Hawthorne station (New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad)


Hawthorne is a rail station located in Hawthorne, New Jersey in Passaic County. Volunteer Railroaders Association, a non-profit railroad preservation group leases the station from the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. The station is single floor wooden structure at grade with the local area. Formerly brown and cream colored, the station has currently been repainted blue-green and red as part of an ongoing restoration. The station once served as the commuter ticket office until June 30, 1966 and was also used as a freight depot building.
The New Jersey Western Railroad built what is now about ten miles of the current New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway right-of way from Hawthorne to Bloomingdale from 1868 to 1870.. It was consolidated into the New Jersey Midland Railway. The original station at this location was built in 1872. In 1894 a fire destroyed the station and the station was rebuilt in a larger form. Since 1872, the present station has been located on the corner of Royal Avenue and County Route 654.
In 2010 the VRA undertook a massive fund raising needed to move the station. The move of just 75 feet within the same plot away from the corner was to alleviate the nearly monthly truck strikes to the southeast roof corner. As a part of this move a concrete brick and poured floor foundation was constructed. The move contractor hired made the move of the station onto the new foundation on September 20, 2010. After the move the areas of deteriorated siding were replaced and adding a new coat of paint was begun. Also added was a deck with safety railing, a fence between the station & the railroad and a garden area in the location of the old station footing.
It is proposed that New Jersey Transit will build a new station for the northern terminus of the Passaic-Bergen Rail Line adjacent to the NJ Transit Main Line's Hawthorne station several blocks away from this station. The neighborhood of the original Erie mainline station would benefit from state funding to improve signage, lighting and parking.