Nostalgia & History > CNJ in Elizabeth - there was a railroad here

This is a photograph of the forest (hobo homeless jungle, actually) which was the one time, four track main line of the Jersey Central Railroad, just west of the Elizabeth station. These pictures are from the Chilton Street overpass. The restored station is about a 1/2 mile east.

In CNJ days, trains of the Reading, B&O, and Jersey Central carried passengers and freight to places like Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg, Washington DC, etc. Following the Aldene cutover which diverted Jersey Central passenger line traffic into Newark Penn Station, this line was reduced to a single track carrying the "Bayonne shuttle" and local freight. Track remains in place for a short distance east of Aldene, which is in Cranford, to serve local shippers.

Transportation planners believe this line may yet be an important part of a light rail link to booming Port Newark / Elizabeth and the airport and the western suburbs. For now, it's owned by the state of New Jersey, I believe.

Picture 1 is on the bridge, looking east, toward downtown and the CNJ station.

Picture 2 is on the other side of the bridge, looking west. The right of way is probably about 120 feet wide, and there's a concrete wall on the south (left in the second picture) supporting the embankment.

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What year would you say this trackage was abandoned? 1976?

I think there may have been a single track through here as late as the mid to late 1980s. I vaguely recollect the line going from four tracks to two tracks in the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s. Through freight ran on this line into the early years (year?) of Conrail.

The line continued straight ahead (east) in the first picture, through the former CNJ station, under the Pennsy / NEC station, over US 1, and into the Trumbull Street yard. That's where many chemical company cars are stored, as well as products for ShopRite markets warehouse, etc.

This picture is taken from the NEC station in Elizabeth, looking west, with the restored CNJ station to the left center. The forest begins just past Union Street, at the end of the station, and continues under the Cherry Street bridge. That's visible to the left of the apartment building in the background. The forest continues past Chilton Street, which is the next bridge, and ends somewhere before Elmora Avenue.

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It's like discovering another I-95.

Just amazing to think there were to super-railways to NY from Baltimore, MD.

I can't imagine a situation that would lead to abandoning that part of the line,
if not for a freight alternative to the NEC, then just for the passenger potential
alone.

Here's a photo from George Hamlin borrowed from Railpictures. I don't believe
he'd object.

/Mitch

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Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> I think there may have been a single track through
> here as late as the mid to late 1980s. I vaguely
> recollect the line going from four tracks to two
> tracks in the early 1970s, maybe even the late
> 1960s. Through freight ran on this line into the
> early years (year?) of Conrail.

George's pic is dated: June 09, 1974

/Mitch

Here it is about five years after George's pic... this is from the bridge.

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Thanks for the pictures, they're quite interesting.

The first of the new pictures is taken at the Union Street rail overpass, at the west end of the station. The apartment building is the same as appears in my picture from the NEC station.

The picture with the 4101 leading is quite interesting, for several reasons. By 1979, the line had been cut off from passenger rail service for a year. Although wearing CNJ colors and markings, I believe the engine now has NJ Transit numbers, and is pulling other NJ Transit equipment, probably as a shop move to Elizabethport.

I didn't realize the line remained four tracks as late as 1979. That's quite surprising since through freight was gone, and passenger service was gone.

I believe passenger service through there ended with the Aldene Plan around 1967. They might have run an RDC car from Cranford Jct to Elizabeth after the Aldene Plan went into effect, but I don't remember. The Aldene Plan took the commuter trains off the CNJ at Cranford Jct and put them on the LV to CP Hunter where they went on the NEC to Newark. For freight, since the CNJ and LV paralleled each other, Conrail picked LV and it made the CNJ redundant, so it was abandonded.

BlackWidow Wrote:
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> I believe passenger service through there ended
> with the Aldene Plan around 1967. They might have
> run an RDC car from Cranford Jct to Elizabeth
> after the Aldene Plan went into effect, but I
> don't remember. The Aldene Plan took the commuter
> trains off the CNJ at Cranford Jct and put them on
> the LV to CP Hunter where they went on the NEC to
> Newark. For freight, since the CNJ and LV
> paralleled each other, Conrail picked LV and it
> made the CNJ redundant, so it was abandonded.

Yes, the RDC shuttle ran from Cranford to Bayonne for about 10 years after the cut-over for CNJ and Reading trains into Penn Station Newark. That was why I thought the line had already been cut back to a single track well before 1979, but these pictures tell a different picture.

My shot was 1979, so I can say with certitude that it was still four tracks then. I would guess they pulled three tracks up not that long after that. The scoot was already gone for almost two years when I took that shot of the Shops Train from Raritan to Elizabethport.

I only caught that train once, but I understood it ran every weekend. I believe at this time, there was still a daily Conrail freight from Allentown and a daily Chessie System freight from somewhere on their line (maybe only Philadelphia).

I have no idea when those two trains went away.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/11 19:34 by erielackawanna.

There used to be a sign with the Jersey Central logo on the clock tower. Does anyone on here know if it was preserved?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/11 22:05 by Cannonball4012.