Ranya's Ramblings

Ridgewood is a station on NJT's Main Line. The station is located in Ridgewood, New Jersey.  History The station, sometime before 1915 Ridgewood station first started life along what was formerly the Paterson and Ramapo railroad, as "Godwinville" station, in 1848. This station was rebuilt in 1856 and 1859. In 1866, the station was renamed to Ridgewood due to the popularity of the new name for the town. The station was rebuilt again in 1915, to grade separate the whole line. In 2011, the station was remodeled to make it accessible.  At its peak, Ridgewood station was a regional transfer point between many different services heading to far flung locations such as Chicago. But of course, those days couldn't last forever, and no more intercity service stops at Ridgewood station. Despite this, the station is still important in a regional context.   Services That Run Here Three services run here: Main Line : Hoboken to Suffern via Passaic County Ber...

Watsessing Avenue is a station on NJT's Montclair-Boonton Line located at Watsetting Avenue and Moiter Place in Watsetting, NJ. Watsetting Avenue station is in zone 4.  History Watsessing Avenue was a station built by the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad in 1856. The line was then bought out by the Morris and Essex railroad in 1868, the entirety of which was then later bought out by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. Every grade crossing was eliminated between 1912 and 1913. In that time, the current station was built.  Tour The station from the outside  Watsessing is an average station along the Montclair-Boonton line. There's not much to this place, really. Most of the station house is now used for a police department's union building. Watsessing Avenue is incredibly similar to Kingsland station, albeit slightly less bad.   Back of station house I think this used to be a ticket office of some sort yea...

Lyndhurst is a station on NJT's Main Line. The station is located on Stuyvsant Avenue in Lyndhurst, NJ.  History In 1868, the Morris and Essex Railroad created a line called the Boonton Branch, as a freight bypass for their main line. This line went from Hoboken Station to Dover, NJ via Paterson and Towaco, linking with the current Montclair-Boonton line somewhere a bit past Midland Park. Along the line the station Lyndhurst was built in the small village of Lyndhurst.  In 1928, the current station was built to replace an older variant of the station. Over the years, this station was left in disrepair, barely maintained. Not much has changed in that regard since then, although the line it was on has changed hands multiple times.  The station depot has not been a ticket office in decades. Although it is shuttered and closed now, it used to be a restaurant in the 1990s or so. The exact timeline for the depot is unknown, and there is a possibility tha...

Kingsland is a station on NJT's Main Line. The station is located on Ridge Road in Lyndhurst, NJ.  History In the 1860s, the Delaware and Lackawanna railroad created a railway branch called the Boonton Branch. This branch was to be a freight bypass of their main line, going via Paterson and Totowa.  Among other stations on this line was two in Lyndhurst Township, Kingsland and Lyndhurst. The reason there were two is because the Kingsland family had a manor named Kingsland Manor there. The small village of Kingsland got a station for this reason alone.  Around the time the station was completed, there were also railway shops made for the line that were at Kingsland station. These shops then burned down in 1875, before being rebuilt. The shops were expanded in 1903 when the station itself was rebuilt and grade separated. It's unknown when the shops were removed. In 1916, there was a major accident at the station that caused a new westbound signal to ...