Belair Road (Staten Island Railway station)

Belair Road
Former Staten Island Railway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Borough	Staten Island
Coordinates	40°36′37″N 74°04′02″W / 40.610278°N 74.067222°WCoordinates: 40°36′37″N 74°04′02″W / 40.610278°N 74.067222°W
Line	South Beach Branch
Services	none
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	March 8, 1886
Closed	March 31, 1953
Station succession
Preceding station   Staten Island Railway   Following station Rosebank toward Clifton South Beach Branch closed Fort Wadsworth toward Wentworth Avenue

Belair Road is a demolished station on the abandoned South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway. It had two side platforms and two tracks, and was located at Vermont Avenue, between Belair Road & St. Johns Avenue. This station served the US Quarantine station, which was one block to the east.^[1][2]

The Belair Road station was built out of wood, and could only platform two cars. There was a shelter on one of the platforms. The station was rebuilt in 1936 with concrete. It was rebuilt with an underground access walkway on both sides of the station.^[2]

North of the station, there was a trestle built at Saint John's Avenue in 1936 to allow the road to pass over the right-of-way. Today, all that is left of the trestle is a stanchion that has been morphed into part of someone's backyard, with a pool on top.^[2]

This station was abandoned when the SIRT discontinued passenger service on the South Beach Branch to Wentworth Avenue at midnight on March 31, 1953 because of city-operated bus competition.^[3][4][5][6]

References

1. Bommer, Edward (2003). Stations and Places Along the Staten Island Rapid Transit. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
2. "Gary Owen's SIRT Page". Gary Owen Land. 1953-03-31. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
3. "Gary Owen SIRT Page Part Two". Gary Owen Land. 1937-04-20. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
4. Pitanza, Marc (2015). Staten Island Rapid Transit Images of Rail. Arcadia Pubishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-2338-9.
5. Drury, George H. (1994). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads: Histories, Figures, and Features of more than 160 Railroads Abandoned or Merged since 1930. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 312–314. ISBN 0-89024-072-8.
6. "The Old Order Passeth: Rails Surrender To Roads: Passenger Runs on Two Lines of SIRT Will End at Midnight". Staten Island Advance. March 31, 1953. Retrieved 14 October 2015.