CNJ Elizabeth Port station

Finding the EXACT location following Google maps and wikimap made me curious. Seeing that the station was quite large, my questions are... What was there besides the Elizabethport shops? And who primarily used this station? I mean it looks like it is in the middle of nowhere. No neighborhoods etc...

Bobby S wrote:Finding the EXACT location following Google maps and wikimap made me curious. Seeing that the station was quite large, my questions are... What was there besides the Elizabethport shops? And who primarily used this station? I mean it looks like it is in the middle of nowhere. No neighborhoods etc...

It was used heavily as a transfer station for passengers going to/from Newark, the branches to the south, and also by employees of the CNJ, Singer Sewing Machine Company (large complex just south of the mainline there) and undoubtedly other employers in the area. It was very busy, hence in part the high level platforms and 6 tracks on the mainline.

It might be the middle of nowhere today, but as Ken pointed out, in the old days the area was jumping 24/7.

Don31 wrote:It might be the middle of nowhere today, but as Ken pointed out, in the old days the area was jumping 24/7.

It is still an important industry area (Port Elizabeth), now with also the Jersey Gardens complex. Imagine if the Bay Bridge still existed, there could have been weekend shopper's special shuttles between the CNJ Jersey City terminal and Jersey Gardens.

As for the station, the platforms were located at the the junction of the CNJ mainline and coastline. There are remannts such as staircases and concrete landings on the overpass bridges over the streets.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

Don31 wrote:It might be the middle of nowhere today, but as Ken pointed out, in the old days the area was jumping 24/7.

It is still an important industry area (Port Elizabeth), now with also the Jersey Gardens complex. Imagine if the Bay Bridge still existed, there could have been weekend shopper's special shuttles between the CNJ Jersey City terminal and Jersey Gardens.

As for the station, the platforms were located at the the junction of the CNJ mainline and coastline. There are remannts such as staircases and concrete landings on the overpass bridges over the streets.

Forgot about the area's current industries and Jersey Gardens (and I wrote the redevelopment plan for it, geez....).

Thanks for pointing that out.

I checked out this area the other day and after looking at the historic shots of Elizabethport Station, it appears to have been a very bustling station. But it really is in No Man's Land. Photos of the station in operation are awesome... it was the "Secaucus Transfer" of the CNJ, if you will...

There appears to have been very limited access from street level to the station platforms. Two stairwells remain on Trumbull Street and the main entrance/vehicle drop off loop across the street, but no other access aside from that.

It also appears that the only high level platforms were on the six track main, with the tracks spurring off having low level platforms (I'm assuming because of the curved platforms located on the bridges over Trumbull Street).

It was mentioned earlier that this was a large transfer station for passengers travelling to Newark. What would have been the advantage to transferring here for a Newark train instead of at Broad Street Elizabeth to a Northeast Corridor PRR train?

Its eerie looking at the site today... overgrown and crumbling bridges at what once was one of the busiest stations on the CNJ...

What quadrants were the platforms on? I would imagine the main line, but which of the curved quadrants had platforms?
Anyone have a diagram of the station?

This Wikimapia entry shows the current site:

http://wikimapia.org/11246947/CNJ-Eliza ... r-location

From what I can judge from the maps, there were curved low level platforms on the Newark to Westbound Mainline, Mainline Eastbound to Coast Line, Coast Line to Mainline Eastbound, and a straight low level platform for Coast Line to Newark. And then of course, the high level platforms for the Main Line.

Can anyone give a first hand account of the operations that went on at the station when it was in existence? This is before my time, but its fascinating!

There is a picture on eBay right now that states that it's Toms River but I think it's actually EPort and shows the platforms for Toms River. It can be found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Slide-Stat ... 19bee8fae6

Regarding transit383's question about transferring at Elizabeth, I don't think there were ever through tickets sold routed CNJ-Elizabeth-PRR. It would have been necessary to buy another ticket at the PRR station in Elizabeth, and the cost would have been significantly higher. It did happen occasionally, however. CNJ conductors (on trains from Raritan) carried a supply of "Fog Tickets" which would be issued to passengers when weather conditions in Upper New York Bay caused ferry service to be suspended. To avoid being stranded in Jersey City, passengers would detrain at Elizabeth, go upstairs to the PRR station, and present the fog ticket to the conductor on the PRR train, who would turn it in along with his other tickets for the PRR to claim its revenue from the CNJ. Those tickets must be extremely rare--there was no way anyone could plan in advance to get a fog ticket, and if by coincidence they got one they'd have to pay another fare on the PRR to avoid having to surrender the fog ticket. (I assume that passengers from the NY&LB would simply board a PRR train at their boarding station when the ferries weren't running.)

Slightly off Topic, but I always kind of found it amusing that the Hagstrom atlases of Union County would show a 'Great Ditch' just a little bit North of Elizabethport station. Parts of it apparently still exists, running under Jersey Gardens mall in a large culvert.

Googling did bring up the following:
- It was a drainage ditch - can't tell if it was ever navigable.
-There is at least one other 'Great Ditch' in New Jersey, in S. Brunswick, that drains Pigeon Swamp Park - this is the Great Ditch that has a wiki entry.
- I think part of the ditch still exists to the East of ExpressRail, north of the tail track. This part doesn't seem to drain anything.
- Most of the Google results for 'Great Ditch' New Jersey pull the same GIS info, and these sites are formatted for those people looking for streets so they offer suggestions for driving instructions, sites of interest, places to visit, etc.

I don't know, but in my mind the CNJ Elizabethport station and the 'Great Ditch' just go together ("perfect together!")

Just found this shot online... its from 1975, looking east at the station:

http://www.bernard-mills.fotopic.net/p60908651.html

Newark would be to the left, the Coast Line to the right.

glennk419 wrote:There is a picture on eBay right now that states that it's Toms River but I think it's actually EPort and shows the platforms for Toms River. It can be found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Slide-Stat ... 19bee8fae6

That is definitely EPort I think it maybe from the RDC excursion to Toms-River.

glennk419 wrote:There is a picture on eBay right now that states that it's Toms River but I think it's actually EPort and shows the platforms for Toms River. It can be found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Slide-Stat ... 19bee8fae6

Is is E'port. Pic is looking north, the tracks to the right are curving to the east to join the mainline to Jersey City.

ExCon90 wrote:Regarding transit383's question about transferring at Elizabeth, I don't think there were ever through tickets sold routed CNJ-Elizabeth-PRR. It would have been necessary to buy another ticket at the PRR station in Elizabeth, and the cost would have been significantly higher. It did happen occasionally, however. CNJ conductors (on trains from Raritan) carried a supply of "Fog Tickets" which would be issued to passengers when weather conditions in Upper New York Bay caused ferry service to be suspended. To avoid being stranded in Jersey City, passengers would detrain at Elizabeth, go upstairs to the PRR station, and present the fog ticket to the conductor on the PRR train, who would turn it in along with his other tickets for the PRR to claim its revenue from the CNJ. Those tickets must be extremely rare--there was no way anyone could plan in advance to get a fog ticket, and if by coincidence they got one they'd have to pay another fare on the PRR to avoid having to surrender the fog ticket. (I assume that passengers from the NY&LB would simply board a PRR train at their boarding station when the ferries weren't running.)

Unless the PRR train was too crowded for the crew to collect tickets.