CNJ Station in South Amboy

Hi All,

Can someone please tell me exactly where the CNJ station was in South Amboy, NJ?

Maps and pictures would be great. Thanks.

Tom_E_Reynolds wrote:Hi All,

Can someone please tell me exactly where the CNJ station was in South Amboy, NJ?

Maps and pictures would be great. Thanks.

The CNJ station? South Amboy was the start of the New York and Long Branch RR, so the current station (well the recently closed station building) would have been both CNJ/PRR as they both owned the RR.

There was also a station right next to the current Essay Tower, a fairly large structure actually. I think that station was called South Amboy Junction, and it served as a connection for NYandLB/PRR trains to connect to trains running on the Amboy Sec/Camden and Amboy when there was still pax service on that line. Im not sure when it was removed, but im sure it was a LONG time ago.

There was another station that was down at Morgan, basically was under the Route 35 OH bridge just before the RR Morgan Draw bridge. I don't believe there were any other stations in that stretch in and around South Amboy.

I checked in my 1985 book "THE NEXT STATION WILL BE",and the station was called the SOUTH AMBOY JUNCTION.

JT and Tom hit it dead on, I don't think there ever was a "CNJ" station in South Amboy.

On the NJ Coastline, in South Amboy, on the east side of the tracks, there is an old station.
Between Henry St. and David St.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 7&t=h&z=20

So are you guys saying this was a NY&LB Station, and not PRR or CNJ? I guess I really don't understand how this line operated.

I also thought there was an old station across the tracks, on the west side of the tracks, that was demolished?

Here is a link via Historic Aerials from 1947 centered on Henry Street and the NJCL:

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... &year=1947

Note the two stations I refer too.

The top station between Henry and David street on the east side (northern) still exists today 2011.

What was the bottom, on the west side (southbound side), between John Street and Henry Street, a station or platform?
Is it a possible it was a separate station? There is even a small traffic circle in the parking lot, still clearly visible in the this 1979 link:

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... &year=1979

Way back when, there was a roundhouse and turntable on the North side of tracks between John and Henry.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... ld+Bridge/

Tom_E_Reynolds wrote:On the NJ Coastline, in South Amboy, on the east side of the tracks, there is an old station.
Between Henry St. and David St.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 7&t=h&z=20

So are you guys saying this was a NY&LB Station, and not PRR or CNJ? I guess I really don't understand how this line operated.

I also thought there was an old station across the tracks, on the west side of the tracks, that was demolished?

That was the NY&LB South Amboy Depot. Still stands and was just recently take oos.

http://kaback9.rrpicturearchives.net/sh ... id=1444841

Well up until very recently when the island platform went in service, (last year) that area on the westbound track, where in teh 1979 pic shows the "circle" there was a shelter there for folks to wait for the train - the whole side was a platform, all the way down to the former Augusta St. Xing (closed in 2002 i think it was), but up in that area was a bus shelter kinda thing, and i wouldn't be surprised if in the past, there was an actual small canapy structure there. I have never seen any pics of one tho.

The station building on the eastboudn side is the "NYandLB" station building - the NYandLB RR was jointly owned by the PRR and CNJ. That was the only station in South Amboy (downtown at least).

The building right next to the circle parking lot and John St., adjacent to the platform, was the former Raritan River RR headquarters I do believe.

That 1979 pic shows E units coming into town great catch!

Even more important was the saloon, on the west side of the tracks, where so many passengers flew off to, for six packs, during the engine change. Fun to watch.

Hey guys

There were 3 stations (not including the new one) in South Amboy. The first one was by ESSAY tower. That is a beautiful picture of it here.

Second was on the Westbound side of the main, behind the area of the RRRR office. That was torn down and a shelter built there. It had a circle, with a memorial in it. I was too young to look at the memorial, but it was removed to the old WaterWorks when I was about seven.

The third one was on the Eastbound side. It still stands today, but is officially OOS. Soon, I expect, it will be bulldozer fodder. Crying shame.

It had a overpass bridge (Installed when the fencing between the tracks was to keep commuters from crossing the tracks in front of the trains) Most ran down to John or George to get across, and would run in front of incoming trains. Somehow most of them made it.

And the evening commuter rush olympics. The bartenders would set up containers of beers and mixed drinks. There were three bars within dashing distance of the tracks, and all were in use when the commuter trains came in. It was worth your life to be in their way. They would be swinging off the cars before the train came to a stop, and headed to the bars.

I must admit that standing in the doorway of Reiner's hardware and watching this fun led me to the idea that having a bar in South Amboy could be moneymaking, but only by the tracks.

John

GSC wrote:Even more important was the saloon, on the west side of the tracks, where so many passengers flew off to, for six packs, during the engine change. Fun to watch.

By far the most important thing about South Amboy. Particularly if you were on the 5:15 pm out of NY Penn on a Friday in the 70s, aka the party train. Is that joint still there?

From the South Amboy Citizen, October 15, 1910:

James J. Dolan Is placing all of
the electric wiring and fixtures in the
new P. R. R. station

Which PRR station in SA was built in 1910?

http://dowdell.org/citizen/1910/1910-08-06.pdf

I haven't been to South Amboy in decades. If you stand on the old platform in front of the old station, and walk towards the shore, at the end of the platform there was a street at grade. I think it was John St. Beyond the street there was an overhead road bridge. The Raritan River Rail Road began under the bridge on the right of the NYLB ROW. The area was known as 'Minnie Ditch' (minnow ditch). At the John St crossing, the gates were manually operated. (They were hand operated at both ends). There was a shanty on the shore-bound side of the tracks, across John St, just before the RRRR switch. Across the tracks, at the end of the shore-bound platform, was a 2 story brick building (IIRC 17 John St). The second floor was the office for the RRRR, The ground floor was the RRRR station. The semi-circular driveway served the RR station. The RR tracks curved to the right under the overhead bridge with the CNJ interchange tracks on the left at Minnie Ditch. They went uphill past the RR shops where there was another station, and up Bergen Hill to the PRR interchange where there was another station. The tracks then went to Parlin & New Brunswick.