Ah, the Staten Island Railway…..what a weird line. Well, the 20 someodd stations located on Staten Island are all contained to a singular line isolated from the rest of the system. Richmond Valley happens to be no exception. Without further ado, here’s the first SI Railway entry on this blog.
The station is famous for one thing – and it is not a good one: THE LAST CAR OF THE TRAIN DOESN’T PLATFORM!!! Yeah…. Ah well, that aside, it’s pretty standard – albeit for more of a commuter railroad station. There’s wastebaskets and benches. Stairs provide access to the other side of the tracks as well as to Richmond Valley Road. Furthermore, there’s neighborhood access without using the stairs to each side as well. It also looks like there may have been a grade crossing here many moons ago? Not sure though. As for the surroundings, there’s a bus connection to the SIM26 on Amboy Road, a house or two, a printing company, a smoothie shop, and not much else. This has got to be one of the most rural-feeling subway stations I’ve ever seen.
The good: It serves the local area! It’s also rather vibey, even if unassuming. Although, that could easily apply to the entire SI Railway outside the northernmost bits.
The bad: No accessibility, and the last car doesn’t platform. Yuck.
Nearby points of interest: There’s a smoothie shop!
Transit connections:
SI Railway
MTA bus (SIM26)
Overall, as I said earlier, this has got to be one of, if not THE single most remote-feeling stations on a subway system that I’ve ever seen and been to.
Rating: 6.5/10
