Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Western Boy Goes East and Has A Couple of Questions

I am a western boy (if you can call someone who is 68 "a boy"). Born and raised in northern California, the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Santa Fe were "my" railroads. For me the "east coast" began a mile or two east of Denver. Okay, I admit that was a little narrow minded, but what can you expect of a family that NEVER traveled east of Utah.

Once our family was raised (in San Jose, CA) and we retired we offered to serve a mission for our church and they sent us to New Jersey! Well, we have been here (in Nutley) for six months now and it has been a whole new experience in many ways, including more understanding of the old railroads that served northern New Jersey.

I paid scant attention to articles in Trains magazine about the Erie, the Lackawanna, New York Central, Susie-Q, etc. That was another world. Now I am actually becoming familiar with a piece of their old territory and it has caused me to become interested in their history. Next year, when we return to California, I will have to dig up my saved copies of Trains and read those articles.

Anyway, there is an abandoned line that runs through Nutley and I think I have figured out that it was part of the Erie. Is that correct?

Also, I am guessing there is no more freight delivered directly by rail to Manhattan. Is this correct? How long ago did that end?

Thanks in advance for any info.

donnerpass Wrote:
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>
> Also, I am guessing there is no more freight
> delivered directly by rail to Manhattan. Is this
> correct? How long ago did that end?
>
I believe the last direct rail freight service occurred in 1980 on what is now known as the "High Line" (ex-New York Central) when Conrail delivered three carloads of frozen turkeys.

In New York City rail freight continued to be delivered on floats (barges/tugs), but I don't know when deliveries to Manhattan via water ceased

Erie Railroad it looks like.

If the old railroad ROW is now the Lenape Trail, I found this:


The trail continues through Branch Brook Park with yellow blazes. After traveling north through Branch Brook Park, the trail follows sidewalks and aqueducts through Belleville and Nutley before crossing over the Garden State Parkway on a pedestrian bridge. The trail travels through Bloomfield partially through parks and along Watchung Avenue before crossing Brookdale Park, passing Applegate Farm, crossing the Montclair-Boonton Line and entering the Mills Reservation. The trail combines after this with the West Essex Trail on the former Caldwell Branch of the Erie Railroad. The trail continues in Verona on the old Erie Railroad line and follows sidewalks once again before passing through Verona Park and then Eagle Rock Reservation.

Ron

The Erie Railroad that goes thru Nutley is the Newark Branch. Last Passenger train in 1966.
Tracks are still there. May look abandoned, but still get a freight every few months or so on average.
afaik..traffic is sporatic, with nothing for 6 months, then a few moves in a month. There is constant talk
of a customer starting up again in North Newark area. Served by an NS local that works at night, with an engine on each end.
Go to www.railroad.net and click on New Jersey Railfan, and look for the thread "west side of the Newark Branch"
The east side of the Newark Branch goes from the Passaic River Bridge NX draw, to DB Jct near the NJ turnpike. This has been OOS and rails gone for some time now. NX draw has been in the up position for a long time now too.

The Lenape trail also goes thru nutley roughly west and parallel to the Newark Branch. The part thru nutley that looks like an abandoned RR ROW is most likely an abandoned Public service trolley line than last ran in the mid 1950's.

If you are going to try to figure out all the tracks and abandoned tracks in northern NJ, good luck. I worked for the EL a hundred years ago, so I know it mostly, but all the track rationalizations and abandonments since the 1960's..are a lot.
There were literally hundreds of industries with rail service in north jersey in the 1960's, and now there are maybe 30.
There used to be a local freight out of croxton that just worked the Newark branch, 6 days a week. There was also The silver lake job that worked orange branch (now part of the Newark City Subway) The totowa routabout worked the Greenwood lake line up west of Montclair. The line thru Passaic and the lackawanna main south of patterson were worked out of the Patterson "Iron Hole" yard. There was another job that worked the DLW harrison branch, east of the Passaic river. And I think there was a Caldwell branch local too. (now a rail trail) And it goes on and on.

Concerning manhattan freight...last service was to 60th st yard on the hudson river, on the ex=nyc trackage. This line is in daily service with amtrak for the Empire state service to Penn Station. According to data I can find, the freight yard was abandoned in 1976 with the formation of Conrail. Prior to that there was a daily RT from 60th st to selkirk and back. I seem to think that the yard was in service later than 1976, but not sure. I rode that job once from 60th st to Selkirk. usually GE uboats for road power and RS-3m rebuilds for switching. Typically 50 cars a night IIRC.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/14 00:18 by pdt.

