NJTRailfan wrote:Hi. What did the stations south of Bayhead looked like before service was ignorantly axed by the CNJ? One station I heard that looked good was Seaside Heights. Did it look as good as the brick Dover Station or was it a small wooden waiting shelter?
The service south of Bay Head Junction was provided by the Atlantic Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, NOT the CNJ.
These trains ran from either Long Branch, or Point Pleasant to Camden ( to connect with Ferry Service), or Philadelphia, via the Delair Bridge.
Most of the times these trains originated from Point Pleasant, after making a short back up move from the Bay Head yard, and passengers from points to the north would transfer
at Point Pleasant to reach points south of Bay Head.
Most of these station were wooden shelter type, and many of the towns have pictures of these short lived stations in their historical societies.
Seaside Heights was the largest station along this stretch, and it survived well into the 1970's as a bus station.
The ROW between South Mantaloking and Seaside Heights became the southbound lanes of Route 35.
The primary reason service ended was that in 1946 the movable bridge over Barnegat Bay burned down severing this line as a through route.
Service between Camden/Philly, and Toms River continued through the 1950's, but I do not know if any train service ran south of Bay Head after the bridge was lost.
A bus company, the former Coast Cities, used to run a local bus between the Point Pleasant Train station, and Seaside, but this was gone by the early 1070's.
For a few times in the late 70's, NJ DOT ran a connecting bus service between Bay Head and Seaside during the summer, but it was poorly marketed.
Ken