Need help documenting old NYS&W stations

It's a bit unnerving for an outsider such as myself to post here amongst you who practically live and breath trains, so please bear with me.

I have begun a project where I'm creating a photographic document of any and all remaining stations along the NYS&W line. When I began this, I didn't really have any focus, but then aquired the book "The Next Station Will Be..." Vol 1. I have since decided to do somewhat of a follow-up to that book, shooting "after" shots of the stations from the same vantage points as the 1909-1911 originals (when possible). I have found a number of the stations and photographed them, but need help to either find or verify that a station no longer exists.

I am concentrating my efforts to the NJ stations between Jersey City, Sparta, and up to Warwick, NY. This is what I have found and photographed so far:

What I have found + documented so far:
Bogota
Maywood
Hawthorne
Wortendyke
Wyckoff
Pompton Lakes
(+ one station down the old Greenwood Lake line at Riverdale)
Butler
Newfoundland
the remaining pile of wood that was Beaver Lake
Sparta
Vernon Crossing

If anyone knows of any stations still standing that aren't listed above, could you please let me know?

Also, for those of you who actually run along the line, is there anything at all left of the Pompton Junction buildings? I'm a little nervous to walk the line there as it sits a bit too close to Tilcon.

Here are a smattering of the photographs I've taken:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/estatik/se ... 543922458/

Vernon was not an NYS&W station - it was on the former Lehigh & Hudson River Railway. Remember that the modern NYS&W bought the former L&HR line between Sparta and Warwick in 1982. The original NYS&W went west from Sparta to Halsey, Swartswood, Swartswood Jct., Stillwater, Marksboro, Blairstown, Vails, Hainesburg, Hainesburg Jct., Columbia, Dunnfield, NJ, Water Gap, PA and Stroudsburg, PA. There was a small branch that left the main just past Hainesburg Jct. and went to Delaware, NJ to connect with the DL&W. From Stroudsburg, the NYS&W had a subsidiary called the Wilkes Barre & Eastern that ran from Stroudsburg to Kingston (Wilkes Barre), PA. All of this is shown in Volume 5 of The Next Station Will Be... which shows up on ebay from time to time. Sadly, the only station left west of Sparta is the freight house in Stroudsburg, now located on Ann Street. There are some foundations and such left and the piers from the bridge over the Delaware River, but that's about it.

Thanks for that clarification. I figured the Vernon station was an anomaly. Was the Warwick Station built by the NYS&W? From the pictures I've seen, though the station doesn't resemble the others it does have the distinctive curved roof supports..

Is there anything East of Oakland that I missed? I remember seeing somewhere a photo of New Rochelle, and maybe Ridgefield Park? What of Crystal Lake or Campgaw? Is there anything left of those?

susquehanna transfer in jersey city under rt3/495.
Little Ferry at bergen turnpike/draw bridge
Ridgefield Park at mt vernon street.
Hackensack at river street
Hakensack at Main street after River street closed
Hackensack at Prospect street
Rochelle Park

Not sure if saddle brook or elmowood park ever had one. But paterson had a few i believe.

Didn't Hawthorne have 2 stops?

estatik wrote:Thanks for that clarification. I figured the Vernon station was an anomaly. Was the Warwick Station built by the NYS&W? From the pictures I've seen, though the station doesn't resemble the others it does have the distinctive curved roof supports..

Is there anything East of Oakland that I missed? I remember seeing somewhere a photo of New Rochelle, and maybe Ridgefield Park? What of Crystal Lake or Campgaw? Is there anything left of those?

The Sparta - Mc Afee - Vernon - Warwick line was always the Lehigh & Hudson River until becoming part of Conrail in 1976 and then was sold to the NYS&W in 1982. Warwick was the corporate headquarters of the L&HR so the station was what you see because of the importance of the town to the railroad.

The NYS&W's Hanford Branch ran from Beaver Lake to Ogdensburg, Hamburg, Sussex, Quarryville and ended at Hanford, on the NJ/NY border next to Unionville, NY. This line was abandoned in 1958. I don't know if it is still there, but the Ogdensburg station was still standing in the 1990's.

