Pinelawn station


Pinelawn is a railroad station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located on Long Island Avenue, just east of the County [Route 3 (Suffolk County, New York)|Wellwood Avenue (CR 3)] grade crossing in Farmingdale, New York">Farmingdale (LIRR station)">Farmingdale, New York.
The Pinelawn station primarily serves off-peak local trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch. Approximately 36 trains currently stop at the station every week. As of 2024, the station sees no service during late nights or peak hours.

History

The Pinelawn station originally had two different station houses with their own histories. Both were created to serve Pinelawn Cemetery, Wellwood Cemetery, and other cemeteries in the vicinity. The first station opened as a flag stop on the northeast corner of Wellwood Avenue in 1895 as Melville, a name it maintained until 1897. From there it would be named Pinelawn and finally Pinelawn in 1899.
The second station was built in 1915, and moved to the southeast side of Wellwood Avenue in 1925. It was remodeled again in June 1979, but only as a shelter. Despite nearly being eliminated as part of the Long Island Rail Road's electrification of the main line towards Ronkonkoma, the Pinelawn station – along with the Wyandanch and Brentwood stations – was saved as part of a bipartisan effort by New York State Senator Owen H. Johnson and Assemblyman Patrick G. Halpin, and given a high-level platform in 1986.
In the late 2010s, as part of the Main Line Second Track Project, which built a second track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma, two new platforms were constructed at the Pinelawn station. The existing station building and platform were demolished, allowing construction of a second track and platform. Long Island Avenue was also shifted slightly south, with the road's old alignment becoming a parking lot for the station with a drop-off area.
On April 17, 2025, a westbound commuter train collided with a vehicle at the Wellwood Avenue crossing just outside the station, causing a fire that engulfed the vehicle and the front of the train. The driver of the car was killed and the first car of the train, M9 #9157, was severely damaged.

Station layout

This station has two tracks and two 2-car-long side platforms. South of Platform B is a small drop off area with six parking spaces.

Pinelawn Cemetery station

Despite the presence of the shack-sized station, a much more elaborate station was built across Wellwood Avenue on August 30, 1904. The station had a tall clock tower, a cemetery office, a chapel, and a fancy ticket office in the main lobby, however it is widely believed never to have been used by the public. Pinelawn Cemetery station remained in service for a business located within the cemetery, until it was destroyed by a fire in April 1928. The walls of the station were still standing in 1960, and the arched entrance to this station remained intact until 1985, when the Long Island Rail Road was beginning its electrification of the Main Line.