Great Notch (NJT station)
Encyclopedia
The Great Notch train station, formerly known as Caldwell Junction, was a small New Jersey Transit
facility in the Great Notch
section of Little Falls
, New Jersey
. The station was served seven times a day, three inbound morning trains to Hoboken Terminal
and four outbound evening trains from Hoboken by the Montclair-Boonton Line
from Monday to Friday. Located at the intersection of Notch Road and Long Hill Road, it was the second of three stations in Little Falls, the other two being Montclair State University
and Little Falls
, and was the first on the line to be strictly served by diesel trains. However, most trains bypassed this station and continued on to Little Falls (westbound) and Montclair State University (eastbound). The station was served by a single track with an unused side track. The last trains stopped at the station on January 15, 2010, at 7:41pm.
Train service at Great Notch originated in 1891, when the Caldwell Railway opened, serving Great Notch, Overbrook Hospital, Verona, and Caldwell. The station at Great Notch was first constructed in 1905 as a double station building for the Erie Railroad
. The station was a green and red building serving the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway
, along with the Caldwell Branch. The station also used an old boxcar as a tool shed for maintenance. By the early 1970s, the station had fallen into disrepair, and by 1974, was repainted Erie Railroad-style red with the tool shed box car removed. The station was abandoned when the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad went out of business and was later picked up by New Jersey Transit. After making deals with the mayor of Little Falls, New Jersey Transit gave the station a one year "trial" to attract ridership. Ridership went down, however, and so the trial was canceled on December 18, 2009. The town of Little Falls was contacted by New Jersey Transit at that time, reporting that the Great Notch Station would be closed on January 17, 2010 due to the "anemic" ridership at the station.
to the New York & Greenwood Lake Railway
. Twelve trains a day serviced Caldwell, Verona
and Overbrook Hospital. The station at Great Notch was deemed Caldwell Junction, inferring the junction between the two railways. The Great Notch station depot was built in 1905 for the New York & Greenwood Lake Railway, a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad. The station was built as a green-red "type five" frame structure. While the main building was 12' x 28' x 18' in size, the station also included an old boxcar used as a tool house. The box car was only 12' x 45' and served the station for several decades. The station was just east of the "GA" signal tower, which was built in 1900 to serve the junction of the Greenwood Lake Railway and its Caldwell Branch, heading eastward for the communities of Cedar Grove
, Verona, Caldwell and Essex Fells
. The station also served a local yard for train storage for the branch line via a wye. At Essex Fells, connections could be made for train service to Morristown via the Morristown and Erie Railroad. The Caldwell Railroad diverged from the current New Jersey Transit line about 1/4 mile west of the New Jersey Transit Great Notch station and followed its own route to Caldwell. The station at Great Notch was more than just a building for people at the railroad. The station had a large water tower next to GA Signal and a potbelly stove. The station was tended by a husband and wife combination, serving the locals their daily newspapers and their mail. Great Notch did not receive mail delivery until the mid-1950s.
By the early 1970s, the Great Notch station, which was falling into disrepair received a new paint job, changed from the red-green colors for the Erie Lackawanna to a new all red Erie Railroad paint scheme. The abandoned tool shed made out of the old wooden boxcar was also removed. Due to the removal of the tool boxcar, the propane tanks that heated the station building were also made visible. After the ending of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in 1976, the Great Notch station laid abandoned. In June 1979, the State of New Jersey began to remove the tracks for the Caldwell Branch, which also lay abandoned at Great Notch. Currently what was the track leading to the Caldwell Branch is a siding. On January 20, 1988, the newly rehabilitated station building was destroyed by fire. During the construction of the Montclair Connection
in 2001, the adjacent Great Notch Yard received a major upgrade, becoming a new state-of-the-art yard with new trains storage facilities.
station in 2008, along with the presence of the nearby Montclair State University
station (opened in 2004), New Jersey Transit had put into doubt the future of the station at Great Notch. Now one of three stations in the community of Little Falls
, the use of the station had gone down considerably. The station had little parking to begin with, a problem exacerbated by people taking advantage of the free spaces as a bus park and ride
, as they would park in the train station lot and ride the bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
in New York at the station's bus stop (as bus service to New York was much more frequent than train service at Great Notch). More ridership was lost when a parking lot near the station was isolated from it by a fence. The station received a cut in service in January 2008, due to "anemic" ridership at the station, which was never announced to the community before occurring. At that point, Great Notch station only received one morning train towards Hoboken
and two evening trains from Hoboken.
