2. New York and Manhattan Beach Railway / LIRR Manhattan Beach Branch
The New York and Manhattan Beach Railway opened between 1877 and 1878 and would become the Manhattan Beach Branch of the LIRR. The branch, which closed in the 1930s, still exists in remnants at the former Neck Road LIRR station in Homecrest, Brooklyn, whose entrance has been bricked off. In East New York, there is an abandoned platform that indicates there was a station by the tunnel that was once part of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway, which connected Long Island City and Bay Ridge to Manhattan Beach.
A semi-abandoned East New York freight tunnel sits by this platform. Built in 1918, the tunnel has four tracks though only one is active today. That track functions as a short-haul freight run from Fresh Pond Yard to Bay Ridge. The tunnel was built for freight, which would connect New Jersey to the Northeast, but there was also passenger train activity. The passenger rail line opened in 1877 and closed in 1924, just six years after the opening of the East New York freight tunnel. The former northbound passenger track was lifted in 1939 with its tunnel sealed. The tunnel has been the site of television and movie sets, as well as graffiti works.