April 14, 2007
NEW!!! Pictures of the
Van Ness Plastics property with a siding off of the old Erie Lackawanna
mainline (circa 1970's) or the Susquehanna at Brighton Avenue, Clifton,
NJ ?? Anybody know for sure?? The list below is in mile order on the mainline.
Go to the Milepost 12.2 to see the pictures.
-
The
Right Of Way
Occasionally an engine or car will appear in the pictures, occasionally a picture from another place on this web site or someone else's web site will appear on this page (even though the picture maybe mine), but this page is meant to examine and record the trackage, buildings, stations, towers and adjacent properties of the above railroads R-O-W. I will strive to put them in order from East to West starting with the Hoboken, New Jersey Terminal and moving west throughout New Jersey and into New York state, USA. So that this page and the pictures download quick, I have used the same format as the other pages separating the pictures so they come up when you click on the underlined areas of the description.
April
6, 2003-
As
opposed to the below statement about the stations lined up by Milepost
locations, Bruce Leemann sent us a bunch of pictures of stations in the
early 1900's
Closter,
NJ - Northern Branch mp 19
Eden
Valley
Erwins
Essex
Girard
Greenvillepicture
2
Greycourtpicture
2
Hale's
Eddy picture 2picture
3
Hancock,
New York picture 2 picture
3
Lodi,
New Jersey
North
Newark, New Jersey
Newark,
New Jersey
Orchard
Street
Otisville,
NY
Oxford,
NY
Passaic,
NJ
Paterson,
NJ
Pine
Bush, NY
South
Nyack, NY
Tioga
Junction
Verona,
NJ
Woodside
Wyckoff,
NJ
6-5-03
Some more stations from Bruce Leemann
Monsey,
NY
Newburgh,
NY
Nutley,
NJ
Piermont,
NY
Unknown #2 UNKNOWN #2 is the Elmira, NY station before they elevated the track. There is a similar photo on page 59 of Bill Caloroso's book on the PRR Elmira Branch that shows the station from the front (trackside) about the same era...Todd Sullivan
Unknown
#3
Joe, The closest I can nail this station location is with this
postcard from Maplewood, PA. However a quick count of the vertical
boards between the two bottom windows shows that the Maplewood station
seems to be wider than the one in your mystery #3 photo.
My hat is off
to whoever can pin it down, I would think it must be somewhere on this
line in Pennsylvania. Randy
Lambertus
Joe,
...From what I can determine, I think Unknown
#3 is a shot of the depot at Wimmers.
The Maplewood depot doesn't show a semaphore
whereas a semaphore is in the Wimmers shot and it looks as though it's
in the same spot as in Unknown #3. In addition, the two small windows near
the roof peak don't appear to be as defined in the Maplewood shot. That
could be the light and camera angle. However, the windows in the Wimmers
shot are identical to those in Unknown #3. The thing that I can't see in
the Maplewood and Wimmers shots is the little shack-like structure behind
Unknown #3 Depot. Again, perhaps the camera angle...
From what I'm looking at, I'll go with Unknown
#3 being Wimmers, PA. Wimmers was where the Avoca-Port Jervis coal drags
would take on much needed water after having climbed the ten-mile, 1% grade
from Dunmore.
I grew up in that area and unfortunately was
born too late to have experienced those coal drags. My grandfather was
luckier. He worked the mines there.
Sure hope this helps. - Rick
Sedlisky
Below
pictures supplied by Terence Foxon. Here is his commentary:
March
21, 2003
...I was looking
on the internet for information about the Lower Hack lift bridge and I
came across your web page. A most interesting visit I can tell you..........it's
good that people like you are around to record a little of the history
of the the "disappearing" railroads! I saw your note saying you'd exhausted
your supply of pictures (which is a pity) so I am attaching a copy of a
couple of pictures I took recently as part of my job.
My field of engineering
is electrified railroads.........my expertise is inengineering and design
of electric traction and signal facilities. Recent projects of mine include
the new electrification of the Montclair Connection which is a 6 mile (approx)
extension of NJT's Montclair Branch catenary
system to Great
Notch. Attached (below) is a picture of the new station at Bay St., Montclair.
As a matter of interest, in 1979-82 I worked on the design for the conversion
of the old M&E catenary system from 1500C DC to 27.6kV AC. Among the
many projects I have at the moment is the Newark Broad St, Station Improvements
Project, which includes reconstruction of the old M&E lines station
on the viaduct and provision of high level platforms - one new platform
being an island platform to replace the existing Track 3 low level platform
which, in turn, necessitates the demolition of the small station building
on the north side. Attached (below) is a picture of the station and
clock tower looking from the east to the west. Catenary/Signal Bridge No.
D7-74 is in the foreground.
Great
Notch, NJ Yard 8-8-02
Broad
Street under wire
Back
to our normal format-
Lets
start at Hoboken Terminal with tracks under the shed in numerical order.
(MP
0.0)
All pictures
were taken in January of 1973 unless otherwise noted.
Tracks
1 & 2 with the REA building to the right. Track 1 was
a shortest of the "under the shed" tracks
and doesn't go
deep into the terminal.
Tracks
3 & 4 looking out towards the Hoboken Terminal Tower.
From tracks
5 & 6 looking south across the tracks and under the wire.
Tracks
9 &10 with the Hill Yard in the background with MU sets stored
there.
Tracks
13 & 14 from outside of the shed.
Here's the
track
15 view, only the date is September 19, 1998. Note the ties now
appear to be concrete.
Looking back
at the terminal, track 15
is occupied with NJT #4116 in 1998.
Track
16 just at the southern edge of the extended shed in 1998.
Tracks
17 & 18 where most
of the varnish was stored in 1973.
Dark picture
in foreground (apartment house in background) of the 3 story
Hoboken
Terminal Tower taken in 1998 from a moving train.
Terminal Tower
leaving Hoboken in the mid
afternoon. - 2001
-
The
Hoboken Engine Facilities (MP 1.5)
Along side of
the engine facilities at Hoboken with U34CH
#3360
U34CH's and their
push-pull
sets awaiting their call in the Day Yard.
The Multiple
Unit (MU) Shed at Hoboken used mostly for quick repairs.
E8A's,
GP-7's and U34CH's parked
near the turntable at Hoboken next to the MU shed.
GP-7
#1404 parked near the MU Shed at Hoboken.
-
The
Mainline
-
The mainline
is a composite of the parts of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western's
Boonton Line and the Erie mainline. From Croxton (an Erie facility)
into Secaucus Yard (a DL&W facility) westbound to Kingsland and through
to Paterson is a part of the DL&W's Boonton Line where in the late
60's was connected to the Erie mainline in Paterson. This then became
the Erie Lackawanna mainline. The old DL&W mainline was a route
from Hoboken via the EL's Morris & Essex (M&E) Division through
Summit to Morristown and onward westbound. For a while the Erie Lackawanna
varnish passenger trains took that route to Chicago. Some of the
old Erie name trains still used their "new" mainline via the Bergen County
Line for their trip to Chicago. In 1964, the varnish trains were
split across the two different mainlines. Trains #1 & #2 (the
Phoebe Snow) Chicago trains and Trains #5 & #6 Buffalo trains, went
the M&E route. Trains #7 & #8 (The Erie Lackawanna Limited)
Chicago trains, and trains #21 & #22, Binghamton trains, went via the
old Erie.
Definitely merger
confusion!
