Sirsonic wrote:The only people who think the Aldene plan was a mistake are train buffs who miss seeing the choo-choo going through Elizabeth.
As it stands now, commuters can get to New York, changing in Newark however. You dont hear anyone complaining about having to change in Newark, rather than changing in Jersey City, they complain about not having a one seat ride to New York. So it seems they actually want to go to Penn Station. If commuters actually wanted to go to Jersey City, I thnk their commuter group (the raritan valley colition, I think?) would be pushing for that, not for one seat service to NYC...
While the Montclair connection is not without its negative effects, most of the passengers who ride the trains to New York are quite happy to now have a one seat ride to NYC. They are also supporting it by boosting ridership on the Boonton Line east of Great Notch. Yes the people west of Great Notch to suffer, but that should be dealt with by adding service, etc. To undo the connection would be just plain silly.
Sirsonic, I believe you could have written the beginning of your post with a lot less condescention.
I don't know how old you are, but I (and Big Dell) are old enough to remember the pre-Aldene Jersey Central. Having lived in Elizabeth, I can tell you for a fact that it was a faster and more reliable ride directly into Jersey City Terminal.
I frankly do not understand what the hang up with some of you regarding Jersey City. People traveled to Jersey City Terminal for the sole purpose of transiting to the ferry to lower Manhattan. Simple as that.....there is no rocket science about it. There was nothing around Jersey City Terminal in the pre-Aldene days except for railyards and neighboring railroad piers. But thats not the point. People were traveling to New York.
People traveling on the former Jersey Central mainline simply had to make a transfer at Broadt Street in Elizabeth, and walk up a flight of stairs to the PRR station at Broad Street, if they wanted to connect to a train.
I had also been mention on another forum that the travel time on the NJCL now takes longer today than it did on a Jersey Central train in 1955.
Does this make us as you rather inelequently put it "train buffs who miss seeing the choo-choo going through Elizabeth"??.......I think not .
As I mentioned earlier, we are people regularly rode that railroad on a day to day basis. We knew what it was like. And in retrospect, many of us wish the Aldene Plan had never ever happened.