The future of the 103-year old station was placed into further jeopardy on August 12, 2008, when New Jersey Transit announced to the community of Little Falls that they would possibly close the station as early as October 2008. A few days after the announcement, rebuttal by the community began to appear, with a public hearing was announced for September 3 to work on plans for Great Notch. The service with only one inbound train (to Hoboken) and two outbound trains (from Hoboken) was canceled on April 1, 2009. On that day, New Jersey Transit announced it would add two more trains in each direction on April 16 as a "one-year trial" for station ridership. The town hoped to get the then 67-person a day average to 100 people using the station by April 1, 2010, when the trial was set to expire. The mayor of Little Falls, Michael DeFrancisci, urged people to use the station more. However, by December 2010, ridership had declined to 9 per day.
On December 18, 2009, New Jersey Transit contacted Little Falls and said that the station would close in January 2010, three months before the year-long trial period to build ridership was set to end. The transit authority cited continued low ridership, as on average nine passengers a day boarded the train at Great Notch. On December 21, 2009, New Jersey Transit announced the closure stating that the "anemic" ridership had remained at Great Notch, with only an average of 9 boardings a day, compared to 203 at the local Little Falls station and 597 at the Montclair State University Station. The last train to depart Great Notch was the 6:51pm train from Hoboken Terminal
on January 15 leaving Great Notch at 7:41pm, as weekend trains do not run on this portion of the Montclair-Boonton Line.
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
facility in the Great Notch
Great Notch, New Jersey
Great Notch is an area in eastern Little Falls, in Passaic County, New Jersey. It gets its name from a gap in the first of the Watchung Mountains. Some of the institutions and places in Great Notch are parts of Montclair State University, the former Great Notch station, and the Great Notch Fire...
section of Little Falls
Little Falls, New Jersey
Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 10,855. It is located about from New York City....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The station was served seven times a day, three inbound morning trains to Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal is one of the New York Metropolitan area's major transportation hubs. The commuter-oriented intermodal facility, is located on the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey...
and four outbound evening trains from Hoboken by the Montclair-Boonton Line
Montclair-Boonton Line
The Montclair-Boonton Line is a commuter rail line of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. It is part of the Hoboken Division. The line is a consolidation of three individual lines: the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Montclair Branch, which ran from Hoboken Terminal to Bay Street,...
from Monday to Friday. Located at the intersection of Notch Road and Long Hill Road, it was the second of three stations in Little Falls, the other two being Montclair State University
Montclair State University (NJT station)
Montclair State University Station at Little Falls is a New Jersey Transit rail station in the Great Notch area of Little Falls, New Jersey on the Montclair-Boonton Line. It serves nearby Montclair State University as well as serving as a transfer station for trains on the line, and is located on...
and Little Falls
Little Falls (NJT station)
Little Falls Station is the second of two station maintained by New Jersey Transit in Little Falls, New Jersey. The station, on the Montclair-Boonton Line is the first to receive limited revenue service due to the end of electrification at the site of the former Great Notch station...
, and was the first on the line to be strictly served by diesel trains. However, most trains bypassed this station and continued on to Little Falls (westbound) and Montclair State University (eastbound). The station was served by a single track with an unused side track. The last trains stopped at the station on January 15, 2010, at 7:41pm.
