Pinelawn | |||||||||||||
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 The station, as seen from theWellwood Avenue grade crossing, in 2024 | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | Wellwood Avenue (County Route 3) and Long Island Avenue East Farmingdale, New York | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°44′43″N73°23′58″W / 40.745339°N 73.399572°W /40.745339; -73.399572 | ||||||||||||
| Owned by | Long Island Rail Road | ||||||||||||
| Line | Main Line | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 32.4 mi (52.1 km) fromLong Island City[1] | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2side platforms | ||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes; Free | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | yes | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Station code | PLN | ||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 9 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | 1895 | ||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1915, 1925, 1979, 2018 | ||||||||||||
| Electrified | 1987 750V (DC)third rail | ||||||||||||
| Previous names | Melville (1895–1897) Pinelawn (Melville) (1897–1899) | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | 50 per weekday[2] | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
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Pinelawn is a railroad station along theMain Line (Ronkonkoma Branch) of theLong Island Rail Road. It is located on Long Island Avenue, just east of theWellwood Avenue (CR 3) grade crossing inEast Farmingdale, New York.
ThePinelawn station primarily serves off-peak local trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch. Approximately 36 trains currently stop at the station every week. As of 2024, the station sees no service during late nights or peak hours.
The Pinelawn station originally had two different station houses with their own histories.[3] Both were created to servePinelawn Cemetery,Wellwood Cemetery, and other cemeteries in the vicinity. The first station opened as aflag stop on the northeast corner of Wellwood Avenue in 1895 asMelville, a name it maintained until 1897. From there it would be namedPinelawn (Melville) and finallyPinelawn in 1899.[3]
The second station was built in 1915, and moved to the southeast side of Wellwood Avenue in 1925. It was remodeled again in June 1979, but only as a shelter. Despite nearly being eliminated as part of the Long Island Rail Road's electrification of the main line towardsRonkonkoma, the Pinelawn station – along with theWyandanch andBrentwood stations – was saved as part of a bipartisan effort byNew York State Senator Owen H. Johnson (R–West Babylon) andAssemblyman Patrick G. Halpin (D–Lindenhurst), and given a high-level platform in 1986.[3]
In the late 2010s, as part of the Main Line Second Track Project, which built a second track betweenFarmingdale andRonkonkoma, two new platforms were constructed at the Pinelawn station. The existing station building and platform were demolished, allowing construction of a second track and platform.[4] Long Island Avenue was also shifted slightly south, with the road's old alignment becoming a parking lot for the station with a drop-off area.[4]
On April 17, 2025, a westbound commuter train collided with a vehicle at the Wellwood Avenue crossing just outside the station, causing a fire that engulfed the vehicle and the front of the train. The driver of the car was killed and the first car of the train,M9 #9157, was severely damaged.[5]
This station has two tracks and two 2-car-long side platforms. South of Platform B is a small drop off area with six parking spaces.
Platform A,side platform | |
| Track1 | ← Ronkonkoma Branch limited service towardGrand Central Madison orPenn Station(Farmingdale) |
| Track2 | Ronkonkoma Branch limited service towardRonkonkoma(Wyandanch) → |
| Platform B,side platform | |
Despite the presence of the shack-sized station, a much more elaborate station was built across Wellwood Avenue on August 30, 1904.[3] The station had a tallclock tower, a cemetery office, a chapel, and a fancy ticket office in the main lobby, however it is widely believed never to have been used by the public.[3] Pinelawn Cemetery station remained in service for a business located within the cemetery, until it was destroyed by a fire in April 1928.[3] The walls of the station were still standing in 1960, and the arched entrance to this station remained intact until 1985,[6] when the Long Island Rail Road was beginning its electrification of the Main Line.[3]
