Millburn station

NJ Transit rail station

40°43′32.4″N 74°18′13.3″W / 40.725667°N 74.303694°W / 40.725667; -74.303694

Millburn

Dover-bound train stopping at Millburn in 2008

General information

Location

35 Essex Street (CR 527), Millburn, New Jersey

Owned by

New Jersey Transit

Platforms

2 side platforms

Tracks

Connections

NJT Bus: 70

Other information

Fare zone

History

Opened

September 17, 1837 (preliminary trip)^[1]
September 28, 1837 (regular service)^[2]^[3]

Rebuilt

November 1986^[4]–1987

Electrified

December 18, 1930^[5]

Key dates

November–December 1986

Station depot razed^[6]

Passengers

2017

1,837 (average weekday)^[7]^[8]

Services

Preceding station	NJ Transit			Following station
Short Hills toward Gladstone		Gladstone Branch weekdays		Maplewood toward New York or Hoboken
Short Hills toward Hackettstown		Morristown Line		Maplewood toward New York or Hoboken

Former services

Preceding station	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad			Following station
Short Hills toward Buffalo		Main Line		Maplewood toward Hoboken

Millburn is a New Jersey Transit station in Millburn, New Jersey along the Morristown and Gladstone lines.

History

The Millburn station predates the town's formal incorporation and in fact dates back to 1837. It was one of the original stations served by the original Morris and Essex Railroad.

In 1837, the first steam locomotive to run along the M&E line made its trial run to Millburn (called "Millville" in that year). Unhappily, that particular excursion ended in tragedy as the train, in push mode for the return trip, derailed near Newark Broad Street Station, with two fatalities.

However, rail service eastward to Newark, and westward to Dover, proved a boon to the town—so much so that local historians credit the railroad as the chief impetus for Millburn's incorporation as a separate municipality in 1857.^[9]

Station layout and facility

The Millburn station, built in 1906-07, is located at the intersection of Essex Street and Lackawanna Place near the southern entrance of South Mountain Reservation.

The station consists of two ground-level platforms and a single building on the eastbound (toward Hoboken and New York Penn Station) side. This building houses a waiting area and a ticket office, which is normally open on weekday mornings only. There are also ticket vending machines installed.

These platforms are low-level side platforms. Passengers boarding or debarking at this station must use the stairs on each car. Millburn station is not considered handicap-accessible.

The eastbound and westbound (toward Gladstone and Hackettstown) platforms are accessible from two concrete stairwells that rise from Lackawanna Place, next to the metal trestle that carries the tracks over Lackawanna Place. Passengers can also cross from one platform to another through a tunnel near the ticket office.

Parking is available in a large parking lot on the westbound side and in a lot adjacent to the parking lot of the Millburn Free Public Library on the far side of Lackawanna Place.

Nearby businesses, facilities, and attractions

The Millburn Professional Building stands on the westbound platform, directly opposite the station building. This was probably one of the original station buildings but does not today house any New Jersey Transit offices. Another major office building stands directly west of the station building, nearer the Lackawanna Place trestle.

The Millburn Free Public Library is located across Lackawanna Place, and the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad is located on Glen Avenue on the north side of the station parking lot.

The station is also located near a thriving shopping and financial district. The Paper Mill Playhouse is within walking distance (0.4 miles). Several restaurants, offering a wide variety of cuisines, are located across Essex Street from the station.

Bibliography

Douglass, A.M. (1912). The Railroad Trainman, Volume 29. Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
Walker, Herbert T. (1902). "Early History of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and its Locomotives - Part 2: The Morris and Essex Railroad". Railroad Gazette. 34. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

References

^ "Morris and Essex is Seventy-Nine Years Old". The Madison Eagle. June 16, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved April 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Walker 1902, p. 409.
^ Douglass 1912, p. 339.
^ "Plan Board Gives Final OK to Station Project". The Item of Millburn and Short Hills. Millburn, New Jersey. November 13, 1986. p. 1. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Lackawanna Electric Train Gets Ovations". The Paterson Morning Call. December 19, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Down and Out". The Item of Millburn and Short Hills. Millburn, New Jersey. December 5, 1986. p. 1. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "QUARTERLY RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANALYSIS" (PDF). New Jersey Transit. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
^ "How Many Riders Use NJ Transit's Hoboken Train Station?". Hoboken Patch. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
^ Meisner, Marian. A History of Millburn Township. Millburn, NJ: Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society and Millburn Free Public Library, 2002 (e-book).