Train service at Great Notch originated in 1891, when the Caldwell Railway opened, serving Great Notch, Overbrook Hospital, Verona, and Caldwell. The station at Great Notch was first constructed in 1905 as a double station building for the Erie Railroad
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
. The station was a green and red building serving the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway
New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (1878–1943)
The New York and Greenwood Lake Railway owned a line between Croxton, Jersey City, New Jersey and Greenwood Lake, New York.The railroad was formed by combining the Montclair Railway, from Montclair, New Jersey to Jersey City, and the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railroad, from Montclair to...
, along with the Caldwell Branch. The station also used an old boxcar as a tool shed for maintenance. By the early 1970s, the station had fallen into disrepair, and by 1974, was repainted Erie Railroad-style red with the tool shed box car removed. The station was abandoned when the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad went out of business and was later picked up by New Jersey Transit. After making deals with the mayor of Little Falls, New Jersey Transit gave the station a one year "trial" to attract ridership. Ridership went down, however, and so the trial was canceled on December 18, 2009. The town of Little Falls was contacted by New Jersey Transit at that time, reporting that the Great Notch Station would be closed on January 17, 2010 due to the "anemic" ridership at the station.
History
Train service at Great Notch originated with the introduction of the Caldwell Railway, a service that went from the community of Caldwell, New JerseyCaldwell, New Jersey
Caldwell is a borough located in northwestern Essex County, New Jersey, about outside of New York. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,822....
to the New York & Greenwood Lake Railway
New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (1878–1943)
The New York and Greenwood Lake Railway owned a line between Croxton, Jersey City, New Jersey and Greenwood Lake, New York.The railroad was formed by combining the Montclair Railway, from Montclair, New Jersey to Jersey City, and the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railroad, from Montclair to...
. Twelve trains a day serviced Caldwell, Verona
Verona, New Jersey
Verona is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 13,332.In 2008, New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Verona #1 in Essex County and #3 in New Jersey as "Top Places to Live in New Jersey".-History:Verona and several...
and Overbrook Hospital. The station at Great Notch was deemed Caldwell Junction, inferring the junction between the two railways. The Great Notch station depot was built in 1905 for the New York & Greenwood Lake Railway, a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad. The station was built as a green-red "type five" frame structure. While the main building was 12' x 28' x 18' in size, the station also included an old boxcar used as a tool house. The box car was only 12' x 45' and served the station for several decades. The station was just east of the "GA" signal tower, which was built in 1900 to serve the junction of the Greenwood Lake Railway and its Caldwell Branch, heading eastward for the communities of Cedar Grove
Cedar Grove, New Jersey
-Climate:Cedar Grove has a humid subtropical climate, with warm/hot humid summers and cool/cold winters. The climate is slightly colder overall during the summer than in New York City because there is no urban heat island effect....
, Verona, Caldwell and Essex Fells
Essex Fells, New Jersey
As of 2010 Essex Fells had a population of 2,113. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 93.5% non-Hispanic white, 1.1% black or African-American, 1.0% Chinese, 1.2% other Asian, 1.9% reporting two or more races and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino....
. The station also served a local yard for train storage for the branch line via a wye. At Essex Fells, connections could be made for train service to Morristown via the Morristown and Erie Railroad. The Caldwell Railroad diverged from the current New Jersey Transit line about 1/4 mile west of the New Jersey Transit Great Notch station and followed its own route to Caldwell. The station at Great Notch was more than just a building for people at the railroad. The station had a large water tower next to GA Signal and a potbelly stove. The station was tended by a husband and wife combination, serving the locals their daily newspapers and their mail. Great Notch did not receive mail delivery until the mid-1950s.
