[1] Originally the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad used a troop of horses to pull the cars along the rails.

[2] The first steam locomotive to operate on the line was called the McNeil and manufactured by Robert Stephenson and Company then assembled by Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works.

A decade after opening, the railroad's importance increased when the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad was built connecting north Paterson to Suffern, New York just over the state line.

Travelers could use a combination of the two lines (and another transportation method for the 3⁄4-mile (1.2 km) between the two Paterson terminals) to travel between Suffern and New York City faster than the New York and Erie Railroad.

[4] The first stations west of Bergen Junction along the line included "Germantown", "Hackensack" along the Hackensack River (close to the present-day Secaucus Junction and the former Harmon Cove station) and "Boiling Spring" (at the site of the present-day Rutherford station).