Magnolia Station

Magnolia was part of the Atlantic City Railroad in its final years, after a line that had carried hundreds of passengers weekly at express speeds to seashore destinations and on frequent local trips to Philadelphia and Camden. A smaller passenger shelter was built beside the old station in 1941, and the larger station was torn down in 1943. Automobile and truck travel over the Delaware River Bridge after 1926, along with rail service across the bridge to Philadelphia and Camden that later became the Patco Speedline, reduced the need for ferry connections from Camden. In 1933 the consolidated train lines became the Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines, though the Atlantic City Railroad technically lasted until April 1976 through the controlling interest of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1954 one set of Magnolia's tracks was removed, leaving a single line, and the hand-operated gates were later torn down, leaving only crossing lights and bells. Corning opened a fiberglass factory on the Magnolia-Barrington border and made its first freight shipment in 1956. Regular steam engine service ended in 1957, regular passenger service ended in 1964, and in 1968 the National Railway Historical Society ran the last steam engine through Magnolia, the Freedom Train, pulled by a Canadian Pacific engine. In 1976 an act of Congress changed the Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Line to Conrail, and a few daily diesel-powered freight trains continued to pass through Magnolia without stopping. In 2000 the railroad became a shared asset line controlled by CSX and Norfolk Southern after Conrail was merged. From 1992 to 1996 the Magnolia Historical Society negotiated with Conrail to acquire 1.5 acres from the west side of Evesham Avenue north to Lincoln Avenue, and from 1996 to 2000 raised funds to build a replica of the late-1800s station in 2000 and 2001 as Magnolia Station, a library, museum, and park created through donations, volunteer labor, donated materials, and fundraisers.

Magnolia, New Jersey · United States