Old Erie Newark Branch

I was looking over a cab video of the NJT Boonton line before the Montclair Connection and at DB interlocking, I noticed that the connection to the old Erie Newark Branch was 1) interlocked and 2) judging by rail shineyness looked to be fairly well used.

Since DB bridge has been abandonned can anyone here tell me of the fate of the Newark Branch and if it is still used how do trains access it?

Here's an image...

The NS Newark Branch is out of service. The lone remaining customer now transloads inbounds at Croxton yard.

I drove over the Newark branch on NJ 7 earlier this week. Looked weedy and rusty...

NS should just rip the tracks out and use them elsewhere in their system......

Bah. Bring on the Hoboken-Paterson LRT via Bergen Arches, Kearny, Belleville, Nutley (hang their NIMBYs) and Clifton if NS has given up the Newark Branch altogether...we can then call the system the HPLRT (P for Passaic County)...

Either that, or where's Jimmy Wilson on this score? How long has commuter rail to Belleville and Nutley been gone for?

I actually have faith that the old Boonton Line will return to service and not as Light Rail.

Due to the agreement when the Montclair Connection went in, NJT can only run 15 diesel trains per day through it. Moreover, the Passiac river draw on the M&E is a bottleneck limiting NJT M&E throughput to 2 tracks.

If we see M&E expansion such as the Lack cuttoff and service to Washington, I see that NJT might need some extra tracks into Hoboken. The old Boonton seems to have a lot of nice lengths of tangent track that would give respectible diesel speeds. Diesel trains would start in outer terminals and then run express in electric territory before making the final 3 stops on the old Boonton. They would then run express to hoboken. Midtown passengers could change to a MT-D train at Great Notch.

Old DB would of course need to be rebuilt, but you'd have to do that anyway for a light rail. In fact, at DB you could have one track for NJT and another for light rail (which would then use the old Newark branch). The light rail use them use the old Erie cut to get into JC.

Potentially, the Boonton Branch could become part of a new Mid-Town Direct using the THE Tunnel. It is certainly aimed in the right direction.

No more short trains through West Hudson park in Kearny to serve the plastics company (Spartech) on River Rd. in Kearny/East Newark ?

The far east end of the Newark Branch from what I know hasn't seen activity in about 8 years. My dad used to work at a company in Kearny and used to see locomotives there now and then, but now, nothing at all. Tracks are in horrible condition, and heavily over grown, and of couse covered in garbage of all sorts and sizes.

But as for the western side of the Newark Branch, most of it looks pretty well taken care of and from what I know of, still drilled now and then late at night by NS to server someone on Belleville.

Website for plastics co.

http://www.spartech.com

Spartec was last served about 6 weeks after NJT service on the lower Boonton line ended.

Mutually exclusive events, coincidence ?

I'm sure that was the plan all along. They were not going to maintain DB draw just for 1 relatively small customer.

Dougster wrote:I'm sure that was the plan all along. They were not going to maintain DB draw just for 1 relatively small customer.

Couldn't they serve from the other end and not use DB ?

There is liternally no live ex-ERIE iron in the city of Kearny anymore.

No they arent going to serve the customer and never will by rail anymore!!! End of discussion!!!!