Seabiscuit at Belmont 1938
http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/racetracks/lirrracetracks.htm
Neat stuff! You always have the right stuff…T hank S. I am going to pass this on to the friend who is supposedly going to the Belmont Stakes today. She’s a NYC (Queens and Brooklyn) girl whose father used to work for the State Racing Board so she takes nostalgic trips to the likes of Saratoga and Belmont quite frequently. I’ve worked with her on and off since the mid 70’s up here in Binghamton. Today she took the Dirty Dog to the city, LIRR to a hotel in Massapequa then to Jamaica to Belmont to Jamaica and back to Massapequa to visit her sister I guess. She’ll report the rail travel (and bus, too) to me next week…I’ll forward this stuff to her later. I always remembered the brouhaha raised about trains to Belmont, etc. but have never seen the spectacle; passing by off season doesn’t show much!
36,000 LIRR passengers arrived at Belmont today, and they all tried to leave on the same train.
Another article. Having never been there one can only surmise what might enable faster movements. e .
-
Third rail Power equipment that is being replaced on other lines due to various concerns might be relocated to the spur to provide more power allowing trains to move faster.
-
Track work would have to be modified to be able to run standard 12 car trains.
-
Surface track and take rail being removed from main lines and make double track ?
-
Add old switches removed from main lines to speed switching by switch men.
-
start with high level platform at station
-
But all that takes money which neither the LIRR or race track has but at least start with #1 then on.
http://www.thelirrtoday.com/2014/06/belmont-stakes-2014-sets-ridership.html
Lots of changes…trains cars are bigger and carry more passengers. Many more drive to Belmont because of social pressures and the PARKways NY state built for DRIVERS. Always was a high level station, at least since electrification of the LIRR back in the 20s or Thursdays…Wanswheel’s pic show all that. And, as Wan’s material shows, it wasn’t and isn’t just a spur but a whole yard and separate facility which, of course, is used only during racing season and especially special races like the Stakes. NJT also deals with Monmouth Park on the former NY&LB but has removed the facilities and built a platform at the entrance to the Park instead. I believe both B&O and PRR used to serve Bowie Raceway in Maryland with special trains and facilities. NJT has pulled back service over the years as more four lane highways were built and the railyard was needed for auto parking. Also, with electric service to Long Branch and the attending yard there, the Park facilities were rather redundant.
Horse racing as a part-time passenger traffic source has virtually vanished. IC used to have a branch to Washington Park that would operate specials during racing meetings and C&NW ran specials to Arlington Park on the Northwest Line. Washington Park closed after a fire many years ago and attendance at Arlington (or any of the other tracks) isn’t what it used to be.
The impatient crowd was in a lousy mood anyway. California Chrome was supposed to make the day historical and the trip worth the trouble.
The Daily News says, “Some industrious spectators trekked to the Queens Village station nearly a mile away from the track.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/thousands-stuck-belmont-lirr-woes-article-1.1822081
Video shows Queens Village station about 7 minutes before the train stops at Belmont.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsb8ENJFfn4
Queens Village station on a map. Move the map a little and see Belmont Park on the right.
Great stuff…now I don’t have to ride to Belmont Pk to log the trackage. Not having the fan/fireman’s window has taken a lot of the fun out of some rides…
Excerpt from Wall Street Journal
Racing fans making their way back to New York City from Belmont Park via the Long Island Rail Road faced none of the long lines that bedeviled the aftermath of the horse race last year, when some waited nearly four hours to board trains…
“It’s moving,” an LIRR spokesman said shortly after the first train left the park at 7:10 p.m., after American Pharoah became the first horse in nearly four decades to win the Triple Crown.
Patrick Nowakowski, the LIRR’s president, said the railroad was able to move 9,000 fans in the first half-hour after the Belmont Stakes. Around 9 p.m., the railroad reported having transported more than 24,200 passengers.
Mr. Nowakowski had put in a plan to use both of the LIRR’s tracks that run to its station at the park, instead of just the one track it had used previously. The aim was to get more trains into and out of the park faster.
“The revised plan is working very well,” he said.
^
Belmont limited attendence to a total of 90,000 this year - there was no limit last year. American Pharoah won this year and thus won all three of the Triple Crown races in 2015 - the first horse to do this since Affirmed in 1978 - 37 years ago.
Looks like the station is not ADA compliant. Why not?
The MTA listing for Belmont station says there is no elevator, but there is a ramp.
Attendance at the Belmont Stakes in 2014 was 102,199 - so 12K+ more attendees last year than this year because of the limit.
Total attendance for the Spring/Summer 2014 meet of 54 days was 302,512.
Less the Belmont Stakes attendance, that leaves 200,313; dividing that over 53 days gives about 3,780 daily attendance over the season.
Not really needing a lot of extra trains for that daily attendance figure, sine most people come by auto (and some by bus).
For comparison, in 2005 daily attendance was 5,981, not including the Belmont Stakes, which in 2004 year pulled in 120,139 spectators.
With the rise of Casino gambling in most all the states that have horse racing, horse racing has become a dying form of gambling.
Once upon a time the B&O ran ‘race trains’ to the tracks at Delaware Park (outside Newark, DE), Laurel, MD and Charles Town, WV. Those days are lost in the mists of history. Since then the track at Bowie, MD has become a training facility, Pimlico only draws a crowd for the Preakness and Laurel is on life support. Charles Town had a ‘resurgence’ when it had the only casino in the Baltimore/Washington metro area, however, with casino gambling legal in Maryland, their handle is down,
Long Island Star-Journal, January 15, 1962
And We’re Off!
Ponies Kick L.I. Economy Upward
By Lou O’Neill (Star-Journal Sports Editor)
The economic importance of thoroughbred horse-racing on Long Island is significant when measured by the volume of employment and earnings generated, tax revenues and markets providing goods and services.
The New York Racing Association operates two race tracks on Long Island — Aqueduct and Belmont — and the combined attendance at these tracks in 1961 was 5,401,878. These spectatators paid admission taxes totaling $1,007,818 to New York City and $238,961 to Nassau County.
I understand there were a number of uncashed $2 tickets for American Pharoah - with a pay off value of $5. The ticket holders figure having the uncashed ticket with the horse’s name on it will be more valuable in the future than the $5 they would get for cashing it in.