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Fresh Ponds Station / Bushwick Junction

At 65th Street, the track splits into two branches before entering the Fresh Ponds Yard and meets the east-west LIRR Montauk Branch. Originally, the Bay Ridge Line turned to the west here with stops at Maspeth, Haberman and Penny Bridge before terminating in Long Island City. A separate freight branch forked at Maspeth to procede past a number of industrial customers before ending at the Bushwick Terminal.

Later, the portion of the Bay Ridge Branch to Long Island City became part of the City Terminal Zone, providing service from Long Island City, through the Fresh Ponds Yard on east to Jamaica for transfer to other Long Island destinations.

To the north, the freight line continues as the New York Connecting Railroad, ultimately leading to the Hell Gate Bridge which provides the only direct rail link between Long Island and the U.S. mainland.

The Circumferential Line is proposed pass through the yard headed north on the NYC Connecting Railroad line. While a "Fresh Ponds" station could conceivably be placed near the 65th Street Bridge, such a station might be too close to the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line (M Train) Fresh Pond Road stations to justify the additional expense.

The Fresh Pond railyard is not readily accessible to civilians, however the New York Connecting Railroad bridge over the LIRR Montauk Branch is briefly visible from the M Train right before the M Train terminates at the Metropolitan Avenue station. The bridge was built in 1916 along with the NYCRR and supposedly is unusually long because the LIRR didn't want the bridge infringing on any of their right of way.

For a detailed overview of the Fresh Ponds rail yard (with diagrams and historic photos), visit aRRt's aRRchives and TrainsAreFun.com.

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