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Erie Railroad that goes thru Nutley is the
> Newark Branch. Last Passenger train in 1966.
> Tracks are still there. May look abandoned, but
> still get a freight every few months or so on
> average.
> afaik..traffic is sporatic, with nothing for 6
> months, then a few moves in a month. There is
> constant talk
> of a customer starting up again in North Newark
> area. Served by an NS local that works at night,
> with an engine on each end.
> Go to www.railroad.net and click on New Jersey
> Railfan, and look for the thread "west side of the
> Newark Branch"
> The east side of the Newark Branch goes from the
> Passaic River Bridge NX draw, to DB Jct near the
> NJ turnpike. This has been OOS and rails gone for
> some time now. NX draw has been in the up
> position for a long time now too.
>
> The Lenape trail also goes thru nutley roughly
> west and parallel to the Newark Branch. The part
> thru nutley that looks like an abandoned RR ROW is
> most likely an abandoned Public service trolley
> line than last ran in the mid 1950's.
>
> If you are going to try to figure out all the
> tracks and abandoned tracks in northern NJ, good
> luck. I worked for the EL a hundred years ago, so
> I know it mostly, but all the track
> rationalizations and abandonments since the
> 1960's..are a lot.
> There were literally hundreds of industries with
> rail service in north jersey in the 1960's, and
> now there are maybe 30.
> There used to be a local freight out of croxton
> that just worked the Newark branch, 6 days a week.
> There was also The silver lake job that worked
> orange branch (now part of the Newark City Subway)
> The totowa routabout worked the Greenwood lake
> line up west of Montclair. The line thru Passaic
> and the lackawanna main south of patterson were
> worked out of the Patterson "Iron Hole" yard.
> There was another job that worked the DLW harrison
> branch, east of the Passaic river. And I think
> there was a Caldwell branch local too. (now a rail
> trail) And it goes on and on.
>
> Concerning manhattan freight...last service was to
> 60th st yard on the hudson river, on the ex=nyc
> trackage. This line is in daily service with
> amtrak for the Empire state service to Penn
> Station. According to data I can find, the
> freight yard was abandoned in 1976 with the
> formation of Conrail. Prior to that there was a
> daily RT from 60th st to selkirk and back. I seem
> to think that the yard was in service later than
> 1976, but not sure. I rode that job once from
> 60th st to Selkirk. usually GE uboats for road
> power and RS-3m rebuilds for switching. Typically
> 50 cars a night IIRC.

That's a great overview. The Nutley - Belleville - Bloomfield area has a rich rail history. Closing the Hoffmann-LaRoche facility probably put the nail into what's left of the old Newark branch of the Erie. Just like the closing of Hartz ended freight service on the stub east end of the Greenwood Lake branch and the Orange branch. That could be among the abandoned lines mentioned up thread.

There is only one customer left on the Newark branch, which is Van Ness Plastics in Clifton....the remainder of the line, approximately 10 miles is currently unused. A few years age NS rehabilitated the line all the way to Newark to serve a bio-diesel facility that has since gone out of business. There hasn't been a train venturing to Newark in almost 2 years, and the R-O-W is slowly deteriorating.

There's an older TrainOrders thread about some of the many rail consolidations in the Nutley-Clifton-Paterson area. Looking at a 1950s map and comparing it to today can be sobering.

The Erie's Newark Branch (through Nutley, Clfton, Paterson) was a key link for that.

Ron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Erie Railroad it looks like.
>
> If the old railroad ROW is now the Lenape Trail, I
> found this:
>
>
> The trail continues through Branch Brook Park with
> yellow blazes. After traveling north through
> Branch Brook Park, the trail follows sidewalks and
> aqueducts through Belleville and Nutley before
> crossing over the Garden State Parkway on a
> pedestrian bridge. The trail travels through
> Bloomfield partially through parks and along
> Watchung Avenue before crossing Brookdale Park,
> passing Applegate Farm, crossing the
> Montclair-Boonton Line and entering the Mills
> Reservation. The trail combines after this with
> the West Essex Trail on the former Caldwell Branch
> of the Erie Railroad. The trail continues in
> Verona on the old Erie Railroad line and follows
> sidewalks once again before passing through Verona
> Park and then Eagle Rock Reservation.
>
> Ron

Ron's post also highlights a "never built" railroad line, too.

Interests aligned with the Erie Railroad planned a new line from just west of Montclair's Walnut Street train station on the NY&GL. This new line would run northwesterly and cross Valley Road by Tierney's Tavern. At Upper Mountain Road it would duck into a new tunnel, and come out on the Verona side. Two abutments remain of a bridge across Verona Lake, and the tunnel entrance was filled in within the past decade.

The Erie chose to build the Caldwell Railway from Great Notch as an alternative.

(Even today, Tierney's has one corner sheared off due to the way the property lines were drawn for the railroad.)

Thanks so much for all of your input. When traveling about by car or on foot I keep my eye out for evidence of old ROWs. Several weeks ago while walking around Nutley I discovered what looked like an old ROW. A little research revealed that it was the Lenape Trail. I guessed that it must be an old trolley line because of the grades.

For me, one of the symbols of sadness is an abandoned ROW. All of the hopes and dreams that are now gone.

donnerpass Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks so much for all of your input. When
> traveling about by car or on foot I keep my eye
> out for evidence of old ROWs. Several weeks ago
> while walking around Nutley I discovered what
> looked like an old ROW. A little research
> revealed that it was the Lenape Trail. I guessed
> that it must be an old trolley line because of the
> grades.
>
> For me, one of the symbols of sadness is an
> abandoned ROW. All of the hopes and dreams that
> are now gone.

If you get up to the Mountain View section of Wayne, you have a trifecta. The current NJ Transit Boonton Line, an abandoned section of Erie north of the current passenger line, a very lightly used section of Lackawanna running eastward AND the abandoned Morris Canal at Mead Basin. In the late 1800s, this was a happening place. <G>