The Railroad in Pearl River 

Before the Railroads, Pearl River was just a boring, old, non-visited area, but now, its literally a wide open tourist attraction! Not really! Just kidding there! But the Railroads did make transportation easier and let more and more people come to this town every year. Prior to 1870, the closest railroad to Pearl River was the Northern Terminus of the Hackensack and the New York Extension Railroad at HILLSDALE, WHICH was finished in 1869. Around that time, The New Jersey and New York Railroad Co. decided to move northward and Pearl River was in its way.

 The first Railroad station in Pearl River was a small wooden structure that was created in 1870 on Central Ave. Unfortunately, while pushing snow of the train tracks, the train accidentally ran into the station the next winter! Later in 1871 – 1872 Julius Braunsdorf “The Father Of Pearl River” built the newest station. They were two brick buildings, one of them was used for the Passenger Station, and the other one was used for freight. Later on, the opening between the two buildings enclosed and formed under one roof.

Throughout the years, the number of passengers and the number of runs through Pearl River have increased thoroughly! A maximum of 30 runs came through around the 1920’s. Later on though, Passenger Service declined rapidly by 1934 an only about 17 runs went through Pearl River.

The frieght trains running through Pearl River were used for two main purposes, carrying flowers grown by 10 Local Green Houses, and for bringing clothes back and forth to many places. The freight train comes from northbound and southbound and brings many goods place to place.

In 1966, The Erie Railroad petitioned to stop passenger service because they were losing money. even though they did that, the commission decided to keep the railroad and make up for the losses by giving them several milliondollars each year. This extra support still exists and has allowed the train to add silver passenger cars that were air and coditioned in 1971. The rest remains in service today – mostly for people, not goods.