STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The old North Shore Rail line stopped carrying passengers in 1953, and most of the old rail line is inaccessible.

But you can still visit the former Elm Park stop at Morningstar Road and see the deteriorating remains of the old station.

Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

This is the makeshift staircase you use to get down to the stop from an overpass on Morningstar Road, between Innis Street and Newark Avenue.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

There are two platforms, one for eastbound trains, one for westbound. The rail line ran parallel to Richmond Terrace, from Port Ivory to the St. George Ferry Terminal. This is the St. George-bound platform.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Here's a closer look.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

This is the westbound side. Notice that all the tracks on this side of the line are gone here.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

You can see both platforms here. And a tree that has sprouted up between the rails.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

I took this picture while standing on top of one of the platforms, as if I was waiting for a train.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

You can imagine commuters looking at each other across the tracks.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Weeds and other debris are slowly burying this section of track.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

The station was originally opened on Feb. 23, 1886.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Of course, people have been hanging out down here, and doing the place up with graffiti. Like this scary visage.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

This was pretty colorful.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Here's a closer look. Art or vandalism? You decide.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

People have been busy down here.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

The spot is pretty secluded, so it's no wonder.

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Advance file photo

Here's what the dilapidated station looked like in 2008.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Wreckage of the platform's overhead canopies litters the area.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Amazing that the remnants are still here so many years later.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Kind of spooky underneath the overpass.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

More metal debris. Doesn't look like anything here can be salvaged.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Hardly recognizable as anything anymore.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Here's a peek underneath one of the platforms.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

You can plainly see the old train tracks here.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

A detour sign dumped here from the construction work being done at the Bayonne Bridge nearby.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Lots of debris still around.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

This wall is crumbling away.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Was it part of the old station?

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Only the St. George-bound track is still intact.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

This is what you would have seen traveling into the Elm Park station.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

The tracks become more overgrown the farther west you walk from the platforms.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Still, I wanted to see how far I could walk. Maybe there was another station out there somewhere.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

But the ground got pretty wet.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

And then got positively swampy, and I was only able to walk so far. My feet started to sink.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Message from a local.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Here's the truly strange thing: I found a lot of old work gloves scattered around the site.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Wait, has O.J. been here???

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Who knows how they got there?

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Here's the view of the tracks from up above.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

And even from blocks away, you could still see the tracks.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Look up while standing near the platforms and you'll see the Bayonne Bridge looming above you. I was kind of paranoid about the workers seeing me, but they probably couldn't have cared less.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Time to go.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

Go here to take a visual ghost ride on the old rail line. You'll see more stations, stairways and overpasses, all right out there in the community.

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Tom Wrobleski | wrobleski@siadvance.com

And here's a look at two decommissioned and demolished stations of the current Staten Island Railway, the Nassau and Atlantic stations. They were replaced by the new Arthur Kill station.

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Video by Anthony DePrimo

And check out this cool video about the Nassau and Atlantic stations.