NJT = New Jersey Transit and RVL = Raritan Valley Line
Not many
photographs are taken of NJT’s current Annandale “station” at RVL MP 50.4 since
all that exists is a nondescript small shelter! The original station was
designed by Bradford L.Gilbert and built between 1889 and 1900. That station
would fall victim to a fire which burned it down in 1934.The replacement station
was a modular unit brought in by train and assembled by 1935. That station would
last until 1983 when it was razed. Currently the seventy-seven car NJT parking lot
here has eradicated any traces of the structure that once stood here. NJT Train
5176 is seen here on May 30, 2014 as it heads east. When would the track in the
foreground be used? During my trips here, I cannot recall seeing a train use
that track.
Regarding the track in the foreground, your blogger's sources inform us that it is part of a controlled siding from MP 52.1 (High Bridge/Arch) to MP 49.7 (Clinton) with the Annandale station at MP 50.4. This siding is used for passing of "live" trains and dead-head moves, although I suspect the actual passing is not done in the station.