Carlton Hill | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | Jackson Street and Erie Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°50′32″N74°06′50″W / 40.8422°N 74.1140°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | Erie Railroad (1906–1960) Erie–Lackawanna Railroad (1960–1966) | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Erie Railroad Main Line (1888–1963) Carlton Hill Branch (1963–1966) | ||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 main line | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Platform levels | 1 | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Station code | 2125 [1] | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | c. 1870 [2] | ||||||||||
Closed | October 3, 1966 [3] | ||||||||||
Previous names | Santiago Park (–May 1874) [4] West Rutherford (May 1874–) [4] | ||||||||||
Key dates | |||||||||||
1965 | Agency closed [5] | ||||||||||
October 1967 | Depot demolished [6] | ||||||||||
Former services | |||||||||||
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Carlton Hill station was a railroad station for the Erie Railroad in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Carlton Hill station was the second station along the Erie's main line and the first station after Rutherford Junction, where the Erie's main line forked from the Bergen County Railroad. The station provided service for passengers in Rutherford and East Rutherford's Carlton Hill district and freight billing for the Royce Chemical Company, producer of Royox household cleaner, epoxies and dyes.
After Carlton Hill, the main line continued westward to Passaic Park and eastward to Rutherford–East Rutherford and Pavonia Terminal.
Carlton Hill Station opened in 1888 on Jackson Avenue and namesake Erie Avenue in Rutherford. The station was served by the main line until 1963, when the Passaic Plan was undertaken, removing tracks at Passaic Park, Passaic, Clifton, and Lake View stations. At that point, the nearby drawbridge was permanently swung open and later removed, leaving a branch to Carlton Hill. For the next few years, Carlton Hill received deadhead trains and a rare Carlton Hill – Rutherford – Hoboken Terminal train schedule. In 1966, when several underused branches, including the Carlton Hill, lost service, the old main line alignment to Carlton Hill was abandoned. The tracks remain, though the building is gone, having been demolished in October 1967.
Carlton Hill station was situated at the intersection with Jackson Avenue in Rutherford, where the Erie Railroad's main line crossed, 10.75 miles (17.30 km) away from New York City's Chambers Street Ferry Terminal. [7] The main line crossed through Carlton Hill on two tracks, separated by inter-track fencing. There was one main line platform, next to the station depot, which was located on the eastbound side of the tracks. During the morning commuter rush, Carlton Hill was full of commuters heading for New York City. After the commuter rush, a station agent's work was to inspect the yard and complete freight billing for the Royce Chemical Company. The yard commonly had boxcars, empty and loaded waiting for pick-up. [8] Although the station no longer gets use, the former site is accessible via New Jersey Transit's buses #160 and #190 along with a walk down to Jackson Avenue. The former station site and trackage are owned by Norfolk Southern Railway. [9] [10] [11]
Carlton Hill station was first constructed in 1888 as a 57-by-16-foot (17.4 m × 4.9 m) [12] wooden structure at Jackson Avenue in Rutherford. The wooden station was the common design for station depots used by the Erie Railroad, designated Type IV. [8] In 1889, upon opening of the station, formerly called West Rutherford, the station received eighteen trains from New York City and Jersey City daily, seventeen to New York City daily, and ten fewer trips on weekend each. The fare to get to Carlton Hill from Jersey City was $0.35 for one-way tickets, and $0.50 for round trips. The Erie's "Family Commutation Service", which was 50 trips, cost the rider $8.75. [7]
The station was popular with holiday-goers heading to the resorts along the Passaic River, and the Rutherford Railway, a horsecar rail line existed for a few years [13]
On September 6, 1911, a woman named Elizabeth King was struck and killed by an Erie Railroad passenger train at Carlton Hill. The woman, heading to Passaic to visit her daughter in the local hospital for an operation, was of poor eyesight and was unable to see the train. [14] At the time, the Erie had not implemented intertrack fencing, but the intersection with Jackson Avenue had been given flashing lights and bells to signify the oncoming train. After the incident, the New Jersey State Legislature got involved with the case and gave the Erie suggestions to add intertrack fencing at Carlton Hill to prevent another such incident. [15]
Commuters on a westbound train passing through Carlton Hill on August 17, 1945 were overcome by a sudden release of noxious sulfur dioxide fumes. During the draining of the sulfur dioxide from a tank car to Royce Chemical's storage tanks, a hose split in half and the workers failed to close the valve on the tank car, resulting in the fumes spreading throughout the Carlton Hill area. When the passenger train stopped at Carlton Hill, the locomotive was adjacent to the leaking tank car. The sulfur dioxide fumes were drawn into the passenger cars, causing an immediate panic among the riders, who rushed for the exits. W.S. Osborne, an off-duty engineer for the Erie, was in one of the passenger cars and ran to the locomotive to find out what was going on. In the cab, he found the crew lying unconscious on the floor. In response, Osborne took control of the throttle and immediately reversed the train out of the area of the tank car, reducing the exposure to the fumes. [16]
