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(rshsdepot) Bound Brook, NJ
From the Courier News.
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Repairs to begin at Bound Brook station
MICHAEL DEAK
STAFF WRITER
The fortune of this borough always has been dependent on railroads.
In the 19th century, three major railroads — the Central Railroad of New
Jersey, the Reading Railroad and the Lehigh Valley Railroad — came to the town,
which became the flourishing industrial hub of Somerset County.
The passenger station on East Main Street served both the Central and
Reading railroads, and people could board a train to either New York or
Philadelphia.
But as the nation's commerce switched from the railroads to the interstate
highways in the 1950s and 1960s, the fortunes of the three railroads began to
fail and all declared bankruptcy. Passenger service stopped on the Reading,
while trains on the Central still go to Newark with a transfer to New York.
As the railroads suffered, so did the main train station and the platform on
the eastbound tracks of the Central Railroad, which also served the Reading
line.
Officials see the railroads as a key component of Bound Brook's future with
its designation as a transit village and the state still studying the
reactivation of passenger service on the Reading tracks, which connects with
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority service in West Trenton.
The main station, now owned by the borough, became a restaurant in the
mid-1980s, but the eastbound platform has fallen into a state of disrepair, its
historic architectural features camouflaged by grafitti.
But that's all about to change.
Using both grant money and funds left over from other capital projects, the
borough council has voted to go ahead with the restoration of the eastbound
platform. Both the eastbound platform and the main station were placed on the
state and federal Registers of Historic Places in 1984.
In 2005, Bound Brook received a $500,000 grant from the state Department of
Transportation for the project, said Council President Jim Lefkowitz.
The borough hired Dennis Kowal Associates, an architectural firm, to draw up
plans and specifications for the project.
The project then went out to bid in fall 2007, after several public hearings
and protracted meetings between the borough and state Transportation
Department officials.
But the project was derailed as the bids came in about $150,000 above grant
funding, Lefkowitz said.
The borough then worked with the architectural firm to cut costs and, at its
May 27 meeting, the council voted to use the money left over from other
projects to make up the difference.
"It was time we put our money where our mouths were," Lefkowitz said.
The $625,000 restoration will be in two phases, Lefkowitz said.
The first phase will concentrate on the interior of the structure and will
include a new electrical system, lighting, ceiling fans, heating and a new
public address system. The brick building will have new insulation, wall
coverings, ceramic tiles, painting and windows.
The second phase will focus on the renovation of the existing canopy, a new
fence and new exterior lighting.
Lefkowitz said the work is expected to begin in August with a completion
date in early 2009.
Michael Deak can be reached at (908) 707-3134 or _mdeak_@_mycentraljersey.com_
(mailto:mdeak_@_mycentraljersey.com) .
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1739
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org