Arlington is a former

commuter railroad Commuter rail services in the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica provide common carrier passenger transportation along railway tracks, with scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis, primarily for sho ...

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

in the Arlington section of Kearny,

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Located on Garafola Place between the Forest and Elm Street intersections, the station served trains on

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

's Boonton Line. The station, which contained two low-level

side platforms A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

, operated trains between

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...

and locations west to

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

and Hackettstown. The next station to the east was Hoboken while the station to the west was Rowe Street in Bloomfield. Railroad service through the Arlington neighborhood began on January 1, 1873 with the introduction of the Montclair Railway between

Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.West Milford. The station was one of two in Kearny for the line, with the other one at West Arlington. This line became and the New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad, operated by the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

until October 17, 1960. The line became part of the merged Greenwood Lake- Boonton Line in 1963. The service continued into NJ Transit, becoming the Boonton Line. Arlington station closed, along with Rowe Street and

Benson Street station Benson Street is a former train station in a residential section of the town of Glen Ridge, New Jersey. History The station was constructed in 1883 in a unique English Tudor design with stucco facades and a slate roof as part of the New York ...

in Glen Ridge on September 20, 2002 in advance of the opening of the

Montclair Connection The Montclair Connection is a short section of double-track railroad on the NJ Transit Rail Operations system in New Jersey, United States, connecting the former end of the Montclair Branch at Bay Street station to the old Boonton Line southeast ...

Station layout

Accident

On September 8, 1965, three Kearny High School students were struck and killed by a two car

Erie Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...

train. The trio, on their way to the first day of the fall term, crossed the tracks at the Elm Street crossing next to the station despite the gate being down. Thinking the warning lights were for a departing east bound train (towards Hoboken), the three students went around the barrier. A boxcar parked in a siding next to the station blocked the victims from seeing the oncoming west bound express train. All three (Robert Floyd, 16, Rodney Murdock, 16, and Richard Collins, 15) were killed instantly. Both the train's fireman and conductor were later arraigned on charges of manslaughter. Following the accident, the town of Kearny began to have physical guards at the crossing during school hours.

Bibliography

References

Railway stations in the United States opened in 1873 Railway stations closed in 2002 Former railway stations in New Jersey Former NJ Transit stations Former Erie Railroad stations 1873 establishments in New Jersey Demolished railway stations in the United States Kearny, New Jersey 2002 disestablishments in New Jersey {{NewJersey-railstation-stub

Station layout

Accident

See also

Bibliography

References