This Trip I took on December 2, 2011 and finally uploaded the photos and stations for:
The day started relatively early during rush hour on the A down to 42 Street where I doubled back to the E train like most of my LIRR trips because I see no reason to spend the extra $2.25 on my LIRR trips to originate at Penn Station when the E is almost just as easy. I took the E out to Sutphin Blvd and bought a ticket to Locust Valley after putting Locust Manor (one stop into Queens) first in the TVM and thinking the price was way too cheep. Here is my train, the 9:02am to Oyster Bay with 4 C3 cars (only 3 open for passengers) waiting to enter and then entering:
.
I got on my train and it was a fairly slow ride. First we had to stop and start stuck on the same track behind the Hempstead Branch train with its stops at Hollis and Queens Village, once it left to its own tracks we picked up some speed to Mineola.
It was a slow ride to Locust Valley–(58 photos) along the hilly branch with many historic depots I started anticipating photographing more and more where I arrived 9:50 and immedately realized this is a station for history buffs with an old shelter on the Oyster Bay-bound side plus a depot and the Locust Tower that controlled the switch beyond the station where the branch becomes single tracked the rest of the way to Oyster Bay.
I then started walking to Glen Cove and passed this house that has a subway entrance post with a green globe on top as a lawn on it (I jokingly thought of ringing a doorbell and saying I was looking for the subway entrance):
I continued walking to Glen Cove–(47 photos)
Then I kept walking the very short distance to Glen Street–(36 photos)
I was planning to keep walking the less than half a mile to Sea Cliff–(23 photos) but the N27 came right then, and put my Unlimited Ride MetroCard to work. It was not a standard Long Island Bus but a regular MTA Bus, Orien V #7214 (CNG, ex-Cammand I believe) with high backed cushion seats and and destination sign not working.
The next stop, Glen Head was 2 miles away by road due to the suburbs (on the railroad only 1.3 miles) so I waited the half-hour for the N27 to get there.
After my photo essay I started walking south along the route of the N27 and it came so I hopped on again to Greenvale–(40 photos), the first stop without a station house where I spent half an hour and got a train in each direction passing through.
I got on the next N27 to Roslyn (page rebuilt with 34 new photos)
After that I waited and waited for a late N23 to take me down to Albertson–(34 photos), the simplest station on the branch.
I was planning to walk toEast Williston–(32 photos) but Roslyn Road was narrow and sidewalk-less so I took the N27 instead waiting about 10 minutes for it with two other passengers at a stop that included a dirty folding chair it felt like a random bus driver brought to the stop to wait in. That station has a sad history with the 3rd oldest LIRR depot being torn down in December 2004 because of structural issues.
I then headed down to Mineola–(page rebuilt with 44 photos) on the N23 that was right at the stop. There I did a full photo essay finally.
At that point it was 3:40 and I wanted to get Carle Place and Westbury, unfortunately it was already dark out and the slow N22 via Roosevelt Field Mall got me to Carle Place when it was just a little to dark to get a decent photo essay and walked over to Westbury getting some night photos I’ll use when I upload those photo essays after I revisit the station but nothing worth adding on their own.
The day ended with me opting to save the $5.75 ($8.25 to continue all the way to Penn Station) I got on the N22 that came soon and it took me almost exactly 72 minutes of dozing (and definitely falling asleep at some point) to my iPod (that’s how long the album I was listing to is) to get back to Jamaica-179 Street where I hopped on the F train to Union Turnpike to the E train to 42 Street where I rushed over the mezzanine to the A train and back to 181 Street. Had I taken the train I would have gotten to Penn Station in somewhere between 39 and 45 minutes (19-20 minutes to Jamaica) so for most people the train is a much more valuable use of their time.