Jersey shore train stations

[NJTRailfan]

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?

[Roadgeek Adam]

Considering I was just corrected for this, the PRR canned them in 49 not the CNJ, but the stations were:

Mantoloking
Chadwick
Lavallette
Ortley
Seaside Heights
Berkeley
Seaside Park
Barnegat Pier
Ocean Gate
Beachwood - http://beachwoodhistoricalalliance.file ... tation.jpg
Toms River

[Steve F45]

man it would be great to get on a train and take it to seaside or lavalette.

[NJTRailfan]

Any pics on Seaside? Can't belive the ROW had only 1 track. This should've stayed and NOT been replaced for a highway.

[peconicstation]

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

[radioboy]

Seaside Park Station was relocated from 5th and Central (where the fire department is now located) to the SW corner of 11th and Central and is now a private home. However, I spoke to the owner once, and he said that the overhang is all that is really "original" on the structure by now.

Another fun "whoops" story that is associated with the discontinuation of service: once the Philadelphia to Toms River service ended, the PRR offered the spur bridge between Pine Beach and Island Heights to the county to convert it to a roadway bridge. The county said no thanks and the bridge was demolished.

Seaside Heights was the largest station along this stretch, and it survived well into the 1970's as a bus station.

Any idea what corner the station was at in the Heights? I know the ones in the Park were at 6th and J.

[JLo]

IIRC, the PRR's Bay Head freight station is still there, just off Bridge Ave.

[peconicstation]

Seaside Heights was the largest station along this stretch, and it survived well into the 1970's as a bus station.

Any idea what corner the station was at in the Heights? I know the ones in the Park were at 6th and J.[/quote]

Whatever street corner where NJT buses stop is close to where the former train station sat.

As I remember the station served as a bus station for a number of years, and was last used as an emergency medical center.

In most of the towns along this stretch you will find streets named "Railroad Avenue", that were close to the actual ROW.

As another posted noted, in Bay Head, the former PRR freight station still stands, it is off of Bridge Street near the municipal building.
Bay Head had (2) passenger stops at that time, the junction (where the current NJT station is) and one for the town center.

The ROW in Bay Head and Mantaloking was purchased by the towns themselves, and thus blocked the expansion of Route 35 through these towns.


Ken

[GSC]

The Barnegat Bridge burned on Dec 1, 1946. The Matawan Creek trestle burned on Dec 6, making a huge mess out of commuter rail service. There was emergency expanded service on the PRR Freehold & Jamesburg out of Manasquan, and the CNJ Freehold Branch out of Matawan. Most service got to Freehold and then west to Jamesburg and up the Camden & Amboy to South Amboy. Both PRR and CNJ worked together, and even ran over each other's lines, until the Matawan trestle was replaced with the "Million Dollar Fill".

After the Barnegat Bay bridge burned, little service was provided south of Bay Head via the Phila & Long Branch PRR route. Everything south of Bay Head was annulled soon after, I don't have the exact date on that. Bay Head had the turning loop, so Pennsy saw no need to go any farther south. Service did exist for several years between Whitings and Toms River. Bus service connected Toms River to Bay Head after the fire.

The Phila & Long Branch RR was established as a faster and shorter route from Philly / Camden to Long Branch.

[bigblue5277]

The Barnegat Bridge burned on Dec 1, 1946. The Matawan Creek trestle burned on Dec 6, making a huge mess out of commuter rail service. There was emergency expanded service on the PRR Freehold & Jamesburg out of Manasquan, and the CNJ Freehold Branch out of Matawan. Most service got to Freehold and then west to Jamesburg and up the Camden & Amboy to South Amboy. Both PRR and CNJ worked together, and even ran over each other's lines, until the Matawan trestle was replaced with the "Million Dollar Fill".

After the Barnegat Bay bridge burned, little service was provided south of Bay Head via the Phila & Long Branch PRR route. Everything south of Bay Head was annulled soon after, I don't have the exact date on that. Bay Head had the turning loop, so Pennsy saw no need to go any farther south. Service did exist for several years between Whitings and Toms River. Bus service connected Toms River to Bay Head after the fire.

The Phila & Long Branch RR was established as a faster and shorter route from Philly / Camden to Long Branch.

This is a nice summary of the history!
Photos of the Matawan Creek and the enbankment (fill) haven't bee possible for a long time as trees on the fill blocked the view.
Recently, the trees were cut down due to interference with the overhead wires.

Here is a shot of the Matawan Creek Fill taken from Aberdeen Road.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 31&nseq=15

Here is another shot taken from the east side of the Fill. Here you can see remnants of the trestle pilings.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 72&nseq=11
I was curious if these were pilings from the original trestle or from the temporary single-track trestle.

[25Hz]

it would be incredible if they could restore service to toms river. Sigh.

[amtrakowitz]

Any pics on Seaside? Can't belive the ROW had only 1 track. This should've stayed and NOT been replaced for a highway.

Yes.

[ns3010]

This should've stayed and NOT been replaced for a highway.

I would strongly have to disagree with that. Spend this weekend down the shore and you'll know what I mean.

Saturday morning, it took me twenty minutes to drive from Normandy Beach to Lavalette, when it normally takes about five (with two lanes in each direction). And no, I'm not looking forward to the Mantoloking merge later this afternoon...

While it would be awesome for me to be able to look out my bedroom window and see trains instead of Route 35 S, I would rather not spend my entire summer sitting in traffic on a two-lane 35...

[25Hz]

This should've stayed and NOT been replaced for a highway.

I would strongly have to disagree with that. Spend this weekend down the shore and you'll know what I mean.

Saturday morning, it took me twenty minutes to drive from Normandy Beach to Lavalette, when it normally takes about five (with two lanes in each direction). And no, I'm not looking forward to the Mantoloking merge later this afternoon...

While it would be awesome for me to be able to look out my bedroom window and see trains instead of Route 35 S, I would rather not spend my entire summer sitting in traffic on a two-lane 35...

You wouldn't be in traffic, people would take the train.......

[snavely]

There was actually one more station to add to the list: Bay Head. The town had two passenger stations, Bay Head Junction, which is the current surviving one and Bay Head, about 1/3 mile south on Bridge Ave., where the municipal parking lot is now.That was the PRR station; Bay Head Junction was CNJ.