New Jersey's obscure abandoned railroads

[MaRoFu]

I've learned lately that NJ actually has many abandoned/defunct railroads that can only be found with hard research or by looking at rail maps. Some of you may have heard about the Hoboken waterfront railroad (forgot name), the New Jersey West Line (outside of Gladstone branch), and others, but there are a few ROWs I'm curious about.

- Mendham and Chester (diverges from M&E at Morristown and went to Mendham according to map)
- Unknown ROW branching off of NYS&W east of Newfoundland
- NYS&W switchback junction in same area?
- Former bridge over Hackensack River north of M&E bridge
- Possible Rail in Lincoln Park NJ? (When I checked an old map I noticed a straight line from the MB in Lincoln Park that indicated the existence of some sort of rail branch. Checked location on GE and a ROW exists)

[pumpers]

- Former bridge over Hackensack River north of M&E bridge

This one we discussed here last fall. viewtopic.php?f=127&t=166159&p=1447603#p1446143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
it was the first M&E bridge over the Hackensack from when they first built across the meadowlands, which tied into the Erie Long Dock tunnel through Bergen Hill. The Erie Newark & Hudson RR (later known as the Erie Newark Branch) then used it too (Erie running on the M&E!) Eventually the M&E build their own Bergen tunnel and built themselves a new bridge just south of the old one, at the location of the current one, to go to their own tunnel. The Erie took over the old bridge , which went away entirely by 1911 or so. The post has a link to a site with some good schematic maps.
JS
The Hoboken RR you mention was the Hoboken Shore RR . Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoboken_Shore_Railroad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Now off to think about your other questions....

[pumpers]

- Unknown ROW branching off of NYS&W east of Newfoundland

Green Pond Jct (NYS&W Jct with the CNJ (Wharton & Northern branch) coming up from the south past Picatinny Arsenal) is about 1-2 miles east of Newfoundland. Maybe that's what you are referring to. They interchanged there.
Here's a good site where you can view topo maps through the ages and see RR lines come and go: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/40.01/-100.06" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pumpers]

Mendham and Chester (diverges from M&E at Morristown and went to Mendham according to map)

It was never built. viewtopic.php?f=127&t=51642" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That's all for tonight.

[rr503]

- Possible Rail in Lincoln Park NJ? (When I checked an old map I noticed a straight line from the MB in Lincoln Park that indicated the existence of some sort of rail branch. Checked location on GE and a ROW exists)

Do you mean the northbound ROW here? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Linco ... 74.3020933" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If so, that's the old NYGL which once headed up to Pompton Jct with the NYSW and then to its eponymous destination. A small portion is still in use up around the NYSW IIRC. I'm sure you already know this, but it's important to keep in mind that the M-B is actually three distinct lines cobbled together: the DL&W Boonton Line (Denville-Lincoln Park) the Erie Greenwood Lake Branch (Lincoln Park-Montclair) and the DL&W Montclair Branch (Montclair-Branch Brook). A lot of the weirdness on/along the line is a result of that history.

[CarterB]

If you check out the 1868 and 1872 maps of Pequannock Twp, NJ, it shows a
"rail spur" going North along the West Ditch of Bog and Vly, (now Lincoln Park) which was in reality a horse drawn
tramway for the peat business, originally to the Morris Canal, later to the Morris & Essex Boonton cutoff.

[MaRoFu]

So I’m here again to talk about some more railroads:

Montville Quarry Railroad? (connected to M&B)
Railroad in Edgewater/Fort Lee (North of NYS&W yard along River Rd. corridor)

[CarterB]

Rockaway River & Montville Railroad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_ ... e_Railroad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/ ... n-1903.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
NYS&W Hudson River operations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgewater ... ter_Tunnel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Up to 1938, there was also a trolley line that ran to Edgewater with a sharp hairpin curve along the Palisades. Hudson River Line of PSCT
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/ ... m-1889.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dcell]

Rockaway River & Montville Railroad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_ ... e_Railroad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/ ... n-1903.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
NYS&W Hudson River operations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgewater ... ter_Tunnel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Up to 1938, there was also a trolley line that ran to Edgewater with a sharp hairpin curve along the Palisades. Hudson River Line of PSCT
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/ ... m-1889.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Didn’t that hairpin curve line become highway route 5?

[CarterB]

PSCT Hudson River line came up what is now Rt 5, Columbia Ave, Kensington Drive went over the palisades on a steep slope to the South then tight horseshoe curve to the North into Edgewater. The ROW down the palisades is still there.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NJ-Postcard-Vin ... :rk:7:pf:0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1813266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/BERGEN_COU ... y_1938.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dcell]

PSCT Hudson River line came up what is now Rt 5, Columbia Ave, Kensington Drive went over the palisades on a steep slope to the South then tight horseshoe curve to the North into Edgewater. The ROW down the palisades is still there.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NJ-Postcard-Vin ... :rk:7:pf:0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1813266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/BERGEN_COU ... y_1938.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks. If my memory is correct, there were one or two trolley poles alongside Route 5 as we drove downhill to Edgewater in the 1980s before the condo building boom began along the waterfront. Do you have pix of the trolley terminal?

[CarterB]

Edgewater trolley terminal.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... rminal.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jag9889/3928981939/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1906-NJ-Postcar ... rk:33:pf:0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


more horseshoe curve

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116268" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edgewater shops at bottom of incline
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116269" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dcell]

Thanks for the pic links!

[choess]

The line east of Newfoundland was NYS&W's Macopin Lake Railroad, which existed principally to haul ice from Macopin Lake (now Echo Lake). I don't think there was a switchback junction in the area, but the main line and the junction with the Wharton & Northern had to be relocated due to reservoir expansion, which may create that impression on the map.

If you really want obscure, consider the Caldwell Tunnel scheme. It originated in 1871, the objective being to tunnel through First Watchung Mountain and cut across the loop in the NYG&L between Montclair and Verona. Some construction work was done, but it was never bored through. The Erie was still battling to keep title to the right-of-way in 1915. The east portal was at one time in back of Montclair-Kimberley Academy's Muenster Field, but has probably long since been bulldozed shut. Any remains of the west portal should be behind the Annin Lofts apartments in Verona.

[CarterB]

Current photo here: http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=175696" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... Avenue.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;