Southampton College station

Not to be confused with Shinnecock Hills station.

Southampton College (also known as Southampton Campus, Golf Grounds, and Shinnecock Hills) was a Long Island Rail Road station along the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, located in Shinnecock Hills, Suffolk County, New York, United States.

Southampton College
General information
Location	Tuckahoe Road Shinnecock Hills, New York
Coordinates	40°53′27.6″N 72°26′26.7″W
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Other information
Station code	None
Fare zone	14
History
Opened	1907, 1976, 2004, 2018
Closed	1938,[1] 1998, 2004, 2018
Rebuilt	1976, 2004, 2018
Previous names	Golf Grounds (1907–1939); Southampton College (1976–1998); Shinnecock Hills (2004; 2018)
Former services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station Shinnecock Hills toward Long Island City Montauk Branch Southampton toward Montauk Hampton Bays toward Long Island City

History

Originally a seasonal flag stop called Golf Grounds, the station opened April 1907 to serve sites such as the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and National Golf Links of America and was closed in 1938.^[1]

In order to serve the Long Island University's Southampton College (now owned by Stony Brook University) it reopened as Southampton College on May 24, 1976.^[1][2][3][4]

In 1986, the Long Island Rail Road also provided service for spectators traveling to the 1986 U.S. Open, using this station for the game services.^[2]

On March 16, 1998, the station was once again discontinued as a station stop and was subsequently demolished – along with a handful of other Long Island Rail Road stations – due to low ridership.^[3] At the time, the station had an average daily ridership of 16 passengers, and the low ridership did not make it cost effective for high level platforms to be installed to accommodate the LIRR's new C3 bilevel rail cars, which require such platforms.^[4][5]

Temporary re-openings

A temporary station with a high level platform was opened at this location in June 2004 for the U.S. Open and was listed as Shinnecock Hills on special timetables.^[6] The same situation occurred in 2018 during the 2018 U.S. Open Golf Championship.^[5][7][8]

Station layout

The station had 1 low level side platform.^[3][4] As the newer C3 railcars required high level platforms at stations, the trains would not be able to serve the station without building a new, high level platform to replace the existing low level one.^[3][4]

The temporary station in June 2018 had a 10-car high-level platform.^[5]

Track 1	←      Montauk Branch toward Long Island City or Penn Station (Hampton Bays) ←      Montauk Branch toward Montauk (Southampton) →
Side platform, doors will open on the left or right

References

1. "3 R.R. Stations Closed". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. February 9, 1938. p. 7. Retrieved December 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "The 1986 U.S. Open and the Long Island Rail Road". arrts-arrchives.com. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
3. Sengupta, Somini (March 15, 1998). "End of the Line for L.I.R.R.'s 10 Loneliest Stops". The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
4. "End of the Road". The East Hampton Star. March 26, 1998. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
5. Schneider, Craig (June 15, 2018). "Officials: U.S. Open spectators fill LIRR trains, easing congestion". Newsday. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
6. Tyrrell, Joie; Freedman, Mitchell (March 25, 2004). "Town, LIRR, USGA Plans, Handling the Open Crowds". Newsday. p. A.19. Retrieved April 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Castillo, Alfonso A. (June 7, 2018). "LIRR opens temporary station for Shinnecock Hills golf tourney". Newsday. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
8. Murphy, William (June 19, 2018). "LIRR: More than 78,000 passenger trips to, from U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills". Newsday. Retrieved April 23, 2024.