Carlton Hill
Carlton Hill station in December 1909, facing towards BE Draw.
General information
LocationJackson Street & Erie Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey
Coordinates40°50′32″N 74°06′50″W / 40.8422°N 74.1140°W / 40.8422; -74.1140
Owned byErie Railroad (1906–1960)
Erie–Lackawanna Railroad (1960–1966)
Line(s)Erie Railroad Main Line (1888–1963)
Carlton Hill Branch (1963–1966)
Platforms1 side platforms
Tracks2 main line
Construction
Platform levels1
Other information
Station code2125[1]
History
Openedc. 1870[2]
ClosedOctober 3, 1966[3]
Previous namesSantiago Park (–May 1874)[4]
West Rutherford (May 1874–)[4]
Key dates
1965Agency closed[5]
October 1967Depot demolished[6]
Former services
Preceding station Erie Railroad Following station
Passaic Park
toward Ridgewood
 Main Line local stops Rutherford
toward Jersey City

Carlton Hill station was a railroad station for the Erie Railroad in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Carlton Hill station was the second station along the Erie's main line and the first station after Rutherford Junction, where the Erie's main line forked from the Bergen County Railroad. The station provided service for passengers in Rutherford and East Rutherford's Carlton Hill district and freight billing for the Royce Chemical Company, producer of Royox household cleaner, epoxies and dyes.

After Carlton Hill, the main line continued westward to Passaic Park and eastward to Rutherford–East Rutherford and Pavonia Terminal.

Carlton Hill Station opened in 1888 on Jackson Avenue and namesake Erie Avenue in Rutherford. The station was served by the main line until 1963, when the Passaic Plan was undertaken, removing tracks at Passaic Park, Passaic, Clifton, and Lake View stations. At that point, the nearby drawbridge was permanently swung open and later removed, leaving a branch to Carlton Hill. For the next few years, Carlton Hill received deadhead trains and a rare Carlton Hill – Rutherford – Hoboken Terminal train schedule. In 1966, when several underused branches, including the Carlton Hill, lost service, the old main line alignment to Carlton Hill was abandoned. The tracks remain, though the building is gone, having been demolished in October 1967.

Station layout and services

Carlton Hill station was situated at the intersection with Jackson Avenue in Rutherford, where the Erie Railroad's main line crossed, 10.75 miles (17.30 km) away from New York City's Chambers Street Ferry Terminal.[7] The main line crossed through Carlton Hill on two tracks, separated by inter-track fencing. There was one main line platform, next to the station depot, which was located on the eastbound side of the tracks. During the morning commuter rush, Carlton Hill was full of commuters heading for New York City. After the commuter rush, a station agent's work was to inspect the yard and complete freight billing for the Royce Chemical Company. The yard commonly had boxcars, empty and loaded waiting for pick-up.[8] Although the station no longer gets use, the former site is accessible via New Jersey Transit's buses #160 and #190 along with a walk down to Jackson Avenue. The former station site and trackage are owned by Norfolk Southern Railway.[9][10][11]

History

Opening

Carlton Hill station was first constructed in 1888 as a 57-by-16-foot (17.4 m × 4.9 m)[12] wooden structure at Jackson Avenue in Rutherford. The wooden station was the common design for station depots used by the Erie Railroad, designated Type IV.[8] In 1889, upon opening of the station, formerly called West Rutherford, the station received eighteen trains from New York City and Jersey City daily, seventeen to New York City daily, and ten fewer trips on weekend each. The fare to get to Carlton Hill from Jersey City was $0.35 for one-way tickets, and $0.50 for round trips. The Erie's "Family Commutation Service", which was 50 trips, cost the rider $8.75.[7]

The station was popular with holiday-goers heading to the resorts along the Passaic River, and the Rutherford Railway, a horsecar rail line existed for a few years[13]

On September 6, 1911, a woman named Elizabeth King was struck and killed by an Erie Railroad passenger train at Carlton Hill. The woman, heading to Passaic to visit her daughter in the local hospital for an operation, was of poor eyesight and was unable to see the train.[14] At the time, the Erie had not implemented intertrack fencing, but the intersection with Jackson Avenue had been given flashing lights and bells to signify the oncoming train. After the incident, the New Jersey State Legislature got involved with the case and gave the Erie suggestions to add intertrack fencing at Carlton Hill to prevent another such incident.[15]

