Beach Channel station
Beach Channel was a Long Island Rail Road stop on the Rockaway Beach Branch in Broad Channel, Queens. It sat at the north end of the Beach Channel Drawbridge, across from the Hammels Wye, and had two side platforms and two tracks.
Opened in spring 1888, it was built by the New York and Rockaway Beach Railway after the bankruptcy of the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad. The site was leased by Thomas A. Smith, a former congressman from Freeport.
What started as a fishermen’s drop-off point grew into a small complex with a restaurant, a bait & tackle shop, a boat rental business, and two hotels on both sides of the tracks.
On June 13, 1903, a fire destroyed the hotel on the east side, taking the northbound platforms and part of the trestle. The hotel on the southbound side and an adjacent clubhouse survived but were moved to the mainland in 1904. In 1904 the NY&RB became part of the LIRR.
This fire was the first of three major blazes affecting the Rockaway branches (the others were at Howard’s Landing in 1907 and The Raunt in 1950).
The LIRR sought permission to abandon Beach Channel station and received it on May 31, 1905.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:05 (CET).