2/2/03 -
The tracks in this scene are going west
on the DL&W mainline (Morris & Essex Division) and the route diveragence
to the Erie Mainline and Bergen County Line.
Here is the Erie
mainline at County Road in Secaucus, NJ with an eastbound train (we are
looking westbound). And here's a look at the same intersection only
looking eastbound. Up further on the divergence looking north (railroad
westbound) towards the Harmon Cove station about a quarter of a mile past
the second set of signals (around the bend and out of the picture).
These pictures were taken in November of 2002.
Here is the edited
verbage from Joe Schill-
Good
morning.
I
just found your WEB Site and was very impressed. My father took my
brother and me to that site in the 1950s to watch the trains.
The site you see is on the Northwest side of Routes 1 & 9 (Tonnele Avenue) in Jersey City. On that 1& 9 bridge are (now unsafe) stairs down to the area that your picture shows. That is the roadbed where the Erie ran. To the right is the "cut" (not shown) through Jersey City that led to the Pavonia Avenue terminal (now the site of Newport Mall).
Back to that picture, the Erie split at that point. To the right (past the plywood warehouse) ran the Squanhanna Branch (edit. note - New York, Susquehanna & Western RR.). That parrelled 1&9 through Hudson and into Bergen County.
To the left ran the mainline. About 400 yards past that point, the Erie split off to the Greenwood Lake branch that ran underneath the mainline and ran past Snake Hill (aka Laurel Hill and aka Fraternity Rock) and over the Hackensack River. That branch just stopped running a few months ago. Damm.
The mainline continued Northwest paralleling Croxton Yard... This view is the old Lackawanna (now the Erie Lackawanna) roadbed from the Routes 1&9 bridge looking West. The switching to the right is the old Lackawanna route, with a crossover to the Erie mainline about half a mile North.
The tracks also continue straight (the Electrified Line) to Newark and beyond.
...Erie Mainline at County Road in Secaucus NJ. This is an Eastbound Train heading to the Hoboken Terminal.
...Same site but looking Easbound. The first bridge is the NJ Turnpike (Eastern spur). The second bridge is the Penn mainline (aka, the northeast corridor). ...Same as ...picture 2, but a different train. Signals are red-red and yellow-green. The next signals are the crossovers to the Lackawanna.
...Erie mainline looking North. Harmon Cove station is about a quarter mile past the second set of signals (around the bend).
...Jersey Central Terminal: This is the old Jersey Central terminal at the foot of Johnson Avenue in Jersey City. Thought you might be interested in this non Erie picture.
Finally,
the Erie crossing in pictures 1, 2, and 3 will be discontinued in
a year or so. They are building a new set of tracks from just West
of Harmon Cove and just East of the Hackensack River bridge to the Lackawanna
mainline
just
east of that bridge...
Joe
Schill 2-2-03
Croxton
Yard (MP 3.6 )
Looking out over
the eastern throat of the Croxton Yard from
Routes 1 & 9 though a wire fence. Can't read the sign on
the large hanger type building. Maybe someone out there knows what
it is?
Date: Fri, 16
Jul 1999 10:48:47 -0400
From:
Frank
Garon Subject: ELshot - east end of Croxton
"Hi
Joe: That building in your shot at - I forget the name of it, ('maybe'
Mid States???) but is a lumber/milling/plywood outfit. I used to drive
a tractor trailer and picked up there several times.
Hope
this helps! -Frank Garon" Thanks,
Frank. -JJ
The
big hangar building in Croxton is North American Plywood. The same
company is still there today...- Dan
Thank
you Dan, mystery solved -JJ Dan had clarification comments on other
areas of this web page.
Rough picture
of the Bergen Tunnel portal and bridge complex from the mainline in 1998.
Croxton roundhouse
and turntable on a quiet January
1973 day.
The roundhouse in its full glory and apparently recently painted from Bruce Leemann.
On February 5, 2003 via email, Curtis Brookshire has identified most of the bridges and I've inserted his comments among the text for clarification. His remarks are in green. Thank you, Curtis, for untangling some of the confusion.-JJ
Croxton coaling
towers now dormant, but in use diesel fuel and sanding facilities are
next to it.
Pushing cars
over the hump in the Croxton yard.
Beyond Croxton Yard is the meadowlands. An expansive, but shrinking
wetlands separating Hudson County from Bergen County. Now the home
of the Giants Stadium, The Continental Airlines Arena and the Meadowlands
Racetrack. At one time the only thing out here was the Erie Lackawanna
Railway.
Here are a bunch
of pictures of various bridges
over the meadowlands and Hackensack River.
Bridge here (above picture) is the Northeast Corridor (Amtrak, ex-PRR) over the Hackensack [river] at "Portal" Tower. Of course, the bridge overhanging the foreground is the New Jersey Turnpike.
High in the background of this one is the Pulaski Skyway.
Lift bridges in the distance are of New Jersey Route 7, PATH and CSX (ex-PRR passenger & freight bridges to Jersey City) over the Hackensack [river].
This one is maybe (not sure) the bridge for the Erie Lackawanna mainline to Kingsland.
Lift bridge is the "Lower Hack", ex-DL&W mainline to Newark and Morristown. "Upper Hack" is the single track lift bridge located just south of Erie's "HX" and carries the Main Line (ex-DL&W Boonton Line) going west towards Kingsland. -CB
Out here are bridges for highways including the New Jersey Turnpike, Pulaski Skyway and a variety of the old railroads, CNJ, PRR, EL and others.
Kingsland
(MP 7.6)
From the south
side of Croxton Yard, the Bergen County Line splits off from
the
mainline and before getting to the station, the main passes through
a small tunnel in the ridge
with 1903 engraved in it, at the end of the meadowlands. This is a picture
of the ROW looking towards the Kingsland
station from the top of the tunnel. (See mystery picture below).
Above it is Orient Way in Lyndhurst. This is a view looking
east to the west end of the small
tunnel where the mainline continues to Kingsland station (note industrial
spur off main). The
mainline continues on toward Kingsland, the first station on the
main from Hoboken. Kingsland station is very unique as
it spans the r-o-w, is built adjacent to the roadway (Route 17 a/k/a Ridge
Road) and forms part of the bridge over the mainline. Here's a look
at the Kingsland station
in 1973 from the street level
in two pieces. Windows are boarded up and some painted box car red
and some are left their plywood color. The doors appear to be left open
for commuters to walk thru and get down to the train level. This
is the Kingsland Stationin
1975. Another picture of Kingsland,
a stop on the Erie Streamliner tour on Sept. 19, 1998. Not too much
of a change over the years, but there are small differences in the facility.
THIS IS THE MYSTERY PICTURE. IT'S LABELED MARCH 1977 AND NOTHING ELSE. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IT WAS TAKEN. IT'S A SHOT OF A WELL GROOMED AND BALLASTED TWO TRACK LINE WITH TELEPHONE POLES ON THE RIGHT, UNARMED TELEPHONE POLES ON THE LEFT, AND A WATER TOWER IN THE BACKGROUND. THE DUMMY (ME) WHO TOOK IT FORGOT TO LABEL IT. WHERE IS IT? ANYBODY KNOW?
Date:
Thu, 09 Nov 2000 17:20:33
From:
Derek Fenton <drfenton@erols.com>
Subject:
EL Mystery Picture
I
don't know if this is old news, but I think your mystery picture on your
EL webpage is Kingsland: Taken from atop the tunnel looking west.
