It was once on a main line, but in recent years it served other purposes.
As fire tore through a warehouse early Tuesday morning, part of White Township's history was engulfed, too.
The Bridgeville train station, which once was on a main line that led to Hoboken and then a ferry into New York City in one direction and Chicago in the other, in recent years had a variety of non-railroad uses, Knowlton Township resident and railroad enthusiast Chuck Walsh said.
The latest was as the middle section of a warehouse, three-quarters of which was destroyed in the blaze, Mountain Lake fire Chief Frank Jalsoky said.
A New Jersey state fire marshal and the New Jersey State Police Arson and Bomb Unit are investigating the cause of the nighttime fire at 587 Route 519.
The front part of the storage building had apparent auction items, and the rear, which wasn't as badly damaged, held vehicles, Jalsoky said. The train station portion, some of its doorways sealed by cinder blocks which had to be knocked aside, had chairs and books inside, which caused difficultly in getting the fire fully out, he said.
It took from 1:15 a.m. until about 8 a.m. for most of the work to be done, Jalsoky said. But fire crews returned in the afternoon to battle hot spots, he added.
Roaring fire destroys N.J. warehouse
At the height of the blaze, firefighters focused on protecting the adjacent Bridgeville Depot, and, outside of some exterior damage, were successful, Jalsoky said.
Fire and tanker teams from across Warren County assisted in the effort, Jalsoky said.
"A big thank you to all the people who came out and helped out," Jalsoky said. "It was a big fire and we needed the help, that's for sure."
Jalsoky said the property's owner may try to save the station.
An early view of the Bridgeville train station in White Township shows a raised wooden platform and no dormer. (Photo courtesy | Tri-State Railway Historical Society Inc. and the William T. Greenberg Collection) That would be a wonderful thing, Walsh said, considering the building with fieldstone walls that went up in 1855 is the last remaining station from the Warren Railroad and only one of four still in existence from the ensuing Lackawanna Old Road.
Stations now on freight lines in Portland and Mansfield Township still exist due to "a combination of good luck and because there are historic preservation groups that care for the stations," Walsh said. Netcong, which never gave up passenger service on the Old Road, is now an NJ Transit station, he said.
Up until 1911, the Bridgeville station was part of a main route from Pennsylvania to the eastern edge of New Jersey, Walsh said. It was one of two stations in the township, Walsh said, the other being in Buttzville.
It eventually became a secondary line and it's unlikely all passing passenger trains actually stopped there, Walsh said. A planned merger between the Lackawanna and Central Railroad of New Jersey fell through and suddenly the station in Bridgeville was in the wrong place, Walsh said.
A tunnel may have played a role in the local line being downgraded, Walsh said.
"There was also a tunnel on the line at Oxford that originally carried two tracks, but proved too narrow for the bigger train cars and the tracks were overlapped (gauntlet tracks) through that tunnel in 1901, which caused delays and eventually forced the Lackawanna Railroad to build the Lackawanna Cutoff, which opened in 1911," Walsh said.
The Lackawanna Cutoff up through Blairstown replaced the Old Road, Walsh said.
"There never was a whole lot of population to support passenger service," to and from White Township, Walsh said.
Duane Sweet, 83, of the White Township Historical Society, remembers his aunts arriving at the station in the early 1940s from New York.
A May 1940 view of the Bridgeville train station in White Township shows a concrete platform and a dormer have been added. (Photo courtesy | Tri-State Historical Society Inc. and Dick Loane) "It was a very active station," he said. "There were trains in and out all the time."
One of them was known as the Milk Train, he said. And there was an ice house, with ice brought in from the local lakes and stored in train cars.
There was a double tunnel at Manunka Chunk in the Columbia section of Knowlton, he said.
"It was a regular train stop," he said of Bridgeville. "... In the war years it was quite active."
But then things changed, he said.
"Like most of the trains, right after the war, trucking took over," he said, adding that the telegrapher's window survived in the station into the 21st century. "It's a sad thing to lose a railroad. ... It was quite a place."
The last station agent left in 1943, and while the line still carried freight for a few decades, after a washout in the early 1970s the tracks were taken up from Washington to Knowlton Township, Walsh said.
As time passed, the station was used for several things, including a plumbing supply business, Walsh said.
But the 59-year-old Knowton resident, who has followed trains since growing up near the tracks in South Orange, New Jersey, would love to see the building return. Not to a railroad life, but maybe as a restaurant, as has worked in Bethlehem, Lambertville and East Stroudsburg, he said.
"There are other numerous examples, Mountain Lakes, Scranton, where the building has taken on a new life as something else where people can appreciate" the original function, he said.
As head of the North Jersey Rail Commuters Association, Walsh is focusing on the return of the Lackawanna Cutoff and advocates for "the preservation of railroads and the extension of rail service whenever possible," he said. That's difficult in these days of great competition for public dollars, he said.
The station in White Township is in private hands, so it's up to its owner -- listed in paperwork as Bridgeville Warehouse LLC -- to decide whether to bring it back, Walsh said. It's on Route 519 and near Route 46, so its location could be good for something involving the public, he figured.
But when a train station falls out of use, it quickly decays, making it susceptible to fires and other disasters, he said.
"It didn't give you a feel of a station," he said of the Bridgeville building in its warehouse form. "I don't know if the average person would make a connection. The railroad right of way is still there.
"I think that's a common issue. When railroads disappear and are gone long enough, the public memory of them slowly dissipates."
The decimated station now is a "historical footnote at this point," he said.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.