This small pier is starting to fall apart because of years of weathering and exposure to the polluted water in the creek.  The steel support beams are very rusted, and the cement is cracking in several places.



A view looking west in to the Long Island Railroad's Long Island City yard.  Two tracks accommodate trains going in to and out of the yard, with a spur that used to connect the yard to several surrounding factories.



Looking east, under the Pulaski Bridge.  To the left of the picture is the spur that goes to the factories in the background.  The two tracks to the right of the picture make up a section of the Long Island Railroad's Montauk Branch, a branch that covers approximately 110 miles from Long Island City to Montauk, Long Island.

OldNYC.com contributor Chris Woods adds: "As a kid growing up in Sunnyside back in the 1970's, I spent more than a few hours exploring some of the little used rail infrastructure in the area.  If memory serves, the spur that diverges under the Pulaski bridge isn't just a factory siding, but crosses Borden Avenue at grade and enters Sunnyside Yard.  In fact, it once split into three tracks, two that enter Hunter's Point station and a bypass track that eventually becomes one of the loop tracks enabling trains to turn around instead of continuing to Long Island and/or the Hellgate bridge.  Of course, there was a lot of infrastructure down there and that spur may be a remnant of a rail yard that once existed between LIC and Dutch Kills.  However, I've been caught waiting for freight trains to pass an at-grade crossing over Borden avenue en route to the Midtown Tunnel relatively recently.  I've always assumed they were moving between Sunnyside Yard and LIC.  Since the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has officially stated resumed Ferry Operation for LIRR riders between LIC and downtown Manhattan as an option under consideration in the wake of September 11, the status of this tiny ROW has become somewhat newsworthy.  It would be a lot easier to simply add a single stop to those trains that now terminate at Hunter's Point rather than upgrade the entire Montauk Division west of Jamaica Station."


The Queens-Midtown Tunnel tollbooths are positioned right before the tunnel entrance.  It will cost the motorist $3.50 each way to go through the tunnel.



At-grade railroad crossings still exist in New York City, even though in the early 1900's, the Long Island Railroad took great measures to try and eliminate many of the crossings.  Just up the street is a crossing at Borden Avenue.



A sign indicating an entrance to the Long Island Expressway (I-495) for eastbound traveling motorists.  According to various postings in the MTR Internet newsgroup, I-495 doesn't officially begin at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.  It starts at the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway/Long Island Expressway interchange, and continues east to Riverhead, Long Island.  The signs in the Long Island City area carry I-495 shields as to not confuse the public with the technicalities, and give the appearance of a uniform signage system.



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