The station is just a little further up the line. The industrial switch
to your left is pictured elsewhere on your page. Sound Good?
Derek
Derek-
You
are the first to respond to this "mystery picture question" and I'm pretty
sure you are CORRECT. Many years ago I took these pictures. They
were not all labeled properly and out of order. When I put up the
web site, this one was a "mystery"??? Now it's "mystery solved".
Thanks for your email.
-Joe
Jordan
Lyndhurst
(MP 8.2)
These 1973 pictures
are of the mainline leaving Kingsland and moving
towards the Lyndhurst
station. Both stations are actually in the town of Lyndhurst.
Looking west at Lyndhurst
from the track level. Looking north
and then south at the
Lyndhurst station. From Lyndhurst, the mainline traveled over the
Passaic River over a center span alligned girder bridge leaving Bergen
County and moving into Passaic County.
Delawanna
(MP 9.3)
Delawanna is
actually in Clifton, New Jersey and never really had a full station facility.
Here we see, looking east, the plywood shelter that stands as the Delawanna
stop on the mainline. Only a few trains were scheduled to stop here
for passengers. Overgrowth of nature shows how much action this station
really saw in 1975. This picture
looks west toward the next station stop, Passaic.
Delawanna actually had two stations back in the early 1900's. The second station was built when the line was expanded to four tracks. Unsure of when they were demolished... - Dan
Passaic
(MP 10.6)
The Passaic station
history is a varied one. This station was one of three stations in
Passaic on the DL&W and Erie that at one time was named "Passaic".
A major station was in downtown
Passaic
(pictures are taken about 1905 and are courtesy of Nick
Latzoni) but
was abandoned as a active station when the Erie main was torn up in the
late 60's. Here are some more pictures of the Passaic Station.
The first is a winter scene in the
1920's or 30's. The building right behind the station is the old
Hygeia Brewing Company. What could they brewing there if it is during
prohibition? Any thoughts? This second one is looking westbound
in May 1956. Finally, here's the
last
train out of Passaic, headed for Hoboken in April 1963. Note
in the last picture that there is a crane ready to rip up the tracks through
the center of town. The last three photos of the Erie Passaic station
were apparently taken from the top of the First National Bank of Passaic
building, the tallest building in Passaic. Photos and question on the brewery
courtesy of Dominic Scorziello.
7/9/01 -Thanks,
Dominic.
Here is a really old picture of the Passaic Station, WE BELEIVE is the downtown station around the turn of the century (1900) from Bruce Leemann.
The old
DL&W had a Passaic station which I thought was gone today (see below
correction). A fourth station called Passaic
Park (courtesy of Nick Latzoni) was also abandoned
when the old Erie main was torn up in Passaic.
...
Date:
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 13:33:24 -0400
PICTURES
-The DLW Station in PASSAIC (further
east is this underpass)
has not be razed as you state and very much still standing and used by
NJT Main Line trains 365 days a year. ...Erie Main Line station PASSAIC
PARK is now a complex of apartments ... the grade north of there along
Main Street is still there as is the concrete wall between ROW and Main
Street. Jerome
Thank
you, Jerome. I
would welcome anyone with pictures of the Passaic stations for I have none.
Email me at eltrainmaster@copper.net
and let me know what you have.
7/3/01-
Pictures from the Passaic
county area. Here we go again. Again helping my friend survey
properties in the area, we "wizzed" through and past a couple Erie Lackawanna
historical sites. Here's a picture as we flew by an overpass on Route
46 of the Erie
Lackawanna Mainline below. Then we went past the present "Clifton"
station
and the overpass
to the east of the station. Another attempt (very blurred) to take a picture
of what is thought to be the remnants of Lakeview
station, now a Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. Anybody with better
information, let me know at eltrainmaster@copper.net
July
4, 2001 - The pictures of the Clifton Station and overpass are not in Clifton,
but in Passaic Park. The park adjacent to the station is Third Ward
Park in Passaic. Grew up there so I thought you'd like to know.
Enjoy the railfan website immensely. Regards from New Mexico. - Steve
July
4, 2001 ...Your pictures of the "Clifton" station and overpass are actually
of the DL&W Passaic Station and the bridge next to it at the corner
of Van Houten and Passaic Avenues... - Dan
Thanks
Steve & Dan - appreciate the input. I crossed the border
and didn't know where I was. -JJ
Dan's
comments on some other items are sprinkled throughout this page.
-JJ
Clifton
(MP 12.2)
The Clifton station
was originally a DL&W structure and is the survivor of three Clifton
stations (except for Delawanna). Being on the DL&W, it was called
Athenia
station for many years. Athenia
was a section of Clifton and the station stands on a fill high above the
street and is adjacent to an overpass made of concrete. The Lakeview
station and old Erie Clifton station still remain (Ops,
long gone, see correction below) but not as
railroad stations, one of them is the site of a bank branch office
(wrong
again, it's the old Erie Athenia station).
They both are still on the Passaic Branch spur from the Paterson Yard.
Here's some recent pictures in Clifton, New Jersey of interest. A
friend of mine is a professional engineer and land surveyor. He asked
me to assist him in surveying a property in Clifton. We drove to
the site, set up the equipment and then pulled out the survey documents.
Lo and behold, right on the old survey map was marked "Erie RR right of
way". It ran right through the parking lot area we were surveying.
Out came the camera and I took pictures of it as of Oct 2000 looking eastbound
and looking westbound.
Just a parking lot now, but boy oh boy, fifty years ago it was THE Mainline.
This is the bridge carrying the mainline over Route
46 in Clifton.
May 14, 2003 - We were again doing some survey work in Clifton and came across this classic 1950's bus parked in a company parking lot near the NJT commuter line. I took pictures of each side and the front. It looked like it was in pretty good condition and I assume that someone has saved it to restore it to it's old glory.
Subject:
Clifton (MP 12.2)
I
love your site but having grown up Clifton and spent the better part of
my youth on the rail lines in town I must offer these corrections. The
Lakeview and Clifton stations on the old Erie main are long gone.
The station you mention as the bank was the Athenia station on the Newark
Branch. For pictures, see pages 274, 341 and 365 of "Erie Power".
Lakeview was a wooden station that was off of Crooks Ave just across the
border in Paterson. I vaguely remember it from when my mother would take
us to Ed White's Meat Market across the tracks from the station. It was
razed sometime in the '60s. The Clifton station was a red brick structure
located on the embankment at Clifton Ave. Again looking at
"Erie Power" the photo at the top of page 289 shows the line crossing Clifton
Ave. At the far left of the photo you can see the stairs that led up to
the station. Alas, sometime in the '80s the bridge was removed, the embankment
leveled and a strip mall built where the station was located. Finally,
Paterson Junction is where the Newark Branch was linked to the old Boonton
Line, not at XW as mentioned. I wish I had pictures, but for all the time
I spent shooting trains I never thought to photograph the stations.
Regards,
Dean
Coupland Sparta, NJ
Thanks,
Dean. I appreciate your comments and corrections.
July 4, 2001 -...As far as Clifton goes, you confuse the two railroads in town. Erie had three stations in Clifton, on two seperate lines. Lakeview was located between Central and Getty Avenues off Clifton ave where the strip mall stands now. It was located on a fill, which obviously, was taken away for the mall. The other stations existed on the Erie's Newark Branch and were Athenia, located on Clifton ave (now a Doctors office) and Allwood, located off Bloomfield Ave. (now a VFW hall, behind the resteraunt.) Hope this helps, - Dan
August
25, 2001 Hi - Great pictures as I am an EL fan. The overpass
looks like Broadway in Passaic. It's taken from the viaduct looking
towards Clifton and Garret Mountain in the background. I was also present
for the last train out of Passaic. The spikes were sold as a fund
raiser for my friend's father. I cried then and I'm crying today.
