Flemington Junction station

Flemington Junction station is a defunct Lehigh Valley Railroad station in Flemington Junction, New Jersey. It was located at the junction of the Lehigh Valley's Flemington Branch and Main Line, although the name predated the opening of the branch by eight years.

Flemington Junction
Flemington Junction in 1895
General information
Coordinates40.532569°N 74.840429°W / 40.532569; -74.840429
Line(s)
History
OpenedJune 28, 1875 (1875-06-28)
ClosedFebruary 4, 1961 (1961-02-04)
Former lines
Preceding station Lehigh Valley Railroad Following station
Easton
toward Buffalo
 Main Line Roselle Park
toward New York or Jersey City
Landsdown
toward Buffalo
 Three Bridges
toward New York or Jersey City
Terminus Flemington Branch Flemington
Terminus

The Lehigh Valley Railroad, via its Easton and Amboy Railroad subsidiary, extended its main line east from Easton, Pennsylvania, to Jersey City, New Jersey, between 1872 and 1875. The extension officially opened on June 28, 1875.[1] The location, which had passenger service but no passenger building, was then called Barton's Bridge.[lower-alpha 1] A stagecoach line carried passengers into Flemington, New Jersey proper.[2] The company adopted the name "Flemington Junction" on April 16, 1876.[3] A freight house opened later that year.[4] A separate passenger building was not constructed until 1879–1882.[5] The Flemington Branch, a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) line into Flemington, opened on August 4, 1884.[6]

As late as 1948 a gas-electric motor car made eleven round-trips per day between Flemington Junction and Flemington, but change was coming.[7] Buses replaced the train over the branch in 1952; the buses themselves were withdrawn in 1957.[8] The freight house was torn down in 1955 as business declined.[9] Passenger service to Flemington Junction ended on February 4, 1961, with the end of all passenger service on the Lehigh Valley.[10] The Lehigh Valley abandoned the building in 1963.[8]

The station building still stands and is a contributing property of the Raritan–Readington South Branch Historic District.[11] The current building will be demolished by the end of 2019.

Notes
  1. The name apparently referred to Judiah Barton, who owned land near where the Lehigh Valley's line crossed the South Branch Raritan River.[2]

Footnotes
  1. Archer 1977, pp. 104–108
  2. Burgess 1971, p. 5
  3. Burgess 1971, p. 6
  4. Burgess 1971, p. 7
  5. Burgess 1971, pp. 7–13
  6. Burgess 1971, p. 18
  7. Heiss 2009, p. 19
  8. Burgess 1971, p. 28
  9. Burgess 1971, p. 26
  10. Archer 1977, p. 275
  11. "Raritan/Readington South Branch Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved August 28, 2018.

References
  • Archer, Robert F. (1977). The History of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Berkeley: Howell-North Books. ISBN 978-0-8310-7113-4.
  • Burgess, Stephen R. (1971). Flemington Junction: A History of Railroad Stations. Ringoes, New Jersey: Black Diamond Railroad Museum. OCLC 6366844.
  • Heiss, Ralph A. (2009). The Lehigh Valley Railroad across New Jersey. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-6576-7.
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