Wyandanch
Deer Park is a new LIRR Ronkonkoma Branch station that opened in 1987 just before the electrification project was completed in 1988. It combined the former Pine Aire (which the stop is actually closer to and was east of the station) and former Deer Park Station (west of the station), plus the Pilgrim State Hospital station that closed in 1979. The stop is in an industrial area, with the location chose to accommodate as much cheap to build surface parking as possible, with a large free parking lot on the northside of the station. Solar panels have been installed over nearly the entire parking lot, creating covered parking.
The stop has had two tracks and two platforms since it opened in 1988. It was originally located on a passing siding that stretched for 3 miles beginning just west of this station and stretched just beyond the Brentwood Station, but the Ronkonkoma double-track project, completed in 2018 gave the branch two tracks for it’s whole length. These 12 car long side platforms begin with ADA accessible wheelchair ramps about a car length east of Grant Avenue. This extra car length, that means a longer accessible path between the two platforms is designed so trains do not block the grade-crossing when doing station work. A simple concrete completely open air pedestrian bridge with chain-link fenced sides over the tracks connects both platforms. The Penn Station-bound platform has primarily an access road running along it with a Kiss-n-ride area and the large (that fills during weekdays) parking lot across this access road. The Access road also includes parallel parking spaces. This parking lot has access from both Grant Avenue and Long Island Avenue (which runs along the north side of the parking lot). The Ronkonkoma-bound platform has staircases that lead down a line of angled parking along Pine Aire Avenue.
The Penn Station-bound platform has a very simple pink cinderblock walls station house that really looks like a glorified shelter. This shelter is identical to those at the Brentwood and Central Islip stops. There are doors leading into restrooms directly from the platform, and additional glass doors leading into the very 1980s looking waiting room with concrete benches. Tucked along one wall (opposite the restrooms) is a newsstand and a now closed ticket window that has been replaced by a TVM. Other amenities for waiting passengers is one silver waiting structure along the Ronkonkoma-bound platform, and 3 along the Westbound platform.
All Photos November 11, 2013