Thank you for the memories. ...editor's
note: Kellie included pictures of the Athenia station for NJT as it appears
in recent days. It is now labeled as "Clifton". We have put
them up under the "Athenia" captions above. She goes on..me
again. Here is a picture of the Clifton station on what is now the
mainline between Passaic Park and South Paterson. It is now called
Clifton. Athenia is a section of Clifton. I grew up in that
area. Passaic actually. This line did not connect to downtown Passaic.
I have two more pictures coming. One is another view of this station
and the other is the Athenia station on the Newark Branch... this is the
Athenia
Station from the Newark Branch. I think it's still there next
to the police station complex. As I said, I was a tomboy and we followed
every inch of the tracks in this area. Any more questions you have,
I might be able to answer.
-Kellie
Jo
March 14th, 2005
Pictures of the Van
Ness Plastic Molding Company on Brighton Avenue, Clifton, New Jersey.
The rail siding looking east. The rail siding looking further east. The rail siding looking west towards the Van Ness building. A look at the mainline? and how much lower is the siding to the plant. Pictures of the siding with the covered hoppers at the stub for unloading.
VN1 VN2 VN3
The
Passaic Branch
Old Lakeview
station area - Here's some pictures
of the Crooks Avenue crossing on July 11, 2001 of the Passaic Branch in
Clifton. A look east,
a look west
and
some sites that possibly are rements of the old station location for Lakeview?
The "Roxxie's
Gentlemen's Club" or the
restaurant? Where was it???
Dear Sir,
While surfing the net I came across you site regarding train stations in NJ. As it happens I worked at the Ed White meat market on Railway ave near Crooks Ave. in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I remember the train station well as it was directly across Railway Ave from Ed Whites. It had a siding which ended at the North end of the station. Every Monday a freight car from Rath Meats was pushed into the siding and we had to take an old truck over, back it to the RR car and unload untold numbers of beef forequarters and hindquarters. I was in my late teens at the time and it was tough work hauling 180 lb pieces of beef from the RR car to the truck. We usually stopped at the tavern (forget the name) on the far side of the tracks. It opened at 7 AM and the fellas did shots and beers before the work day began. I drank coffee.
One day in the around 1960, I was sweeping up the floor at Ed Whites when I looked out the window. A train was backing a load of freight cars onto the siding. Unfortunately, just prior to that a work crew had removed the "bumper" and before my eyes the freight cars plowed right into the station resulting in a tremendous crash and demolished the building.
I still can see it in slow motion today 43
years later. After the accident crews cleaned up the pile of timber and
the station was never rebuilt as there was no passenger traffic anyway.
Hopefully, this will add to you collection
of information.
Best Regards,
Edward Rafferty
It seems Ed has the answer to why we can't find the Lakeview Station. Smashed by a switching move!! Thanks, Ed. -JJ
General Commentary-
Well,
it seems the Passaic-Clifton area is probably the most confusing area of
the Erie, DL&W and Erie Lackawanna as to the relationship of
stations. It appears there were two Athenia stations one on the old
DL&W main and one on the Newark Branch. Then there was, not in any
specific order, Delawanna, Lakeview, Prospect Street, Harrison Street and
Passaic Park (now gone), Allwood, the Erie mainline Passaic station in
downtown Passaic and two Clifton stations one on the DL&W and one on
the old Erie mainline neither of these survived as the NJ Transit Clifton
station which is now the old DL&W Athenia station. I'm confused.
I've drawn some maps to reconcile all of this and put it up on this part
of the web site so everybody can see the different stations and their placement
along the lines old and new. - JJ
This is the position of the stations in the
Passaic-Clifton area in 1910 on the Old Erie mainline.
This is the position of the stations in the
Passaic-Clifton area in 1974 on the Erie Lackawanna mainline.
Light colored stations and towers plus listing
are abandoned . Full color stations still in operation in 1974.
This is the position of the stations in the
Passaic-Clifton area in 1974 on the Erie Lackawanna Newark Branch.
Well, enough on this subject. Let's
move on to:
Paterson
Junction (MP 13.6)
Paterson Junction
was built after the Erie Mainline was torn up in Passaic and linked the
old DL&W branch line with the Old Erie mainline. The trackage
for the old DL&W runs on as the Boonton Line which cuts off this new
mainline. The trackage from the old DL&W came in about 20 feet
higher than the tracks in the Paterson Yard line and dropped down to the
old Erie main (see correction above)
at XW tower (just beyond the Paterson yard). This trackage then continued
on as the new Erie Lackawanna mainline.
South
Paterson (MP 14.4)
The first station
in the City of Paterson heading westbound. This was a small shelter
type station for this was not a major stop even for commuter trains.
XW
Tower (MP 14.9)
This is the site
of the Paterson Yard and the XW tower was not far away. This yard
is still active and jammed with grain/pellet cars I assume some for Bay
State Milling (as of 8/15/01, sorry no pictures). It was also a very
active exchange point for the Erie Lackawanna. From here, as these
1973 pictures show, the Passaic branch with a multitude of industries in
Paterson, Clifton and Passaic, the yard served to classify cars, had a
turntable and usually two or three switchers assigned to it that were
used daily for local drills. In past steam years, it was used as
the terminus for passenger trains and had a four track passenger yard.
In the 1960's & 70's, those tracks were used for freight as were a
string of about nine other tracks
in
the Paterson yard. Here in pictures from the south
side (east end) of the yard, you can see how large a facility this
really was in 1973. The straight track coming right at you is the
beginning of the Passaic
Branch.
Date:
Thu, 11 Jan 2001 11:06:52 EST
Subject:
Paterson Yard
Joe,
Was
browsing your EL main line tour and have a few comments about the yard
in Paterson. In addition to the yard proper there more yard tracks on the
east side of the old main called the Iron Hole. That is where the scale
was located. Also access to a scrap yard. Also there was a motor car shop
(where I worked as a repairman) a six track team track yard with ramp and
crane. The crane was used to off load garbage truck bodies at the time.
Also Air Products Inc. used the team tracks to transfer from rail to truck.
The motor car shop was used for light/heavy repairs of the MofW truck fleet
in
the area. Also was base for repairmen that worked out of repair vans
assigned to Hoboken/Croxton and Paterson/Suffern north. West of NJ was
covered by the Port Jervis Repairman.
Hope
this helps,
Regards,
John
Durant
Thanks John. This is great information and helps everyone viewing these pictures understand the facilities better. -JJ
Paterson
(MP 15.6)
Paterson station
is high above the street
and is seen in these pictures from both
sides of the fill through Paterson.Beyond the station was the
freight house and the mainline continues westbound
to River Street.
Date: Fri, 23
Jul 1999 13:33:24 -0400 The DLW PATERSON "Marshall Street"
station was razed in the late 70's when Route 19 was being built. Jerome
Thank
you again, Jerome - JJ
Here is a picture
of
the OLD Paterson City station. Courtesy of Bruce A. Leemann.
River
Street (MP 16.6)
River Street
was a full size station on the mainline and apparently torn down in the
1980's. Thanks
Frank. HELP!