As fumes from the tank car continued to spread, workers at the nearby Standard Bleachery began to feel the effects of the sulfur dioxide. There, another immediate panicked rush for the exits occurred as emergency response began to arrive. Several passengers were treated by Dr. Howard Cooper, [16] a local police surgeon in Rutherford. [17] Four people were brought to St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, Morris Burlinger, a passenger on the train and Jessie Thomson, a local resident overcome by fumes, along with two members of the unconscious train crew: Martin Hein, the engineer, and the conductor, S.A. Smith. The fireman, R. Rensch, was treated and released at the scene. [16]
The spread of the sulfur dioxide also caused property damage in the Carlton Hill area. Residents of Rutherford and East Rutherford, demanding answers from the Royce Chemical Company and the Erie Railroad, noted that the fumes had killed numerous trees in the area and had decimated multiple gardens. Mayor John Petrie of Rutherford brought up a letter he had sent in 1942 to the State Board of Health demanding Royce Chemical clean up its area in Carlton Hill. A local policeman from East Rutherford noted that there had been previous incidents of gas fumes, but nothing as severe as the August 17 incident. Albert Royce Jr., President of Royce Chemical, denied that sulfur dioxide was poisonous, stating it was only a rotten egg odor rather than anything serious, despite the reports of nine incapacitated by the noxious fumes. [18]
However, by August 22, it was reported that three more people had been injured by the noxious fumes. Ernest Ericson, a resident of Passaic, also had to be taken to Beth Israel Hospital in Passaic on August 19, diagnosed with double pneumonia caused by exposure to the fumes. Ericson had been driving down Carlton Avenue in the area on the day of the gas attack. His wife, Ann, reported her husband's condition on August 21 to the police in Rutherford. James Petosa and Leonard Di Fouggia, residents of Newark also reported their health issues to Rutherford police. Petosa and Di Fouggia, who both had to be treated by doctors, were passing by Carlton Hill station on August 17 when they inhaled the fumes, bringing the total of victims to 12. [19]
During the 1950s and 1960s, several different priorities from different agencies around the cities of Paterson and Passaic were beginning to form. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, a competing railroad with the Erie with a nearby parallel route from the Hudson waterfront to Paterson, wanted to combine services and share trackage with the Erie because of financial troubles. Secondly, the city officials in Passaic had proposed to the Erie to remove the main line tracks through the city's downtown Main Street shopping district, since traffic jams would occur every time a train stopped at the Passaic station. This, however, was not implemented during the 1950s, as proposed. Instead, the Erie reconstructed the stations at Passaic and Clifton. Third, the New Jersey State Highway Department needed rights-of-way for Interstate 80 through Paterson and State Route 21 through Passaic (right where Passaic Park station and BE Drawbridge were located). [20]
After the Erie and Lackawanna merged on October 17, 1960, the city officials in Passaic reiterated their Main Street track-removal request. This time, the newly formed Erie–Lackawanna went forward with it, beginning the process to move its main line onto the former Boonton Branch through Lyndhurst, Passaic and Clifton. [20] The main line was abandoned past Carlton Hill, and BE Drawbridge was swung in the open position. The bridge was soon put up for sale price of $0.00 in 1964 by the mayor of Passaic. [21]
After the abandonment of the Erie Railroad's main line through the city of Passaic, the two-tracked stub from Rutherford and Bergen Junction westward through Carlton Hill remained in service as the Carlton Hill Branch. This alignment received most of the deadhead trains, but there was a limited set of Carlton Hill – Rutherford – Hoboken trains, making only those two stops. [22] In October 1966, along with the Newark Branch and the spur of the New York & Greenwood Lake to Wanaque, the Carlton Hill Branch service were discontinued and the station no longer received passenger trains. The station building was later demolished, and only the tracks and asphalt platform remain to this date at Jackson Avenue. [23]
The station depot was razed in October 1967, a year after service ended after falling into a state of disrepair and complaints from local residents. [6]
The Main Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by New Jersey Transit running from Suffern, New York to Hoboken, New Jersey, in the United States. It runs daily commuter service and was once the north–south main line of the Erie Railroad. It is colored yellow on NJ Transit system maps, and its symbol is a water wheel.
