the Patchogue River building ships and supplying lumber to the expanding housing markets spurred by railroad development. He also had a facility in Sayville and two locations in Islip as follows:

A location on the south siding in Islip on the SE corner of Saxon Ave and Moffitt Blvd. Sanborn Map 1909, perhaps earlier. The location would provide on/off loading of goods and material for the mill on Montauk Hwy. Identified as previously Hawkins Mill location Sanborn 1886 and later as Baileys on the Sanborn Index 1900 provided here.

Sanborn Islip inset map - Bailey's Mill  12/1890
Archive: Chris Klug

Sanborn Islip inset map - J.C. Hawkins Mill
1/1886 Archive: Chris Klug

Islip Montauk Hwy J.C. Hawkins Planing Mill -View W 1878-79 Photo: George Brainerd Archive: Brooklyn Museum-Chris Klug

Orowoc Creek, Islip c.1905 view NW
Bailey's Lumber Mill in right background

Bailey's Lumber Yard Islip c. 1890+ South Country Road (Montauk Hwy - 27A) near Orowoc Creek Note: Ship masts in background

Orowoc Creek, Islip 1915 Hyde map - Bailey's Lumber Mill location

 John L. Abrew Coal & Wood, Hay & Straw, Lime & Cement,
LILCO transformer, LIRR Section House north of tracks - Grant-Ave. Sanborn map 7/1916

John L. Abrew Coal,  Wood & Lime  - Grant-Ave  Sanborn map 4/1925

Note: Sanborn map 12/1946 indicates John L. Abrew Co. fire remains. This location later
became Lawrence Junk Yard & Auto Wreckers. c.1950's.

John L. Abrew Coal & Wood, C .W. Duryea Lumber Co., LILCO transformer. LIRR Tool House north of tracks. Sanborn map  - Grant Ave. MP42  4/1925

 Develop Inc. Prefabricated House Mfg.
Sanborn 12/1946

Islip- LIRR main labeled as ''Southern Railroad of Long Island' from 1874 - 1st Freight House Sanborn map 12/1890 Note: Comac Rd. South of Moffitt Blvd. - Comack Rd. (SIC per Sanborn 1901 ) renamed Railroad Ave. c.1915 and further south after the intersection with previous Neck Rd. as Railroad Ave (1958) then later Nassau Ave. Previous South Side Rail Road structures: June 1876 listed the road as the "Southern RR of L.I. Division."
 

1868: Islip S.S.R.R. builds station and wye 

 Emery drawing from 1902 Hyde map  LIRR station on south side - wye razed Collection: SUNY-Stony Brook

Note: The wye perhaps built as a function of the end of line at the time as Islip first appears on the timetable of South Side Rail Road May 20, 1868 as the terminal of the road and so remains until the  September 1, 1868 timetable. 

Islip as terminus until 4/1869 when line extended to Patchogue. Patchogue Summer 1888 LIRR opened on a timetable  8/11/1869 Info: Art Huneke

Islip Railroad Ave view E  - Photo: c.1944 (Weber -Morrison)

Note: South of Moffitt Blvd. - Comack Rd. (sic per Sanborn 1901 ) renamed Railroad Ave.
 c.1915 and further south after the intersection with previous Neck Rd. as Nassau Blvd. then Nassau Ave.

Sanborn map 7/1916 - 2nd Islip freight house west of Comack Rd. and Islip Coal & Feed Co. coal elevator in place.

Islip Coal and Feed Co. 1915 - View SW Islip Presbyterian Church directory
  Archive: Barbara Corbett-Bishop

Islip Coal and Feed coal bunker zoom view W 
c.1944 (Weber-Morrison)

Islip Coal & Feed c. 1968 view W
Photo: Steve Lynch

Islip Coal & Feed c. 1968 view SE
Photo: Steve Lynch

Islip Coal & Feed c. 1968  view S
Photo: Steve Lynch

Islip post card View NW c.1905
Archive: Dave Morrison
Note: 1st freight station in far left.

Islip post card View SE c.1905 
Archive: Dave Morrison

 
LIRR Islip Land Plan  1915 - 1919/20 for the valuation maps
Collection: Art Huneke

Dave Keller Concept Table Location

LIRR Islip Land Plan Property Owners
c. 1915 - 1919/20 Archive:  Art Huneke

Islip abandoned team track view E
6/21/2023 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison

The above are parts of the LIRR Land Plan. The ROW was about 66 feet wide, but on the north side the property runs diagonally to a width of about 125 feet. Room for a turntable, but not a wye. 