No pictures here either.- JJ
Hawthorne
(MP 17.7)
Hawthorne on
the mainline was represented by a closed and boarded up station building
and further down the line, a shelter
that appears to be made basically of mason blocks and seems to be in use.
This picture was taken in February of 1976 as was the two below of Glen
Rock.
Russ Panecki finally sent us a picture of better times at Hawthorne station when the station wasn't all boarded up in 1966. Bonus is an RS in Erie Lackawanna paint pullin a commuter train.
Here is link to Steve Hodell's site where he is in an NYS&W GP-18 at Hawthorne.
Glen
Rock (MP 19.4)
Glen
Rock on the mainline was a stone faced station. Here is the
view looking west toward WJ Tower. Most stations had a fence
between the eastbound and westbound tracks for the safety of boarding passengers.
If you look back at some of the other stations this type of fence and the
positioning of it was prevalant through out the New Jersey area even at
Hoboken.
The
Bergen County Line (BCL)
-
The Bergen County
Line is actually the old "Erie Mainline" up to Bergen Junction and through
to the Carlton Hill Station. The Bergen County cut-off and allowed through
freight trains to navigate a less populated area and a shorter route westbound.
This kept conflicts with many passenger movements to a minimum and gave
freight trains a faster route. The mainline in Passaic moved through
the heart of that city and freight would have tied up the downtown area
for hours. There were as many as ten roadway crossings in Passaic
alone. Paterson was also a hard city to navigate. The Bergen
County Line allowed long freights to avoid these areas and save much frustration
on everybodies part.
In the late 60's,
the bridge over the Passaic River in Rutherford/East Rutherford to Passaic
was taken out of service and Carlton Hill became the end of the old "Erie
Mainline". The Bergen County Line was left in tact, not only for
the fast freight reason, but because commuter traffic could "express" to
Hoboken on it. The stations that were abandoned on the old Erie Main
from being used by passenger trains, were Passaic Park (MP 10.3) just beyond
the Passaic River from Carlton Hill; Prospect Street (MP 11.0) at the southern
end of Passaic; the Passaic station (MP 11.5) itself which ended up close
to the end of the Passaic Branch from the Paterson Yard; Harrison
Street (MP 11.9) in the northern part of Passaic; the Clifton station at
MP 12.4; and Lakeview station in Clifton at MP 13.8.
Harmon
Cove (MP 5.3) & the Hackensack River Bridge/HX Tower (MP 5.6)
In
September 19, 1998, a picture of the shelter
facilities and tall towers around the Harmon Cove station.
You can see the Hackensack
River bridge in the background and then a look back
toward Croxton yard. Harmon Cove did not exist in 1973,
so there are no pictures to compare this area in terms of eras. In
1973, it was strictly meadowlands.
This is a 1973
picture of HX tower and the Hackensack
River bridge in the Secaucus meadowlands. Here the BCL passes
under the Route 3 bridge in the meadowlands.
This used to be a highly well maintained 4 track mainline from Jersey City
and is now, in 1973 reduced to 2 tracks.
Rutherford
(MP 8.4)
Just prior to
arriving at Rutherford, the New Jersey & New York Railroad cuts
off of the BCL (at the signal bridge in the distance) and heads north
at MP 7.4 to serve industries and also to provide commuter service to a
more eastern portion of New Jersey. A very rare Erie
Railroad sign here painted on the underpass between Rutherford and
East Rutherford survives to this day April 20, 2000. Rutherford
has a grand station on the BCL that dates back to 1898 as one of the first
suburban commuting communities outside of New York City. I
was born and raised in Rutherford, lived there in two different homes in
Rutherford for the first 25 years of my life. Although the town was
only a mile square, it was a busy borough of 17,000 people. From the station,
we look back
towards the meadowlands.
Rutherford
Junction/Bergen Junction (MP 8.9)
In
East Rutherford, across the tracks, and about 3 tenths of a mile west was
the East Rutherford Freight
house with two team tracks on a concrete/gravel pad and a track leading
to the freight house. A little further west and back on the Rutherford
side of the tracks was BJ Tower, the interlocking
control for the Bergen or Rutherford Junction between the old Erie mainline
and the Bergen County Line. In the foreground is the concrete building
that held maintenance track speeders and tools. A 'daily except
Sunday' drill came here to switch, pick up and deliver usually with the
switcher EL#443 and caboose C-154. The caboose was labeled "BJ Drill"
and apparently had no other assignments save this drill operation.
Below are some more pictures from this area on the Carlton Hill spur.
Carlton
Hill (MP 9.6)
The old Erie
mainline became a stub ended spur after the tracks were torn up in Passaic
and Carlton Hill became stranded on the spur. For a while the Erie
Lackawanna serviced passengers from Carlton Hill with two trains in the
AM moving east and two returning trains in the afternoon, but soon gave
up the ghost and terminated passenger service to Carlton Hill in the middle
1960's. The pictures here
show some of the industry
on this siding and spur including Royce
Chemical, Standard Bleachery, a paper box
company as well as other industries in 1973.
Here are some
pictures of the same area in 2003
from Michael Sullivan. Mike has put up a web site that
explores this area in recent days. You can find it at: Mike's
Site
Garfield
(MP 11.3)
The tracks
of the Bergen County Line went north off toward Garfield. Just outside
of the Rutherford area were industrial sidings and spurs to Printers Ink,
Sun Chemical Company and other industries in East Rutherford and Wallington.
Here we see the small mason block and wood shelter that stood as the Garfield
station on the BCL. After the station, the BCL traveled over
the Main Street of Garfield through this girder
bridge brightly painted with the local Chevrolet
dealer's advertising.
Plauderville
(MP 12.7)
Plauderville
was a very small plywood shelter. Here we look back on the Bergen
County Line toward Garfield and west
towards Fair Lawn.
Coalberg
Junction (MP 14.2) on the Erie/Erie Lackawanna = Passaic Junction (MP 17.4)
on the New York, Susquehanna & Western
The following
narration and pictures are courtesy of Howard Haines:
The right of way
leaves Plauderville (in Saddle Brook) and crosses Passaic
Junction or Coalberg
Junction along the Bergen County Line toward Fairlawn's
Broadway Station
(Route 4). Erie's Bergen County Railroad
crosses over
and interchanges
with the NYSW mainline.
Rush-hour autos
cross the Bergen County Line (on the Saddle Brook and East
Paterson border)
on Midland Ave in this September 1987 late afternoon
view
from the
bridge area, looking back toward Plauderville and Hoboken (compass
south, railroad
east). To the right of this picture was a printers, and tower (long
gone), and to
the left of the mainline had been,at one time or other, a coal dealer,
a turkey farm,
and more recently, ANZCO.
More pictures at Midland Avenue, first looking westbound
and then looking
eastbound
on November 4, 2003.
Turning 180 degrees,
the bridge carrying I-80 over the Bergen County line and
NJ
Parkway (and billboards for I-80) can be seen in the distance by looking
toward Waldwick
and Port Jervis (compass north, railroad west). There had been
an Erie tower
at almost this very location until the 1930s.
The namesake for
Passaic Junction is the NYSW branch line that
leaves the
NYSW main for
Passaic, seen from the bridge here in the center-left (compass
west, NYSW railroad
mainline north to Butler, NJ before dome cars).
The Erie Railroad
listed this location as Coalberg Junction because of a yard
holding the mountains
of coal stored for winter use during the late 19th and
early 20th centuries.
