Wilkes-Barre's 1868 built CNJ Railroad DepotA lone signal stands guard overlooking the former CNJ depot in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Once trains with power as diverse as 4-4-0 American's, Camelbacks, 4-6-2 Pacifics on through RS-3's, Babyfaced Baldwin DR-4-4-15's and F units had prowled through originating in New Jersey and working their way towards Scranton, PA, via the Lehigh Gorge in Jim Thorpe.
This impressive Victorian style station served passengers until 1963, and finally closed in 1972, after which the tracks were later removed and paved over. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The station sat unused for some time afterwards with plans for its reuse and restoration been made and broken time after time - until now. George Albert, the developer of the historic structure, stated on April 30th, 2021, he set a five-month deadline to complete the project by the end of October to make it ready to be the new home of the Luzerne County tourism office. The tourism office will be on the first floor and the second floor will have private office space. Hadley Construction Inc. of Pittston was the low bidder for the $1.2 million project.
It's sad to note the loss of an adjacent large brick station that stood opposite to the CNJ station, just ahead of the signal. That grandiose station was shared by the Lehigh Valley and the Pennsylvania Railroad (both of which jointly shared rails), as well as the Delaware & Hudson (which had its own line into Wilkes-Barre). That depot (seen here) was demolished in 1965, four years after the final Lehigh Valley passenger train left town. The last scheduled PRR train departed a decade prior (in 1955), while the D&H ended service in 1941.
