Roselle Junction

The connection between the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Roselle, NJ, was called “Roselle Junction.” The construction of the link was the culmination of the LV’s ongoing eastward expansion. The railroad had expanded eastward out of the coalfields of Pennsylvania, reaching the town of Easton, PA, on the banks of the Delaware River, in September 1855. The Easton & Amboy Railroad (E&A), a subsidiary line, was completed between Phillipsburg, NJ, and Perth Amboy, NJ, in June 1875. A tidewater terminal was established at the latter point. Thereafter, freight moved east to Perth Amboy and then over a lengthy water route to reach New York City. 

The LV’s extension to Jersey City commenced with the incorporation of the Roselle & South Plainfield Railway (R&SP) on November 13, 1885. The company was to construct a two-track line, 9.7 miles in length, from South Plainfield on the E&A to Roselle, a point situated on the CNJ mainline. The eastern terminus of the R&SP, referred to as the “Roselle Branch” in official LV documents, was to be Roselle Junction. On April 27, 1887, a seven-year agreement was reached between the LV and CNJ, whereby LV freight trains would exercise trackage rights over the CNJ to reach Jersey City. The LV had constructed a tidewater freight terminal on the Hudson River in Jersey City, opposite Manhattan, but had no direct rail link of its own to reach it. With this agreement, and the opening of the R&SP on December 17, 1889, a great deal of freight was rerouted away from the LV’s tidewater terminal at Perth Amboy to the new Jersey City Terminal. Freight trains came off of the E&A at South Plainfield, travelled over the Roselle Branch to Roselle Junction, and then proceeded over the CNJ to the LV’s Jersey City Terminal. 

Roselle Junction was a two track connection which departed the present day Lehigh Line near Centennial Ave. The track then descended to ground level, crossed the SIRT with a set of diamonds, proceeded across W. First Ave. at grade, and then paralleled the CNJ mainline from Gordon St. to a connection near Pine Street in Roselle. The entire connecting track was 5,065-feet in length – nearly a mile long. Trains coming off of the connecting track were governed by the CNJ’s Roselle Tower, located near Walnut Street. 

The LV discontinued to exercise trackage rights over the CNJ to Jersey City on November 25, 1893. A strike on the LV prompted the discontinuation, as unionized CNJ employees refused to signal and throw switches for LV trains being operated by non-union crews. Thereafter, freights were rerouted over the LV’s recently completed route to Jersey City. Roselle Junction was downgraded to a secondary connection of minor importance. The second track was taken out of service around 1900 and the connection itself was severed in 1924. 

Portions of the nearly mile long connecting track, however, remained in service after the connection itself was closed. Staten Island Junction, the connection between the LV and SIRT, was reached utilizing a portion of the Roselle Junction track. A portion of the track beyond the SIRT connection was used as an industrial spur to serve Watson-Stillman Co. on Aldene Road. The LV also had a long siding near the corner of W. First Ave. and Vine Street, likely to serve an industry.

The connecting track also crossed the trolley line of the Westfield & Elizabeth Street Railway, later Public Service’s “Union Line,” with a set of diamond crossings. The trolley line had opened along W. First Ave. in June 1900. The trolley crossing operated mostly without incident except for the morning of Saturday, June 3, 1905. A drill engine, belonging to the LV, struck the front end of a closed trolley car traversing the diamond crossing. The motorman jumped from the car. The conductor had disembarked the car to make the diamond ready to crossover. Only a few passengers were aboard and all escaped injury, although they were very frightened. 

Roselle Junction had always been for the sole use of freight trains. As the LV never operated a passenger terminal of its own in Jersey City, the railroad’s passenger trains ended their journeys at the Pennsylvania Railroad terminal at Exchange Place. The railroad’s passenger trains first reached the PRR via Metuchen over the Easton & Amboy Railroad. The LV opened a connection with the PRR in Newark on February 16, 1891, and thereafter – with the exception of December 1891 to August 1893 when the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad leased the LV and CNJ – passenger trains traveled via that point to Exchange Place until 1913. However, a peculiar set of circumstances necessitated that passenger trains use the Roselle Junction connection. At 8:45 AM on July 21, 1910, an eastbound LV freight train derailed near Cedar Ave. in Middlesex. Six cars derailed, due to a broken wheel flange, and piled up. No one was injured in the wreck but the incident snarled traffic on the LV to a halt. A quickly devised remedy rerouted LV passenger trains over the CNJ between Bound Brook and Roselle Junction. This arrangement required passenger trains to pull past the Roselle Junction switch on the CNJ, reverse direction up the nearly mile long connecting track to the LV mainline, and then proceed on their normal route. This change in operating procedure lasted until after 4 PM that day, perhaps the only time that passenger trains utilized the connection at Roselle.