The junction was listed as Passaic Junction in the
1967 EL employee
timetable No. 6. The yard view from
the bridge (compass
east, railroad
south) shows a small remnant of the Coalberg Yard in September
1987 (before
the DO yard improvements of 1988). Just past Midland Avenue
to the right
of the tracks was the location of the commuter station razed in
the mid-1960s.
A few interesting
locomotives are in the yard including an ALCO S-2 NYSW
#206, an EMD
NW-2 O&W #112, and local EMD GP-18 NYSW #1800. They just came
back from the
Hoboken Festival. I caught Bluebird U34CH NJT #4151 crossing
Midland Ave with
S-2 NYSW #206 and NW-2 O&W 112 onthe
track from the Bergen
County Line to
the yard. The two older switchers were coming back from the
Hoboken Festival
and awaiting pickup. I was at the yard in the evening a few days
earlier when
the S-2 and NW-2 were delivered. The engineer touched the brake to
slow the train,
and the brakes on the S-2 locked up and would not release right in
the middle of
Midland Ave, stopping progress for a number of minutes.
From the yard,
there is a spring switch on the main line just behind the
second Stillwell
in this November 1968 view of EL Train #1117
out of Hoboken.
The RS-3 rushes
to Fairlawn's Broadway Station from Plauderville in less than
3 minutes.
Time is about 5:30 PM, and Shaffer Beer is being advertised on the
billboard for
I-80. The photo was taken on Tri-X (ASA 400) into the sun with the
camera my Dad
used in college--a Detrolla 127 half-frame f3.5 camera from the
late 1930s.
More on this little hamlet later. For now, onto Fairlawn!
Here are some more Coalberg Junction area pictures from 2001. Some things change, others stay the same. Midland Avenue, Saddle Brook crossing looking east and looking west. A NJT commuter train crosses Midland Avenue. Here's the front, middle and rear of it from a distance.
These are pictures of the NYS&W Coalberg Yard from two blocks from Midland Avenue at the throat of the yard. Loaded with large covered hoppers. Here is the other side as the NYS&W crosses the road.
Broadway-Fair
Lawn (MP 15.3)
Broadway
at Fair Lawn was just beyond the bridge over Route 4 and was a larger shelter
on the tracks.
Radburn-Fair
Lawn (MP 16.5)
Radburn
at Fair Lawn was a large station almost barn
like structure in appearance.
Glen
Rock (MP 18.2)
The Glen
Rock station on the Bergen County Line was less than a half a mile
from the Glen Rock station on the mainline. It also resembled slightly
more than a shelter in February 1976.
We
Join Up With the Mainline Again
Ridgewood
Junction (MP 20.2)
Ridgewood Junction
(WJ Tower) is the point of rejoining the
Bergen County line with the Mainline. This picture shows the
junction and the small concrete maintenance
shed that was there in 1971. You can just see the
tower beyond the 3 headed signal stantion. The mainline here
comes in as a four track main, two from each of the mainline and Bergen
County Line.
Ridgewood
(MP 20.9)
Ridgewood station
not shown here in 1998 during the Erie Streamliner fan trip. Sorry
if the pictures of the
trains get in the way as we look west. Basically situated in
the center of town, Ridgewood
station sits slightly above the street level and has a roadway underpass
just east of it. Here's
Ridgewood
as it is in recent days 10/20/02
Ho-Ho-Kus
(MP 22.1)
The Ho-Ho-Kus
station on the Erie Lackawanna is composed of two station buildings.
On the westbound side was a large stone
station facility (pictures are from August 1975) while on the eastbound
side there was an elongated shelter
with the main structure in the middle built into the side of the cliff.
The stations and tracks were built on a fill about 20 feet above street
level. Here is a more recent picture of both the
shelter and the station
on 10/20/02.
Waldwick
(MP 23.2)
The Waldwick
Station area was a major facility on the Erie Lackawanna mainline.
Tony Horn sent me black & white pictures of the Waldwick station both
front
and rear. These look like
they were taken in the 1960's.
I have an extensive
collection of pictures of this station and the surrounding facilities.
These are only a few of them. This first picture is from November 1971
looking westbound with the station
on the right. The area around the station in that photo looks "grungy"
in 1971. The second picture is of the station from on top of the
pedistrian bridge looking down at the back end of a push-pull
in the failing light of evening in October 1972. This third series
is from Feb. 20, 1976 and essentially
shows the station from a couple of angles. Why did I do this?
Why is the front page of this web site marked "Train Nut Central"?
Actually I used these pictures to scratchbuild a model of this station
for my model railroad. Here you can see the pedistrian
bridge in the distance looking from east to west. The fourth
series of pictures is from October 11, 1997 while I waited for the C&O
#614 steam excursion to appear on the scene. This is the pedistrian
bridge over the three track mainline just east of the station and some
views looking
east
and west from Waldwick
station. And the station itself east
side, west side,
and from the top. Some
changes to the station, the main one being the New Jersey Transit sign
on the station and the general condition of the surrounding area is much
improved and looks cleaner. As we head trackside
westbound
we look at the signal bridge before
the WC Tower. I just really liked this station with all the gingerbread
on the roof and the ornate edging and trusses. It was a challenge
to model and, of course, as usual, I have no really good pictures of the
finished model.
And finally
a special picture of Waldwick on October 23, 1949, during the
Erie
steam days with a line up of Erie Pacific's ready for the morning run
to Hoboken (photo courtesy of Walter
J. Conklin IV).
-
WC
Tower (MP 23.5) and the commuter storage yard
Here is a visual
of the aging of the WC Tower. The first two pictures
were taken on February 20, 1972 and shows some signs of disrepair but in
operating
condition. This picture taken later on October 11, 1997 show it at
its worst (so far) condition, totally
boarded up and out of commission. This is a picture of the Waldwick
yard where anywhere from two to ten passenger trains were stored overnight
for the commuter rush. Two pictures of the wye
for turning single ended engines
for the return trip. Again, sorry about the trains getting in the
way. And here is a host of pictures
of the front end (east) of the yard
with various motive power
and commuter sets parked.
Looking back from the crossing near Allendale you can see the west
end of the yard.
Allendale
(MP 24.6)
The Allendale
station was a long building with
the usual gray and faded maroon (possibly box car red) treatment that most
stations seem to get in this era (Nov. 1971).
Ramsey
(MP 26.5)
The Ramsey
station shown here in two pieces from
across the tracks, seemed to be a well kept structure which still functioned
for passengers in these February 1976 pictures. I took these two
pictures, had them enlarged to HO scale and used them taped together as
the Ramsey station on my Bridgewater layout. There was no room for
a model against the wall so the pictures took its place.
Mahwah
(MP 29.1)
From Mahwah,
we look back toward the Ramsey
area. The Mahwah Station
shown here in three different
views
in 1965. Pictures courtesy of Tony Horn (See below).
This appears
to be the original station at Mahwah, NJ.
Date: Sat, 24
Jul 1999 14:48:06 Joe: Attached are photos
of the original Mahwah station, which had been moved west(?) of the present
station. These pictures were taken in 1965. The old station
was just being renovated (check new roof) for use by the Historical Society.
Perhaps they will be of some use to you in your ROW page. Pictures
are JPEG. Thought I had side 1, but it isn't on file. If you're
interested, I'll rescan it and send it to you.Tony
Horn - ELHS #2 Thanks,
Tony. Anybody else with photos of any stations on the ROW, please
send them.
