Bay Head is a railway station in Bay Head, in

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the state's largest county. Its co ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

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. The station is served by trains on

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. I ...

North Jersey Coast Line The North Jersey Coast Line is a Commuter rail in North America, commuter rail line running from Rahway, New Jersey, Rahway to Bay Head, New Jersey, traversing through the Jersey Shore region. Operated by New Jersey Transit, the line is electr ...

, and it is the southern terminus for the line. The rail yard contains of

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inside the loop formed by the tracks used to turn around the trains. 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. CNJ Bay Head 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. In May 2011, ticket vending machines were installed next to the station building at Bay Head.

History

1946 trestle fire

On the morning of December 1, 1946, a fire destroyed the Pennsylvania Railroad's trestle across Barnegat Bay in Seaside Park. The section of the wooden 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 section and warped much of the rails on the trestle. 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. 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.

Station layout

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.

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{{NJT stations navbox NJ Transit Rail Operations stations Railway stations in Ocean County, New Jersey Stations on the North Jersey Coast Line Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations Former New York and Long Branch Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1882 1882 establishments in New Jersey