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  • West side of Newark Branch

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

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 #1477171  by MaRoFu
 
This thread is supposed to be for the Newark Branch. Why are we discussing a spur that's associated with the NY&GL? It should be taken to the correct thread.
 #1489334  by blocksignal
 
Hi all I have heard horns blow in the location of the Newark Branch from time to time during the daytime since August. The times have been anywhere from 5 minutes to 1PM to 5 minutes to 2 PM. Would that be the local that serves Van Ness Plastics? If so I thought they switched over there at night typically. Also what days of the week do they take care of that customer now-a-days?

Blocksignal.
 #1493254  by Joseph DeLuisi
 
Just a question if I may, why did everyone get interested in the Newark Industrial fairly recently? I was rail fanning the branch in the Conrail years when I was in high school, so the early to mid '80s when just in the city of Newark alone there were four active shippers, Q-Pak on McCarter Hwy near the Belleville line, and still there. Schiffenhaus, now known as West Rock, Frey Industries on Riverside Ave in that little industrial park near Chester Ave and last but not least WAS Terminal. Just wondering.
Last edited by Joseph DeLuisi on Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1493267  by Sir Ray
 
Joseph DeLuisi wrote:Just a question if I may, why did everyone get interested in the Newark Industrial fairly recently? .
Well, 1st this thread has been going on and off since 2006, so that's not really that recent a beginning.
Second I was occasionally checking out the Newark area rail scene in the 1990s, including the area near what is now labeled "Passaic River Terminal" on Google Maps, but I guess was Washington Terminal back in the day before the short-lived Innovation Fuels. Even then rail activity was kind of limited in the area, although you could always find a tank car or two by the terminal, and a decent number of covered hoppers (hauling plastic pellet I suppose) for Spar-Tech plastics directly across the river on Passaic Ave in E. Newark - this area was interesting as the tail of the switchback to the plastic plant's sidings extended thru the adjacent Pathmark supermarket parking lot almost to the side of the store (the tracks were embedded in asphalt and the ROW outlined with yellow stripes IIRC). Rail service to the plastics plant was terminated IIRC when DB draw was taken out of commission, although the plant did purchase several old covered hoppers to serve as storage bins. Since then the Spar-Tech plant was demolished and was replaced by a townhouses development, the Pathmark was converted to a L.A. fitness center, and the girder bridge across Passaic Ave. was removed years ago (possibly before the start of this thread) to remove a low-height restriction. I was always a bit leery on entering the industrial park at the Northern Section of Passaic St., for some reason I thought there were cameras at the entrance and so it was a no-go zone (now reviewing using Google Maps, unavailable in the 1990s, I see I could have entered via Chester St. Oh well. Also, wasn't there a gentleman's club at the corner of Passiac St. and Oriental, not far from the entrance to the Freeway portion of McCarter Highway?).
So yeah, I was "railfanning" to an extent in the 1990s although usually I could only do so on Sundays, so really not a lot of rail freight action in the area. And now, there's much less... :(
 #1493318  by Joseph DeLuisi
 
The gentleman club is neither here nor there. But like I mentioned, just in the city of Newark alone there were four active shippers. Q-Pak, Schiffenhaus( now known as WestRock), Frey Industries on Riverside Ave, and WAS. Then in Belleville there was VanNess before they moved to Clifton, Union Camp in Clifton, and Hoffman LaRoche in Nutley was a big shipper on the Newark Branch. A Conrail job from Suffern, the SF 26 would handle the drill three days a week. The little industrial park at Riverside Ave & Chester Ave, where Frey used to receive tank cars, was a Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant and in its heyday employed hundreds of workers and numerous freight trains. That to me was a very active industrial track.
 #1502463  by bk77
 
Heard horns just before 10pm from the Maple Valley section of Clifton (must've been blowing for Colfax and Clifton Ave's), and then again around 10:30 after presumably switching Van Ness Plastics. Kinda noteworthy as I've never heard movement on the Newark branch on a Sunday night during the 4 years I've been living here.
 #1502508  by pumpers
 
Joseph DeLuisi wrote:.... The little industrial park at Riverside Ave & Chester Ave, where Frey used to receive tank cars, was a Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant and in its heyday employed hundreds of workers and numerous freight trains. That to me was a very active industrial track.
I did an internet search on "PPG newark riveside" (without the quotes) to find out more about that industrial park, and unfortunately the first hit that came up was that it is now a Superfund site. https://semspub.epa.gov/work/02/503304.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1502549  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Someday, I would love to photograph a train on the Newark Branch. In all of the years that I have lived close to it, I have never been able to photograph one on that line. I saw one once but that way many years ago.
 #1502975  by bk77
 
pumpers wrote:
Joseph DeLuisi wrote:.... The little industrial park at Riverside Ave & Chester Ave, where Frey used to receive tank cars, was a Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant and in its heyday employed hundreds of workers and numerous freight trains. That to me was a very active industrial track.
I did an internet search on "PPG newark riveside" (without the quotes) to find out more about that industrial park, and unfortunately the first hit that came up was that it is now a Superfund site. https://semspub.epa.gov/work/02/503304.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Being a Superfund site is probably the only hope of that property seeing an active business there again, although that's not saying chances are all that high (especially with NJ's high taxes for businesses). Since Frey closed some years ago, I don't think any prospective tenants would dare touch the property considering how dilapidated the building and contaminated the ground is.
 #1516990  by bukie2k
 
njt/mnrrbuff wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:21 pm Someday, I would love to photograph a train on the Newark Branch. In all of the years that I have lived close to it, I have never been able to photograph one on that line. I saw one once but that way many years ago.
I have lived in Nutley all my life (50+ years) and somehow never managed to see a train go over the trestle that crosses the park on Passaic Ave. Just missed on numerous occasions but I guess that is now a bucket list item that will remain un-checked unless something dramatic happens customer-wise on the line.
 #1518848  by bk77
 
Did some scouting around the Newark branch a few weeks ago on the way home from work and, well... things continue to move further into the "bleak." I took pics but kept getting an ERROR when trying to upload them, so I'll just leave the following descriptions....

Concrete barriers are placed across the tracks at Riverside Ave. crossing in North Newark (by the old Frey Chemical building), and look like they've been there for quite some time. I'm guessing they were put there last year when construction crews were working on the elevated part of Rt. 21.

Last year someone posted here that NS was leasing out the ROW to adjacent industries in North Newark, and looking north and south from Verona Ave. that looks to be quite the case with the ROW completely paved over on both sides with business using the area for parking and storage. Signal protection for the crossing has also been removed. If it weren't for the non-paved over set of rails in the crossing, you could drive down Verona Ave. and never have known a railroad ever came through there... kinda depressing.

I don't know when this happened, but recently NS took the gates down from the crossing protection at the two crossings in Belleville that had them (Rutgers St. and Joralemon St).

NS continues to service Van Ness Plastics in Clifton, but unfortunately the branch south of Clifton looks like its pretty much TOAST.
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