Avenel is an active commuter railroad station in the Avenel section of Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Servicing trains of NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line, the station serves trains going to Long Branch and Bay Head to New York Penn Station. Avenel station serves as the first (going south) and last (going north) stop of standalone North Jersey Coast Line service, with the line merging into the Northeast Corridor Line at Union Tower in Rahway. The next station to the south is Woodbridge while the next station north is Rahway. Avenel station consists of two high-level side platforms that cross over Avenel Street (County Route 650).
The first train operated through modern-day Avenel on October 11, 1864 with the opening of the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad, but did not stop in the area. Railroad service was established with the announcement of new realty plots in the area up for auction on June 2. The station depot burned in a fire and was replaced by a two-story stone building. This station stood until the construction of a new bridge over Avenel Street to eliminate a grade crossing in 1937. Lack of maintenance resulted in dropped ridership in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, resulting in the proposed closure by NJ Transit in 1992. Efforts by local politicians and riders resulted in Avenel station remaining open. NJ Transit replaced the decrepit structures in 1998 as part of the agreement to keep the station open.
History Early history (1864–1896) Railroad service through Woodbridge Township began with the opening of the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad, a spur of the New Jersey Railroad from Rahway to Perth Amboy. Construction on the railroad began on July 1, 1858 and was finished in October 1864. The branch opened on October 11 with a steam car and trailer operating service every half-hour between the two eponymous destinations.
The section of Woodbridge Township in modern-day Avenel was known as Demarest on the Hill after the daughter of a local developer, Captain Demarest. In 1867, he proposed a railroad station along the branch named "Avanel" after his daughter. In May 1869, it was announced that 150 plots for new construction were to be auctioned in the area now known as Avenel. They advertised that the plots were available on higher elevation that showed Staten Island and the Watchung Mountains. The Demarest family offered that 10 percent of every sale would go towards the construction of a new railroad station depot and for general maintenance and improvement of the area. They offered the auction on June 2, 1869 and that a train from New York City would be made for interested buyers. Each property would be and new roads in the Avenel Association would be wide with the exception of Rahway Avenue, which would be .
The first station depot at Avenel was a wooden frame two-story building with a shingle roof. There was also a small watch house next to the tracks. This building burned down and was replaced by a new station depot. The railroad built a Victorian-style station depot as a replacement for the original building. Also a two-story building, the brick depot also had an apartment on the second floor to serve the station agent and their family. The station also doubled as the Avenel post office.
Robbery plot (1924) Police of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Woodbridge Township were waiting at a siding next to Avenel station on May 13, 1924 with the expectation that a group of thieves were going to rob railroad facilities in the area. Operating on a tip, ten officers from the railroad and five officers from the township set up a trap for the trio of attempted lawbreakers: John Francis Hull of Teaneck, Stephen Zampelli of Jersey City operating under an alias of George Rizzo of Newark and Walter Duffy of Union Hill. Hull, who served as a freight yard conductor, changed the direction of a single box car intended for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to head for a siding at Avenel. The car arrived before the thieves and the police were watching the car. After midnight on May 13, a vehicle was spotted looking at the siding and drove away. Figuring it was safe, a truck appeared at the freight car. Around 4:00 a.m., the thieves began raiding the contents of the box car. Railroad police agreed that they wanted to arrest the trio without any gunshots being fired.
After removing several boxes, the police moved in and demanded they raise their hands. The robbers then drew all of their guns and began firing at the police. Officers returned fire and downed two of the thieves with their bullets. Duffy ended up with nine bullets from the police in his body. Hull suffered a chest wound that entered and exited his body. No officers were hurt during the gun battle, but the two other thieves ran away in the car who had been there the first time. Zampelli was arrested and taken to be arraigned alongside Hull in New Brunswck. Duffy was sent to Rahway Hospital for his injuries.
The trial occurred in New Brunswick on October 8 for the three thieves captured by the police. The officers noted that the thieves had stolen $2,176 of freight from the boxcar, including dolls, revolvers, leather, cigars, notions, dusters, sunglasses and corsets on the back of the truck. The defense of the thieves was that the railroad was framing the three men for the theft and that it was staged. Inspector Andrew Coakley, who was the captain of the railroad police's detectives stated that he got a telephone call on the morning of May 12 about a break-in at a box car in Avenel. The defense attorney questioned Coakley about staging it to prove robberies of box cars in the area. Lieutenant Alexander MacNeil was also grilled about the concept of a frame job, stating that he received a call the night before that a car was going to head to Avenel's siding from Exchange Place. MacNeil added that he saw the car left at Avenel station's siding. He went to the door and checked the bill of sale on the freight door. MacNeil then called his men to watch the boxcar. The defense attorney, George Cutley, asked if they had arranged the robbery with the owner of the truck. The conductor of the freight train, Bill Carson, stated that the seals of the box car's lock were in perfect shape at Exchange Place and at Avenel. Zampelli stated under oath that he was getting money to help on a truck doing "rum running" in the area of Newark and that he was found in the box car after the shooting, rather than being one of the shooters. Hull stated that he was there to purchase a house. However, the prosecutor noted that Hull had modified the bill on the freight car from Philadelphia to Avenel. The jury was out 20 minutes that evening and returned with a guilty verdict.
