Took a ride over to a sight long on my list to visit - even caught two trains.

The site - Reading's Hopewell Train Station in, you got it - Hopewell, NJ.

Originally built in 1876 by the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, the station
became part of the Reading in 1879 and was in service with the Railroad until
1976. At that point, Reading became part of Conrail.

Question - which companies served the station after 1976 and when was the
last train? I assume Conrail /SEPTA? through to ____? And then maybe NJT to
1982, or 1983? Also - does anyone know how many tracks ran past the station
before the now CSX "main" was reduced to "1"? And when the station was
renovated? Funding was issued by the Federal Intermodal Surface Transporation Efficiency Act of 1991. (Though, I'm VERY glad, I must admit, it was not a very
"efficient" use of said funds, lol).

Here are some photos - they include the station, a bumper from a spur that
served a still standing freight house. There's an informative sign near by that
describes a battle the PRR had with the Reading - actually parking a steam
engine where the Reading was to cross a Pennsy subsidiary that was built I
assume for no other reason then to halt the Reading's foray into NJ and onto
New York. That leads me to another question - how does a railroad get the
rights to cross another?

Thanks, and enjoy!

/Mitch

Wow! I'm impressed! That is indeed a nice restoration job. It's not too often you see not only the main station building restored, but also the freighthouse--they even put on a new roof!

As for restoration of service, there have been plans in recent years for NJT to begin operating a "West Trenton Line," extending down the CSX (ex-RDG) main of off the Raritan Valley Line at Bridgewater and connecting to the SEPTA West Trenton Line (formerly the R3) at (obviously) West Trenton (Ewing). NJ Transit's page on the proposed service is here: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=Project016To. However, the date on the linked page is January of 2008 and there's been no updates, and the project remains unfunded (with a pricetag of $219 million in 2007 dollars). Just for kicks, here's the proposed route map [~3.5MB PDF]: http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/001_AlignmentMap_1207.pdf. The NJT page does not specify if the proposed service would be electrified or not.

It wouldn't exactly be the Crusader, but maybe someone could put either of the two surviving observations on the back of the inaugural run, if and when that happens.

The sad thing is that $219 million dollars from 2008 to build the system likely would not even cover the cost for an updated feasibility study today.

/Mitch

I believe that line has become the north-south freight 'spine' north of Philadelphia to the New York area since freight was taken off the ex-PRR Northeast Corridor line. I can't say 'when pigs fly' (because they already do on that line) but I'd expect it to be a long time before passenger trains run there... if I recall correctly, it's at or near capacity already.

To add to the visual/audio fun, here's a video of a CSX freight passing the Hopewell station:

http://youtu.be/hR-6XLEM8LY

This station was always one of my favorite things to see on the infrequent occasions I had to take a train to N. Bergen. I believe the building is available for rent for events. I've been past there on evenings when a party has been going on inside.

I will concur that the Trenton line is a fairly busy piece of railroad, and also one without a passing track all the way from where it turns off the joint Lehigh line at Port Reading Jct., to CP Wing (about three miles from the W. Trenton station), a distance of almost 22 miles. I have spent many hours at both PRJ and CP Wing waiting a turn to get on that piece of railroad - even going on the law there more than once waiting. Now, there is plenty of old RoW width in most places to work with to expand that, but it's going to take a lot of $$$ to do it.

If you look at what has been done on the Pennsylvania end of the line with additional tracks and freight-only tracks that might suggest solutions for NJ. I'll leave it to Paul and others with experience to judge whether the situation in PA works.

From a preservation angle, it sure would be neat to see the ex RDG bridge at old Port Reading Jct restored for mainline service (assuming they would use that and put back the diamonds across the ex LV).

From a rail revitalization angle, it would be even more exciting to see the new service take the exLV routing all the way from Manville to Hunter, with new stations to serve Middlesex, South Plainfield and Clark. Unfortunately, no original depots stand on that line to restore.

Rob

That station is a work of art back in the day when functionality took a backseat to making an appealing building to the eyes. I don't think many "Am-shacks" or other such examples will be preserved in the near future. Its a safe bet. Reminds me that restoration is an art as well as a science.