Roslyn | |||||||||||||
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 The station house at the Roslyn station | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | Lincoln Avenue & Railroad Avenue Roslyn Heights, NY | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°47′27″N73°38′36″W / 40.79072°N 73.64327°W /40.79072; -73.64327 | ||||||||||||
| Owned by | Long Island Rail Road | ||||||||||||
| Line | Oyster Bay Branch | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 22.2 mi (35.7 km) fromLong Island City[1] | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2side platforms | ||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Connections |  Nassau Inter-County Express:n23,n27OurBus | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | yes | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Station code | RSN | ||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 7 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | January 23, 1865 | ||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1887, 1988, 1997 | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| 2012–14 | 968 per weekday[2] | ||||||||||||
| Rank | 78 out of126 | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
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Roslyn is astation on theOyster Bay Branch of theLong Island Rail Road. It is located at Lincoln & Railroad Avenues, west ofRoslyn Road (CR 7) and south of Warner Avenue, inRoslyn Heights,Nassau County,New York.
Roslyn station opened on January 23, 1865 by theGlen Cove Branch Rail Road – a subsidiary of the Long Island Rail Road, upon the completion of the line betweenMineola andGlen Head.[3][4][5] The land for the railroad station was donated bySamuel Adams Warner – a prominent architect and Roslyn resident for whom Warner Avenue is named.[6]
In 1882, the LIRR attempted to extend the formerFlushing and North Side Railroad main line from theGreat Neck station to the Roslyn station. This proposal dates back to an F&NS subsidiary, called the "Roslyn and Huntington Railroad". The proposal ultimately failed, andthat line was instead extended toPort Washington in 1898.[3][7] In the meantime, the Roslyn station was moved in 1885, in order to accommodate a new freight station; the station was rebuilt between June and July 1887.[3][8][9]
In 1905, a second track along the Oyster Bay Branch was constructed betweenAlbertson and Roslyn.[3][10][11]: 21 Four years later, in 1909, the second track was further extended from Roslyn toGlen Cove; the second track was constructed in anticipation of the Oyster Bay Branch being electrified pastEast Williston, north and east to the branch's eastern terminus inOyster Bay.[3][10][11]: 21
From the 1900s until the system's closure in 1920, theNew York & North Shore Traction Company's Port Washington Line stopped at and served the station; then23 bus follows much this former trolley line's route.[12][13][14]
On the evening of July 15, 1927, an Oyster Bay-bound express train struck a vehicle which had stalled in the middle of the former Orchard Street grade crossing, in front of the station.[15] The collision led to the vehicle being knocked into a telephone pole, and the two occupants of the vehicle were ejected from the impact. The driver, identified as Jacob Bolzicot, sustained critical injuries and was taken toNassau County Hospital inMineola. The other occupant, Catherine – Bolzicot's 4-year-old daughter, was uninjured.[15]
In 1940, the Long Island Rail Road remodeled the exterior of the station house, covering the brick façade with stucco, which resulted in public outcry.[6][16][17]Roslyn Estates residentChristopher Morley, who frequently used the station, called for the Long Island Rail Road remove the stucco and re-expose the brickwork. The Long Island Rail Road, which was looking to improve the station due to increasing ridership, soon agreed to remove the layer of stucco and re-expose the bricks – a process which was completed early that November.[6][16][17]
On the evening of May 5, 1967, a man was struck and fatally injured by an oncoming, Oyster Bay-bound train at the Roslyn station while he was crossing the tracks.[18] The victim, identified asGreenvale resident Hugh O'Rourke, was on his way home at the time of the incident. O'Rourke was transported toNorth Shore University Hospital inManhasset, where he was pronounced deceased from his injuries.[18]
The station house was restored to its 19th-century origins in 1981, during a major restoration project.[3][10][17] TheRoslyn Landmark Society assisted in the restoration project, and donated many of the materials used.[3][10]
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the area surrounding the station underwent a large-scale urban renewal project.[19][20][21][22] As part of the project, a number of derelict buildings – in addition to portions of the abandoned freight yard – were demolished and replaced with a 250-car parking lot for the station. The project also saw the station be moved to the south side of Lincoln Avenue; the historic station house was moved to this new location in 1988, where it continues to stand today.[19][22][23][24] When the station was moved to its current location, the Village of Roslyn expressed interest in moving the station's historic platform shelter into Roslyn's downtown to ensure its preservation; the structure, by that time, was used as a taxi stand.[25] The shelter, built in 1928, was moved in 1987 to the site of the Captain Jacob M. Kirby Storehouse onMain Street, where it remains standing as a garden house.[25]
In 1997, in anticipation of the LIRR's fleet ofC3bilevel railcars entering service, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority once again reconstructed the station by replacing thelow-level platforms withhigh-level ones, allowing forlevel boarding and making the stationADA-compliant.[3][23]
Between 2016 and 2017, the station's parking lot was re-striped and received additional parking spaces.[26][27] The project was carried out by the Town of North Hempstead, which owns and maintains the parking lot.[26][27][28]
In 2020, the Town of North Hempstead received a $150,000 grant from Nassau County to construct a pathway connecting the station's east end to the residential area adjacent to it; as no connection existed there between the street & platform, despite the street being adjacent to the Oyster Bay-bound platform, residents were required to walk north multiple blocks to access the station at its north end.[29] In April 2025, the historic station building was temporarily closed for extensive renovations.[30]
In 2021, the Village of Roslyn approved plans to construct amixed-use,transit-oriented development on Warner Avenue, adjacent to the station, on the site of an older, single-story shopping strip.[31][32] This transit-oriented development, known as Bryant Plaza, includes 54 rental apartments, in addition to 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of retail space below the apartments.[31][32] It was developed by JK Equities in conjunction with Century Realty Investors, and the building was designed by Mojo Stumer Associates.[32]
The Roslyn station is at-grade. It has two high-levelside platforms, each being long enough to accommodate four train cars.
| M | Mezzanine | Crossover between platforms |
| P Platform level | Platform A,side platform | |
| Track1 | ← Oyster Bay Branch towardJamaica,Long Island City, orPenn Station(Albertson) | |
| Track2 | Oyster Bay Branch towardOyster Bay(Greenvale) → | |
| Platform B,side platform | ||
| Ground level | Exit/entrance, parking lot, station house, and buses | |
Free parking is available on the west side of the station.[28] The station's parking lot is operated and maintained by the Town of North Hempstead.[28]
Media related toRoslyn (LIRR station) at Wikimedia Commons
