Chatham station (NJ Transit)

Chatham is a railway station in Chatham, New Jersey. A commuter rail station, Chatham receives rail service from statewide provider NJ Transit on its Morristown Line, a branch of the Morris & Essex Lines. Trains on the Morristown Line go to both Hoboken Terminal and New York Penn Station.

Chatham
View east along tracks from south platform
LocationRailroad Plaza & Fairmount Avenue
Chatham, NJ 07928
Coordinates40°44′24.6″N 74°23′6.2″W
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsNJT Bus: 873
Construction
Parking420 spaces
Bicycle facilitiesyes
Other information
Station code424 (Delaware, Lackawanna and Western)[1]
Fare zone10
History
OpenedSeptember 17, 1837 (preliminary trip)[2]
September 28, 1837 (regular service)[3][4]
RebuiltSummer 1913[5]–June 19, 1914[6]
ElectrifiedDecember 18, 1930[7]
Key dates
August 1914Original station depot razed[8]
Passengers
20171,611 (average weekday)[9][10]
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station
Madison
toward Hackettstown
 Morristown Line Summit
toward New York Penn Station or Hoboken
Former services
Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station
Madison
toward Buffalo
 Main Line Summit
toward Hoboken
Location

History

Chatham station opened on January 1, 1838 along with other stations on the Morris and Essex Railroad between Orange (at one time the western terminus of the line) and Morristown. During the beginnings of the rail in the area, Chatham was the home of a relatively well-utilised and large rail yard because of the steep grades in the surrounding area.[11] In the early 1900s, the station was mainly used by vacationers from New York City who came to Chatham to experience what was then considered a beautiful town away from the bustling city.[12] A number of hotels on Main Street served this vacation interest.

A new elevated station was built in 1914 with a tunnel connecting the two platforms. The station was located at Fairmount Avenue, one block from Main Street. Distinctive weeping Mulberry trees were planted to enhance the station and the area of its two plazas.[13] The railroad razed the old station in August 1914.[8]

The presence of a train station in Chatham Borough would later prove a vital role in population increases following World War II in adjacent Chatham Township, when rural lands in the township began to be developed for residential use,[14] because of the easy commute to Manhattan.

In 1929, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the owners of the railway at the time, spent $100 million to electrify the Morris & Essex lines. This meant that Chatham station would be electrified and would be served by electric trains, some of the first in the United States.[15] During summer 2007, operator New Jersey Transit replaced the tracks at Chatham along with those on the rest of the Morristown Line, upgrading them to have more advanced and reliable concrete ties rather than older wooden types.[16] The exterior of the station recently went under renovation. Some of the renovations the station received included a new paint job and a new roof.[17]

Station layout and service

Chatham is located on New Jersey Transit's Morristown Line of the Morris & Essex Lines. The station receives traffic bound for and coming from both of New Jersey Transit's main terminals: Hoboken Terminal and New York Penn Station. Trains bound eastward toward these two nodes arrive in an alternating fashion at Chatham, so that a Hoboken bound train will be followed by a New York bound train. Service is relatively frequent, with morning rush hour trains arriving at intervals of as little as six minutes. During off-peak hours, trains heading toward each node come at hourly gaps, meaning a train arrives at Chatham almost every thirty minutes during non-rush hour times. This amount of service is only comparable to that of the Northeast Corridor Line.[18]

P
Platform level		 Side platform, doors will open on the right
Track 1 ←      Morristown Line toward Dover or Hackettstown (Madison)
Track 2 ←      Morristown Line toward Hoboken or New York (Summit) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right
G Street level Station building, ticket machine and parking

Bibliography
  • Douglass, A.M. (1912). The Railroad Trainman, Volume 29. Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  • Walker, Herbert T. (1902). "Early History of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and it's Locomotives - Part 2: The Morris and Essex Railroad". Railroad Gazette. 34. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

References
  1. List of Station Numbers. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (Report). 1952. p. 2.
  2. "Morris and Essex is Seventy-Nine Years Old". The Madison Eagle. June 16, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved April 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Walker 1902, p. 409.
  4. Douglass 1912, p. 339.
  5. "New Station for Chatham". The Chatham Press. May 24, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Chatham's New Station Opened for Traffic". The Chatham Press. June 20, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Lackawanna Electric Train Gets Ovations". The Paterson Morning Call. December 19, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Of Local Interest". The Chatham Press. August 8, 1914. p. 3. Retrieved January 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "QUARTERLY RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANALYSIS" (PDF). New Jersey Transit. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  10. "How Many Riders Use NJ Transit's Hoboken Train Station?". Hoboken Patch. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  11. The DL&W railroad Jersey Central Chapter Retrieved 2007-08-19
  12. Chatham, NJ description, history, and services Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine Chatham information site Retrieved 2007-08-12
  13. http://chathamlibrary.org/tracks.pdf
  14. History of Chatham Township Archived 2002-06-04 at the Wayback Machine Chatham Township official site Retrieved 2007-08-19
  15. Electrified D. L. & W. Time magazine archives Retrieved 2007-08-12
  16. "NJ Transit Replacing Rail Ties Along Morristown Line" (Press release). New Jersey Transit. 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  17. "NJ Transit Approves Exterior Work on Chatham Station" (Press release). New Jersey Transit. 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  18. Northeast Corridor Line timetable New Jersey Transit official site Retrieved 2007-08-17
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