Lindenwold is the terminus of the PATCO High Speed Line, and has been since the line opened (as an extension of the former Bridge Subway from Camden) along former and still with a heavy rail track right-of-way (from Haddonfield east) of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines on January 4, 1969. The station is on the southern side of PATCO’s Lindenwold Yard, the train yard where all PATCO Speedline train cars are stored and serviced. The stop has served as a connecting point for continued rail service for most of it’s history. From the station’s opening until all service was discontinued 1981, the station was the transfer point to Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines service (that became Conrail in 1976) commuter rail service sponsored by NJDOT between Lindenwold and Atlantic City, Ocean City and Cape May, with the stop having a small train station built with the new PATCO Speedline, with no continued service into Camden.
Starting May 23, 1989 connecting rail service was restored at Lindenwold, when Amtrak restored service between Atlantic City and Philadelphia (with trains continuing to New York or Washington) with the Atlantic City Express and trains stopping at a rebuilt railroad station at Lindenwold, as the only stop between Philadelphia and Atlantic City. New Jersey Transit Commuter service arrived at the station in September 1989, with most trains only operating between Lindenwold and Atlantic City making intermediate stops. When Cherry Hill Station opened on July 2, 1994, Amtrak replaced Lindenwold with Cherry Hill as the intermediate stop on the Atlantic City Express trains, but Amtrak ended all Atlantic City Express trains on April 1, 1995 due to low ridership. This same day all New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line trains were extended into Philadelphia (previously most terminated at Lindenwold) and Amtrak still sells tickets for all Atlantic City Line trains from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and intermediate points (including Lindenwold).
For PATCO trains, trains terminate at a single island platform for the two-track line that is elevated on a Concrete Embankment. This is elevated above the Atlantic City Line rail station, which is at grade, with a single island platform for the single track line nestled below the PATCO tracks above. This allows PACTO’s two train yard leads, both before and after the station to cross over the regional rail track at the required grade-separation since PATCO is a non-FRA regulated high speed heavy rail line.
All access to the station is from the south side of all three train lines, with a single entrance (leading up to two staircases (one with an up escalator) plus an elevator up to the PATCO platform, this leads out to the middle of the northern side of a series of 5 parking lots primarily accessed from Berlin Avenue with White Horse Road. The lot closest to the station entrance is gated, costing $1 per day, the rest free. There are over 3,000 surface parking spaces, some with solar panels on top of them.
Photos 1-5: 31 March, 2005