In 1971 (trackside) and in 1973
(streetside),
I took these pictures of a Mahwah station. It's definately a different
building. The second station has/had a stuco covered finish on the
outside (almost a California style to it) and a brick strip around it under
the windows with what looks like a stone basement. It also had an
old Erie wood caboose on the west side of it (Sorry, no picture).
Don't know whether
that's still there or not?? Lets look forward
towards Suffern with two different views in Nov. 1971 and in
1973.
Suffern
(MP 30.5)
Here's a picture
of the Suffern station from across
the tracks in 1976. Suffern is the first station on the mainline
outside of New Jersey and physically in the state of New York. Here's
a look back toward the preserved freight
station from the entrance to the Hillburn yard.
SF
Tower (MP 30.9)
The leaning tower
of Suffern propped up with pieces of wood
just visable in both pictures behind the tower. What a sight.
Tucked under the New York State Thruway, it proudly
stood
at the east end of the Suffern/Hillburn yard. The yard stored passenger
commuter sets (still does) and further west, freight storage mostly to
be transferred into the Mahwah Ford plant slightly south and east of the
yard. From the top of the NYS
Thruway, we look down on the yard and see
some of its uses as well as a
through freight with SD's on the head end. The Ford plant is
shut down and no longer a customer. In recent days (April 1999) it
had a large amount of grain cars parked in it. The Paterson yard
was overrun with grain cars for Bay State Milling and the overflow, I'm
told, ended up here. Here's the west
end of the Hillburn yard. There always was a lot of different
motive power at Hillburn and here are some of the engines
found in the Hillburn yardat
various times from 1971 to
1976. And various passenger
cars and sets of commuter trains.
Chester
Station (MP 54.2)
An old picture
of the Chester, New York station. Looks
like a tool shed but really is the station that existed near the turn of
the century (1900) courtesy of Bruce Leemann.
Middletown
Station (MP 66.0)
Here is a picture
of the Middletown, New York Station
courtesy of Walter Conklin.
Otisville,
New York (MP 73.8)
Some very old
pictures of Otisville, NY on the mainline
courtesy of Bruce A. Leemann
To see the ROW of the Port Jervis
(MP 86.0 to 89.7) area that exists in its 1997state,
click here
to go to our Port Jervis Photo Essay page.
-
This is a signficant jump down
the line to the old DL&W in Pennsylvania.
Here's pictures of the
Tunkhannock Viaduct in Nicholson, Pennsylvania.
TV1TV2TV3TV4
TV5
Newark Branch
Newark
(MP 8.0)
A real old picture of the Newark station
before it's expansion to today's station courtesy of Bruce Leeman.
Dear
Joe: Recently found your web site...However I'm a little confused
about by the note about the Newark, NJ station. It says that it is a picture
of the station before it's expansion to today's terminal. Unless
something remarkable has happened in recent times, the station pictured
is the Erie 4th Street Station, not the Lackawanna Broad Street Station.
The old Erie station, I believe, was razed some years ago.
The Broad Street station still is, of course, remarkably still used.
Hope this helps.
-Marty
Humphrey
Editors Note: Marty's right! Open mouth,
insert foot. I'm wrong again. -JJ
North
Newark (MP 8.6)
A real old picture of the North Newark
station before it's demise courtesy of Bruce Leemann.
Northern
Branch
Some very old
pictures of a station on the Northern Branch courtesy of Bruce A. Leemann
South Nyack station (MP 27.6)
The New Jersey & New York Railroad (Coming Soon)
The
Old Road (Washington to Portland) MP 73.61
Oxford,
New Jersey station from the past courtesy of Bruce Sterns
The
Greenwood Lake Branch
Mountain
Ave., Montclair (MP 14.0)
A very old picture
of this ivy covered station courtesy of Bruce
Leemann. Take a look at the picture on the New Jersey Train Station's web
site and compare the difference in the station
today.
The
Boonton Line
Little
Falls, NJ (MP 18.4)
Working in the
Cedar Grove area, I came across the Little
Falls Station and took a picture at
Center Street just west of the Little Falls station looking back
towards the station.
The
Caldwell Branch
Verona,
New Jersey (MP 19.9)
A picture of
the Verona, New Jersey station from olden
days courtesy of Bruce Leemann.
The
Gladstone (a/k/a Happy Rock) Branch
also one picture
of the Hoboken terminal area approaching the terminal through all those
double slip switches and crossings. See MP 0.0
New Providence (MP 21.79)
Murray Hill (MP 23.38)
Berkeley Heights (MP 25.76)
Gillette (MP 27.14)
Stirling (MP 28.50)
Millington
(MP 30.12)
Millington
Station, now a lunch counter. The black X on the right is
what's left of
the semaphore trainorder board. Second
picture is a shot
down the side
of the train watching the platform as the conductor gives two on
the buzzer.
Lyons (MP 31.77)
Basking Ridge (MP 33.64)
Bernardsville (MP 34.80)
Mine Brook (MP 37.45)
Far
Hills (MP 38.95)
West
end of Far Hills Interlocking, which didn't come out to well. A meet
on the Far Hills sidingwith
a west bound train. The Far Hills freight house is the structure
on the right. Approaching
county route 512 and the Hog
Back Bridge in the morning light going east. Approaching Hogback
bridge going west.
I think the dirty window caused the pictures to come out blurry/foggy like.
Peapack
(MP 41.34)
Approaching
and at Pea Pack Station.
Gladstone
(MP 42.26)
Gladstone
yard with NJT trains in storage. CP
East Gladstone. At CP East
Gladstone and entering the yard. Gladstone
Station. More passenger
station. Station platform.
Gladstone Freight house from a distance
and close up.
Approaching CP east Gladstone
westbound. Shot of the train after it was tied down with a layover
train next to the freight house for the Monday morning rush hour.
A host of pictures relating to Gladstone yard derails: Track one
pictures 1 23
4.
Track two pictures 1 2
.
2-28-02
Tioga
Branch/Division
Tioga
Junction, PA (MP 23.4 from Elmira,
New York)
The
station at Tioga Junction. Very old picture
from Bruce Leemann. Track abandonments:
Elmira
- Tioga Junction 1942 (after 1942 the Erie used NYC trackage
rights from Corning to Lawrenceville)
Passenger
service discontinued Corning - Blossburg 1932
Elmira - Tioga Jct. Aug. 11, 1942
New
York Central had trackage rights from Lawrenceville to Blossburg.
Crawford
Branch
Pine
Bush (MP13.4 from Middletown, NY)
A
picture of the old station at Pine Bush.
Courtesy of Bruce A. Leemann.
2-28-02
WOW!
We did get some responses on the pictures below. Save your emails.
The contest is over. We have three winners. Thank you for your
overwhelming reponse to this contest. We have replicated the correct
answers to these Mystery Stations underneath each picture of them and identified
the winners. We really have some great researchers out there and in all
fairness Station #2 was the hardest.
Three
mystery pictures of stations that we had no idea where or what they are.
All
courtesy of Bruce A. Leemann.
Mystery
station
# 1 has been identified as the Newburgh, New York station which had
been adjacent to the West Shore RR (NYC) and the structure/walkway above
it led to their station. Here is the detail from the winner
, Randy Lambertus:
Hello Joe,
I believe
I have identified one of the three "Mystery" pictures you
posted,
Here is my argument........
