Lake Hopatcong station

{{Infobox station

| name=Lake Hopatcong

| style=NJ Transit

| image=Lake Hopatcong Station - December 2014.jpg

| image_caption=Lake Hopatcong station in December 2014, looking west toward Bridge 44.53.

| address=Landing Road
Landing, New Jersey 07849

| coordinates={{Coord|40.90404|-74.66565|format=dms|type:railwaystation_region:US-NJ|display=inline,title}}

| line=

| other={{bus icon|12px|Commuter Bus}} Lakeland: 80

| platform=2 low-level side platforms

| levels=

| tracks=2

| parking=96 spaces

| bicycle=

| baggage_check=

| passengers =19 (average weekday){{cite report|url=https://archive.org/details/njt-boarding-data-q-1-2025-1|title=Average Weekday Rail Station Passenger Boardings History, FY 2019–2025|publisher=NJ Transit|date=2025|accessdate=June 1, 2025|via=Internet Archive|location=Newark, New Jersey}}

| pass_year = 2024

| pass_percent=

| pass_system=

| opened=1882{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=13000202}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Ledgewood Historic District |publisher=National Park Service|first1=Ann |last1=Parsekian |first2=Janice |last2=Armstrong |first3=Dennis |last3=Bertland |date=June 2012 |page=38}}

| closed=

| rebuilt=1911{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/12/16/104886357.pdf|title=Lackawanna's Big Cutoff Completed; New Double-Track Line Cost Millions, Moved Mountains, and Filled Valleys.|date=December 16, 1911|work=The New York Times |access-date=September 9, 2010 |location=New York, New York}}

| electrified=

| accessible=

| code=46 (Delaware, Lackawanna and Western){{cite report|title=List of Station Numbers |work=Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad |date=1952 |page=1}}

| years1= May 1982

| events1= Station overpass razed

| owned=NJ Transit

| zone=19

| former=Hopatcong{{harvnb|Taber|Taber|1981|p=742}}

| services= {{Adjacent stations|system1=NJ Transit

|line1=Montclair-Boonton|left1=Netcong|right1=Mount Arlington|note-mid1=limited service

|line2=Morristown|left2=Netcong|right2=Mount Arlington|note-mid2=limited service

}}

| other_services_header = Former services

| other_services_collapsible = yes

| other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system=Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad|line=main|left=Greendell|right=Mount Arlington|line2=Old Main|left2=Port Morris|right2=}}

| other_services2_header = Future services

| other_services2_collapsible = yes

| other_services2 = {{Adjacent stations|system1=NJ Transit

}}

| mpassengers=

| nrhp=

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Lake Hopatcong Train Station

| nrhp_type = cp |nocat = yes

| image = Lake Hopatcong station, Landing, NJ - information sign.jpg

| image_size = 300px

| caption = Lake Hopatcong station in 2020

| location = 125 Ledgewood-Landing Road
Roxbury, New Jersey

| coordinates = {{coord|40.90400|-74.66605|format=dms|region:US-NJ_type:railwaystation|display=inline}}

| built = {{Start date|1911}}

| architect = William Hull Botsford, Frank J. Nies, and V. D. Steinbach

| architecture = Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals, Tudor Revival

| added = April 19, 2016

| partof = Morris Canal Historic District

| partof_refnum = 16000177{{NRISref|version=2013a|refnum=16000177 |name=Morris Canal Historic District (Boundary Increase)}}

| designated_other1_name = New Jersey Register of Historic Places

| designated_other1_abbr = NJRHP

| designated_other1_link = New Jersey Register of Historic Places

| designated_other1_date = June 23, 2015
February 18, 2016

| designated_other1_number = 2251; 5503{{cite web |title=New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Morris County |url=https://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/MORRIS.pdf#page=22 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office |pages=22–3 |date=March 23, 2022 }}

| designated_other1_num_position = bottom

| designated_other1_color = #ffc94b

| embed = yes

}}

| mapframe = yes

| mapframe-custom = {{Infobox mapframe |shape=none |line=none |marker=rail |marker-color=#000 |zoom=14 }}

}}

Lake Hopatcong is a commuter railroad station for New Jersey Transit. The station, located in the community of Landing in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States, serves trains for the Montclair–Boonton Line and Morristown Line at peak hours and on holiday weekends. Service from Lake Hopatcong is provided to/from Hackettstown to New York Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal. The stop is located on the tracks below Landing Road (Morris County Route 631) next to the eponymous Lake Hopatcong. The station consists of one active platform with shelter, and an abandoned side platform. There is no accessibility for handicapped people.