1945 gas release incident

Commuters on a westbound train passing through Carlton Hill on August 17, 1945 were overcome by a sudden release of noxious sulfur dioxide fumes. During the draining of the sulfur dioxide from a tank car to Royce Chemical's storage tanks, a hose split in half and the workers failed to close the valve on the tank car, resulting in the fumes spreading throughout the Carlton Hill area. When the passenger train stopped at Carlton Hill, the locomotive was adjacent to the leaking tank car. The sulfur dioxide fumes were drawn into the passenger cars, causing an immediate panic among the riders, who rushed for the exits. W.S. Osborne, an off-duty engineer for the Erie, was in one of the passenger cars and ran to the locomotive to find out what was going on. In the cab, he found the crew lying unconscious on the floor. In response, Osborne took control of the throttle and immediately reversed the train out of the area of the tank car, reducing the exposure to the fumes.[16]

Carlton Hill station in March 2011, 45 years after the station closed. The partially overgrown tracks of the old Erie Railroad main line are visible along the deteriorating platform

As fumes from the tank car continued to spread, workers at the nearby Standard Bleachery began to feel the effects of the sulfur dioxide. There, another immediate panicked rush for the exits occurred as emergency response began to arrive. Several passengers were treated by Dr. Howard Cooper,[16] a local police surgeon in Rutherford.[17] Four people were brought to St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, Morris Burlinger, a passenger on the train and Jessie Thomson, a local resident overcome by fumes, along with two members of the unconscious train crew: Martin Hein, the engineer, and the conductor, S.A. Smith. The fireman, R. Rensch, was treated and released at the scene.[16]

The spread of the sulfur dioxide also caused property damage in the Carlton Hill area. Residents of Rutherford and East Rutherford, demanding answers from the Royce Chemical Company and the Erie Railroad, noted that the fumes had killed numerous trees in the area and had decimated multiple gardens. Mayor John Petrie of Rutherford brought up a letter he had sent in 1942 to the State Board of Health demanding Royce Chemical clean up its area in Carlton Hill. A local policeman from East Rutherford noted that there had been previous incidents of gas fumes, but nothing as severe as the August 17 incident. Albert Royce Jr., President of Royce Chemical, denied that sulfur dioxide was poisonous, stating it was only a rotten egg odor rather than anything serious, despite the reports of nine incapacitated by the noxious fumes.[18]

However, by August 22, it was reported that three more people had been injured by the noxious fumes. Ernest Ericson, a resident of Passaic, also had to be taken to Beth Israel Hospital in Passaic on August 19, diagnosed with double pneumonia caused by exposure to the fumes. Ericson had been driving down Carlton Avenue in the area on the day of the gas attack. His wife, Ann, reported her husband's condition on August 21 to the police in Rutherford. James Petosa and Leonard Di Fouggia, residents of Newark also reported their health issues to Rutherford police. Petosa and Di Fouggia, who both had to be treated by doctors, were passing by Carlton Hill station on August 17 when they inhaled the fumes, bringing the total of victims to 12.[19]

Passaic Plan and closing

Carlton Hill station site in January 2015, mostly cleared

During the 1950s and 1960s, several different priorities from different agencies around the cities of Paterson and Passaic were beginning to form. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, a competing railroad with the Erie with a nearby parallel route from the Hudson waterfront to Paterson, wanted to combine services and share trackage with the Erie because of financial troubles. Secondly, the city officials in Passaic had proposed to the Erie to remove the main line tracks through the city's downtown Main Street shopping district, since traffic jams would occur every time a train stopped at the Passaic station. This, however, was not implemented during the 1950s, as proposed. Instead, the Erie reconstructed the stations at Passaic and Clifton. Third, the New Jersey State Highway Department needed rights-of-way for Interstate 80 through Paterson and State Route 21 through Passaic (right where Passaic Park station and BE Drawbridge were located).[20]

