And there still aren't! The only through streets are Winchester Boulevard, 235th Court (which runs into Moline Street), Cross Island Parkway, Commonwealth Boulevard, 249th Street, Little Neck Parkway.
It looks like they were going to connect 239th Street to 88th Avenue, but it still hasn't been done.
I don't know why they renamed Pistol Street to 235th Court. Perhaps someone didn't care for guns. :o) As for the grade crossing - yes, there was a single-track grade crossing over Hillside Avenue one block east of Pistol Street, leading into Creedmoor Hospital and ending at the heating plant. By the time I was frequenting the area, the tracks which led west from the turnoff were long gone. The big vacant lot was really a wooded area. Lots of neat bike trails and dirt paths, with entrances next to the school and on the east side at 239th Street. Behind the houses, there were some ties lying against the fences but the rails going west were gone. I think the cut-through from 235th Court to Moline Street came into being once the tracks to Flushing were removed and new houses went up.
Wayne