Grade crossing elimination (1934–1937) As part of a municipal desire to eliminate grade crossings in the township, Woodbridge officials petitioned the Board of Public Utility Commissioners to pressure the Pennsylvania Railroad into action in 1934. Woodbridge Township requested the elimination of six crossings, four in downtown Woodbridge and two in Avenel. The death of a student at New Jersey College for Women in New Brunswick while at home with her parents at a grade crossing stimulated local outrage and demands from both the township and the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders. On September 28, 1934, the Board announced that the railroad would have to begin construction of the four downtown crossings after December 1. The two Avenel crossings (Avenel Street and Leesville Avenue) would be pushed back while the railroad discussed alternate plans with the municipality.
Less than year later, the demand for the elimination of the two Avenel crossings returned along with a second trip to the Board of Public Utilities Commission. The Board announced that they have approved a petition from Woodbridge Township and Middlesex County on July 26, 1935. The Leesville Avenue and Avenel Streets would both involve new roadways. While Leesville Avenue would be done in macadam, the new alignment of Avenel Street would be done in concrete. Both streets would be depressed under the railroad tracks at a combined $303,000 (1935 USD): $193,000 for the work at Avenel Street and $110,000 for the land at Leesville Avenue. At Avenel Street, the new depression would be located directly north of the active grade crossing in order to prevent issues with the daily life and business of those on the street. The Board announced that work had to begin by November 1, 1935 and would be split equally in cost between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the state of New Jersey. They added that the project needed to be finished within six months of the November 1, 1935 order.
On September 5, 1935, Governor Harold G. Hoffman requested that the Board of Public Utility Commissioners begin to speed up work on eliminating grade crossings in New Jersey, with preference to the ones the Board had already ordered the removal of. This included numerous crossings within several parts of Woodbridge Township: Avenel, Iselin, Colonia and downtown Woodbridge. Woodbridge Township officials went to Washington D.C. the same day to request funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to begin construction. The Pennsylvania Railroad had asked for $881,500 in a federal grant request, of which $450,000 would go into the downtown crossings. The WPA stated that they had rejected the application because the majority of the money requested was for land acquisition and materials and not for labor. Woodbridge officials, a newspaper reporter, along with the secretary for Senator W. Warren Barbour pushed the federal government to reconsider their decision. Woodbridge officials noted that the original proposal to the Public Works Administration (PWA) included right-of-way costs and that they would be willing to adjust the demands. The WPA added that they would have to re-apply by September 12 for reconsideration.
Governor Hoffman announced after a meeting with officials of multiple railroads, the Board of Public Utility Commissioners and the New Jersey State Highway Department that the Board demand the beginning of ordered projects. This would include the ten previously approved crossings (including those in Woodbridge) and two new crossings. Governor Hoffman stated that $12 million would be done for the project, in which the state would offer $4.25 million, the federal government would offer $6.25 million in grants and the railroad companies would be at cost for the last $1.5 million. The federal money would come from the Bureau of Public Roads for state highway grade crossings while the other crossings that would involve local or county roads would require their land costs be split by the state and the railroad. The PWA would also provide 45 percent of costs for the materials and labor of the eliminations. The cost for the twelve crossings would total $3.231 million. Hoffman added that he would be willing to study the cost share for each of the previously approved crossings.
In July 1936, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration in Washington D.C. announced that they would open more money to the PWA in order to fund multiple projects. For projects in Middlesex County, it included the construction of a sewage plant in Sayreville and the elimination of two of the grade crossings in Woodbridge Township. The grade crossing at Oak Tree Road in Iselin would get $113,535 for its depression under the Pennsylvania Railroad main line while the Avenel Street crossing on the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Branch would get $98,100 towards the now $218,000 project. Barbour, fellow Senator A. Harry Moore and Representative William H. Sutphin announced the municipalities the approval of their funding. Woodbridge officials, ecstatic that the Avenel and Oak Tree crossings were approved, stated that they would renew their efforts for funding on the remaining crossings.