LV line in Union, NJ

[RV History Buff]

Hi,

I was just wondering about this. Does anyone know when the Lehigh Valley line through Union and Roselle Park, NJ was built? I frequently go down to the tracks and watch the NJ Transit and CSX trains go by. Union just built a station on the line a few years back and the town claims it is the first one there, ever. But I have found that there was a station called Townley Station, anyone have any pictures of that station?

Thanks,

RV History Buff

[AndyB]

The L.V. Line through Union, NJ was completed in early 1891. The section of Union that it came through was known as Townley then and still is referred to as the Townley Section. A map I have shows a Townley Station but does not have streets on it. I assume, conjecture, that it may have been at Morris Ave. in the area of the new NJT Station. Even back then this was a major road in the area. The Morris County Traction line also came through on private ROW a few hundred feet south of Morris Ave., so there could have been a passenger transfer between them there also.

[CAR_FLOATER]

The LVRR built to Jersey City in stages - The Roselle & South Plainfield Railway, the Newark & Roselle Railway, the Jersey City & WesternRailway, the Greenville & Hudson Railway, and the Jersey City Terminal Railway.

The line thru Union's Townley section (The Newark & Roselle Ry) was incorporated on August 28, 1889. and opened in February of 1891, the same year (August) that it was merged into the JCT Ry.

There was a Townley station, and yes, there was the ability to change trains between the LV and the MCT, but I do not know if there were any coordinated services per se. When I get home to night to go thru my ETT's, I will try to pinpoint when the Townley stop was closed. Funny how many years later, history repeated itself under NJT service to serve the same area, huh?

CF