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  • Lower Boonton Line Rail Trail Proposal

  • General discussion related to Rail Trails nationwide, including proposed rail trail routes. The official site of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy can be found here: www.railstotrails.org.
General discussion related to Rail Trails nationwide, including proposed rail trail routes. The official site of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy can be found here: www.railstotrails.org.

Moderator: railtrailbiker

 #1270227  by nyswfan
 
IMO, a perfect candidate for rail-trail conversion would be the Lower Boonton line, east of Bay St. The Rail Trail would/could start right in montclair through Glen Ridge, Bloomfield & Belleville with various existing accesses to Branch Brook Park, Kearny and access to Hackensack and the water. Who owns this section?I know east of the hackensack it used as storage but I havent seen a train west of the hackensack in forever... Are they even any frieght customers left?
 #1270237  by ebtmikado
 
Re: "lower BOONTON Line (Greenwood Lake): The most sensible use for this route would be an extension of the Newark City Subway from Franklin Ave. to Montclair, via Forest Hill station area.
I have been thinking of this route for more than 40 years, when the Montclair Connection was first seriously considered.

Lee Carlson
 #1272403  by railtrailbiker
 
The answers to many of your questions about why the Lower Boonton Line hasn't already been converted to a trail may be found in this article:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/communi ... 4?page=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Additionally, it was reported in other newspaper articles that residents of municipalities on the east side of the Hackensack River bridge opposed construction of a trail that would utilize the now abandoned bridge because they believed it would provide "undesirables" from Newark easy access to their neighborhoods.
 #1629440  by Jeff Smith
 
https://www.nj.com/news/2023/09/old-tra ... utType=amp
Old train line clear for N.J.’s newest Greenway, but do its rail age relics have a future?

The railroad tracks on what was the old Boonton branch are gone, but a Montclair author and historian wants some of the rail relics left behind to be preserved on what will become the state’s newest hiking and biking greenway.

The state purchased the 9-mile former freight rail and NJ Transit rail line for $65 million in November 2021 with the intent of building a “greenway” walking and biking trail between Montclair and Jersey City.
...
The tracks on the Essex-Hudson Greenway were recently torn up, but other artifacts of the railroad remain in the form of tall concrete posts that mark off the miles from the long gone Jersey City Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River. Other posts reminded engineers to sound steam locomotive whistles or diesel horns at railroad crossings.
...