Forty years ago. I met a Mrs. Foley who lived on Commack Road or Wingan-Hauppaugue Road near the station. She remembered the turntable. In the early sixties, I met Tom Riley (Rahilly) who was a retired engineer who had qualified in 1892. He, if I remember correctly, used the turntable. Same with Sylvester Doxsey.  Info: Art Huneke

Sylvester P. Doxsey  was one of the oldest and most highly thought of LIRR engineers. Top of the seniority roster at one time. If, I recall correctly, Jeff Skinner told me that Sylvester Doxsey was in the cab of the first train out to Montauk in 1895.

Eyewitness accounts are more trustworthy, especially when one of them was Sylvester P. Doxsey himself! The property line on the north side of the tracks in your map shows it curving northeastward a bit then stopping and then paralleling the track. That would seem like it allowed for a lead track to also curve northeastwards, following that slight arc and connecting with the turntable sitting in that enlarged area. No additional property shown north for a wye. Info: Dave Keller

Emery map MP 41-42 1958
Site of ex-"Olympia" 870 ft. siding in 1924 at
MP 41.49 Prop. (property) of Olympic Club on Great South Bay

 Emery map MP 42-43 1958
The first Main track was relocated further north on Winganhauppauge Creek feeding Brookwood Hall Lake to the current location just south of Moffitt Blvd. 1906

Emery map MP 43-44 1958

Islip Schematic 1958

Secatogue later Monzet's Hotel 1898 built in the 1890's
view NE 3/1980 Photo: Steven Lynch

Nolan's Inn 1966-1971 followed by a series of restaurants and club names: Chandler's Restaurant, Casablanca, Saturdays, Tavern on the Tracks, Silhouettes until burnt down in the 1990's


RS3  #1554  Scoot View NW 1969
Photo: J. P. Krzenski  Archive: Dave Keller

Old S.S.R.R. and LIRR single track ROW prior to the 1906 relocation at the
Winganhauppauge Creek border of Islip/East Islip at  Info: Steve Lynch

04/30/2008 Photo: Mike McDermet

LIRR map  - 1966

Islip Ave (Route 111) and Moffitt Blvd.
view SE just east of the station c. 1925

Back years ago there was a husband and wife photographic team called the Kortens. They photographed all over LI and printed postcards that they sold. They were big on removing "unsightly" items from their postcard negatives by their skillful retouching of the images.

They retouched their images regularly, removing any form of unwanted stuff . . . even people, but telephone/telegraph poles were one of their specialties. Colorized postcards were very big in the 1920s and 30s. They are still very popular among collectors. Research: Dave Keller

LIRR #1520 westbound 
Photo: Art Huneke

Station - Summer 1963 view NE
Photo/Archive: Art Huneke

Ticket Coach Only Islip to Bay Shore  07/12/62 reverse
Archive: Brad Phillips

As late as July, 1962 (pictured above right), the Islip ticket office was still using ROUND brass dater dies from the 19th century. Research: Dave Keller

This is blank ticket stock.  All ticket agencies had tickets with printed destinations as well as blank ticket stock. ALL were numbered for auditing purposes.  They also had a bunch of destination station rubber stamps.  If a ticket wished to be purchased to a station for which the ticket clerk had no printed tickets, a blank ticket was pulled from the case, was stamped with a destination station and then stamped on the back with the dater and dater die, validating the ticket.  

Sometimes tickets were purchased at a station for two totally different starting and destination points, not involving the purchase station, such as someone going to Patchogue and purchasing a ticket between Islip and Babylon.  TWO rubber stamps would be used on that ticket, then validated with the dater die. 

Its officially referred to as a "half-fare" ticket and was used for years for children up to a certain age as well as clergy.  Years later, special ticket stock was printed that read "Clergy" on them and there was also yet another rubber stamp that said "clergy" that the clerk would stamp blank ticket stock, similar to Brad's ticket at Islip.  But children always got the Half Fare tickets.

With that said, back around the turn of the century into the teens, there WERE mileage tickets sold on the LIRR but even then, nobody purchased 1/2 mile.  (Info courtesy of Dave Keller)

LOCATION: Islip (at NY 27A) to Smithtown (at NY 25 and NY 25A)

NOTES: For many years, NY 111 was the designation for Carleton Avenue between East Islip and Hauppauge, while CR 17 was assigned to Islip Avenue. The alignments for NY 111 and CR 17 were switched in 1972. Further north, NY 111 is multiplexed with CR 76 for one block along the Town Line Road segment in Hauppauge (near Hauppauge High School). In the mid-1960's, the NYSDPW proposed a four-lane divided arterial highway, partially on new alignment, for NY 111. Rights-of-way for this plan were obtained near the northern terminus in Smithtown, where the route was straightened (but never widened).

