Medford    

D56 (4-4-0) #2 eastbound at Medford c. 1905. What’s interesting about the shot is that the station is not yet a train order office.  You’ll notice that the semaphore mast that appears in front of the depot in the November 20, 1907 image has not yet been erected in this view!

Commutation ticket August, 1928 - Brooklyn (Flatbush) 
to Patchogue OR Medford Archive: Richard Makse

 Ronkonkoma to Plainfield - 1909 Hyde Map

A form 31 train order issued at the Dispatcher’s Office “X” in Long Island City and copied at the Medford train order office on September 9, 1909. A form 31 order differed from a form 19 order in that a form 19 order was caught on the fly by the train crew from train order hoops or sticks held up to the moving train by the operator. A form 31 order had to be signed by both the conductor and engineer at the train order office. This order was copied by operator E. C. Wright and signed by engineer Sylvester P. Doxsey . . .a well-know LIRR veteran. There was no conductor’s signature on this order as engineer Doxsey was operating 4-4-0 locomotive #97 light westbound through Medford. No conductor present in the cab . . . . only his fireman. Note the order was not addressed in its customary manner to “C&E No. ___” but, rather to “Engr. Eng 97.” (Dave Keller archive)

Station at Medford with old semaphore train order signal and attached agent’s housing.  Agent and family posing on platform.  View looking southeast. Patchogue-Port Jefferson Road (later Rt. 112) crossing in foreground, close to station.  Also notice the absence of the ticket office bay window - 11/20/1907  (Dave Keller archive)

Looking due west at Medford station it appears a group of men have trimmed and uprooted a tree adjacent to the living quarters of the depot building and have balled the roots.  When compared to the c. 1922 LIRR valuation image below, the tree is no longer in place.  Note the semaphore block signal trackside and the sole shuttered upstairs window on the east side of the building. (Harold Fullerton photo, Queens Library collection via Jeff Erlitz)

 
“MD” block signal at Medford . View looking east, 11/10/32. Notice that between the 1922 image above and this 1932 image, the depot has been moved further east of the crossing and further south of the tracks, making the location of the signal mast quite some distance away from the depot, requiring long tie-rods to operate the signal mechanism. Also, flashing lights and concrete stanchions have been installed. The move of this depot is believed by this writer to have been in preparation for the Paved and much-wider Medford Rd., CH 1018, construction of which is evident here. (Hart photo for the Public Service Commission, Courtesy of Art Huneke)

Station at Medford – Elevated view looking southeast, showing the old Dietz kerosene platform lamps still in use, the passenger siding and the team track – 1939. Notice that between the 1932 images and this one, the State Rt. 112 crossing has been constructed and taller flashing crossing lights installed. You’ll also notice that the side depot window has been converted into a door to access the waiting room. 

In this image, the signal mast and semaphore block signals have been removed (sometime after February 26, 1939) and replaced with “MD” block limit signals only. The building at the far right housed both The Leading Barber and the A&P grocery store. (Dave Keller archive) 

This view is a close-up of the preceding 1939 elevated scene, to provide better detail around the depot area.
Archive: Dave Keller

Another view of the station looking directly west with the Public Service Commission pre-construction sign in place in preparation for the grade elimination project that will begin in several months. This wintry scene was shot sometime in January-February, 1940. (F. J. Hart photo for the PSC, Dave Keller archive)

The building housing the A&P store and the Leading Barber has been removed from it’s original location, trackside and has been moved north along Rt. 112 to its new location on the north side of  Robinson Avenue, north of Island Coal and Lumber Company, and on the east side of Rt. 112.  Albert Bayles photo, Dave Keller archive)

Here’s a close-up of the A&P store’s front window.  This will not only give you an idea of the prices that were prevailing in April, 1940, but will also show you the size of the average grocery store of the time.  The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company was one of the first grocery store chains to open and one could be found in most Long Island towns.   (Albert Bayles photo, Dave Keller archive)

Two views taken of the 1940 depot in November, 1963. The track level ticket office/waiting room is boarded up due to heavy vandalizing but the freight office downstairs appears to possibly be still functioning.  
The depot would be razed the following year, leaving the lower portion closed up and remaining in place until it was removed c. 1996.  Info: Dave Keller

Medford General Orders: Grade Elimination Project
Archive: Art Huneke

The original Medford team track, prior to the grade elimination completed in September, 1940, was north of the Main track.

The middle track was the passing siding, which was retained and also elevated with the grade elimination but removed some years back and the track along the platform was the Main.

The trestle installed over Rt. 112 was a two track girder trestle, carrying both the Main track and the passing siding. To keep the team track on the north side of the tracks was prohibitive as it would have been separated from the freight office by the embankment and thereby carloads spotted there along with people off-loading merchandise wouldn’t have been able to have been conveniently or adequately supervised so it was placed along the south side of the embankment, just a short distance from the “new” freight/express office. 

Thus the new team track went along the south side of the Main, down the ramp and just a hop, skip and jump away from the freight office, which was housed in the downstairs portion of the 1940 elevated depot building. The freight/express office remained in use for some time AFTER the ticket office/waiting room at track level was removed from the structure due to heavy vandalism. When it was no longer manned, the windows and doors were cement blocked over and the structure remained in place as is until the new Medford station facilities were constructed on the site c. 2000. The old baggage ramp from the freight/express house was used as the handicapped access ramp to the track level platforms
                                                           

      LIRR 1966 map - Ronkonkoma-Holtsville-Medford 

Medford Team Track was installed in 1940 with the elevation of the station and Rt. 112 grade elimination. Info: Dave Keller