Elizabethport Secondary

OK lets try this again.....

Does anyone know what the latest is on this former stretch of CNJ Main Line track?. I know that the segment through mid-town Elizabeth is OOS, but are there any freight customers to the west?.

From what I have read the ROW is preserved for future Light Rail, but it strikes me funny that NS or CSX would not want this route for freight as they would have it to themselves for quite a while to come, and it would take traffic off the congested Leigh Main.

Ken

There are some rumors floating around that the big guys have NOT forgotten about the CNJ main through Elizabeth and the CNJ main (RVL) and out west of High Bridge too.

I have heard that there have been various impromptu meetings in the not to distant past between NS adn CSX with NJT discussing the CNJ main through Elizabeth and the OOS portion west of High Bridge, including the missing link over I78.

The only thing is if anything is going to get done by the freight RR's, they are goign to have to do something or work with NJT before the NERL gets built on the ROW (if it ever gets down there)

To answer the specific question, there are no active freight customers between the Aldene connection and Elizabeth. There is one customer right opposite the Aldene ramp, but noe east of that.

And, to answer a question the OP didn't ask, there is a customer west of Division St. and north of Trumball St., pretty much at the switch where the branch down Broadway came off the CNJ main - indeed the Broadway Branch has become the business's siding (originally a scrap yard, now a lumber/building products reload) - this I think is the only active customer off the CNJ main West of ElizabethPort yard.

Two more things that I remembered from my orginal post concerning this section of CNJ main.

1. Per a document about Light Rail use of the line, both the Newark-
Elizabeth leg and the future Union County segment, the ROW is
"reserved" for 2 freight tracks and 2 Light Rail tracks. It did
not state who owns the ROW, is it the state???, or NS???

2. Just after the Conrail Sale closed, I saw what looked like a MOW
train just east of the NEC crossover, at first I thought that
it might be a inspection trip, but thats the last I ever saw of
any train on this segment.

Ken

Per a document about Light Rail use of the line, both the Newark-
Elizabeth leg and the future Union County segment, the ROW is
"reserved" for 2 freight tracks and 2 Light Rail tracks.

How far west is that reservation? There is severe encroachment on the ROW between Elizabethport and Aldene, by businesses (but not by homes or apartment buildings); also, on the space for the local tracks, NJT now has the pillars that support the high platforms for their NEC station standing on there, cutting it down to two tracks. Assuming light rail and heavy rail sharing the ROW out to Aldene and possibly Cranford RR station, there is a lot of encroachment to get rid of, not to mention rebuilding the supports for the NEC station's high platforms.

It did not state who owns the ROW, is it the state??? or NS???

AFAIK, the State of NJ owns the ROW, but I could be mistaken. BTW, the Secondary is now called the Elizabeth Industrial Track.

Jtgshu wrote:I have heard that there have been various impromptu meetings in the not too distant past between NS and CSX with NJT discussing the CNJ main through Elizabeth and the OOS portion west of High Bridge, including the missing link over I-78

Pity that any further west than Phillipsburg is not currently under consideration by the state of PA. Not to mention that the CNJ main in Freemansburg PA now has houses on it.

Allow me to put in a gratuitous pic of the old Elizabethport Station, something that NJDOT saw fit to completely demolish >:-( used to be the only station in Elizabeth with a high platform, too...you get rid of too much extant infrastructure, it only costs more in the long run to rebuild from scratch...

If you search NJTransit's website there is a section on future and pending projects (you really have to hunto to find it), and there is a PDF document on proposed Light Rail use of this ROW. This is where using the 4 track ROW is discussed.

BTW, Great Photo of one of the "Scoots". Judging by the looks of things I would say that this is from the twilight of the shuttle service. I have fond memories of the CNJ Budd Cars, as my Mom worked 2 blocks from the Broad Street Station. If she was working late my Father and I would go to get her, and we would arrive early and watch the Budd Cars as they would arrive and depart for Elizabethport. After the "Aldene Plan" I remember some of the Budds worked the Newark to Raritan run, but that did not last long, and I assume that the fleet became the domain of the shuttle trains until their mistaken demise.

Ken

I believe that NJ had purchased the entire NJ portion of the CNJ mainline, but am not certain. As to the encroachments, that should not be an obstacle as under NJ law, no one can take owenership by adbverse possession against a railroad or government-owned land.

Does anyone think realistically that the Former CNJ Mainline will ever be used again for freight traiffc?

Realistically, no. The Lehigh Line is quite adequate for NS/CSX current purposes. Not to mention that they do not wish to have to deal with NJ Transit where not utterly necessary...

Also, is there a particular segment of the CNJ main that you are speaking of? The CNJ main is still used for freight traffic in Bayonne and Jersey City. Do you mean the whole line in general, or the subject of this thread, namely the NJ Transit-owned Elizabeth Industrial Track? (BTW, NS/CSX still uses the CNJ freight yards adjacent to Trumbull Street in Elizabeth.)

Probably the most "sacred" section of railroad track to me in all the world is the CNJ mainline between E'Port and Cranford - in particular the section between Broad St. and E'port. This is what I'd always considered my "home track", having discovered trains on these very tracks when I was "a young lad". All my best rail experiences, my best photos, my most exciting sightings, my best memories happened at Broad St. Elizabeth and on the rails past Sacred Heart Church (my old parrish) on Rt.1 and Spring St, then continuing to the "mecca" of CNJ (no, not Jersey City) -- Elizabethport Station, with the various platforms, diamonds, hidden spurs and funky equipment....
As much as I wish, dream, desire, imagine and pray for a resumption of revenue service along this mainline, I highly doubt it will come to fruition. I'd love to see it happen...I'd even settle for "rail lite" (as I call it)....but its hard to imagine trains running there unless a few businesses actually came "online" along the way (and gave them a reason to bring back the trains). NS doesn't need it, they'll continue to use LV's old mainline. Yes it makes sense to send freight to points west from the port, but to be honest you'd have all those crossings in Roselle, you'd need to put up fences all along the way...etc etc etc.... I'd kinda'sorta' hoped Rahway Valley might be able to do "something" between the E'port interchange and Cranford...but thats a pipe dream.
I pray the railroad gods prove me wrong and we'll see NS deisels pulling freight under the old Pennsylvania mainline through Broad St. and out to points west...but.... (sigh....)

(I don't like smilie's... I'll continue to make my own...) 8-P

BigDell

How many trains does CSX run the may use Elizabethport and head west? Also, does anyone know how many trains NS runs into/out of E-Rail? Obviuosly. those trains leaving E-Port & E-Rail would have a more direct route using the old CNJ as opposed to going up the Chemical Coast and through Oak Island onto the Lehigh Line before reaching the old CNJ again at Aldene. It probably won't happen, but it is a nice wish.

I think the best chance we have of seeing that one stretch of track used again would be if the M&E used it as a transfer yard.

###

I love that picture of E'port, by the way... I have to scan some of my old ones and put them up in the CNJ forum - I have a couple that are really interesting... Motive power mixes, interesting MOW equipment in the Red and White scheme, etc...

Has there been ANY movment at all on the literail project from Elizabeth? Is that really going to happen or is it just one of those "maybe someday, possibly 2020, if ever, gee that'd be neat, but..." kind of things...?

Sigh.... Freight.... needs freight. That ROW seems like such a GREAT place to move freight from the port to points west.. I can't believe they are not jumping on that resource, NJT or no NJT....

BigDell