Service through the Landing area began on January 16, 1854, for the Morris and Essex Railroad, but there was no stop at the shore of Lake Hopatcong.{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=J.M. |title=Letter to the New York Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society |url=http://ppolinks.com/hoboken32340/2014.013.0114_DL&W_excursion_package_1938.pdf |publisher=The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company |access-date=April 7, 2020 |page=8}}{{cite book |author=New Jersey Comptroller of the Treasury|title=Annual Statements of the Railroad and Canal Companies:Morris and Essex Railroad Company|year=1856|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IdwpAAAAYAAJ|pages=29–32}} People who wanted to visit the lake had to get off at nearby Drakesville station and traverse from there to the lake. In 1882, after the Central Railroad of New Jersey built the Wharton and Northern Railroad to Charlotteburgh, there was added incentive to bring a station to the Lake Hopatcong area. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which took over the Morris and Essex tracks, established a stop in Landing in 1882. In 1910, service began by the Morris County Traction Company, an electric trolley railroad.{{cite news |title=Lake Hopatcong in Northern New Jersey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50025145/lake-hopatcong-station-june-26-1910/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Evening Star |date=June 26, 1910 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=77|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}

The Lackawanna Railroad announced on July 15, 1910, that a new station would be built at Lake Hopatcong, just east of the nearby county bridge.{{cite news |title=New Station at Lake Hopatcong |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42301298/lake-hopatcong-station-july-16-1910/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Paterson Morning Call |date=July 16, 1910 |page=11|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} The new station opened on May 28, 1911, a new all-concrete structure with two elevators and a complete walkway on the south side of the Morris Canal. Service on the Lackawanna Cut-Off, a new mainline just west at Port Morris, opened on December 24, 1911.{{cite news |title=Cut-Off to Reduce Train Schedule to New York Half Hour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48628458/johnsonburgblairstown-december-7-1911/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Binghamton Press |date=December 7, 1911 |page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}{{cite news |title=Lackawanna's Cut-Off Benefit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48628318/lackawanna-cut-off-december-29-1911/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 29, 1911 |page=2|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} The concrete overpass was demolished in 1982, after being condemned in 1978. The station depot on Landing Road continues to stand.

History

=1882 DL&W station=

File:Lake Hopatcong prior to 1911.jpg to the first DL&W station at Landing In the background is Landing Road Bridge.]]

The railroad tracks through Landing were first laid in 1854 by the Morris and Essex Railroad,{{cite web | url=http://landingnewjersey.com/history.htm | title=A HISTORY OF LANDING, MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY | publisher=LandingNewJersey.com | date=December 2002 | access-date=October 27, 2012 | author=Balston, Mottel}} which was extending its line from Newark westward to Hackettstown. The right-of-way parallelled the three-decade-old Morris Canal past Lake Hopatcong, the canal's leading source of water. At {{Convert|900|feet|meters}} above sea level, the station marked the railroad's highest elevation in New Jersey, which was also the highest point on the canal, which flowed downhill to the Delaware River to the west and the Hudson River to the east.{{cite web | url=http://history.gsmrrclub.org/history5a.html | title=Port Morris and Landing | publisher=The Garden State Model Railway Club | work=The Lackawanna Cutoff - Then & Now | date=June 28, 2005 | access-date=October 29, 2012 | author=Savino, Robert E.}} But Landing itself, one of several hamlets that arose to serve the canal's boat crews and mule teams,{{cite web | url=http://www.roxburynewjersey.com/canal.htm | title=The Morris Canal in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey | publisher=roxburynewjersey.com | access-date=October 26, 2012 | author=Balston, Mottel}} held no particular promise as a revenue stop, and so no station was built there for about 30 years.

That began to change in 1882, when the Central Railroad of New Jersey opened a station further up the lake and proved that there was money in direct passenger service to a promising vacation spot. Around 1886, the first station in Landing was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, a CNJ rival that had taken over the M&E in 1868.{{cite web | url=http://www.lakehopatcongnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=413:then-and-now-landing-train-station&catid=88:then-and-now&Itemid=529 | title=THEN AND NOW: LANDING TRAIN STATION | publisher=Lake Hopatcong News & Review | work=Lake Hopatcong: Then and Now | date=25 February 2010 | access-date=October 26, 2012 | author=Kane, Marty}} The small depot and platforms were sandwiched between the tracks and the canal, requiring most passengers to enter and depart via the steel, cable-stayed Landing Road Bridge.{{cite web|url=http://www.landingnewjersey.com/images/rr-early.jpg|title=Postcard of Lackawanna R.R. Station - Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey|year=c. 1895|work=Unknown photographer|publisher=Unknown|access-date=15 February 2010|location=Landing, New Jersey}} This arrangement, however, did allow passengers to move easily between trains and the steamboats that would take them to lakeshore destinations. A steamboat company, the Black Line, was founded that same year by "the same financial syndicate that owned the Lackawanna Railway and the Morris Canal."

The station also prompted one of several manmade reshapings of Lake Hopatcong. In 1891, when the new White Line steamboat company failed to secure the right to ply the canal, it dredged the swampy, non-navigable southern tip to create Landing Channel and erect a pier a block or so away from the tracks.{{cite book | title=Hopatcong: A Century of Memories | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | author=Kane, Martin | year=1999 | pages=36 | isbn=9780752412580 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pwsdMTrtx4UC&q=white+line+lake+hopatcong&pg=PA37}}

=1911 DL&W station=

File:Hopatcong station.jpg

By 1906 or so, several factors led the DL&W to plan a new station. First, the area's summer tourist trade was growing as visitors flocked to the lake. Second, the railroad was preparing to begin one of the most ambitious mainline construction projects in the world: the Lackawanna Cut-Off. This new, {{Convert|28|miles|km}} route through the hills of northern New Jersey, designed to slice an hour off journeys to Scranton and points west and north, would begin at Port Morris Junction, less than a mile to the west.

So in 1910, as work proceeded on the Cut-Off, the DL&W began building a new station at Landing.{{cite web | url=http://dlw-oldmain.tripod.com/hopatcong.html | title=Lake Hopatcong | publisher=Dave Rutan | work=DL&W Old Main | access-date=October 26, 2012 | author=Rutan, Dave}} The main building was of native rough stone with cement trimming and a green glazed tile roof. Its oak interior had a ticket office, waiting room and baggage room. Because this depot sat up a hill on Landing Road, perhaps {{Convert|20|feet|meters}} higher than the tracks, the station complex also included long stairs down to the Hoboken-bound platform and elevated walkways with large elevators to transport passengers and baggage.{{cite web | url=http://www.lakehopatcongnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1154:places-on-lake-hopatcong-part-4-the-train-station-at-landing&catid=79:history&Itemid=458 | title=PLACES ON LAKE HOPATCONG, PART 4: THE TRAIN STATION AT LANDING | publisher=Lake Hopatcong News & Reviews | access-date=October 26, 2012 | author=Kane, Marty}} The Morris County Traction Company trolley line took passengers onward to Bertrand Island.{{Cite web|title=Rehab of Former Lackawanna Station in Roxbury Wins Award|url=https://www.tapinto.net/towns/roxbury/sections/roxbury-roots-and-history/articles/rehab-of-former-lackawanna-station-in-roxbury-wins-award|access-date=2021-12-29|website=TAPinto|language=en}}

The station itself cost $28,500 (equal to ${{Inflation|US|28500|1911|fmt=c}} today) {{harvnb|Taber|Taber|1981}}{{page needed|date=May 2016}} and the railroad was said to have spent $75,000 (equal to ${{Inflation|US|75000|1911|fmt=c}} today) to build the accompanying structures. The new station opened on May 28, 1911,{{Cite web|url=http://lakehopatcongnews.com/c79-history/places-on-lake-hopatcong-part-4-the-train-station-at-landing/|title=Places on Lake Hopatcong, Part 4: The Train Station at Landing {{!}} Lake Hopatcong News|website=lakehopatcongnews.com|language=en-US|access-date=February 1, 2018|archive-date=February 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202012429/http://lakehopatcongnews.com/c79-history/places-on-lake-hopatcong-part-4-the-train-station-at-landing/|url-status=dead}} six months before the first trains rolled on the Cut-Off.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f7QhAAAAIBAJ&pg=5553,6008970&dq=lake+hopatcong+station&hl=en|title=Inspects Improvements Completed on D.L.&W|date=December 21, 1911|work=The Reading Eagle|page=27|access-date=15 February 2010}}

In 1912, the DL&W built a similar station at Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.

The elevated walkways rendered the old bridge completely redundant (its duties for vehicular traffic had already been assumed by a parallel bridge of stone built in 1907),{{cite journal|last=Inventory|first=National Bridge|year=2008|title=Structure Number: ++++++++1400073|publisher=United States Department of Transportation|location=Washington D.C.|volume=2008}}{{cite web|url=http://www.landingnewjersey.com/images/Land-viaduct.jpg|title=The Viaduct at Landing|year=1910|work=Unknown photographer|publisher=Unknown|access-date=15 February 2010|location=Landing, New Jersey}} and it was eventually demolished.{{cite web|url=http://dlw-oldmain.tripod.com/Images/Lake_Hopatcong/dlwrr-stn-landing1911-rlr.jpg|title=The New Lake Hopatcong Station|year=1911|work=Unknown photographer|publisher=Unknown|access-date=15 February 2010|location=Landing, New Jersey}}

In the 1920s, the DL&W's station became the preeminent rail link to Lake Hopatcong, surpassing the CNJ's station at Nolan's Point. But change was afoot: In 1924, the canal was closed, its cargo business long since gone to railroads, and the steamboat dock removed. Within five years, much of the canal was filled with new structures.

During its operation by the DL&W and its successor, the Erie Lackawanna, the Lake Hopatcong station provided transfers between trains using the Cut-Off and those headed to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and Portland, Pennsylvania, via the Old Main line. In 1960, the DL&W merged with the Erie Railroad and the Lake Hopatcong station and tracks passed to the new Erie Lackawanna.

In 1976, the station and tracks passed to Conrail, which soon sold off the stone depot.{{cite book|last=Yanosey|first=Robert J.|title=Lackawanna Railroad Facilities (In Color)|publisher=Morning Sun Books Inc.|location=Scotch Plains, New Jersey|year=2007|volume=2: Dover to Scranton}} The overpass was declared unsafe in 1978, the station was declared a safety hazard by Morris County. Plans were made to demolished the aging overhead structure, which would involve new platforms being constructed.{{cite news|last1=Mitkowski|first1=Michelle|title='Ugly' Train Station to be Restored|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14032804/lake_hopatcong_station_shape_april_18/|access-date=October 21, 2017|work=The Daily Record|date=April 18, 1972|page=31|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} The demolition of the structure began in May 1982.{{cite news|title=Rail Station Work Begins with Crash|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14213076/lake_hopatcong_station_demolition_may/|access-date=October 21, 2017|work=The Daily Record|date=May 16, 1982|page=21|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}

==Post-railroad use of the 1911 depot==

The stone station building, whose address became 125 Landing Road, served as a real estate office and a hardware store. Next, it was purchased by an interior design business whose proprietors restored the marble floor and other original features. In 2012, the building was occupied by a role-playing games store.

On November 6, 2014, the building was purchased by the Lake Hopatcong Foundation,{{Cite web|title=Lake Hopatcong Foundation {{!}} Lake Hopatcong Foundation|url=https://www.lakehopatcongfoundation.org/|access-date=2021-12-29|website=www.lakehopatcongfoundation.org|language=en}} which aimed to use part of the structure as office and meeting space, and open the rest to the public as an environmental and cultural center.{{cite web | url=http://www.lakehopatcongfoundation.org/about/lake-hopatcong-train-station-building/ | title=Lake Hopatcong Foundation Purchases Lake Hopatcong Train Station | publisher=Lake Hopatcong Foundation | date=November 7, 2014 | access-date=November 17, 2014 | archive-date=November 13, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113125851/http://www.lakehopatcongfoundation.org/about/lake-hopatcong-train-station-building/ | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014/11/foundation_purchases_historic_lake_hopatcong_train_station.html | title=Lake Hopatcong train station will be restored, become non-profit's HQ (historic photos) | publisher=NJ Advance Media for NJ.com | date=November 17, 2014 | access-date=November 18, 2014 | author=Redmond, Kimberly}}