LIRR GP38-2 #272 at Islip View SW 1978

Carlton Ave (ex-Rte. 111) view N.
Photo: Steve Lynch 10/12/2001

Irish Lane relay box  SE corner
Photo: Steve Lynch 10/12/2001

Islip Schematic 1999

Stanley R. Jones, LIRR ticket clerk/telegrapher in white shirt and bow tie sending on his Vibroplex "Lightning Bug" key, with the telegraph sounder in the resonator at his ear - Islip station - February, 1958 just before his retirement. Stanley entered the roster of LIRR Telegraph Employees on May 2, 1919. In addition to the sounder being placed in the resonator to amplify the sound, it was typical old-style telegrapher fashion to insert a metal tobacco tin that was flattened and placed behind the sounder to make the "dots and dashes" even THAT much more audible. Notice the sign advertising Pullman accommodations . . . interline tickets were still being sold at this time. Research: Dave Keller

This is the weathervane my brother Dino Genchi made in metal shop and placed atop the Islip Train Station in 12/07/1963. My cousin still has the template (designed by someone else) in his garage. They used a cherry picker to have him place it! Info:  Diana J. Genchi

LI  Railroader Vol. 8 No. 14 7/03/1963 page 2

Islip Station 1971 (Sturm-Fehn)

 
Weather Vane designed by Dino Genchi
2008 Photo: Mike McDermet

Weather vane 06/07/2012 
Photo: Al Castelli 

There will be a Rededication Ceremony at Islip Station at 2pm on December 6th, 2021. A photo display (left) will be placed into the display case inside the station waiting room. In addition, a locomotive weathervane will be placed atop the building cupola by the LIRR Bridge & Building (B&B) Department prior to the event.  Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter, LIRR President Eng, President of the LIST-NRHS, Stephen Quigley, and Organizer Dave Morrison will be in attendance.

December 6, 1963 - The metal weathervane that Islip High School student Bernardino F. “Dino” Genchi, as a shop class project, was making wasn't ready yet, so a wood version was installed.  Shortly thereafter, Genchi's metal version was installed.   

In the photo (see below) taken during the December 6, 2021 event, the boy was holding a prototype from which Genchi's weathervane was produced.  LIRR historian, Dave Keller, indicates Genchi's weathervane had "disappeared" sometime between 1971 and 1975.  There is absolutely NO record of it being blown down in a storm (although it could have been).  

The 1970s were a time of copper thefts on the LIRR, particularly contact tips from the Morris Park Shop and 250mcm copper wire from overhead power lines.  In the 1997/98 renovation, a three-dimensional weathervane was installed.  At that same time, a similar weathervane was installed at Nassau Blvd Station. The three-dimensional weathervane (let's call it the second weathervane) became loose and the locomotive part fell off onto the roof of the station building.  Don Konrad got the locomotive piece off of the roof in September 2018.  That is the second Islip weathervane piece that is now at RMLI.

The weathervane installed December 6, 2021 is the third weathervane.  Info: Dave Morrison  Photo: LIRR/Glen Sager

Roby Johnson, Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter, Dina Soriano, LIRR President Eng

Genchi's daughter, Dina Soriano Family with weathervane replica

Islip High student Isabella Green sings
the National Anthem

 
Bernardino F. Genchi US Army Warrant Officer October 22, 1945 - KIA July 22, 1969
Dedication plaque Islip Station waiting room
5/22/2024

EMD F9A HEP #619 1990

LIRR #516 Summer 2005

2006 Station Clock Tower view looking North

Clock Tower zoom 
Photo: Mike McDermet

Historical Marker Preservation Signpost 2017
Historical Society of Islip Hamlet

 STS Sign east of  Saxon Ave
View West 01/27/2008 
Photo: Mike McDermet

Speedometer test section sign, as per Special instructions 1038-A1 all STS are 1/2 mile in length and are located where speeds are 30 mph or greater; most are located near terminals. 

