Woodbury station

This article is about the rairoad station in New Jersey. For the station on Long Island, see Cold Spring Harbor station.

Woodbury is a defunct commuter railroad station in the city of Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Located at the junction of Station Road and Cooper Street, the station served multiple lines of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Trains out of Woodbury serviced lines to Salem, Millville, Penns Grove/Carneys Point and Cape May. Woodbury station consisted of two side platforms and a 72-by-20-foot (21.9 m × 6.1 m) brick station depot.

Woodbury
Woodbury station in August 2022.
General information
Location	Station Road at Cooper Street Woodbury, New Jersey, US
Coordinates	39°50′11″N 75°08′59″W / 39.836416°N 75.149699°W / 39.836416; -75.149699
History
Opened	April 14, 1857^[1]
Closed	February 5, 1971^[2]
Electrified	1910–1949
Former services
Preceding station Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines Following station North Woodbury toward Camden WJ&S Camden – Millville Woodbury Heights toward Millville West End toward Penns Grove WJ&S Penns Grove Branch Terminus Parkville toward Salem WJ&S Salem Branch Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station North Woodbury toward Camden Cape May Division Before 1932 Woodbury Heights toward Cape May

Railroad service at Woodbury station began on April 14, 1857 with the opening of the West Jersey Railroad between Camden and Woodbury. The current depot opened in 1883, designed in Stick style architecture. Service on the line to Penns Grove ended on July 8, 1950. Salem service ended on December 30 that same year. The final remaining passenger service (Camden–Millville) ended on February 5, 1971. The station depot currently serves as a restaurant.

Restoration of service at Woodbury station is proposed as part of the Glassboro–Camden Line, a light rail operation between the two eponmyous cities.

History

The station stop was part of planned Camden and Woodbury Railroad, which began in 1837–1838 but ran irregularly and was later abandoned. The West Jersey Railroad (WJ) was granted its charter by the state of New Jersey on February 5, 1853,^[3] to build a line from Camden to Cape May.^[4][5] The directors of the company met on July 15, 1853, to select the route on which they would build.^[6] The line was built in stages with the backing of the Camden and Amboy from Camden to Glassboro. The first 8.2 miles (13.2 km) of the line using the abandoned Camden and Woodbury right-of-way opened on April 15, 1857.^[3]

Service was later expanded along the Penns Grove Branch and the Salem Branch, which converge just south of the station at Woodbury Junction. Through mergers and acquisitions the line became part of the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad and then Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. The line was electrified between 1906 and 1949.^[7][8] The power house north of the station was the last remnant of the electrified rail and was later demolished by Conrail.^[9] It later became diesel service.

Passenger service to Penns Grove ended on July 8, 1950. Service to Salem ended on December 30.^[10] The remaining passenger service through Woodbury ended on February 5, 1971.^[2] The station house, was built in 1883 in the Stick style, has since become a restaurant.^[11]

Future

Woodbury
Light rail
General information
Location	Woodbury, New Jersey,
Owned by	NJ Transit
Line(s)	Glassboro–Camden Line
Platforms	1
Construction
Parking	600 (municipal)
Accessible	ADA
History
Opened	Proposed

Woodbury is a planned station of the proposed Glassboro–Camden Line light rail system, to be located along the Vineland Secondary right-of way.^[12] The station design includes a platform station and park and ride.^[13] It would be a component of a potential Woodbury Transit Hub,^[14][15] part of transit-oriented development study.^[16]

Bibliography

• Wilson, William Bender (1899). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company With Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches · Volume 1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Henry T. Coates & Company.

References

1. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Its Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context: 1857" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 19. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
2. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Its Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context: 1971" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 26. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
3. Wilson 1899, p. 357.
4. "The West Jersey Railroad". The Baltimore Sun. March 31, 1853. p. 1. Retrieved December 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.  
5. "West Jersey Railroad". Monmouth Democrat. Freehold Township, New Jersey. May 19, 1853. p. 2. Retrieved December 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.  
6. "Meeting". Public Ledger. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 16, 1853. p. 1. Retrieved December 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.  
7. Gambardello, Joseph A. (February 12, 1999). "The End Of The Line For A 1906 Landmark Conrail Has Decided To Tear Down The Five-story Westville Building. It Was Erected As A Power Plant". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved July 22, 2013. Electric service on the line ended in 1949 when the state banned the use of wooden passenger cars, Schopp said. The last passenger train – a diesel-powered Budd – ran from Millville to Camden in 1971.
8. "The West Jersey and Seashore Electric Railroad". Western Electrician. 39 (19): 372–375. November 10, 1906. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
9. Jess, C. Donald (March 1985). "The Westville Power House" (PDF). Bulletin of the Gloucester County Historical Society. 19 (7): 49–50. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
10. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Its Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context: 1950" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. pp. 17, 30. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
11. "Woodbury Train Station". nj.gov. New Jersey Historic Trust. 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
12. Romalino, Carly Q. (January 19, 2021). "Is there still support for Glassboro-Camden rail? Study on long-stalled project expected soon". Courier-Post. Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
13. "Homepage". glassborocamdenline.com. Glassboro-Camden Line. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
14. Ragan Design Group (2007). Woodbury Transit Hub Feasibility Analysis (PDF) (Report). Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
15. groupmelvindesign (2019). 2019 Woodbury Master Plan Re-examination Report (PDF) (Report). City of Woodbury, New Jersey.
16. "Inmplementing Transit Oriented Development" (PDF). DVRPC. December 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2022.