By the early 1970s, the Great Notch station, which was falling into disrepair received a new paint job, changed from the red-green colors for the Erie Lackawanna to a new all red Erie Railroad paint scheme. The abandoned tool shed made out of the old wooden boxcar was also removed. Due to the removal of the tool boxcar, the propane tanks that heated the station building were also made visible. After the ending of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in 1976, the Great Notch station laid abandoned. In June 1979, the State of New Jersey began to remove the tracks for the Caldwell Branch, which also lay abandoned at Great Notch. Currently what was the track leading to the Caldwell Branch is a siding. On January 20, 1988, the newly rehabilitated station building was destroyed by fire. During the construction of the Montclair Connection
Montclair Connection
The Montclair Connection is a short section of double-track New Jersey Transit rail connecting the former end of the Montclair Branch at Bay Street Station to the old Boonton Line southeast of Walnut Street Station. It opened on Monday, September 30, 2002, at a cost of $60,000,000...
in 2001, the adjacent Great Notch Yard received a major upgrade, becoming a new state-of-the-art yard with new trains storage facilities.
Closure
Due to the opening of the Wayne-Route 23Wayne-Route 23 (NJT station)
Wayne Route 23 Transit Center is a New Jersey Transit park-and-ride station in Wayne, New Jersey along the Montclair-Boonton Line, also providing bus service to Newark and New York City. It is located off of the southbound lanes of Route 23, near the West Belt Road Interchange, where Route 23,...
station in 2008, along with the presence of the nearby Montclair State University
Montclair State University (NJT station)
Montclair State University Station at Little Falls is a New Jersey Transit rail station in the Great Notch area of Little Falls, New Jersey on the Montclair-Boonton Line. It serves nearby Montclair State University as well as serving as a transfer station for trains on the line, and is located on...
station (opened in 2004), New Jersey Transit had put into doubt the future of the station at Great Notch. Now one of three stations in the community of Little Falls
Little Falls, New Jersey
Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 10,855. It is located about from New York City....
, the use of the station had gone down considerably. The station had little parking to begin with, a problem exacerbated by people taking advantage of the free spaces as a bus park and ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
, as they would park in the train station lot and ride the bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City...
in New York at the station's bus stop (as bus service to New York was much more frequent than train service at Great Notch). More ridership was lost when a parking lot near the station was isolated from it by a fence. The station received a cut in service in January 2008, due to "anemic" ridership at the station, which was never announced to the community before occurring. At that point, Great Notch station only received one morning train towards Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
and two evening trains from Hoboken.
The future of the 103-year old station was placed into further jeopardy on August 12, 2008, when New Jersey Transit announced to the community of Little Falls that they would possibly close the station as early as October 2008. A few days after the announcement, rebuttal by the community began to appear, with a public hearing was announced for September 3 to work on plans for Great Notch. The service with only one inbound train (to Hoboken) and two outbound trains (from Hoboken) was canceled on April 1, 2009. On that day, New Jersey Transit announced it would add two more trains in each direction on April 16 as a "one-year trial" for station ridership. The town hoped to get the then 67-person a day average to 100 people using the station by April 1, 2010, when the trial was set to expire. The mayor of Little Falls, Michael DeFrancisci, urged people to use the station more. However, by December 2010, ridership had declined to 9 per day.
On December 18, 2009, New Jersey Transit contacted Little Falls and said that the station would close in January 2010, three months before the year-long trial period to build ridership was set to end. The transit authority cited continued low ridership, as on average nine passengers a day boarded the train at Great Notch. On December 21, 2009, New Jersey Transit announced the closure stating that the "anemic" ridership had remained at Great Notch, with only an average of 9 boardings a day, compared to 203 at the local Little Falls station and 597 at the Montclair State University Station. The last train to depart Great Notch was the 6:51pm train from Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal is one of the New York Metropolitan area's major transportation hubs. The commuter-oriented intermodal facility, is located on the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey...
on January 15 leaving Great Notch at 7:41pm, as weekend trains do not run on this portion of the Montclair-Boonton Line.
See also
- Caldwell Branch to Essex FellsEssex Fells, New JerseyAs of 2010 Essex Fells had a population of 2,113. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 93.5% non-Hispanic white, 1.1% black or African-American, 1.0% Chinese, 1.2% other Asian, 1.9% reporting two or more races and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino....