Woodbury, New Jersey
Woodbury is the county seat of Gloucester County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the South Jersey region of the state.station house was built in 1883 in the Stick style. A new station is proposed for Glassboro–Camden Line on what has become the
Vineland Secondary
The Vineland Secondary is a rail line owned, operated and maintained by Conrail Shared Assets Operations for the use of CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. It begins at Pavonia Yard in Camden and heads south, with a spur serving the P ...
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
.
History
The station stop was part of planned
Camden and Woodbury Railroad
The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 it ...
, which began in 1837–1838 but ran irregularly and was later abandoned. The
West Jersey Railroad
The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 i ...
(WJ) was granted its charter by the state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
on February 5, 1853, to build a line from Camden to
Cape May
Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The so ...
. and the directors of the company met on July 15, 1853, to select the route on which they would build. The line was built in stages with the backing of the
Camden and Amboy
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...
from Camden to
Glassboro
Glassboro is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 18,579, ...
. The first of the line using the abandoned Camden and Woodbury right-of-way opened on April 15, 1857.
Service was later expanded along the Penns Grove Branch and the Salem Branch, which converge just south of the station at Woodbury Junction. Through mergers and acquisitions the line became part of the
West Jersey and Seashore Railroad
The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 i ...
and then
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines
The Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was a railroad that operated in South Jersey in the 20th century. It was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation venture between two competing railroads in the region: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Rea ...
. The line was electrified between 1906 and 1949. The power house north of the station was the last remnant of the electrified rail and was later demolished by Conrail. It later became diesel service.
Passenger service to Salem and Penns Grove ended in 1950.
The remaining passenger service through Woodbury ended on February 5, 1971. The station house, was built in 1883 in the Stick style, has since become a restaurant.
Future
Woodbury is a planned station of the proposed Glassboro–Camden Linelight rail system, to be located along the Vineland Secondary right-of way. The station design includes a platform station and
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...
. It would be a component of a potential Woodbury Transit Hub, part of
transit-oriented development
In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...