The Bergen County Line is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line loops off the Main Line between the Meadowlands and Glen Rock, with trains continuing in either direction along the Main Line. It is colored on NJT system maps in grey, and its symbol is a cattail, which are commonly found in the Meadowlands where the line runs.
The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey, and formerly extended further into New York State. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in Jersey City, initially Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal. In 1870 the line was extended to Nyack, New York, and continued to provide passenger service until 1966. After the Erie's unsuccessful merger with the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna, ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon its formation in 1976 from a number of bankrupt railroads.
Newark Broad Street station is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail and light rail station at 25 University Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. Built in 1903, the station's historic architecture includes an elegant clock tower and a brick and stone façade on the station's main building. In June 1984, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historical significance.
Montclair Heights is a New Jersey Transit station in the Montclair Heights area of Montclair Township, New Jersey. Located along the Montclair-Boonton Line at the Normal Avenue (CR 618) grade crossing, the station serves trains coming from six different terminals. Depending on the direction of travel, Montclair Heights is either the first or last of six stations in the township. The next station westbound is Montclair State University, which is in Little Falls, while the next station eastbound is Upper Mountain Avenue.
Roseville Avenue was a transfer station on New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines in Newark, New Jersey, United States. The station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1903 as part of a project to lower the tracks below the road surface to eliminate grade crossings. It serviced Newark's Roseville neighborhood. It once had two tracks on the Lackawanna mainline and two low-wall platforms, with an additional platform along the Montclair Branch. The station remained in service during most of the 20th century, until New Jersey Transit closed the station on September 16, 1984.
Kingsland is a railroad station on New Jersey Transit's Main Line. It is located under Ridge Road (Route 17) between New York and Valley Brook Avenues in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and is one of two stations in Lyndhurst. The station is not staffed, and passengers use ticket vending machines (TVMs) located at street level to purchase tickets. The station is not handicapped-accessible. Originally part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Boonton Branch, the current Kingsland station was built in 1918. The station is currently planned to be closed.
Paterson is a New Jersey Transit commuter railway station located on an elevated viaduct above Market Street in downtown Paterson, New Jersey. The railway through the station is double tracked, for north and south traffic on the NJT Main Line.
Fairmount Avenue is a former New Jersey Transit rail station on the Pascack Valley Line. The station was one of three rail stations in Hackensack, New Jersey, and was located at Fairmount Avenue and Temple Avenue. The Essex Street and Anderson Street stations are also located in Hackensack. The station house was built in 1870 as part of the extension railroad for the Hackensack and New York Railroad on a track extension from Anderson Street in Hackensack. The line became part of the Erie Railroad in 1896 and New Jersey Transit in 1983.
Essex Street, known as Hackensack during the Erie Railroad era, is a New Jersey Transit rail station on the Pascack Valley Line, located in Hackensack, New Jersey, at 160 John Street. The Pascack Valley Line services this station seven days a week.
The Montclair-Boonton Line is a commuter rail line of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations in the United States. It is part of the Hoboken Division. The line is a consolidation of three individual lines: the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Montclair Branch, which ran from Hoboken Terminal to Bay Street, Montclair. The Erie Railroad's Greenwood Lake Division, a segment from Montclair to Mountain View-Wayne, originally ran from the Jersey City Terminal to Greenwood Lake, NY, and the former Lackawanna Boonton Line ran from Hoboken to Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Lake View is a former railroad station for the Erie Railroad in the community of Paterson, New Jersey. The station was located at the intersection of Railway Avenue and Crooks Avenue in the Lakeview district of Paterson, just north of the Clifton town line. The station consisted of two platforms, with a small shelter-sized depot on the westbound tracks and no shelter whatsoever on the eastbound side heading towards Pavonia Terminal. The station was first opened in 1883 in the Lakeview district, and remained in use for nearly eight decades. In 1952 and 1953, as a deal made for Passaic, New Jersey, stations at Clifton and Main Street-Passaic were rebuilt. However, Lake View was not, and when the Passaic Plan was enacted on April 2, 1963, the last passenger trains served Lake View served the old 1883 depot. The depot was razed in the autumn of 1967.
