Eastern Railroad Discussion > Help identify abandoned line on NEC west of Secaucus

Can someone help identify a nearly-abandoned line passing underneath the NEC about 1/2 mile west of the Secaucus station in New Jersey?  Part of it is being used to store cars but part of it doesn't look like it's been used in a long time-a drawbridge seems to be permanently in the open position. 

Thanks for for your help with this. I'm not an expert by any means regarding the railroads of New Jersey and I'm trying to learn more about the lines that bisect the NEC before it dives into the Manhattan tunnels. 

-j

Boonton Line.
Brian

yup, the old DL&W Boonton line.

Ex- Erie Greenwood lake branch.  Combined with DLW boonton line in 1960....and generally called the boonton line after freight service out of croxton ceased
in prob-early 80's (conrail era)  NJT passenge service continued up till 2002 , when the montclair connection was completed.  DB draw has been in the open position, and the track unused from there up to montclair since then

Yes Boonton Line not DLW, orininally was the Erie Greenwood Lake Branch   After Merger the EL severed the DLW Boonton Line in Lincoln Park NJ and connected it with the Greenwood Lake.  The Boonton line was severed in Little falls abandoning the line between there and Paterson around Garret Mountain.  Back on the Greenwood lake in 2002 NJT connected it to the DLW Montclair branch and severed the GL between there and West End in Jersey city.  This is what you are seeing.  NS had a consignee for a little while but they since swithched to trucks thus the line in its current condition. 

Adding to this excellent discussion,  Before the Erie and Lackawanna combined, the Erie had a track, called the Third Track, which ran from KW (at the south end of Croxton Yard) under the Lackawanna embankment, and out onto the NY&GL. Once the passenger services were combined, the EL built a track connection from the embankment down to connect with the NY&GL. That let passenger trains from Hoboken go out to West Arlington, Great Notch, etc.

Freight trains to Kearny and Harrison / Erie could still use the embankment tunnel. The embankment  tunnel was used as a loop to wye engines from time to time.  Shephard calls it "the old loop" in his 1974 track diagram book.

Like they said, the line was never DL&W. Erie/EL passenger
trains ran over it to Wanaque-Midvale until 1966 or so.
It crossed DL&W's Boonton line at 40.91664N 74.26985W.
Circa 1963 EL built a connection there so passenger trains
could turn left and continue west on former DL&W.

Note the PRR main crosses another former Erie line
further west, at 40.74898N 74.10833W. Dunno when
that was abandoned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 10:36 by timz.

timz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Note the PRR main crosses another former Erie
> line
> further west, at 40.74898N 74.10833W. Dunno when
> that was abandoned.

That looks like the original alignment of the Public Service trolley along Harrison Avenue. It ran north of Harrison Avenue, and was one of the components of the spaghetti bowl at Sanford's crossing, a little east of there.

At Sanford's,.  PRR, Erie, DL&W, NYS&W, two roads, and a trolley line all crossed in very close poximity.  The new Sanford's is in a different location at the MMC.

One of the  Taber DL&W books has a few pages on that mess, which was settled in the early 1900s. I'll dig it out.

Thanks for your replies.    It would be nice to have a map showing the history of the lines in that area.  The only map I could quickly find was the state of NJ rail map, which lacks detail. 


-j

PRR crossed the Erie at 40.74898N 74.10833--
I'm guessing no room for a streetcar
under there as well. The bridge at
40.74812N 74.11082W was over some
streetcar or other, wasn't it?

Forgot to mention Erie Newark Branch
trains also crossed under PRR at the bridge
the original poster asked about. (After 1920
or some such date, anyway.)

Forgot about the Erie xing beneath PRR
at 40.7524N 74.09839W. Dunno when that
was abandoned either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 11:38 by timz.