Watchung Avenue station

Watchung Ave.
Watchung Avenue station as a train enters the station
General information
Location	396 Park Street Montclair, New Jersey 07042
Owner	New Jersey Transit
Platforms	2 low-level side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	NJT Bus: 28, 101
Construction
Parking	95 permit spots
Cycle facilities	No bicycle racks
Other information
Station code	1739 (Erie Railroad)
Fare zone	5
History
Opened	January 1, 1873
Rebuilt	March 19, 1901–1904
Electrified	September 30, 2002
Former names	Park Street (January 1, 1873–March 31, 1919)
Passengers
2025	610 (average weekday)
Rank	48 of 153
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station Upper Montclair toward Hackettstown Montclair–Boonton Line weekdays Walnut Street toward New York or Hoboken
Former services Preceding station Erie Railroad Following station Upper Montclair toward Sterling Forest New York and Greenwood Lake Railway Montclair toward Jersey City
Watchung Avenue Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Watchung Avenue station depot in December 2014.
Location	Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Coordinates	40°49′46.56″N 74°12′25.38″W
Area	1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Built	1873
Architectural style	Renaissance
MPS	Operating Passenger Railroad Stations TR
NRHP reference No.	84002674
Added to NRHP	June 22, 1984
Location

Watchung Avenue is an active commuter railroad station in the township of Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey. Located at Park Street (inbound) and Watchung Plaza (outbound), the station serves trains of NJ Transit's Montclair–Boonton Line from New York Penn Station to Hackettstown station in Warren County on weekdays. Regular weekend service in Montclair terminates at Bay Street, two stations south. The only station not at street-level in Montclair, Watchung Avenue station is located on an elevated embankment at the end of a bridge over the namesake Watchung Avenue. The station consists of two low-level side platforms, running from the overpass to the Watchung School. The wooden station depot stands on the embankment next to the inbound platform.

Watchung Avenue station opened on January 1, 1873 under the name of Park Street as part of the Montclair Railway, which operated between Jersey City and Sterling Forest. The railroad built the current station in 1904 and changed the name to Watchung Avenue on March 31, 1919. The station depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1984, one of three stations added via the Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource. Until the opening of the Montclair Connection on September 30, 2002, all train service operated on the Boonton Line from Hoboken Terminal. That day, the station became part of a merged Montclair–Boonton Line.

Station layout

The station's low-level side platforms are not wheelchair accessible.

Bibliography

• Baxter, Raymond J.; Adams, Arthur G. (1999). Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand. Fordham, New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823219544.
• Catlin, George L. (1873). Homes on the Montclair Railway, for New York Business Men. A Description of the Country Adjacent to the Montclair Railway, Between Jersey City and Greenwood Lake. New York, New York: Montclair Railway Company.
• Whittemore, Henry (1894). History of Montclair Township, State of New Jersey: Including the History of Families who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Prosperity. New York, New York: The Suburban Publishing Company. Retrieved February 6, 2020.

External links

• Media related to Watchung Avenue (NJT station) at Wikimedia Commons