Railroad ROW in Meadowlands??

Maps of the meadowlands show what appears to have been a RR ROW going basically N/S hugging the West side of the Hackensack river and crossing the NEC at N 40.75293 W 74.09684 Goes under the NJ tpke, crosses the NY&GL N 40.75883 W 74.09487 then appears to have been causeway over the meadowlands on north. Was this ever a rail line? or just a road at some time?
1909 Kearny map shows a "Branch A Erie RR" ??? http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... +++Kearny/

hmm, maybe it led to a dock or something. But if you look at a map now, there's no indication of anything spuring off. Its all mud where that spur would've been.

The 1909 map showed a 'spur to nowhere' at about that location marked "Branch A Erie RR". The existing berm sure looks like it could have been a RR spur at one time. Have no idea what for or even if it was a road...for what??

Methinks this is one of those "railroads that never were" maps.....I mean, if I follow the Google satelite image to the map like I think I am, that branch on the west side of the Hackensack would connect to the PRR/NEC (which wasn't even there then, was it?). As far as I know, no PRR-Erie connection ever existed there, unless we are talking about pre-1900, pre-PRR/pre-Erie trackage.
Looking forward to getting to the bottom of this one.

CF

I don't have a copy near me, but it sounds like the original alignment of the New York & Greenwood Lake described in an issue of the NJMRHS Midlander Trainsheet. There was a convoluted routing at one time through this area that I know the Erie called Line A. There were at least 3 re-routings of the NY&GL between the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Here's another period map (1909)showing "Branch A" going East then North of the jct of the NY&GL, the Newark Branch and the spur (Arlington RR) down to the old Newark Branch (Newark & Hudson RR) in the Meadowlands, and tailing off to nowhere at about what was then Saw Mill Creek.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/U ... rsey+City/

and in 1934 the ROW still shows:

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... ew+Jersey/

Compare to current...and see where a spur may have started south of the PRR and gone up to where the Branch A was supposedly. Outline of an old ROW os sometime is clearly there...road or RR ....who knows???

http://mapper1.acme.com/save.cgi?lat=40 ... =2&dot=Yes

Well, I don't think it had anything to do with Erie "line A". The maps just show a spur ending at Saw Mill Creek as mentioned.

What is more interesting is http://historicaerials.com (enter Kearny, NJ pick the 1931 map) showing a something along the west bank of the Hackensack as pointed out, then, as one goes north, crossing over the Hackensack back to the east, then turning south, crossing the PRR, and then perhaps joining the DLW Boonton line (the original Boonton line). Perhaps DLW used it to access some industry on the west side of the Hackensack south of the PRR (although it is not obvious why they would not have used the Morris and Essex line, just south of that area, for such access. Need to find some map which shows whatever it is crossing the Hackensack!!! (and whatever it is was short lived -- it didn't show up on the maps cited above or on historical.mytopo.com (from around 1890 or 1900??), and it is gone on the 1954 historicaerials map
JS
EDIT: On zooming in on the 1931 image from historicaerials, it really doesn't look like a railroad ROW after all- especially after it crossed back over the Hackensack river (and the connection to the Boonton line does NOT seem to be there). Maybe it was some kind of elevated pipeline?? In either crossing of the Hacksack is hard to understand -- it would have had to have been very high to let ships through (unlikely) or some kind of drawbridge (doesn't look like it in the photo).

Back to the historic maps....showing "Erie Branch A" anyone have any more info on this mystery stub?

The apparent ROW from the PRR crossing to above the NY&GL may well just be a flood berm for the Hackensack River?

I have been watching this post for a while and love all the guessing.That stub siding was not used for anything but storage
Back in the early 1900's the town oF Kearny would not allow DuPont to store any explosives in rail cars for more than 24's So the siding in the medows was born. They also stored coal from Koppers there and when it was needed they local could pick it up on there way west and drop it off at DuPont.
After the fire at DB tower the track plan was changed. the stup siding was removed. they only way onto the seaboard lead was to go west on the Newark Branch and then a member of the crew would call me a DB and i would unlock the switch.The train would then back into the seaboard lead and reset the switch and i would lock it again.The stock train had to back out of seabord at the end of the day sometimes with 60 to 70 cars and had to wait until rush our was over to go into Croxton
After the fire at DB the plant was moved to the bridge and a new ctc board was installed.
In or around 1964 the Greenwood lake and the Newark Branch were wiper by a storm and we all thought it was done but the lines were rebuilt in 2 month's. Just a short note .There's a dike along the river that runs from just south of Portal, North to Sawmill Creek,It was built to keep the water ot of meadows.Hope this answer's questions
Steve a-k-a Chief

Isn't the right of way still there ?? There was what looked like it might have been just that ,and it ran under the NEC to some abandoned buildings to the immediate south.

