Ken: They put the station there because that's where the railroad was -- and the railroad was there to maintain elevation. The Boonton line was engineered to be downgrade eastward from Denville to Seacaucus to facilitate the moving of coal to tidewater. At Paterson, topography dictated a routing along the side of the mountain. The station was a big'un, alright, especially for a stop that served basically commuters -- and the Erie and NYS&W probably got most of them. Parking? When it was built, there was no need: streecars and carriages were the access, followed by "kiss'n'ride" drop-offs. Perhaps some Paterson-area lister could do some research and an article for the DIAMOND? Randy Brown, NH - -------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier in this or a related discussion, someone mentioned the Lackawanna's Paterson station on the Boonton Line. I visited it once, close to the time when service was rerouted over the Erie Main Line, and, of course, it was closed. But it was magnificent, although with not much parking. Considering that this was quite a distance from downtown, which was the place where one would expect to put a station, does anyone know (or have a good conjecture) as to why the Lackawanna missed downtown Paterson with its rail line and put a fairly elaborate station out towards what must have been the far edges of town when it was constructed? Ken Bush The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
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