Orange Branch

NJ Vike wrote:I think the owners name of the Benson Street Station is Jimmy Wilson. Correct?

AFAIK, he no longer owns it...I believe he sold it to a homeowner who is now restoring it to make it livable.

blockline4180 wrote:

NJ Vike wrote:I think the owners name of the Benson Street Station is Jimmy Wilson. Correct?

AFAIK, he no longer owns it...I believe he sold it to a homeowner who is now restoring it to make it livable.

Jimmy Wilson never owned the building. New Jersey Transit did. He rented the building for $15 from the Erie, Erie Lackawanna, Conrail and NJ Transit. The building was sold by NJ Transit to Richard and Edna Moriarty in 2009, experienced restoration folks. They are making great progress in turning the building into a new family home.

In February 2010:


In July 2010:

On another note, I just read a Star Ledger article about Monks being flooded over 20 years ago. Wasn't it more like 40-50 years ago that the realingment of the NY&GL took place?

Ah,

So is his railroad plans still in the works or were they stopped?

Glad to see someone restoring the station.

Ah,

So is his railroad plans still in the works or were they stopped?

Glad to see someone restoring the station.

Roadgeek Adam wrote:

njmidland wrote:I would estimate the distance from where the Orange Branch meets the DL&W Montclair Branch to the Watsessing Avenue Station to be about 500 feet. I haven't been back there since they tore down the Westinghouse plant, but there was a track that came off the branch and curved north, almost paralleling the DL&W. If you used that (or created a new track) you could reduce the distance. I like the idea of the NCS not being a "dead end", but how many people would want to transfer there rather than at Broad Street? The ride from Grove Street to Penn Station is likely a lot slower than via Broad Street to Penn.

Speedy service from/to Newark's Branch Brook Park (beneficial for the cherry blossom festival), service to more of Newark and surrounding suburbs, and yes the provided transfer to Montclair-Boonton service. Plus because NS removed the outbound track, the stops at Rowe Street, Belwood Park, Benson Street, Walnut Street (Montclair) Would be able to see some service to either station, and theoretically, if you ran the LR eastward from Forest Hill to North Newark, you'd be near assured that all parts of the city have been covered (except for the newark branch neighborhoods)

You are forgetting the West Side neighborhoods, the Central Ward, and Weequahic. These, the most economically depressed areas of the city, would still not be served by any rail transit. The most you could do for these places though is maybe some widening on Springfield Avenue to turn the GO25 into a true BRT service with dedicated lanes, though this likely wouldn't be possible in Irvington as it would destroy the business district.

M&Eman wrote: The most you could do for these places though is maybe some widening on Springfield Avenue to turn the GO25 into a true BRT service with dedicated lanes, though this likely wouldn't be possible in Irvington as it would destroy the business district.

Yes, that is all well and good, but you are going way off topic with that response! Please only discuss past, present, or potential future information pertaining to the Orange Branch ONLY! Thank you!

Are there any good books that shows the customers it serviced? I find it hard to believe with the customers they had that there is so little coverage of this line.

I will be sad to see the line torn up or not used for freight service. I have only myself to blame for not getting out there to take shots of NS coming down the line crossing Bloomfield Avenue. It will be weird, at first, to see if they remove the crossing gates but it's a sign of the times. There is so little manufacturing done here anymore. Heck, even the Harley Dealer next to Hartz Mountain is gone.

I can remember dreaming about motorcycles back in 1973 when I was a kid. I would be in Steele's Harley Davidson/Yamaha shop and when the train crossed Bloomfield avenue, you could feel the movement under your feet.

I also remember the activity near Forrest Hill on the NY&GL side seeing the train head north on the mainline or on to the Orane Branch

Even tho Hartz is moving away it is possible someone will move in and get rail shipments. The FRA decides to put a line out of service or not so it still may be a few years until we see Tracks Out Of Service.

Jonathan R McCann wrote:Even tho Hartz is moving away it is possible someone will move in and get rail shipments. The FRA decides to put a line out of service or not so it still may be a few years until we see Tracks Out Of Service.

I hope you're right and a new customer moves in.

Here's something some of you may enjoy:

http://www.westorangehistory.com/id73.html

There was a guy i met online who came up with plans to enhance the light rail. I caught wind of that and came up with another plan mixed in with that one which would also bring back commuter service from Monclair to Hoboken. The light rail would serve the local areas while the trains went the distance so not as much $$$ would be spent to put in electricity. I made an online petition describing the plans but while I wrote it I noticed something about a 1000 word limit or something and jammed all the words up so the plan would fit. It confused a few ppl up but hey mistakes are common- http://www.97wwdj.com/rrpic if you scroll down to the bottom of the page their should be a link about the petition; please sign (Note- these are pictures of the Newark Branch)

Jonathan R McCann wrote:There was a guy i met online who came up with plans to enhance the light rail. I caught wind of that and came up with another plan mixed in with that one which would also bring back commuter service from Monclair to Hoboken. The light rail would serve the local areas while the trains went the distance so not as much $$$ would be spent to put in electricity. I made an online petition describing the plans but while I wrote it I noticed something about a 1000 word limit or something and jammed all the words up so the plan would fit. It confused a few ppl up but hey mistakes are common- http://www.97wwdj.com/rrpic if you scroll down to the bottom of the page their should be a link about the petition; please sign (Note- these are pictures of the Newark Branch)

Hello Jon,

It's me Ken. I haven't heard from you anymore on the Newark Branch activities. I did notice that some maintenance was being performed lately as indicated by somone's pictures. Were those yours?

NJ Vike wrote:

Jonathan R McCann wrote:There was a guy i met online who came up with plans to enhance the light rail. I caught wind of that and came up with another plan mixed in with that one which would also bring back commuter service from Monclair to Hoboken. The light rail would serve the local areas while the trains went the distance so not as much $$$ would be spent to put in electricity. I made an online petition describing the plans but while I wrote it I noticed something about a 1000 word limit or something and jammed all the words up so the plan would fit. It confused a few ppl up but hey mistakes are common- http://www.97wwdj.com/rrpic if you scroll down to the bottom of the page their should be a link about the petition; please sign (Note- these are pictures of the Newark Branch)

Hello Jon,

It's me Ken. I haven't heard from you anymore on the Newark Branch activities. I did notice that some maintenance was being performed lately as indicated by somone's pictures. Were those yours?

I have a few shots of some MOW machines and before and after shots of Cleveland St crossing. And a couple vids on youtube.

NJ Vike wrote:On another note, I just read a Star Ledger article about Monks being flooded over 20 years ago. Wasn't it more like 40-50 years ago that the realingment of the NY&GL took place?

Yeah that's pretty bad history on the Ledger's part. Twenty years ago was 1990. The line was cut back forty-four years ago when the EL stopped going to Wanaque-Midvale. The original line up to Monks and Sterling Forest was long gone even then.

The flooding of the line north (west) of there was done in connection with the reservoir for Newark (or Jersey City) back in the 1920s. That's more like eighty-five years ago. And the 'new' line was abandoned during the 1930s.

Thanks Tommy,

I thought I was losing it.