Railroad Forums 

  • EL Greenwood Lake Division reopened?

  • Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.
Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.

Moderators: GOLDEN-ARM, NJ Vike

 #669377  by SemperFidelis
 
ACF is serviced presently by the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, a shortline which operates the old Erie Dundee Spur in the City of Passaic, NJ. The paper mill I used to work for would get scrap transloaded from railcars to trucks at thier facility. The tracks were always in terrible shape there, and I would doubt if any money has been invested since.

NYGL is not a historical society, they are an active shortline.

These tracks are not related to the Greenwood Lake Branch, except in as much as they were owned by the same railroad (Erie).

I'm sure a bunch of people here know a lot better than I do about the extent of rail service that was once in Passaic. The area was very industrialized in the past, so chances are this spur had dozens of customers.
 #669734  by airman00
 
I noticed then some tracks as I was leaving passaic and entering garfield. They ran down the middle of street and came from a business (ACF?) There were some large cars stored there, and the tracks ran over a small bridge from the wharehouse to the road. Is this the ACF siding, and when do trains run there?
 #670002  by SemperFidelis
 
Yes, trains still run there. I'm not sure when, I only caught them moving once or twice when heading down to ACF.

ACF is the building across the road from the C&D facility. There is normally a boxcar or two on the line spotted for them. Around the back of the building you will find several dozen trailers from various companies in a gated (and well guarded) lot.

The owners were nice to people they knew, but the area is kind of rough these days (not really all that bad, but some people would probably feel indimidated) so the owners are probably not really all that keen on having strangers hanging around (but everything is visible from public roads anyway).
 #704000  by ErieLimited2914
 
The NY&GL does not run any more thru Garfield and Passaic (the Dundee spur). NS bought it back for a couple million. They want to move their operations to NY state on the Southern Tier and eventually run excursions. The coaches that were in the yard are owned by the NY&GL, but 436 and 3372 (the switcher and U34CH) are owned by the URHS.
 #704025  by blockline4180
 
ErieLimited2914 wrote:The NY&GL does not run any more thru Garfield and Passaic (the Dundee spur). NS bought it back for a couple million. They want to move their operations to NY state on the Southern Tier and eventually run excursions. The coaches that were in the yard are owned by the NY&GL, but 436 and 3372 (the switcher and U34CH) are owned by the URHS.
So if this is true then do you know when all the URHS equipment will be moved out of there?? Why does NS have plans for the line??
 #704215  by airman00
 
well, the ACF company says they recieve rail service, so how would they still receive rail service if NS plans to move things elsewhere?

Furthermore, I noticed the whole passaic/garfield and surrounding areas were once teaming with railroads everywhere. A shame railroads are becoming scarce there.
 #704261  by lvrr325
 
NS didn't buy it, some other shortline operation bought it, but for some reason never began operations, or was slow to take over. I'd have to dig out year-old railpaces for more details, but I'm sure it can be googled if you're really interested.
 #704368  by ErieLimited2914
 
I don't have the slightest clue when the URHS still will get brought back. If I were to guess, it'll be done whenever NS or NYGL get around to it. I'd assume NS would to it, I can't imagine NJT sending out a loco or two, or having the M&E get all the way over there.
 #713581  by ErieLimited2914
 
The gondola on Woodland Ave is gone now. It was there for a week or two. I'm going to keep an extra eye out for there and see if its being used a lot more. Wouldn't the logical thing be to reopen the line for passenger service? Even up to Pompton Riverdale, or even connect to Butler. I saw a small servey that a local newspaper did just for fun asking 4 people would think if the NYSW line was reopened (they didn't specify the GL or Butler Line), but in either case, all 4 said yes, and that they would use it.

I can't think of any line that reaches out to places like Oakland, Wanaque, basically north-east New Jersey. Closest I guess would be if you lived in Wanaque to drive to the Main Line and get on in Hawthorne or to the Boonton Line in Towaco or Boonton.
 #747561  by Taz
 
Hi there,

I found this board while looking for word on the old EL line running through my backyard. It appears at this point that they are definitely going to restore service on this line in some way. The trackway is being clearcut and the old track ripped up. Have not seen anything in the way of new track yet, but if they were removing the old in order to decommission it, they would not be removing the trees too. The tree removal crew is behind Quick Chek as I type this. I hiked the trackway a few months ago, and there are active crossings in Wayne and Totowa. That portion (there are businesses that have rail cars parked on their spurs, and the track appears smooth with no rust on the top surface) appears to be served by an interconnect with NJ transit just north of Mountain View Station. There are brand new switches and locks there, and tracks appear freshly used up to the one lane bridge by Hoffman Grove.

This could be interesting, especially given the NJ Transit interconnect at the other end.