Passaic Park station was a former railroad station for the Erie Railroad's main line in Passaic, New Jersey in the epomonyous section of the city. The station was located between the Carlton Hill station and the Prospect Street station. The station was the easternmost of four Erie stations that served the city of Passaic, being demolished in 1963 as part of the abandonment of the railroad line through Passaic and Clifton. Passaic Park station, originally opened as part of the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad, was reconstructed in 1888 as a 57-by-16-foot wooden structure. The wooden station was the common design for station depots used by the Erie Railroad, designated Type IV. The station was replaced in 1923 with a Spanish tile roof station made of concrete and stone, after six years of litigation between the railroad and the city of Passaic.
Clifton was a former train station for the Erie Railroad and Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in Clifton, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Located at the intersection of Getty Avenue and Clifton Avenue, the station served as part of the Main Line. The station consisted of tracks on an elevated line above Getty Avenue with the 1952-built station depot on the side. After the closure of Harrison Street station, the station to the southeast was Passaic and the next station to the northwest was the Lake View station in nearby Paterson.
West Arlington was a former commuter railroad train station in the Arlington section of Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey. Located overlooking Passaic Avenue, West Arlington station was one of two in Kearny on the Erie Railroad's New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad, the other one being Arlington at Garafola Place. The station contained two low-level side platforms, with a pair of depots, one of which was on each platform. Trains went from Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City to Wanaque–Midvale station in Wanaque. The next station to the west was North Newark, across nearby WR Draw, a swing bridge over the Route 21, the Passaic River and Passaic Avenue.
Warren was a former station for the Erie Railroad on its main line and on the Mahoning Division's first subdivision between Cleveland and Pymatuning station. Along the main line, the next station west towards Dearborn Station was Leavittsburg, while east towards Pavonia Terminal was Niles. The station was located 585.7 miles (942.6 km) from Pavonia Terminal and 412.8 miles (664.3 km) from Dearborn Station.
Essex Fells was the terminus of the Erie Railroad's Caldwell Branch in the Essex County community of Essex Fells, New Jersey. Located at the junction of Oak Lane and Chestnut Lane in Essex Fells, the station was also a connection to the Morristown and Erie Railroad, which continued west through Roseland towards Morristown. The next station north from the Essex Fells station was Caldwell heading northward to Great Notch in Little Falls, where the line connected to the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad.
Corning was a major station along the Erie Railroad, located on the Susquehanna Division of the main line. Located originally in downtown Corning, New York, the station first opened on the line in January 1850, with the completion of the New York and Erie Railroad from Piermont in Rockland County to Dunkirk in Chautauqua County. The first depot at Corning was built in 1861 and located at the intersection of Erie Avenue and Pine Street in Corning. The station lasted at this location until 1952, when construction of a new track bypass of Corning began. The newer depot opened on November 21, 1952. This new station was located at the junction of West Sycamore Street and North Bridge Street on the north side of Corning.
Caldwell station was the fourth of six stations on the Erie Railroad Caldwell Branch, located in Caldwell, New Jersey. The station was located on Bloomfield Avenue just north-east of Caldwell College. The station opened in 1891 as the terminus of the Caldwell Railroad, a branch of the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad that forked off at Great Notch station in Little Falls, Passaic County.
North Newark was a former commuter railroad train station in the Woodside section of the city of Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. Located at the intersection of Broadway and Verona Avenue, the station served trains on NJ Transit's Boonton Line, which operated at the time between Netcong and Hoboken Terminal. The station consisted of two low-level side platforms, accessible by stairs from Broadway. The next station to the east was Arlington in nearby Kearny, with the next station to the west being Rowe Street in Bloomfield.
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