Choo Choo Auto Islip Railroad Ave. view SE 
Google maps 2012

F&C Painting, Railroad Ave. renamed (c.1960's?)  to Nassau Ave.
View S 6/2/12023 Photo/Archive: Dave Morrison

84 Lumber view SE 6/07/2012 
Photo: Al Castelli

84 Lumber mailbox View S 
6/07/2012 Photo: Al Castelli

First National Bank of Islip - National Currency Five Dollar
1929 series 

1863 to 1935, National Bank Notes were issued by banks throughout the country and in US territories. Banks with a federal charter would deposit bonds in the US Treasury. The banks then could issue banknotes worth up to 90 percent of the value of the bonds. The federal government would back the value of the notes, the issuance of which created a demand for the government bonds needed to back them  Source: Wikipedia

Double Decker Interior 1950's

The Ground Round -Saxon Ave/Main St., Islip Archive: Kevin Hein

Putt-Putt Miniature Golf - Main St., Islip Photo/Archive: Kevin Hein

Louie's Candy Kitchen
Archive: Vivian Kirkbride

    

       
Superette NE corner of Moffitt Blvd. and Islip Ave.
 

 Islip McDonalds on site of ex-Moffitt Estate
First on Long Island in 1958  Photo is c.1966

ISLIP SPEEDWAY

Islip Speedway (1947-1984) was a .2-mile oval race track located 1 mile N of the Islip Station. The first demolition derby took place at Islip Speedway in 1958. The speedway has since been demolished.

Islip Speedway aerial view NE - Wiki


Islip Speedway Historic marker
Islip Historical Society

Islip Speedway early 1970's
 Photo/Archive: Bill Carlsen

Islip Masonic Temple post card
Archive: Vivian Kirkbride

"Village Blacksmith" c.1940's+  Archive: Don Ochs

Opinion: Located on the Bailey's Mill site.
(Montauk Hwy - 27A) Islip at Orowoc Creek

The business name is: "The Village Blacksmith".  A "bit far" from Islip Village, but that would make sense as "industries" were not usually located in the town center main streets in the 19th Century.

Islip Speedway (1947-1984) overlay map
View N by Thom Tramposch

Islip Speedway Dragster: B/C OO
 Photo/Archive: Bill Carlsen

Industries Along Moffitt Blvd, Islip Manor, NY  

  Click to Visit:      Islip Freight Sightings:   Click to go: 

In 1914, as World War I began, Andrew Wolpert Sr., a Bavarian native who had been a real estate agent in New York City, and his three sons began building houses in the woods between East Islip and Central Islip State Hospital. The Wolpert's wanted to attract people of German origin, according to historians. The place was known as Germantown, but the war brought pressures to change the name of the community. Many people who moved there worked in the state hospital. Info: East Islip Historical Society. 

Harry Luther Wolpert, son of Andrew, was President of East Islip Bank and purchased the closed Fort Upton lumber for the construction of Germantown. That's why they were called Wolpert House's. ..."Wolpert houses, in conjunction with Suffolk County National Bank, financed the many houses between Islip Ave.-Southern State Pkwy (east-west) and Southern State Pkwy-Moffitt Blvd. (north-south). These were Cape Cod style houses: basement, coal for heat, central staircase, one lower bath, and three bedrooms upper level with detached garage. Note that interior plumbing came into common use after WW I and the use of septic tanks. The Islip Manor area, for example, built c.1923 and reflects the need of returning vets for housing and the large numbers of Germans fleeing post WW I Fall 1921+ mass starvation, inflation, and poverty. A basic Wolpert house: Living/Kitchen/Bath/stairwell lower and three bedrooms upper connected.  Info: Matthew Wolpert (Andrew Wolpert Sr.'s Great Great Grandson)
 

Islip Manor marker - Islip Historical Society

As the builder can name streets; we have the deceased wife (1905) of  Harry L. Wolpert: Kunigunde Fuchs Wolpert, later  named for Kunigundia Place; the north/south street in Islip Terrace, 11752.  (I was a two summer mail carrier for the USPS). These houses were not built en-mass, as in the later Levittown production style, but all were similar in design/layout/cost to provide entry level housing. In 1948 Heinrich Pieper, who lived a couple of blocks north of Sunrise Highway east of Islip Ave., opened his bakery.  Perhaps another immigrant fleeing the horrors of WW II and settled in the Islip Manor area. Stanley Sadowski  purchased the location in 1953 and renamed it: Stanley's Bakery. Research: Steve Lynch 

"Kids from Islip High School dance to rock-and-roll music in the baggage car of an LIRR train as part of their "rolling prom"on June 24, 1961. Islip High School Class of 1961 graduate Richard Henkel doesn’t remember much about the destination of his senior class trip, but he sure remembers how he got there. “It was really phenomenal. . . . I remember the ride very clearly,” said Henkel, 73, now a resident of Phoenix. “I do not remember the layover time and how long we had out there. I seem to recall we got something to eat out there.”

