Roselle Park
 next stop to theupright  Union 
 next stop to theleft  Cranford 
Home<New Jersey<NJ Transit Rail<Raritan Valley Line<Roselle Park

Roselle Park is the one station that opened on April 30, 1967 when Central Valley of New Jersey trains were rerouted from their mainline to the Lehigh Valley Railroad via the Aldene Connection to run into Newark Penn Station instead of the Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City so passengers could connect to PATH or Pennsylvania Railroad trains into New York City. This replaced connections in Jersey City which were from much more expensive to operate ferries or charter buses. The stop has a single original high-level island platform along an embankment of the Lehigh Valley Railroad between the tracks overpasses of Locust and Chestnut Street. The station since it opened has gantlet rail along the north track (both tracks at the recently opened Union Station have the track). This allows wide freight trains on the busy Lehigh Line, now owned and operated by Norfolk Southern to safely pass through the station. Two Newark-bound freight trains (I assume this was their destination) passed by during my half-hour layover at the station, one of intermodal containers and the other of autoracks with new cars. Just south of the station at the Aldene Connection is a single relatively slow track and the only place on the main portion of the Raritan Valley line between Newark and Raritan that is single tracked.

This single high platform though is not ADA compliant and has a gap (over six inches) would definitely require a bridge plate. There are also only stairs that lead down to the street. The station is the presently the only high-level platform rail station in New Jersey (not including stops on PATH or PATCO) that isn't ADA compliant. The platform has a canopy with green supports in the middle and 1960s lampposts along the exposed portion of the platform towards each end. There is a shed with a garage door at the northern end of the platform. Along the platform are concrete forms with wooden slabs benches. The only way to leave the station is by going down one of two staircases to an underpass. This underpass leads to the NW side of the tracks and ends directly in front of a door into the 1960s station house. This single story station house resembles what I consider an AmStation. It has brown brick walls both interior and exterior. It has a brown, flat roof that also covers a porch in front of it, a passenger drop-off area, that is where the other set of doors are. The station is only open from 6am to 9:30am weekdays with a staffed ticket window, a few benches on two walls and restrooms. There are no windows, the only way to look inside is from the glass doors at each end of the building. The station house is on the edge of a 150 space parking lot ($3 per day) accessed mainly from Lincoln Avenue. There is one narrow sidewalk from the depot to the corner of Chestnut Street and Lincoln Avenue that is the only way to reach the station without walking through the parking lot itself (that has entrances from Lincoln Avenue and Locust Street). Plenty of commuters definitely walk to the station since it is in an area of single-family homes.
All Photos taken on 7 January, 2013

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ALP46A #4009 leads a Raritan-bound train
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ALP46A #4009 enters
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ALP46A #4009 keeps entering
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Two Raritan Valley Line trains of MLVs stop on each side of the island platform
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Open Train doors on the Raritan-bound side of the platform
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ALP46A #4027 pushes a Newark-bound train
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ALP46A #4027 keeps pushing a Newark-bound train down the gauntlet track out of the station
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ALP46A #4027 has almost finished leaving the station
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The train to Raritan hasn't closed its doors yet, the Newark-bound train has left the station
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A platform sign with a bridgeplate beneath it, Why does the platform need a bridgeplate, passengers half to go up steps to get to it anyway?
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The roof of the 1960s station building
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The roof of the 1960s station with a fence to prevent people from walking onto it (if you could manage waking over the overpass)
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Down one of two staircases (there isn't an elevator) to the underpass
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The dimly lit concrete underpass
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Coming out of the underpass to the doors into the station
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The doors into the station
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Its only open from 6:00am to 9:30am
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Looking back through the underpass to the staircases up to the platform
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Looking up the grassy knoll to the platform
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The narrow area between underpass and depot that allows you to get out when the station is closed
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Last Updated: 28 February, 2013
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