Chief, thanks for clearing up the mystery "branch A" What approx dates was that little spur in place?

Chief, great to hear from someone who was actually there "in the day" as opposed to all the speculators like me.

It seems from the maps cited by Carter B below that the original Newark Branch alignment crossing of the Hackensack River, just north of the DLW Morris and Essex Lines bridge, was abandoned between 1909 and 1934, and after that the Newark Branch used the NYGL bridge and the new '"Branch A" connector (not talking about the spur to Saw Mill Creek here). Do you know why?

CarterB wrote:... 1909 map:
http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/U ... rsey+City/
... 1934 ...:
http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/ ... ew+Jersey/

Also, take a look at the historicaerials.com 1931 map I mentioned above. I can't figure out what I see crossing the Hackensack River, which looks like an extension of the berm (?) on the west side that we are talking about.

Thanks, JS

I had a feeling the Seaboard Lead had something to do with this later in life, but I have always had trouble figuring out exactly where this industrial lead was. Thanks!

CF

I will give more info which will clear up some questions in a couple of days
Steve

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=40.74 ... 5&layers=M
I'll label the Hackensack River crossings A-F from north to south (A NJT Bergen County Line, B NJT Main Line, C now freight-only, D Northeast Corridor, E abandoned, F NJT Morris & Essex Lines).

Initially, before the Erie tunneled through Bergen Hill (1861), everything went south from Croxton and used the PRR's cut across Bergen Hill. The Paterson and Hudson River (Erie) was the first to build a line (ca. 1834) from Croxton south to the PRR at Marion, and most likely continued to own the land if not the trackage after 1861.

Original alignments before the DL&W built its own Bergen Hill tunnel (1876) were:
*DL&W main line: came through Newark and crossed at E, then curved into Erie tunnel
*DL&W Boonton Branch: crossed at B, curved south around the east side of NJTP exit 15X, then curved back east to merge with the main line west of the Erie's Northern Branch (http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/HUDSON_COUN ... /index.htm shows the old and new routes without all the pollution of present trackage)
*Erie main line: crossed at A, continued straight on the Nave-Croxton Running Track into the tunnel
*Erie Northern Branch: merged into the main line at Croxton
*Erie Newark Branch: came through northern Harrison and crossed at E, then curved into Erie tunnel (same route as DL&W main line on and east of bridge E)
*Montclair and Greenwood Lake (not yet Erie): crossed at C, then curved south into what's now the Northern Branch and used the PRR's cut
*New Jersey Midland (NYS&W predecessor): came south along the west side of Bergen Hill, just west of the Erie Northern Branch, and used the PRR's cut

After 1876:
*DL&W main line: crossed at F and entered their tunnel
*DL&W Boonton Branch: crossed at B and followed the present NJT route into the tunnel
*Erie main line: same
*Erie Northern Branch: same
*Erie Newark Branch: same until 1909 (per ICC valuation); afterwards used a new connection to C and curved around at Croxton, rejoining the old route just west of the Northern Branch
*Erie Greenwood Lake Branch: presumably the same until the Erie acquired control in 1878, but then it's not clear what it did until ca. 1890, when the Erie built the Arlington Railroad so Greenwood Lake trains could cross at E and follow the same route as the Newark Branch; then in 1909 they returned to C (same as the Newark Branch) - thus the crossing at C was not used between ca. 1890 and 1909
*NYS&W: appears to have continued to use the PRR's cut, even when controlled by the Erie

Both the 1909 Newark Branch realignment and the short storage track are labeled Branch A on the 1909 map, but only the latter is labeled so on the 1934 map.