Eastern Railroad Discussion > Help a Texan, about Montclair NJ

I was with my Dad the other day (he just turned 94)  and we looked up
his childhood home which he remembered was 15 Braemore Road in Montclair.

We found it on the map with a street view and he confirmed it was his house,
and he said there was a train track behind his house and his Dad would often
watch trains on the back porch.  After my Dad joined the Navy in '49, his Mom
and Dad moved from Montclair to Oxford, MD.  My Dad was stationed at
Corpus Christi NAS and stayed in a Texas thereafter (Dallas mostly). 

Can anyone tell me what rail line that would have been ?

Looks like Erie trackage to me.

Matthew

Former Erie-Lacakawanna, now NJ Transit Montclair-Boonton line. I grew up in that area in the 1960's. Walking along the tracks we rarely saw any freight trains, mostly passengers.

When your Dad was watching trains,  it would have been the Delaware, Lackawana & Western which later merged with the Erie to become the Erie-Lackawanna.  The line was electrified to Montclair and there used to be (maybe still is) a beautiful station there.  I grew up along the DL&W in Basking Ridge, NJ and we would see a steady parade of electric passenger trains all day.  There used to be one freight a day that serviced local businesses along the Gladstone line.  We had a family friend who was a station agent for the DL&W and he was very disappointed when the merger took effect.

Ron

 

At the time he lived there, prior to 1949 it would have been the Erie Railroad.   Specifically the Greenwood Lake Branch of the Erie between Jersey City to the east and Ringwood, NJ to the west (north).   They hadn't yet merged with the Lackawanna Railroad.

It would have been a mix of freights and passenger trains.   There wouldn't have been any through traffic on the line as it was a branch line but it did cross the Lackawanna in Wayne, NJ and the New York Susquehanna and Western Railway in Bloomingdale, NJ.   They did have connections but I don't think any real interchange of cars occurred at either railroad as they all connected in Jersey City.  Freight would have consisted of some feed /seed uses, sand, gravel, lumber, and small quantities of carload freight. 

Passenger service, west of Montclair reached Haskell, NJ but the branch continued on to Ringwood, NJ to what had been a significant iron mining area.   The mines had all stopped operating prior to WW2 and freight west of Haskell would have been very sporatic.

cjvrr Wrote: " . . . Greenwood Lake Branch of the Erie . . . "

Here's a map from Wikipedia showing the route of the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, predecessor/builder of the Greenwood Lake Branch of the Erie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_and_Greenwood_Lake_Railway_(1878%E2%80%931943)#/map/0

The almost-exact location of WrongWay's Dad's house is marked here:

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=40.84334,-74.20938&z=15&t=UT&marker0=40.84334%2C-74.20938%2C1.9%20km%20N%20of%20Montclair%20NJ

His house was just a little bit north of the Upper Montclair station of New Jersey Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line, a marker for which is on the NY&GL map referenced above.

Matthew

EDIT: How about some old pictures of Upper Montclair station, while we're at it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Montclair_station#/media/File:Erie_upper_montclair.jpg

Look about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.montclairhistory.org/new-blog/2020/4/21/a-very-short-history-of-montclairs-train-stations]

Cabinet card shown on the montclairhistory site:
https://www.cardcow.com/850311/upper-montclair-new-jersey-erie-railroad-station/

NJDOT/EL U34CH and outbound train pulling into, or speeding past, Upper Montclair:
http://www.morscher.com/rr/1977/19770621_23.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/metrotrails/photos/a.1018886901481181/5023492021020629

Matthew
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/23 12:32 by Roadmaster.

cjvrr has it correct in that this was originally the Erie Greenwood Lake branch.  Many people get confused because of the major changes that occured after the E-L merger.  When the State of NJ wanted the Lackawanna main to locate the planned Interstate 80 just south of Paterson, they cut a deal with the EL.  The lower end of the Greenwood Lake branch became part of the Boonton Line and the lower part of what was the Boonton line was connected to the old Erie mainline just below Paterson and became part of what we now know as the Mainline.  The State got the Lackawanna main ROW from Clifton out through Totowa for I-80.  At Wayne where the old Lackawanna main crossed the Greenwood Lake branch a new connection (SW corner) was created to tie the two together.  The line through Montclair has been known as the Boonton Line since the very early 1960's even though it was orginally an Erie branch.  The EL used the line through Montclair for any through freights that ran via Scranton, but Conrail quickly did away with that.

It seems 15 Braemore Rd is here

https://goo.gl/maps/zxayHgraKVTZrBtz5

and the railroad next to it was Erie until 1960.
That line wasn't electrified until after 2000.

thebluecomet Wrote: "Many people get confused because of the major changes that occured after the E-L merger."

