Jersey Central Railroad built the Fanwood railroad station in 1874 (back when there were a million different railroad companies crisscrossing the state), and donated it to the borough of Fanwood in 1964. It’s currently being used as a NJTransit stop on the Raritan Valley line (orange on maps), as well as the home of the Fanwood Museum [website] (open the first Sunday of each month, October through June, 2:00-4:00). Fanwood Station has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980, and it was restored in the early 1990s (I think).
On a different note, the tracks are really straight through this stretch. New Providence is sort of in the mountains, so it’s a given that the terrain necessitates somewhat undulating tracks. Here in Fanwood, it’s a lot flatter, and you can see the outbound tracks for MILES.
Check it out— you can see the headlamp of the oncoming train at its previous stop (or further!), over a mile down the tracks.
The inbound tracks, not so much.
Aaaaand here’s a map for context.
I’m not sure why the Raritan Valley symbol is the Statue of Liberty, since the rail line stops in Newark and therefore doesn’t go anywhere NEAR the Statue of Liberty.
Reference:
Bousquet, R. and Bousquet, S. (1995). Images of America: Scotch Plains and Fanwood. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0738563188.
New Providence Daily Photo 