Passenger Trains > NJT Action on Gladstone Branch in New Providence and Berkeley Hts

On 1/18/22, I decided to take a little railfanning trip to New Providence and Berkeley Heights. I saw mainly Arrow IIIs, of course, as those soon to be retired MUs, still dominate the branch. I was treated to seeing the TGIV Geometry Vehicle head eastbound. Here are pictures that I took.

1. NJT Train # 411 heads away from the New Providence Station, enroute from Hoboken to Gladstone.

2. View of the New Providence NJT Station-looking east.

3. This is the station building at New Providence Station.

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1. This view is looking west along the Gladstone Branch from New Providence Station.

2. Westbound NJT Train # 413, enroute from Hoboken to Gladstone, crosses the joint Livingston/Central Ave Grade Crossing in New Providence. This location is a little east of the Murray Hill Station.

3. This view is looking east from the Livingston/Central Ave grade crossing along the Gladstone Branch.

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1. Eastbound NJT Train # 418 crosses the Livingston/Central Ave Grade Crossing heading from Gladstone to Hoboken.

2 and 3. I was able to get a lucky break from the Arrows by observing and photographing the TGIV Geometry Car heading east past Murray Hill Station.

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1. Westbound NJT Train # 415 about to stop at Murray Hill Station.

2. On the left is Train # 415 as it waits for a little late 420, on the right, to pass at Murray Hill Station.

3. EB NJT Train # 420 heads away from Murray Hill Station, enroute from Gladstone to Hoboken.

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Train envy!!

Nice pix.   Glad there are still MU's running somewhere...

Amazing as it may seem, this line operated with MU's and trailers built between 1918 and 1930, wood catenary poles,  and timetable scheduled meets (APB signalling)  with hand throw switches, up into the 1980's.

Thanks. The Gladstone Branch has always been meant for MUs, ever since the Lackawanna owned the line. The Arrow IIIs presently blend in very well with the bucolic scenery along the Gladstone Branch and have always. When they are retired and replaced with the Multilevel MUs, the Multilevel MUs might not blend in as well. There are still many sections of the Gladstone Branch with wooden catenary poles and in fact, some of them could be seen in my pictures.

NJT ran a few trains Gladstone to NY Penn using multilevel equipment prior to the pandemic.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> NJT ran a few trains Gladstone to NY Penn using
> multilevel equipment prior to the pandemic.
>
> Posted from Android

Yes and NJT brought back its prepandemic schedule. At least, the majority of the trains that were running before the pandemic started are back, including those two weekend Midtown Direct roundtrips that run to the Gladstone Line. I think one of the morning eastbounds actually starts picking up passengers in Peapack though. The Midtown Direct trains that serve the Gladstone Branch, I believe, use Multilevels a lot. After the Arrow IIIs join the retirement club, I could probably see many three car Multilevel trains with a power car in the middle. The future multilevel power cars will be compatible with existing multilevel coaches and cab cars.

If a Dover or Gladstone train runs to Manhattan, it cannot be an Arrow MU. They cannot handle the 25/60 cycle change on the fly.