After the Erie and Lackawanna merged on October 17, 1960, the city officials in Passaic reiterated their Main Street track-removal request. This time, the newly formed Erie–Lackawanna went forward with it, beginning the process to move its main line onto the former Boonton Branch through Lyndhurst, Passaic and Clifton.[20] The main line was abandoned past Carlton Hill, and BE Drawbridge was swung in the open position. The bridge was soon put up for sale price of $0.00 in 1964 by the mayor of Passaic.[21]

After the abandonment of the Erie Railroad's main line through the city of Passaic, the two-tracked stub from Rutherford and Bergen Junction westward through Carlton Hill remained in service as the Carlton Hill Branch. This alignment received most of the deadhead trains, but there was a limited set of Carlton Hill – Rutherford – Hoboken trains, making only those two stops.[22] In October 1966, along with the Newark Branch and the spur of the New York & Greenwood Lake to Wanaque, the Carlton Hill Branch service were discontinued and the station no longer received passenger trains. The station building was later demolished, and only the tracks and asphalt platform remain to this date at Jackson Avenue.[23]

The station depot was razed in October 1967, a year after service ended after falling into a state of disrepair and complaints from local residents.[6]

Bibliography

  • Yanosey, Robert J. (2006). Erie Railroad Facilities (In Color). Vol. 1: New Jersey. Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books Inc. ISBN 1-58248-183-0.

References

  1. ↑ "List of Station Names and Numbers". Jersey City, New Jersey: Erie Railroad. May 1, 1916. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Cargo of Chinamen". The Daily Evening Express. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. September 21, 1870. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ↑ "Cutback in Commuter Trains Affects 3,000". The Herald-News. Passaic, New Jersey. October 1, 1966. p. 24. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. 1 2 "Rutherford Park". The Weekly Item. Passaic, New Jersey. May 30, 1874. p. 2. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ↑ "Ticket Agents Eliminated in Carlton Hill, Heights". The Herald-News. Passaic, New Jersey. April 30, 1965. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. 1 2 "Carlton Hill Station Victim of Progress". The Passaic Herald-News. October 14, 1967. p. 10. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. 1 2 Picturesque Erie: Summer homes. Jersey City, New Jersey: The New York & Erie Railroad. 1889. p. 8. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  8. 1 2 Yanosey 2006, p. 32.
  9. ↑ NJ.com, Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for (September 10, 2013). "Forgotten railroad: Company still lays claims to railway turned into nature trail". nj. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "160 – Elmwood Park – New York" (PDF). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Bus Operations. 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 2, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  11. ↑ "122/190 – Paterson – New York" (PDF). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Bus Operations. 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  12. ↑ Annual report of the State Board of Assessors of the State of New Jersey, Part 1. New Jersey State Board of Assessors. 1914. p. 363. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  13. ↑ Streetcars of New Jersey: Metropolitan Northeast. Joseph F. Eid, Jr. 2007. p. 172. ISBN 9780980102628. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Train Kills Aged Woman" (PDF). New York Times. New York, New York. September 7, 1911. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  15. ↑ Documents of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey. Vol. 136–3. New Jersey State Legislature. 1912. p. 446. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  16. 1 2 3 "Erie Commuters Gassed by Sulphur Dioxide at Carlton Hill Station". The Paterson Morning Call. August 18, 1945. pp. 1-2. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  17. ↑ "Dr. Howard Cooper is Dead in Florida". The Bergen Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. April 17, 1963. p. 65. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  18. ↑ "Neighbors Say Fumes Killed Garden Crops". The Herald-News. August 21, 1945. pp. 1-2. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  19. ↑ "3 More Claim Being Gassed". The Herald-News. Passaic, New Jersey. August 22, 1945. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  20. 1 2 Yanosey, Robert J. (2007). Lackawanna Railroad Facilities (In Color). Vol. 1: Hoboken to Dover. Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books Inc. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-58248-214-9.
  21. ↑ Gansberg, Martin (June 28, 1964). "A Passaic Bridge To Be Given Away". The New York Times. New York, New York. p. 33.
  22. ↑ Yanosey 2006, p. 33.
  23. ↑ Yanosey 2006, p. 60.
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