Abandoned section near Summit

CAR_FLOATER wrote:P.S. - Andy, as far as I know, the West Line Ave in Union is an unsubstantiated rumor, but I agree, it is pretty suspicious! I plan to confirm or deny that this year thru some serious research.

I can't find any smoking guns, but if you can find the original 1923 - not 1951 reprint (and update) - Sanborn atlas of Union Township, there may be enough to put it together.

AndyB wrote: I know there is a West Line Avenue in Union, NJ that was part of a graded right of way for the West Line RR but never built on
West Line Ave. Union,NJ
Where are the remnants in Summit?

Pretty neat. You can see the property line boundaries still look like a linear R.O.W. next to the street.

I have some feeling I have seen mentioned (and seen on a map) something else similar about NJ West line further south in Union or Hillside maybe -- one or two short streets named "Railroad"(???) or similar (???) not close to any tracks that are next to NJ West line R.o.W. Beats me where though! JS

To answer the last few questions, while I have not "performed" an all-out expedition of the line, I did recently find a map that did show the property ROW thru Millburn and into Union. Using modern day satelite images, it appears that after it crossed Rt 124 and into the parking lot of the Target, it is all but obliterated by I-78, but if other "clues" are to believed, the line would have met up with the Hillside Branch ROW just west of the Squibb plant by Rt. 22.

This Fall once the foliage goes away a bit, I'd like to walk the ROW thru Millburn.

CF

pumpers wrote: ... I have some feeling I have seen mentioned (and seen on a map) something else similar about NJ West line further south in Union or Hillside maybe -- one or two short streets named "Railroad"(???) or similar (???) not close to any tracks that are next to NJ West line R.o.W. Beats me where though! JS

Well, I found it. Not a big secret, on wikipedia of all places. It wasn't down near Hillside, but between Valley Rd and Springfield Ave right by West Line Ave.
It is "East Side Ave" and "West Side Ave" on opposite sides of the RoW.
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=40.718 ... NJ%2007040
Note none of these 3 streets are on this1923 map, but the schematic RoW is clearly shown:
http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/UNION_COUNT ... y_1923.jpg
The Sanborn 1923 insurance map ("reprinted 1951", but I think it added new streets...), shows all 3 streets though, with both East Side and West Side Ave's going all the way from Valley Rd to Springfield Ave.
JS

JS
Are you referring to the ROW as the two unidentified lines parallel and just west of Vaux Hall Rd. and running almost down to Burnett Ave?
Very interesting!
I'll have to go back to the Rutgers maps again.
One of them showed the proposed NJW ROW going around the north side of Summit, then using the present Rt. 24 aligment to Rt. 78 then roughly east on the Rt.78 aligment to connect with the New Jersey RR (Penn RR) about the same location as the NJT connection (ex- Lehigh Valley)
Andy Brusgard

AndyB wrote:JS
Are you referring to the ROW as the two unidentified lines parallel and just west of Vaux Hall Rd. and running almost down to Burnett Ave?
Very interesting!

Yes, I am just guessing it is NJWL, but based on those street names we just discussed, it seems likely. JS

JS,
I found the map I was referring to. It is from 1872.
It is listed as Hudson County but covers Union and Essex Counties also.
Just one of the curve balls researching will throw at you.
I have to agree, the ROW you point out west of Vaux Hall Rd. is the same as on this 1872 map.
Though the streets/roads are not identified the New Jersey West Line is.
Next - identify all the streets on this map between Vaux Hall Rd/Burnet Ave in Union to the
connection with the New Jersey Railroad (PRR) in South Newark. Note it appears
to be the same location the Lehigh Valley made its connection. Then overlay it
to a modern map. Maybe the LV purchased sections of the ROW from NJWL?
Going west through Hobart Gap would have been some grade!

http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/1872Atlas/H ... x_1872.jpg

Andy Brusgard

Andy, JS -

While the NJWL connection to the PRR might have been in the same general place, I'd like to clearly point out that the route of the line would have brought it into line with the current Irvington Branch at what was then known as Lyon's Farm, and then assuming the current ROW though Hillside to NK/Hunter. I have ROW maps that clearly show this to be so.

CF

CAR_FLOATER wrote:Andy, JS -
While the NJWL connection to the PRR might have been in the same general place, I'd like to clearly point out that the route of the line would have brought it into line with the current Irvington Branch at what was then known as Lyon's Farm, and then assuming the current ROW though Hillside to NK/Hunter. I have ROW maps that clearly show this to be so.
CF

I was looking at the map linked by Andy and modern ones and thinking the same thing about the Irvington Br. That section of the LV mainline was built around 1889-1890 (Newark and Roselle Railway), but the Irvington branch came later, 1904, according to the following link: http://www.hillsidepubliclibrary.org/im ... stries.pdf. I wonder if title or legal rights to that RoW went from NJWL to LV, or if LV started over.
JS
After all of this I realized I have a map on my living room wall (for over 20 years) of a late 1800's atlas map of Somerset country, showing the NJWL. (sure had me puzzled when I first got the map because it showed the line as if it were already built). Anyway, it might be from the same atlas as the that from the link from Andy.

EDIT: 1. looking carefully, the NJWL RoW doesn't correspond exactly to the Irvington Branch, but I don't think these lines of proposed RR's were drawn too accurately on maps.
2. The LV/ NJWL relationship is probably no accident -- I think Asa Packer of LV controlled it at one point, trying to connect his Pennsylvania LV across NJ to NY harbor. This was around the time of the Summit to Jersey city proposed extension, but then he soon found a better route (the present one) and gave up on NJWL. The "Lehigh Valley Terminal RR" wikipedia link says that the location of the LV terminal in Jersey city (just south of the Morris Canal exit),was bought by LV in 1872 for NJWL (and later used for the modern LV).