Ridgefield Park | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 1 Station Plaza Ridgefield Park, New Jersey 07660 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | New York Central | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Line(s) | West Shore Railroad New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad New York, Ontario and Western Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Station code | 1077 (Erie Railroad) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1872[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | December 10, 1959[3] June 30, 1966 (NYS&W) [4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Rebuilt | August 20, 1927[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrified | Not electrified | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Former services | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Proposed services (at Mount Vernon Street) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ridgefield Park station, also known as West Shore Station, was a railroad station in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, at the foot of Mount Vernon Street served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYSW) and the West Shore Railroad, a division of New York Central (NYCRR). [6] [7] The New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) had running rights along the West Shore and sometimes stopped at Ridgefield Park. [8] First opened in 1872 it was one of three passenger stations in the village, the others being the Little Ferry station to the south and Westview station to the north. (Secondary sources note a later opening date.) Service on the West Shore Railroad began in 1883. The station house, built at a cost of $100,000 opened in 1927. [9] Southbound service crossed Overpeck Creek and continued to terminals on the Hudson River waterfront where there was a connecting ferry service across the Hudson River to Manhattan. [9] Northbound near Bogota the parallel NYSW and West Shore lines diverge and continue into northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. Passenger service ended in 1966.
In 1866, the Ridgefield Park Railroad (a predecessor to West Shore), was established to create a right of way (ROW) along foot the western slope of the Hudson Palisades parallel to the Hackensack River from Ridgefield Park to Marion Junction, where it could use the Bergen Hill Cut to the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot on the Hudson Waterfront in Jersey City. In 1873 the Jersey City & Albany Railroad (another predecessor to the West Shore) incorporated the original Ridgefield Park Railroad ROW into its projected line. The West Shore instead built the Weehawken Tunnel (at the southern end of what became North Bergen Yard) in conjunction with the opening of the Weehawken Terminal. It opened its station in Ridgefield Park in 1883. [10] NYC's service was discontinued in 1959. [11]
The New Jersey Midland Railway (a predecessor to the NYSW) built a line through the Ridgefields in 1872. [2] [10] [12] [13] It joined the Erie Railroad Northern Branch at Granton Junction near Babbitt, and reached the community of New Durham. With a similar intention to reach a terminal on the Hudson River, in 1873 it built the Hudson Connecting Railroad which ran south to West End Junction, just north of Marion Junction, with access to Erie's Long Dock Tunnel and Pavonia Terminal. [14] Passenger service on the NYC's West Shore Railroad ended in 1959, having been truncated to West Haverstraw in 1958. Passenger service on the NYSW made use of the West Shore's Ridgefield Park station to Pavonia Terminal until it was retracted to Susquehanna Transfer (near the point now under New Jersey Route 495) and eventually terminated in 1966.
CSX Transportation's River Line and the NYS&W both operate freights along the rail lines that pass the station. NYS&W maintains a small yard in the village. [15]
The station house has become a commercial building. [16] It has been recommended for historic designation by the county's historical agency. [17] and is a very popular location for train watchers.
The CSX bridge over Overpeck Creek was replaced by a two-track swing bridge in 2005. [18] [19] In 2015, the NYS&W Bridge 10.73 was slated for replacement due to its poor condition, [20] [21] [22] but as of 2017 work had not begun. [23] Before it could, the bridge collapsed in 2018, causing a minor derailment. [24] Work commenced in 2019. [25]
Numerous studies to restore passenger service have been conducted, but not materialized. [26] The location is a potential station of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations's proposed Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project which would be called Mount Vernon Street. [27]
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles (13 km) long, in Bergen County in northeastern New Jersey in the United States. The lower broad mouth of the creek is part of the extended tidal estuary of the lower Hackensack and of the adjacent wetland region known as the New Jersey Meadowlands.
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, also sometimes referred to as New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, Susie-Q or the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in three Northeastern states, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater, South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east of Newark are listed here.