BTW - I enjoyed your photographs, particularly of the old Sparta station.

njmidland wrote:
The NYS&W's Hanford Branch ran from Beaver Lake to Ogdensburg, Hamburg, Sussex, Quarryville and ended at Hanford, on the NJ/NY border next to Unionville, NY. This line was abandoned in 1958. I don't know if it is still there, but the Ogdensburg station was still standing in the 1990's.

Do you know where the Ogdensburg station was/is located? Cross Street?

CJPat wrote:BTW - I enjoyed your photographs, particularly of the old Sparta station.

Thanks! Yeah, the Sparta station lends itself for dramatic photographs due to its location and state of disrepair. I hope something is done with it before it ends up like the Beaver Lake station (a pile of wood by the tracks)!

estatik wrote:Do you know where the Ogdensburg station was/is located? Cross Street?

Do you mean Center Street? I think that's the street it was near. You can kind of follow the right of way. It is fairly easier to see it going down the hill from Beaver Lake, then it crosses Rt. 517 and ran right where the fire department is today. It gets a little harder after that but this time of year it is a little easier to follow. I haven't been up there in years as I have been more involved with using stations that are still there in PA. along the Delaware Lackawanna.

I believe there was a station (or at least a shelter) at one time a Campgaw, next stop East/south of Oakland.

Here's an old Erie RR map that shos the Susie-Q in yellow. (Probably dates from before 1940, as the NYSW was under Erie control from 1900-1940.) It shows all the NYSW stations from Jersey City to Butler. Should help you in locating all the locations.And yes, there's a Campgaw station on it.

http://raildata.railfan.net/erie/homeerr.html

The station at Vreeland Avenue in Paterson has been incorporated into the neighboring building. However it is obvious as it still 'looks' like a station, although modified.

Hackensack. The station at the corner of Moore Street and E. Mercer Street also still exists in a heavily modified state. It has been a Chinese and Mexican restaurant, and it has burned at least once. Again, it looks like a station, but it has been heavily modified.

Ogdensburg. The station is on Kennedy Avenue across from a church and cemetary on a small industrial / contractor's site. Up to about 10 years ago it was in great shape. But then a fire scorched the inside of the building. It was still standing a couple of years ago.

Thanks again for all the help. This morning I walked into the Pompton Junction area to see what was there. No real indications that there was ever a tower or station there- will have to go back to see what kind of foundation might still be lurking in the weeds.

Visited Ridgefield park station yesterday. I was surprised to see the brick building, clearly nothing like the other stations. Photographed it anyway, headed south...

..to the draw bridge. No building remains that I could see, I figured the big DO NOT TRESPASS sign for the NYS&W entrance is basically where the station used to stand. Oh well. Maybe I was in the wrong place? I got to see the snow plow and yellow caboose parked at the facility though, which was nice.

I'll check out the Hackensack stations next- then Paterson. Any ideas where the "Riverside" station was?

Campgaw: I haven't a clue where it might have been, as the MP numbers in the Next Station book are inaccurate to today's mileage. I'm guessing it's in what is now Franklin Lakes... plans to walk from Wyckoff to Oakland are in the works.

Map: The Next Station... book has a reprint of a map from Poor's Manual of Railroads from 1894 which shows all the stops. There are timetables from 1917 in the back too, which help a little with distances estimated from how long it took between stations. The Erie map helps also- it's a bit bigger and easier to read than the Poor's map, so thanks for the link!

I'll keep posting my travels here, in case anyone's interested in my progress. In the meantime, the pics I shot yesterday at Little Ferry + Ridgefield Park are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/estatik/

What's is there of remnants at Susquehanna Transfer??

Campgaw station was at where Camp Gaw road crosses the NYS&W in Franklin Lakes. The foundations are still there. As is a passing siding. There also was once a Franklin Lakes /Crystal Lake station, which was about just south of where rte 208 and 287 meet. And on an 1872 map a station called Van Winkle in what was then Manchester Twp. now Hawthorne.
(about where Van Winkle Ave crosses.