The Long Island Rail Road, connecting the east end of the island to New York City, arrived in my neck of the woods in the 1870s, and popular, busy stations still serve the locals (and tens of thousands of visitors in summer) in Southampton, Bridgehampton and East Hampton.  In between, however, were two hamlet stations, Water Mill and (where I live) Wainscott.  Both have long since closed.

Yesterday I took camera and snapped a few shots of the Water Mill station building.  This was built in 1903, and closed sometime in the late 1960s.  (There are infuriatingly few details of the closure, and no one can give an exact date!)

An early view of the station building can be found here


Although the stone and brick surface of the original platform is in a very poor state of repair, the exterior of the original building still looks good.  The "Italian-style" porches, although rotting in places, are still standing, and the roof, repaired and restored, is in good shape.





Some platform stone and a fairly recent fence.  The operational right of way lies just behind the hedge!



At some point in the early 1980s the building became a gourmet restaurant, and an old passenger car was brought in and converted into a cocktail bar where live music could be heard at weekends.





Just inside the door of the car the old controls, heavily painted over, have been left in place.



In the 1990s the place became a diner-style restaurant, serving burgers and ice-cream, but that had closed by 2002. Now all is derelict again.  The trains will never stop here again, and there is a question mark over the future of the site.  A public meeting was scheduled this past summer, but postponed.  I hope that at least the station building can be preserved in some way, shape or form.

Tim,i agree it should be preserved,nice looking building and looks like a good neck of the woods where you live.
lol::cool:

 

That looks good Tim, at first i thought you were showing us a picture of your house :doublethumb

But think about using that coach as a trains room :cool::cool::cool:

I hope to do a short post on the Wainscott railroad station very soon.  That closed in the 1930s but the station building is intact but in a different location.  A family moved it towards one of our beaches where it still is in use  - but I have no dea where :oops::oops::oops:  A bit of exploring is needed;-)

Nice photos tim

It would be nice if the community could come up with a plan for the coach

Trouble is as time goes by it looks more derelict people will vere towards the scrapyard just to get rid of it.

Now how about a parish meeting room im sure your Bishop would support such a venture

cheers Brian.W

Very interesting and nostalgic photos Tim.

 Mike

[user=15]owen69[/user] wrote:

… looks like a good neck of the woods where you live.

Absolutely right, Owen - it is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived.  But like any rural area we suffer for lack of amenities.  Schools are bad, rich tourism drives up prices, roads are in a dreadful state, taxes are high, petrol costs 30 cents a gallon more than it does a mere twenty miles east of here, and they keep talking of closing our wonderful local hospital.

Am I moaning?  Yes, but I wouldn't change it for the world:cheers

Great Tim!

Like Owen I was convinced it was your house!

The Long Island Rail Road is still very busy as well is it not?  Amazing how well hidden it is from that station.

I think the suggestion for the coach as a parish meeting one is good - how about applying  to the Bishop for funding to turn it into a large model railway to help the deprived youths of the area?  No need to actually let them in though, plenty of windows for them to see into!

LIRR certainly is busy! It remains the busiest passenger railway in the United States.  I read somewhere that last year it carried over 70 million passengers :shock:  And here's a piece of trivia:  It is the only American passenger railway to keep the same name for all its years of operating.

Just caught this thread and a nice bit of history.

 I agree with the rest a nice parish hall could be made with that coach, worth looking into or maybe a hobby room for yourself, just tell the wife you have found a nice summer house you want to buy, put into your back yard and a lick of paint and one train coach for yourself :thumbs. All thou just how you achieve the restoration before she see's it is a slight problem :hmm, so leave that bit to you, i am having nothing to do with it, all your idea if she asks the Forum

Phill

Lovely shots there Tim - call me a Luddite, but I always think it's such a pity these old buildings fall into disrepair.  If I were President (or King), I'd keep every little bit of our industrial heritage intact.  There's some wonderful stuff just decaying around the globe.  But then if I had always been President or King, we'd still live in caves !!!

Maybe it's my generation, but there's something very "special" about railway heritage. :roll::roll:

 

 OK Petermac is now officially a Luddite :Happy :Happy :Happy :Happy

Is that a posh word for an old aged pensioner :hmm :hmm

[user=98]Kevr[/user] wrote:

 

 OK Petermac is now officially a Luddite :Happy :Happy :Happy :Happy

Is that a posh word for an old aged pensioner :hmm :hmm

No Kev - pensioners get a government pay packet (albeit very small :shock:) - I'm just the old aged bit !! :???::???: