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  • CNJ NY&LB Passenger service north of Perth Amboy ( before the Aldene Connection)

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

Moderator: David

 #1564970  by pumpers
 
I recently read what I guess should have been obvious, but I never thought about it -- before the Aldene plan, eastbound CNJ passenger trains on the NY & LB north of Perth Amboy did not diverge to go through Woodbridge to the PRR , but stayed straight to go up what we now call the Chemical Coast to Elizabethport, and then on to Communipaw (not Newark Penn Station.) (I forget what the CNJ called the Chemical Coast - was it just the NY&LB?

What was I'm writing about is that the post said that the CNJ trains did not go straight up Chemical coast, but diverged east through local industrial tracks (the northern part of which was the Sound Shore branch) to rejoin the Chemical Coast at Bayway. Presumably there was passenger traffic for the many industries in the area. Does anyone know more about this? Where exact did they leave the Chemical Coast? - The NJ had a few connections coming off the Chemical Coast to the east. Maybe they even went through the Port Reading yard (since the Reading controlled the CNJ ). Maps show you could connect through Port Reading yard to the CNJ local tracks in the Carteret area, although I don't know if there was a connection in the SE quadrant of the CNJ/Port Reading line crossing.

Does anyone have a copy of a passenger timetable showing this or know of a link to one? Did all trains do that? I can't imagine the NY Bankers coming up from the shore towns liked the time it took to poke along on those tracks with the extra stops.

Related, did any trains go straight through at Elizabethport, all the way up to the CNJ Newark and NY Branch (I think that location is Brills), and then turn left to go direct to Newark CNJ station? Or did you have to go to Communipaw and change there if you wanted to get to Newark? (Or maybe if you wanted to go to Newark, you just took the PRR on the NY&LB)
Jim S
 #1564978  by NY&LB
 
The answer to your questions is YES

Through trains to Newark
Through trains from Highlands
Locals and Expresses

Stations between Perth Amboy and Eport were:
Name (Mi from NY)
Barber (20.2)
Sewaren (19.0)
Port Reading ( 17.9)
Tremley (14.5)
Bayway (12.4)
Elizabeth Ave (11.4)
Elizabethport (10.6)

I rode these trains in the early '60s, they were FAST, not through "yard tracks"; expresses were carded to do the 11.6 mi between Eport and Perth Amboy in as little as 15 min.; there were even expresses that went "non stop" from Matawan to Eport!

Some trains went through to JC others to Newark (Broad)

It is fascinating to look at the old TTs, I have MOST PRR TTs from the 40's to the end and MOST CNJ TTs from the 50's to the end with a few from each prior decades. Let me know if you would like some specific information.
 #1564988  by R&DB
 
Remember the rides from the shore to E'Port and on to Communipaw. Most of the trains I rode did not have stops between Perth Amboy and Communipaw.

In answer to a previous question on this topic, I believe the original name of the Chemical Coast was the "Elizabeth and Perth Amboy Railroad" It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the CNJ. The NY&LB began at the North end of the Raritan River bridge which was NY&LB milepost 0.0.

After Aldene, the ride to Newark and the PATH was not enjoyable. The ferry to Liberty ST. (even in Winter) WAS FAR MORE ENJOYABLE.
 #1565041  by pumpers
 
Thanks everyone. I missed the ferries, unfortunately. In my case it was trips on the Lackawanna to Hoboken, in the mid 60's. THere may still have been a few ferries then, but I was going to uptown Manhattan so we took the tubes up to Herald Square and then the subway, and if you know Hoboken that means I never got outside to even see a ferry.

The website I was referring to in my first post was https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/ ... ?4,2802567 - see a post by Lackawanna484. The post said eastbound CNJ trains diverged north of Perth Amboy to go on the Chemical Coast/Sound Shore line to Jersey City. So I think the poster meant diverged onto the "Elizabeth and Perth Amboy", not the "Sound Shore", which was an small branch to the east of the Elizabeth and Perth Amboy to serve industries along the Arthur Kill in the Chrome/Carteret/Tremley Point/Graselli/Bayway area.

But before I figured that out, from internet searches, I did see that the Sound Shore had some minor passenger service, which ended in 1960 . See a post by a member appropriately named NY&LB:
https://www.railroad.net/viewtopic.php?f=127&t=54131
Another site which I can't find now said the passenger service may have been subsidized by the industries there.
So now I am curious about the Sound Shore Brach. Does anyone have timetable (from the 1940s or 1950's, I suppose), showing such service? Could you take a picture and post it here?

Thanks, JS
 #1565053  by NY&LB
 
Sound Shore TT from 1941 OG
See next post....better images!
Stations are:
E'port (10.6)
Grasselli (14.2)
Warners (15.4)
Carteret (16.7)
Liebigs Lane (17.3)
Crome (17.8)
Attachments:
Sound Shore 1941.jpg
Sound Shore 1941.jpg (1.98 KiB) Viewed 2678 times
Last edited by NY&LB on Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
 #1565065  by pumpers
 
Super. Thank you. I found the 1921 Official Guide on line http://cprr.org/Museum/Books/I_ACCEPT_t ... e_1921.pdf a few days ago,
but it didn't have anything on the Sound Shore. (If you go looking for CNJ, the index page for the CNJ is missing, but the CNJ pages are right after the pages for the Reading, so look for "Philadelphia and Reading" in the index. (At first I couldn't figure out why "Reading RR" was not in the index!!!). I'd tell you the pages but I can't remember them.
JS
 #1565224  by Maverickstation1
 
Just to clarify, in the final years of pre-Aldene Plan service (1960 to April 30th 1967) CNJ trains that operated on the NY & LB to and from Bay Head operated via the Chemical Cost line (or Mosquito Line as it was well known) from Woodbridge to Elizabethport where they made a station stop along the connecting Wye, and then ran on the CNJ mainline to Jersey City. Passengers bound for Newark Broad Street would change trains at Elizabethport (walking across the low level platform to Platform N) and board one of the E-Port Broad Street Shuttle Trains (that were usually made up of 2 Budd Cars).

The last through train to and from Newark Broad Street was a rush hour train on the Atlantic Highlands Branch that ran to Newark in the am, and back in the pm. The Atlantic Highlands service ended with the October 1966 schedule change.

From the October 1966 Schedule change to April 30th 1967, Broad Street Newark was serviced by the Elizabethport Shuttles, that ran all day, 7 days per week, and 2 rush hour trains to and from Kearny (this station was near the giant Western Electric Plant).

PRR trains on the NY & LB were either the electric trains to and from South Amboy that ran to and from New York Penn, or the Bay Head trains that ran diesel to and from South Amboy and then changed engines for the trip along the corridor to Penn Station NY. Prior to 1961 the PRR still ran a couple of diesel trains between Bay Head and it's station at Exchange Place in Jersey City.

Ken
 #1566387  by umtrr-author
 
I see this has been pretty well covered already so not much to add. Prior to our family moving to Carteret from Jersey City, the real estate agent told my late dad there was direct rail service from Carteret. Said real estate agent had either not heard of The Aldene Plan or chose to ignore that information. My dad ended up taking the bus. He wasn't happy.

The Sound Shore Branch was cut back to the north side of the Rahway River when the drawbridge over that waterway was removed. This isn't the one that is still in place on the E&PA/Chemical Coast, right next to the Turnpike; it's another bridge that was just about where the Rahway River met the Arthur Kill. I don't have the exact date of this removal. Google images will show the remains of the piers, however.

After the Sound Shore was cut, freight service to Carteret and Chrome was handled by a track from near Exit 12 on the Turnpike over to the former Sound Shore Branch. That track is still active for what customers remain in Carteret and is visible from the long-awaited "Industrial Road." In fact, part of that Industrial Road runs on former CNJ right of way.

The history of the CNJ and its multiple subsidiaries just in Carteret is fascinating, but a bit off topic. There was commuter service into Chrome as noted in the above images from Official Guides. There was also a double-spouted water tank at or near Leibig's Lane.
 #1566623  by umtrr-author
 
One more tidbit... needed to go to the files to validate... The June 1951 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman has an article called "Rule 93" which described operations on the Sound Shore Branch. At that time this did include passenger service.
 #1568503  by timz
 
"The Atlantic Highlands service ended with the October 1966 schedule change."

Anyone know why the Atl Highlands trains were still in the Form 102 public timetable for 30 Oct 1966? A last-minute discontinuance approval?
 #1568555  by pumpers
 
My grandfather worked as a carpenter at General Analine (later GAF) in Graselli (on the Sound Shore branch) during WW II. He lived in the Newark Heights section of Maplewood ((near Burnett Ave and Springfield Ave, about 2 miles west of Irvington Center) and I've been trying to figure out how he got to work - I don't think they bought a car until after the war.
I'm pretty sure there was a Public Service streetcar (maybe all buses by then?) down Springfield Ave to Newark, but I don't know how he would have gotten to Elizabethport (to connect to the Sound Shore branch). Going all the way to Newark, taking the CNJ to Elizabethport, and changing for the Sound Shore branch sounds a bit much.
Jim S
Side note. Before that job, in the 30's, he worked for Public Service, building wooden buses onto truck frames. Then GM started selling complete busses (probably all metal), and Public Service shut down the bus building operation and he was out of a job in the depression. Lucky to get the Graselli job.
 #1568710  by Komarovsky
 
pumpers wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:40 pm My grandfather worked as a carpenter at General Analine (later GAF) in Graselli (on the Sound Shore branch) during WW II. He lived in the Newark Heights section of Maplewood ((near Burnett Ave and Springfield Ave, about 2 miles west of Irvington Center) and I've been trying to figure out how he got to work - I don't think they bought a car until after the war.
I'm pretty sure there was a Public Service streetcar (maybe all buses by then?) down Springfield Ave to Newark, but I don't know how he would have gotten to Elizabethport (to connect to the Sound Shore branch). Going all the way to Newark, taking the CNJ to Elizabethport, and changing for the Sound Shore branch sounds a bit much.
Jim S
Side note. Before that job, in the 30's, he worked for Public Service, building wooden buses onto truck frames. Then GM started selling complete busses (probably all metal), and Public Service shut down the bus building operation and he was out of a job in the depression. Lucky to get the Graselli job.
Was grandpa adventurous and cheap? He could have hopped the Rahway Valley to CNJ and then jumped on whatever was going down the B&O to Staten Island :P
 #1568780  by pumpers
 
Komarovsky wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:35 am Was grandpa adventurous and cheap? He could have hopped the Rahway Valley to CNJ and then jumped on whatever was going down the B&O to Staten Island :P
Yes, my father's parents lived a block or so from the RV although I didn't know it was the RV at the time. They lived right by the Boker factory. A highlight of staying at their house as a kid was the steam whistle at the factory (no more steam on the RV by then). (Jackie Gleason was another fond memory of visiting, but I didn't like Lawrence Welk).
It seems the RV was all around me as a kid, in hindsight. My mom's parents lived not so far away in Union, - we always crossed what I later learned was the RV main on Liberty Avenue sort of by Farchers when going from their house to my aunt's in Springfield, although at the time I didn't know the two sets of tracks where related. And later I lived in Summit a few years, and there was always that low underpass on Morris Ave down the hill just past Overlook, although I never saw a train on it. (In the direction coming down the hill, someone had spray-painted "East Summit" on it). Not to mention the overpass going to Union Center on Morris Ave by Jaeger lumber to visit my cousins, or the overpass on Vauxhall Rd going from my grandfather's to his brother's, or that rare occasion once to see the train blocking Route 22 when my Mom was taking us shopping somewhere.