The restored WB Tower in Waldwick, New Jersey.
Akron Railroad Club blog reader Jack Norris wrote from his home in New Jersey that because many of us here in Ohio are interested in the history of the Erie and Erie Lackawanna railroads that we might be interested in some news from the old New York Division.
In Waldwick, New Jersey (milepost 23.2) on four-track old Erie Mainline is the home of the famous Waldwick “S” curve (a.k.a. Collin’s Curve) and sits WC Tower.
The Victorian style wooden tower controlled the interlocking as well as the entrance to Waldwick Yard, a layover yard for intermediate distance commuter trains.
The tower was manned until 1986 when New Jersey Transit closed it. The tower then languished for several years and was in danger of being torn down.
The community of Waldwick wanted to save their tower as well as the matching Victorian station.
The restoration process was successful and both structures are now property of the Waldwick Historical Society.
WC Tower has been restored and is open infrequently for guests to visit. The building has displays on both the lower level and the operator’s level.
Although the interlocking machine and model board are not in the building at the present time, both still exist and may, in fact, be reinstalled one day, depending on public interest and funding. The Waldwick Station will open this Sunday (May 22, 2016) as a town history museum.
By the way, if you know where to look you can still find seven EL manhole covers still doing their intended job even though their railroad is long gone.
I am sending along some photographs of WC Tower and the restored station.
About 100 commuter trains a day pass through Waldwick on a weekday as well as a couple local freights. One road freight passes through nocturnally five nights a week. I am also attaching the websites for both structures.
For more information, visit
and https://www.facebook.com/WaldwickCommunityAlliance/
The Erie station in Waldwick before its restoration.
The restored Erie Railroad passenger station in Waldwick, New Jersey, as seen in December 2014.
An Erie Lackawanna manhole cover.
The next three photographs show the various exhibits of Erie and EL artifacts.
New Jersey Transit has an extensive network of commuter rail routes in its namesake state.
The current NJT locomotive livery.
NJT trains come with a variety of motive power.
A Metro North locomotive pulls a commuter train.
WC Tower before its restoration.
Another view of WC Tower.
Tags: EL's WC Tower, Erie Lackawanna, Erie Lackawanna in New Jersey, Erie Railroad, Erie Railroad in New Jersey, New Jersey Transit, New Jersey Transit motive power, Waldwick New Jersey
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 
December 22, 2018 at 10:26 pm |
Greetings, I’m a writer for a N scale Model Railroading magazine located on the west coast. I am working on a new project for the magazine that will model the main line that travels through Waldwick and other towns. I tentatively plan on traveling to Waldwick in the summer of next year to get information and pictures of the station and tower along with any map details. Do you have a contact that I can use to get more information about the tower and history of the area?