Henkel’s selective memory is understandable, considering his commute to the Montauk Surf and Cabana Club was headline news. Henkel was one of 98 Islip seniors to take part in what was described at the time as a “rolling prom” aboard a Long Island Rail Road train.

The event was conceived by local businessman Jack Schoenholz, who owned a McDonald’s franchise in Islip and paid $1,700 Lloyds of London insurance fee, to fund the LIRR’s “Midnight Special” — a slow-speed ride 12 mph trip to the East End on a three-car train decked out for the graduating class. Parents and faculty members thought a train ride was a safer alternative to having the students drive to Montauk, especially considering the legal drinking age at the time was 18.  

An empty baggage car was transformed into a dance hall, complete with Hawaiian-inspired decorations and a four-piece rock-and-roll band. In an adjacent car, revelers could dine on 400 hamburgers and 100 hot dogs prepared for the trip, and sip refreshments at a nonalcoholic bar, according to Newsday’s coverage of the June 23, 1961, event. Note: Roy Staebler and Shirley Gambler , Class of "61 are still married.  Photo: (Newsday-Jim Cavanagh)

A third car allowed students to “ride this one out,” according to Newsday’s coverage. Students and chaperones could sit and talk there, or get some rest." Islip did a sports theme on the train the next year and Riverhead tried it, too.

"...Islip High School Prom Trains to Montauk consisted of an RS1 or RS3, a “Balloon-Roof” baggage car for dancing, a bar car and usually two coaches. Picking up the students at Islip, the train proceeded at 15 mph to Montauk during the night. Return the next morning was usually preceded by a dip in the surf and breakfast at Montauk..." Gene Collora “Semaphore” April 1991, pages 5-7

The LIRR Tour Department also operated a regular "Disco Train" with baggage car dancing and a bar. The service was very successful until a familiar criminal-minority element began patronizing it. There were assaults, a stabbing, drugs, fights and robberies. Like so much of Long Island's public assembly entertainment, the Disco Train ended with the arrival of that group.  

When the new Islip High School was opened in September 1966 I was 14 years old at the time. Located rather than in the center of town where the old high school was built prior to 1900, it was further west near the edge of Bay Shore/Islip line at Saxon Ave.; thus a longer walk home.

We would follow the path through the wooded area north of school and use the double LIRR tracks to go east across Grant Ave., Nassau Ave., and finally to Islip Ave. (Route 111). MP42-43

I was aware of the possible danger of the “silent” approach, thus was looking over my shoulder as I went. However, as the south track was more convenient, we used it not realizing the afternoon passenger commuters used this track for the eastbound trains.

I remember the wooden pedestrian track crossing by the station, which for safety reasons is no longer there. The present pedestrian crossing connecting the north and south parking lots is located at the warning bell further west of the station.  

I never noticed the engines/consists that went through as none were freight and passenger trains were of no interest anyway. I was a freight fan from the start (model “real” trains not passenger/commute look alike “junk” as I thought at the time. As the railroad modeling in HO bug hit me several years earlier at the age of 10 (1962) the possibilities of freight movement and the variety of types/loads appealed to me.

The south side siding was always a disappointment as the LIRR had stopped using the track just past the Islip Coal & Feed Bunker turnout. This siding led to the Junk Yard west of Grant Ave.

The early fifties had doomed this bunker to be obsolete as the post WW II switch to fuel oil was very quick to catch on. The bunker was razed c. 1969, but had been unused for many years. With the demise of the bunker all tracks turnouts/sidings were left intact, however with no activity.

The north siding was not much better, if at all. The freight station had long been gone and a large Victorian house occupied the SW corner of Moffitt Blvd. and Railroad Ave. (Robert Emery map 5/1958) Nassau (Ave?) corner. Grinnell Lithograph used the siding as a team track as evidenced with a truck path through the brush to this track. They were located N across the ROW on Moffitt Blvd.

This siding continued east of Railroad Ave. with an “S: curve to Bayslip Lumber (with the boxcar freight loading door evident) near Islip Ave.  I never saw any freight at that spot. 

With the building of 84 Lumber on the team track the N siding became active after 1969+. 84 lumber is closed 2012.

After a while tank/boxcars also became evident further east on the old siding east of Railroad Ave (later renamed Nassau AVe.) used as a team track for Velspar. Still in use at this writing. 8/2012

From MP41-42: East of Saxon Ave and south of the LIRR original main the south siding west of the coal bunker had a new turnout installed for Inspected Transit Mix Co., the cement elevator and siding installed 1957. Abandoned: ?