Passenger Trains > [NJ] Perth Amboy on the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast L

Perth Amboy is a town in northern Middlesex County NJ, served by the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line. It's located just north of the Raritan River train bridge. The heritage of the train line is joint operation by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Jersey Central Railroad. The junction of the two railroads is about 3/4 mile north of the passenger station.

NJ Transit has done a wonderful job restoring the station, which has many decorative touches and wood trim. The exterior has a number of carved stone elements, a carriageway on the west side of the station, and a large parking lot on the east side.

Picture 1 - the eastbound (toward Newark and NY) station. The railroad is in a deep cut here, and several streets cross on bridges.

Picture 2 - a detail of the carvings in the arch of the eastbound station building. NJ Transit did an excellent job of restoring this Jersey Central constructed building. For the joint line, there are elements of both traditional Pennsylvania and Jersey Central station designs in various places.

Perth Amboy's flamboyant mayor, Joseph Vas, was well known for attractive public buildings marked by architectural details. In his (simultaneous) service as Mayor, State Assemblyman, and schools official, he shepherded grants for a number of significant buildings in this battered industrial town. NJ Transit could have built a sterile new building, but went the extra mile to restore an attractive older structure. (edited for clarity)

Picture 3 - a view of the interior. The men's room is locked, but the room marked "women" is a unisex, single occupancy facility. The waiting room has abundant brick, carved wood, tile floor, etc. I don't believe there's an assigned ticket agent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/12 18:44 by Lackawanna484.

---

---

---

Picture 4 - the westbound station building. This is across the track (via a glassed in walkway) from the main, eastbound station. There's a pleasant forecourt, a large NJ Transit clock, and a small overgrown garden on this side of the tracks. There's presently no access to track level from inside this building. You exit the building, and walk down the stairs on the far side of this building.

Picture 5 - Looking across toward the eastbound station. NJ Transit did a great job of re-pointing and cleaning the brick.

The multilevel has an example of advertising currently in use on the ML cars. Two cars on this train had ads for the Pocono casino properties.

---

---

it is interesting to note that you mentioned the two ML cars have advertising for the Poconos. That one ML I saw on the RVL also had Poconos advertising. Made me wonder if there will be any other advertisers coming on-board in the near future?

Pattenburg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> it is interesting to note that you mentioned the
> two ML cars have advertising for the Poconos. That
> one ML I saw on the RVL also had Poconos
> advertising. Made me wonder if there will be any
> other advertisers coming on-board in the near
> future?


I haven't seen any other advertising on the ML cars, although the single deck cars have ads for Amerihealth, Verizon, and a few others. It looks like the same kind of wrap used on the buses.

as a side note, I enjoy seeing NJT's other stations that you have posted your images and information about. Thanks!

Used to make Perth Amboy shopping visits in the 50s, watched from the Smith Street overpass GG1-led NYLB commuter trains silently arrive and depart that station.

Don't remember any K4s going through.

Abqfoamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Used to make Perth Amboy shopping visits in the
> 50s, watched from the Smith Street overpass
> GG1-led NYLB commuter trains silently arrive and
> depart that station.
>
> Don't remember any K4s going through.


Not surprising, as there were very few passenger steam engines (railroad) east of South Amboy. Perhaps one of the Pennsy experts could offer a number, but I'd suspect it was 2 or 3 a day, each way.

K4 diesels carried a few trains through to Jersey City, back in the days when Jersey City was the end to some Pennsy NY&LB commuter service. However, almost all K-4 (E-6, etc) engines assigned to the NY&LB came off in South Amboy, a few miles railroad west of Perth Amboy. I believe the famous accident with the Broker involved a steam engine in 1951 or 1952.

Perth Amboy also had Jersey Central passenger trains, and they diverged to go up the Sound Shore / Chemical Coast a mile or so north of the Perth Amboy station. Would have been (almost) all diesel in the 1950s.

I grew up in Perth Amboy and my family owned a butcher shop a block from this station in the 60's. The canopies used to extend all the way from the Smith Street to Market Street. I used to walk down to the station and watch the trains while waiting for my parents to close up shop for the day. There were always some tramps camped out underneath the Smith street bridge. In the 70's they used to have occasional problems with the Raritan River bridge span losing cat power, signals, or once or twice a bridge strike. Perth Amboy would turn into a virtual passenger train yard with alll four tracks packed with commuter trains.

I remember once the cat power went out on the bridge and the Mp54's and GG-1's were stuck in Perth while they let CNJ diesel powered trains through. CNJ trains were forbidden to take on Pennsy passengers and those stranded folks were not happy about it.

kato Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I grew up in Perth Amboy and my family owned a
> butcher shop a block from this station in the
> 60's. The canopies used to extend all the way from
> the Smith Street to Market Street.

I wondered about that, and took a few pictures from the platform level to show how long the platform canopies might have been.

I used to walk
> down to the station and watch the trains while
> waiting for my parents to close up shop for the
> day. There were always some tramps camped out
> underneath the Smith street bridge. In the 70's
> they used to have occasional problems with the
> Raritan River bridge span losing cat power,
> signals, or once or twice a bridge strike. Perth
> Amboy would turn into a virtual passenger train
> yard with alll four tracks packed with commuter
> trains.
>
> I remember once the cat power went out on the
> bridge and the Mp54's and GG-1's were stuck in
> Perth while they let CNJ diesel powered trains
> through. CNJ trains were forbidden to take on
> Pennsy passengers and those stranded folks were
> not happy about it.

I'll bet they were unhappy.

NJ Transit keeps a vestige of the old CNJ vs Pennsylvania train numbering in its system. The 23xx diesel trains to Newark Penn and Hoboken are the numerical descendants of the Jersey Central trains.

As you undoubtedly know, the CNJ trains crossed the bridge, went through Perth Amboy, and diverged onto the Sound Shore line via Barber, E'Port,and ended at Jersey City, or to Newark Airport, and on to Broad Street station (CNJ). After the main line's Aldene re-route, the CNJ trains off the New York & Long Branch ran express to Newark Penn (and only Newark Penn) skipping the Pennsy station stops at Rahway, etc. These were "CNJ" trains and crews, so no stopping at Pennsy stations.

Picture 10 - This train is heading toward Long Branch, and has just crossed under signals for the former CNJ Sound Shore branch approach and several industrial leads (my guess). The Smith Street bridge is overhead, and the vestigial staircases from the platform to the street are visible on both sides.


Picture 11 - The Market Street bridge is in the distance, over the third or fourth car of the train. The lead for the steel mill is beyond the bridge.

I didn't notice any ADA / handicapped access to the station, which surprised me considerably. In other NJ Transit stations with historical significance, ADA access has been handled separately.

------------------

Edited to Add: The station doesn't have high level platforms either. My guess is that NJ Transit is considering the addition of high level platforms and ADA access as part of the same construction process. Given the landmarked station, and the deep cut, they have several options.

Build a center platform like South Amboy, and drop an elevator into that. There wouldn't be an ADA alternative if the elevator broke, however. (Of course, South Amboy doesn't have an alternative, either)

Build two high level outside platforms, and snake a ramp down each side of the slope, as they did in Madison. Madison has two elevators, with ramp access on both sides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/12 08:06 by Lackawanna484.

---

---