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.
The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern New Jersey and Orange County, New York.
The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad that ran from Weehawken, New Jersey, on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite New York City, north to Albany, New York, and then west to Buffalo. It was organized as a competitor to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, but was soon taken over by that company.
Ridgefield Township was a township that existed in Bergen County, New Jersey. The township was created in 1871, when Hackensack Township was trisected to form Palisades Township in the northernmost third, Englewood Township in the central strip and Ridgefield Township encompassing the southernmost portion, stretching from the Hudson River on the east to the Hackensack River, with Hudson County to the south. Much of the area had been during the colonial area known as the English Neighborhood. As described in the 1882 book, History of Bergen and Passaic counties, New Jersey,
Ridgefield is the first township in Bergen County which the traveler enters in passing up the Palisades. His first impressions are much like those of old Hendrick Hudson in speaking of a wider extent of country: "A very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see." The valley of the Hackensack invited early settlers in the seventeenth century, and the valley of the Overpeck Creek, a navigable arm of the Hackensack, also attracted settlers quite as early in this direction. Sloops and schooners can pass up this creek nearly to the northern boundary of the township. Ridgefield is bounded on the north by Englewood, on the east by the Hudson, on the south by Hudson County, and on the west by the Hackensack River. The southern boundary is less than two miles in extent, and the northern less than four, and the length of the township from north to south does not exceed four miles. Bellman's Creek, forming part of the southern boundary, the Hackensack, the Overpeck, the Hudson, with more than a dozen other smaller streams and rivulets, bountifully supply the whole township with water. From the western border of the Palisades the land descends to the Overpeck, forming a most beautiful valley, with the land again rising to a high ridge midway between the Overpeck and the Hackensack. From this long ridge, extending far to the north beyond this township, it took its name of Ridgefield.
The New York, Susquehanna and Western, formerly the Midland Railroad, the Jersey City and Albany Railroad, and the Northern Railway of New Jersey—all running northward through the township— afford ample railroad accommodations. The Susquehanna enters the township at Bellman's Creek, and the Northern at about one hundred feet south of the creek, and at a point north and east of the Susquehanna. The Albany road in this locality is not yet constructed, diverging at present from the track of the Susquehanna between Little Ferry and Bogota stations. It has, however, an independent line projected and now under construction to New York City.
Early Settlements. Ridgefield embraces the earliest settlements in the ancient township of Hackensack, antedating even the organization of that township in 1693, and of the county of Bergen in 1675. There seems to have been no town or village compactly built, like the village of Bergen, but there were settlements both of Dutch and English in and about what was subsequently known as English Neighborhood prior to 1675. The Westervelts, the Zimcrmans, the Bantas, and the Blauvelts, all coming from Holland, settled in the middle of the seventeenth century in that locality. The ancestors of Jacob P. Westervelt, now of Hackensack Village, with himself, were born in English Neighborhood. His father was born there in 1776, and was the son of Christopher Westervelt, who was born there certainly as early as 1690, and he was the son of the original ancestor of this family, who came from Holland and settled on Overpeck Creek, within the present limits of Ridgefield township, probably about 1670.
The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a proposed extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) from its northern terminus into eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, initially proposed in 2001. If built, the new service would use the right-of-way of the Northern Branch on which the Erie Lackawanna Railroad ran passenger service until October 3, 1966, and is currently a lightly used, stub-ended freight rail line owned by CSX Transportation. The Northern Branch Corridor is at the foot of the west side of the Hudson Palisades in the Hackensack River valley, running for much of its length parallel to Overpeck Creek. After mixed reactions and extensive community input to a draft environmental impact statement (EIS), it was decided in 2013 to terminate the line at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. In March 2017 the Supplementary Draft Environmental Impact Statement was approved by the Federal Transit Administration allowing for a period of public reaction. A separately-conceived and funded bridge at 69th Street in North Bergen, necessary for operation of the system, has been completed. In 2017 NJ Transit estimated that the line would open in 2029.
The Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project is a project under study by NJ Transit to reintroduce passenger service on a portion of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) right-of-way (ROW) in Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties using newly built, FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars. Plans call for service to run from Hawthorne south through Paterson, east to Hackensack and then southeast to North Bergen, where it would join the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR).
The North Bergen Yard is freight rail yard and intermodal terminal in North Bergen, New Jersey parallel to Tonnelle Avenue between 49th and 69th Streets. Located within the North Jersey Shared Assets Area, the facility is part of CSX Transportation (CSXT) and the origination point of its CSX River Subdivision at the southern end of the Albany Division. On its west side, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) runs the length of the yard and operates a bulk transloading operation immediately adjacent to it.
The Edgewater Branch was a branch of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that ran about 3.174 miles (5.108 km) through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey in the United States. Starting from a rail junction at the Little Ferry Yard, it went east through the Edgewater Tunnel to Undercliff to the Hudson Waterfront.
Little Ferry Yard is a railyard and intermodal terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey served by the CSX River Subdivision (CSXT), New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW), Norfolk Southern Railway and Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CRCX).
Vreeland Avenue was railroad station in Paterson, New Jersey served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W). until 1966. Service by the New Jersey Midland, a predecessor to the NYS&W, had begun in 1873. The station house dates to 1949. Other extant station buildings from the New Jersey Midland/NYSW can be found at Wortendyke, Butler, and Newfoundland, among other places.
Hackensack was a railroad station in Hackensack, New Jersey on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Main Line, which provided passenger service between the 1870s and 1960s. The station at Main and Mercer Streets opened in 1872; it was replaced with one at River Street in 1950. Public Service trolley lines served both stations.
Bogota was a railroad station in Bogota, New Jersey, at Court Street/Fort Lee Road west of River Road and east of the Court Street Bridge over the Hackensack River. It was located on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Main Line, which provided passenger service between the 1870s and 1960s.
69th Street is a proposed interchange station in North Bergen in Hudson County, New Jersey. It would serve passengers on two lines under consideration by NJ Transit, the Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project and the Northern Branch Corridor Project, the latter of which is an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail. The station would located at-grade west the North Bergen Yard and Tonnelle Avenue.
The Vince Lombardi Park & Ride is located on the New Jersey Turnpike in the Meadowlands in Ridgefield, Bergen County, New Jersey. The park and ride and separate service area to south of it are dedicated to and named after Vince Lombardi. Located at the edge of the Little Ferry Yard it has been viewed as a potential rail station location since the 1990s and as of 2021, it is under consideration by NJ Transit as part of the Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project.
Broadway–Paterson was a New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W) station in Paterson, New Jersey near the level, or at-grade crossing south of Broadway at Ellison Place and Madison Avenue. Service by the New Jersey Midland, a predecessor to the NYS&W, had begun in 1873. It was originally known as Paterson, but was renamed after a junction of the railroad's mainline was created to build the Paterson City Branch. The station house, demolished in 1982, was situated between the two lines and served as the Susquehanna's headquarters for several years. Passenger service on the branch ended in 1960 and on the mainline in 1966.
North Bergen was a railroad station in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States known Homestead for most of its existence. It as built in the mid 19th century and served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (#1059) and the Erie Railroad's Northern Branch (#1903).
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(help)NJDOT also is awarding a $4.3 million grant to replace the rail bridge spanning the Overpeck Creek in Ridgefield Park, Bergen County. The bridge serves as a critical link for freight rail in the region with an average of 25,000 rail cars traversing the bridge each year. It was originally built in the early 1900s with three spans – a north approach, a south approach, and a center span. The north and south approaches were rehabilitated in 1985. This project will replace all three spans with a new steel bent system and steel superstructure, as well as new steel and concrete abutments on the north and south sides.