After posting replies to this thread, I am going to assassinate my credibility.  I have tried a couple of times, maybe more, over the years, to understand Erie/DL&W/EL trackage in northern Jersey, especially trying to figure out what today's trackage used to be.  I've not been able to figure it out satisfactorily, and I have not found any sufficiently detailed, helpful maps (they may exist, just not where I've looked).

thebluecomet also Wrote  " . . . State of NJ . . . cut a deal with the EL."

From what I've read, It was not enough that EL was taxed and required to run passenger service, but they couldn't keep their best route while doing so.  There was an Interstate Highway system to be built, you know.  Now, cash-strapped EL, for the right sum of money, could have paid to have a mainline built on the Boonton ROW that they abandoned.  Yes, they give up their mainline, and then pay to have it put back in.  Such a deal!  EL declined to pay for that route, and, as we know, EL declined pretty much until the end.  The revised Boonton/Greenwood Lake line did not have the superior grades/curves possessed by the original Boonton line.  Hey, but I imagine the right people made money, so, who cares?!

Matthew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/23 12:58 by Roadmaster.

Braemore Road backs up on the Erie Greenwood Lake Line just West of the Upper Montclair / Bellevue Avenue station.

In Erie days it was a passenger line to the Greenwood Lake area. In E-L days it was a through freight and passenger line to Dover and the west. Now it is an electrified passenger line with minimal freight.

Posted from Android

No worries, I have lived in the area my entire 51 years and still find it amazing how they cut and pasted so many lines together.

Even more recently New Jersey Transit took the Lackawanna line that ended in Montclair and connected it to the same former Erie line at Pine Street.   The Erie Greenwood Lake Branch east of Montclair is currently being lifted after 20 years of dis-use and reconstructed as the "Iron and Ice" trail.

Roadmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thebluecomet Wrote: "Many people get confused
> because of the major changes that occured after
> the E-L merger."
>
> After posting replies to this thread, I am going
> to assassinate my credibility.  I have tried a
> couple of times, maybe more, over the years, to
> understand Erie/DL&W/EL trackage in northern
> Jersey, especially trying to figure out what
> today's trackage used to be.  I've not been able
> to figure it out satisfactorily, and I have not
> found any sufficiently detailed, helpful maps
> (they may exist, just not where I've looked).
>
> thebluecomet also Wrote  " . . . State of NJ . .
> . cut a deal with the EL."
>
> From what I've read, It was not enough that EL was
> taxed and required to run passenger service, but
> they couldn't keep their best route while doing
> so.  There was an Interstate Highway system to be
> built, you know.  Now, cash-strapped EL, for the
> right sum of money, could have paid to have a
> mainline built on the Boonton ROW that they
> abandoned.  Yes, they give up their mainline, and
> then pay to have it put back in.  Such a deal! 
> EL declined to pay for that route, and, as we
> know, EL declined pretty much until the end.  The
> revised Boonton/Greenwood Lake line did not have
> the superior grades/curves possessed by the
> original Boonton line.  Hey, but I imagine the
> right people made money, so, who cares?!
>
> Matthew

Discussing the 1960s line consolidations on E-L is endless fun. Lots of reorganization

Posted from Android

The map might help.

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Roadmaster Wrote:
---------------
> ... trying to figure out what
> today's trackage used to be.

If you want the explanation, speak up.

Have you sen the 1956 Port Authority map?
It might be the most helpful.

At one time, the Erie hoped to build a tunnel from Erie Plaza (Walnut Street) through the mountain to Verona, and on to Morristown.  After years of trying, and and failing, the Caldwell Branch was the alternative.

A slice off the wall at Tierney's Bar on Valley Road, and a walled off tunnel entrance in the Montclair Kimberly athletic field are among the artifacts of the tunnel

Its not that complicated.   I lived in that area when it all happened.   Any questions?  or has everyone figured it out...

Former New York & Greenwood Lake Railway in that section of  Montclair NJ. Post Erie Lackawanna/1963 it became the route of the Boonton Line. Then in the 1990s new owner NJ Transit tied this portion of the Boonton Line with the all electric  ex Lackawanna Montclair Branch via a new connection at Bay Street in Montclair. The line was electrified as far as Great Notch and renamed the Montclair-Boonton Line

No freight through Montclair as freight trains are prohibited through the new connnection at Bay Street. 

Are there even any customers left east of Boonton? Did the shipper just West of Great Notch finally pack it in?

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are there even any customers left east of Boonton?
> Did the shipper just West of Great Notch finally
> pack it in?
>
> Posted from Android

There are two customers left on the stub of the former Lackawanna freight main in Totawa.