By Peggy Darlington
North will refer to Trains to Oyster Bay while South indicates Trains to New York. LIRR officially considers all lines to run East and West but for this page we will use other directions to clarify .All platforms high unless stated.
The LIRR’s Main Line offers some rich history. From the moment the train leaves Jamaica station, it can be a pretty fast run to Hicksville, and offers a mixture of elevated, and at grade stretches. The Main Line is home to five different branches that use all or part of the 25 plus miles of track from Jamaica to Hicksville. Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma trains make up the bulk of the LIRR’s main line. Some Montauk trains occasionally use the main line, before branching south to Babylon once it passes Bethpage station on the Ronkonkoma branch. Oyster Bay trains usually start at either Jamaica or Mineola then tail off towards the north shore upon leaving Mineola. Finally, Hempstead trains follow the main route from Jamaica to Floral park, before angling to the right, en route to its branch terminal. Port Jefferson line is a branch of the LIRR main line from Hicksville and serves Long Island’s north shore.
The current main line from Jamaica to Hicksville was complete in 1837.
LIRR Main Line
| Stations | Turns off After | Direction | Line |
| Hollis-Floral Park | Floral Park | Southeast | Hempstead |
| (None) | Queens Village | Southeast | Belmont Spur |
| Floral Park- Hicksville | Hicksville | Northeast | Port Jefferson |
| Floral Park- Mineola | Mineola | North | Oyster Bay |
| Hicksville | Hicksville | Southeast | Ronkonkoma |
First up, after leaving the main line is East Williston with two tracks and two wall platforms. substantial bus shelters are provided on both platforms. The Southbound platform is longer. The north end of the northbound platform has closed stationhouse along with the old low platforms. Albertson follows with two wall platforms serving two tracks I observed nice bus shelters but no stationhouse. A careful observation found the old low platforms underneath the ramps to the current platforms at the south end This station is at grade level. Roslyn follows with two tracks two wall platforms. A nice two story stucco stationhouse is on the west wide with a crossover at the North end the line becomes a high embankment over a picturesque valley to our west and near grade to our east. before reverting to low embankment.
Greenvale follows with two tracks, two wall platforms. this is the home of NY Institute of Technology. the west side is at grade and the east side is elevated This station also has the nice bus shelters. Glen Head also has two tracks, two wall platforms. nice bus shelters, . A closed stationhouse was found at the north end of this at grade station along with old low platforms. Sea Cliff also has the nice bus shelters, two tracks, two wall platforms and a nice brick stationhouse at the south end of the southbound platform. A wooden covered bench was found on the southbound platform. I found a third track to the East of the northbound track which seems to be abandoned.
Don't blink or you will miss a short, one car platform station, Glen Street which is located within the town of Glen Cove. this station has nice bus shelters This station serves a school and has a brick stationhouse at the north end of the southbound platform.. the North end of both platforms reveals the old low platforms. Glen Cove follow with two tracks, two short wall platforms old low platforms complete with wood bus shelters are at the north end of both platforms. A brick stationhouse is at he north end of the southbound platform.. We start a descent at a moderate sped and enter Locust Valley with two tracks, two wall platforms, bus shelters, The north end of the southbound platform has a mission style stationhouse with a red clay tile roof and is physically located on the old low platform North of the current station. The southbound low platform is extended to hold a tower.. We are still descending at a moderate speed and accelerate. We become a single track and vie the abandoned Mill Neck Station complete with low platform and station house on the geographic West side of our single track and enter a wooded area and observe a large body of water.--We have arrived at Oyster Bay which has a view of boats in the Oyster Bay of Long Island Sound The station has two tracks with a wall platform serving the east track only. the station is on a low embankment with no stationhouse. North of the station the West track merges with the east track and enters a small yard.
this line rates 4 stars due to rolling terrain and view of Oyster Bay. if not for the lower section which rates 2 stars due to boring main line section while the upper section gets 5 stars leading to the average of 4 stars. Only the main line section kept this from being a 5 star line.