In 2016, the foundation commissioned a new roof of glazed clay tiles from Ludowici Roof Tile, the New Lexington, Ohio, company that supplied the building's original tiles in 1911. The preparation for the new roof revealed deterioration in the structure's stone parapets. A grant from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust funded the $215,000 job.{{cite web | url=https://www.tapinto.net/towns/roxbury/articles/tile-plant-snafu-delays-clay-roof-at-historic-rox | title=Tile Plant Snafu Delays Clay Roof at Historic Roxbury Station | publisher=TapInto | work=TapIntoRoxbury | date=October 23, 2016 | access-date=October 27, 2016 | author=Aun, Fred}} That year, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and New Jersey's similar state register.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=16000177}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Morris Canal Historic District (Boundary Increase); (a.k.a. the Lake Hopatcong Train Station)|publisher=National Park Service |first1=Margaret M. |last1=Hickey |first2=Beth A. |last2=Bjorklund |date=January 2016 }} With accompanying 18 photos

By 2021, the foundation's effort to restore and preserve the building had received a total of $1,129,143 from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund and two grants, or $150,000 and $254,879, from the New Jersey Historic Trust. That year, the foundation's work on the building was recognized in 2021 with an award from Preservation New Jersey, a non-profit historic preservation organization.

Station layout

Today, the New Jersey Transit station consists of little more than two low-level asphalt side platforms, a small shelter on the westbound side, and a parking lot.{{cite web | url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadgeek/sets/72157623000422741/ | title=Lake Hopatcong (New Jersey Transit station) | publisher=Roadgeek Adam via Flickr | work=Collections > The Railroads > Fallen Flag Railroads > Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad · The Railroads > New Jersey Transit stations | date=January 2 – September 28, 2010 | access-date=October 27, 2012 | author=Adam Moss}} A shelter on the eastbound platform was demolished sometime after 2005.

Future service

Since 2008, New Jersey Transit has relaid tracks and undertaken other preparations to restore service to a {{convert|7.3|mi|adj=on}} segment of the Lackawanna Cut-Off route between Port Morris Junction and a planned station at Andover in Sussex County. It plans to launch service on the segment in 2025.{{cite news |url=http://www.njherald.com/article/20151207/ARTICLE/312079987 |title=Andover train station delayed again |newspaper=New Jersey Herald |date=December 7, 2015}} A further extension to Scranton has also been proposed.{{cite web|url=http://www.nj-arp.org/annrpt_08.pdf |title=2007-2008 Annual Report |publisher=New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers |year=2008 |access-date=May 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101042828/http://www.nj-arp.org/annrpt_08.pdf |archive-date=January 1, 2011 }} Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has proposed extending service to Binghamton, New York.{{cite web |title=Poconos train to New York City is on track |work=The Morning Call |last1=Birkbeck |first1=Matt |last2=Kraus |first2=Scott |date=June 9, 2009 |url=https://www.mcall.com/2009/06/09/poconos-train-to-new-york-city-is-on-track-epa-approval-allows-officials-to-enter-funding-phase-for-construction-and-engineering/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730061027/http://articles.mcall.com/2009-06-09/news/4387213_1_rail-line-rail-stations-new-york-s-penn-station |archive-date=July 30, 2014}}

Notes

References

{{Taber-DLW-20th-2}}

External links

[https://books.google.com/books?id=1odavP8nKhYC&dq=rail+station+%22landing%22+%22new+jersey%22+-mays&pg=PA59 Photo, ca. 1905, of the rail station and canal]
[http://dlw-oldmain.tripod.com/Maps/LakeHopatcong/station-site.jpg Map of the station area, ca. 1925-1942]
[http://el-list.railfan.net/archives/lkhopat.jpg Erie-Lackawanna Railfan Site]
[https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.904703,-74.665898&spn=0.003835,0.013679&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.904703,-74.665898&panoid=BVq1aqOmqy5NLdn92zKl1A&cbp=12,156.12,,0,5.49 Station from Landing Road from Google Maps Street View]

Category:Railway stations in Morris County, New Jersey

Category:NJ Transit Rail Operations stations

Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1882

Category:Roxbury, New Jersey

Category:Former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad stations

Category:Lackawanna Cut-Off

Category:1882 establishments in New Jersey

Category:Historic district contributing properties in Morris County, New Jersey

Category:New Jersey Register of Historic Places