Glassboro station
Glassboro is an inactive train station in Glassboro, New Jersey which served passengers from 1863–1971. Its station house was restored. It is located at the edge of the Rowan University campus. Listed as the West Jersey Rail Road Glassboro Depot, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 2020, for its significance in architecture and transportation.
A new station named Glassboro would be the southern terminus of the Glassboro–Camden Line, a light rail line thru Camden and Gloucester counties.
History
The West Jersey Railroad was granted its charter by the state on February 5, 1853, to build a line from Camden to Cape May. The line was built with the backing of the Camden and Amboy Railroad from Camden to Glassboro, with the first of the line using the abandoned ROW built by the Camden and Woodbury Railroad to Woodbury.The Millville and Glassboro Railroad was built by a group of Millville businessmen independently of the West Jersey Railroad. Chartered on March 9, 1859, and incorporated in March 1859, the M&G was completed and opened in October 1860.
In 1896 the Pennsylvania Railroad consolidated all its railroads and several smaller properties in southern New Jersey into the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad. In 1932, the PRR and Reading Company merged their southern New Jersey railroad lines into one company, the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. The line was electrified between 1906–1949. In 1968 New York Central Railroad was merged into the PRR becoming Penn Central, which was bankrupt by 1970. The last passenger train ran in 1971.
The line came under the auspices of Conrail. Following the purchase and division of Conrail it was designated part of the South Jersey/Philadelphia Shared Assets Area. Known as the Vineland Secondary it is owned, operated and maintained by Conrail for the exclusive benefit of CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. The Vineland Secondary begins at Pavonia Yard in Camden and heads south. It has a spur serving the Port of Camden. It continues another to Millville.