I could
make out some letters in the peak of the station, where the
station
name should exist. The letters were a distinct "E", and then two
letters
later something that looked like an "E", "F, or "B".
I also spotted
the sign at the bottom of the stairs, directing
passengers
to the West Shore Railroad. The sign points to the left and
up.
Checking
connections with the West Shore RR along the river, I found the
following
points and railroads.
Kingston
(NYOW)
Highland
(New Haven)
Newburgh
(Erie)
Cornwall
(NYOW)
West Haverstraw
(Erie)
Orangebrug
(Erie)
Of the three
Erie connections, the only one that matched letters in the
correct
order was "Newburgh". Staring at the picture again, you can make
out the
"W", "B" and "U", all in order. Not easy, but if you do it long
enough
it comes out.
Now to verify,
I searched for pictures. I did find this one of the West
Shore RR
station. Compare the aspect to your view. Especially the square
chimney,
which on the old photo, shows up in the white space over the
platform
at the top of the stairs.
I believe
the Erie station was below and east of the West Shore grade,
hence the
stairs visible, and the overhead bridge leading west, up, and
out of
the Erie station, and over to the other side of the West Shore
tracks.
Here is that aspect on George Elwood's web site.
http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/nyc/nyc-ws-station.jpg
He also has two other shots of the front of the West Shore RR station.
http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/nyc/nyc-ws-station-b.jpg
http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/nyc/nyc-ws-station-c.jpg
Finally,
another link, and here it is referred to as the "West Shore
Station
(Erie RR)" at URL http://www.newburgh-ny.com/savingnb/index.htm
Perhaps
the two railroads combined their stations into one new one? Here
is that
image:
http://www.newburgh-ny.com/savingnb/erie.htm
There is
not much other information about the Erie station at Newburgh
on the
internet. I hope some others can corroborate it.
Anyway, the other two are still a mystery, but I am still searching.
Regards,
Randy.
Mystery
station
# 2 has been identified as the Chester, New York station which
had been built 3/4 of a mile west of Greycourt on the Erie. Here
is the detail from the winner, Joseph
M. Ferris:
Joe,
I thought that
I would share the information that I have on the station
so that you could
have it for your web site, assuming that this is the
correct station:
The original station
was built at the eastern end of the Village of
Chester in 1853,
approximately 3/4 of a mile west of Greycourt. It was
the first Erie
station that was manned, along with the one in Goshen.
Chester became
an important stop along the Erie because of the high
quality dairy
products that were (and still are) produced there.
In late 1914,
the new station was built about 100 feet to the west of
the original
station (which is the one pictured). The new Erie Depot
was completed
and opened in 1915. At that time, the original station
survived, being
reclassified to a freight house. It survived until the
1940's or 1950's,
at which point it no longer showed on any maps of the
town. It
was also around this time that the spurs which ran off of the
main line into
town - to a feed supply and various other business
located within
500 feet of the station - were removed. (I do have the
names of the
businesses that were served, as well - I just need to look
them up if you
would like them).
Up until this
time, I have never been able to locate a picture of this
station - so
this picture might truly be a rarity.
Thanks,
Joseph
Mystery station # 3 has been identified as the Mountain Avenue Station in Montclair, New Jersey by Matt Klemchalk:
...And #3....
A very Ivy-covered Mountain Avenue, Montclair. See the photo today. It seems to be the same structure.
http://www.njtrainstations.com/existing/stations/mountainave.htm
Matt
The winners noted above have received
a Branchline kit #1029
Erie #63201Berwick Boxcar 50' built
1956, delivery scheme, BCred,
Black ends & Roof, with white
lettering and large diamond herald. These gentlemen have won because they
had the first email with the correct answers!!!!!
Thanks to all participants for your
reponse to this MYSTERY STATION CONTEST.
2-28-02 New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad
Wyckoff
An old picture of the Wyckoff,
NJ station courtesy of Bruce Leemann.
7/3/01
- Morristown & Erie Right of Way
Here
are a couple of pictures of the M&E right of way in East Hanover, NJ
taken 4-14-01 while doing surveying work on an adjacent property.
Looking
east
and west.
Yes, those rippling lines are the rail. Happy tracking!!!
In
November of 2000, Tony Horn contacted me to put up this picture of the
model of the Starrucca Viaduct.
His original email follows with a description of the kit and pricing.
Let me emphasize that 20th Century Hobbies, will NOT have this kit in stock
so get in touch with the manufacturer directly at:
www.modelrailroadstoneworks.com
From Tony Horn
Specifics on kits:
#2001 Erie Starrucca Viaduct (5 arches, 2
tracks) $149.95 plus $14.95 s/h
Detailed plaster castings which assemble to
make a compressed version of
the real bridge. The completed bridge
has the following scale feet (actual)
dimensions: 296' (40 3/4") long, 26' (3 3/4")
wide, and 92' (12 3/4")
high.
#2002 Extension Kit $39.95 $11.95 s/h
Extra central arch, pier, and coping to increase
the length by 56' (73/4").
Nice castings. Requires sanding at all
flat joints (ends of arches and
bottom of arch where it meets pier; top of
pier. Half arches for each end.
half arch-pier bottom-half arch sections;
piers, coping for edges of top;
thin cut homosote pieces for roadbed between
side coping pieces.
Separate pieces (delayed, but backordered)
for the four extensions at the end of
each arch where they meet the piers.
Haven't started on the bridge yet. It
looks as though the sanding to make
close joints will be the most work.
Hope to finish the module base within
the next two weeks and start on assembling
the bridge around Thanksgiving.
When I get the bridge assembled will take
a picture and pass along a .jpeg
image for someone to post....
Made by the same company that does the PRR
rock bridges. Lackawanna fans,
eat your hearts out!! (But contact them
to see if they might do one for the
Lackawanna side.)
Model Railroad StoneWorks
PMB 13235 Summit Square Center
Rt. 413 & Doublewoods Road
Langhorne, PA 19047
215-321-1331 (voice)
215-321-1332 (fax)
Tony
Horn
ELHS #2
Here are some links to augment
the ROW page on other web sites.
-
You can take a side trip up
the Greenwood Lake Branch of the
old ERIE courtesy of Fred Stratton if you click here.
-
You can also see some of the
sites along the ROW between Suffern and Port Jervis on this site of the
Conrail Southern Tier/Middletown & New Jersey Railway Historical societies'
joint
website
-
Click here, for pictures of
more stations of all railroads in New
York State,
Click here, for more stations
& structures of the Erie
Lackawanna
To continue the Erie Lackawanna
right of way travel, you can link to this on George Elwood's site. This
is a combination of a variety of trips taken by Kevin DeGroff from Buffalo,
New York to Hornell, New York and has pictures of the Right of Way on Conrail's
Southern Tier from west to east including most of the old DL&W
mainline to Buffalo, NY.
-
Also on George Elwood's site
is a combination of many trips, again from Kevin DeGroff, between the years
of 1987 to 1999, from Sterling, Ohio along the Erie
Lackawanna mainline to Almond, New York, west to east. This is a continuation
of the
right of way from Chicago, IL.
-
Still Under
Construction
Sorry, that's it for now.
We also would like to note that we accept any comments, corrections or
updates on our verbage to represent a fair and correct version of this
presentation.
I've exhausted my pictures of
the Right Of Way for the Erie Lackawanna, so
if you got 'em, send 'em. All
are welcome. - Joe Jordan.
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