Bay Head station

Bay Head
Bay Head station in January 2018
General information
LocationOsborne Avenue
Bay Head, New Jersey 08742
Coordinates40°04′34″N 74°02′47″W / 40.07611°N 74.04639°W / 40.07611; -74.04639
Owned byNJ Transit
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
Construction
ParkingYes
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleNo
Other information
Station code23
Fare zone23
History
OpenedAugust 1, 1882[1]
Rebuilt1976[2]
ElectrifiedNo
Previous namesBay Head Junction
Passengers
2012200 (average weekday)[3]
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station
Terminus North Jersey Coast Line Point Pleasant Beach
Former services
Preceding station New York and Long Branch Railroad Following station
Terminus Main Line Point Pleasant Beach
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Mantoloking
toward Camden
Philadelphia and Long Branch Railroad Terminus
Location
Map

Bay Head is a railway station in Bay Head, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. The station is served by trains on NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line, and it is the southern terminus for the line. The rail yard contains 33 acres (13 ha) of wetland inside the loop formed by the tracks used to turn around the trains.[4] The rail yard borders Twilight Lake. Parking is free at the Bay Head station although the lot is only about a fourth of the size of the lot at the next station, Point Pleasant Beach, which requires payment.[5]

A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train at the yard in 1971

This station is not listed as disabled accessible by NJ Transit. Passengers must use the train stairs to climb up to the cars or descend to street level. There is no ramp or platform to aid the handicapped in boarding. Weekend ridership to the Bay Head station rises during the summer as beachgoing vacationers take the train to the beach.[6] In May 2011, ticket vending machines were installed next to the station building at Bay Head.

History

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1946 trestle fire

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On the morning of December 1, 1946, a fire destroyed the Pennsylvania Railroad across Barnegat Bay in Seaside Park. The 300-foot (91 m) section of the structure caught fire, requiring firefighters from Seaside Park and Ocean Gate to spend over six hours dousing the inferno. As a result of the response, the fire damage was limited to the center part of the span, interrupting rail service between Bay Head and Toms River. At Toms River, buses would take passengers to Long Branch. The damage in total ruined all the pilings and railroad ties in the original 300-foot (91 m) section and warped much of the rails on the trestle.[7]

Service to Bay Head after the fire became bus only for Pennsylvania Railroad customers from Camden as trains 994, 995, 998 and 999 only operated to station at Pemberton. From there, a bus would take the passengers to Bay Head.[8] Passenger service would continue to Barnegat Pier from Toms River until December 14, 1948, at which point all the tracks between Toms River and Bay Head were abandoned.[9]

Station layout

[edit]

The station has a low-level side platform serving trains in both directions, most trains also use track one, the doors open at the street.

Bibliography

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  • United States Congress (1884). The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the First Session of the Forty-Eighth Congress, 1883-'84. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.
  • Begley, Thomas C. (1950). Awards 4901 to 5000 Third Division Interpretation (Serial No. 92). Vol. 47. Chicago, Illinois: Champlin-Shealy Company.

References

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  1. ^ United States Congress 1884, p. 487.
  2. ^ "Then and Now". The Asbury Park Press. January 21, 1979. p. 60. Retrieved September 26, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ "Quarterly Ridership Trends Analysis" (PDF). NJ Transit. December 27, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  4. ^ Bay Head planning to fight state's rail yard plan in court. Asbury Park Press. Nina Rizzo. June 25, 2002.
  5. ^ Ordinance will set train station parking fees. Asbury Park Press. Tristan J. Schweiger. April 15, 2007.
  6. ^ 'Benny' or not, here they come, Natives grin and share the weekly trip to Shore. Ana M. Alaya. The Star-Ledger. July 1, 2005.
  7. ^ "Fire Wrecks Barnegat Bay Rail Trestle". Asbury Park Evening Press. December 2, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved September 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ Begley 1950, p. 18.
  9. ^ Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology of the Successors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and Their Historical Context: 1948" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical Historical Society. p. 27. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
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Media related to Bay Head (NJT station) at Wikimedia Commons