From 1946 to 1965, I lived just up Tyson Avenue (AKA 260 St) from the LIRR crossing at Tulip Avenue in Floral Park. So I had the great experience of knowing the LIRR in its steam era, and very fortunate to get a round trip cab ride is G5s No. 34 from Floral Park to Oyster Bay.
My teenage friends & I drank beer siting on the tracks of the Creedmore Branch, at what was once was the site of the Central Railroad's East Hinsdale Station. I still remember the LIRR's coal trains to Creedmore on the branch that ran through the backyards of homes in Bellrose and Queens Village.
On my walk to Our Lady of Victory School in Floral Park Village, I would take the underpass walkway at the LIRR's Tulip Avenue Crossing. As I recall, there were 3 tracks at the crossing and the Hempstead Branch cut-in just to the east of Tulip Avenue. The Hempstead Branch was also originally a part of the Central Railroad.
