E-44 wrote:
As for 125 daily westbounds back in the '30's - '50's, commuter traffic was already largely transitioned from Jersey City to NYP, although NJCL and Midtown Direct hadn't happened yet.
What is now the NJCL was known in Pennsy days as the New York and Long Branch Railroad. It was operated jointly with the CNJ from Woodbridge to Bay Head Junction. Up until the 40's, the PRR continued south from Bay Head to Seaside Heights where it turned west and crossed the bay to Toms River, and then crossed the state to join other also now-defunct PRR branches near Pemberton. Another PRR branch joined the NY&LB at Sea Girt, headed west through Farmingdale, Freehold, Jamesburg to the Main Line at Monmouth Junction.
While the PRR Freehold Branch reached Sea Girt first (1880's), the NY&LB reached Sea Girt and Manasquan in the 1890's. PRR ran their trains to Woodbridge then via the PRR Perth Amboy & Woodbridge Branch (PA&W) to the Main Line at Union Interlocking in Rahway. From there, the Pennsy/NY&LB trains shared Jersey City and Penn Station NY as destinations just like the rest of the PRR. The PA&W and NY&LB were electrified as far as South Amboy along with the PRR main line in the 30's.
The CNJ also operated their NY&LB trains from Bay Head to Woodbridge; but at Woodbridge the CNJ continued on their own tracks via Elizabethport. Many trains terminated at the CNJ terminal in Newark, only a couple of blocks from Newark Penn Station.
In the late 60's, CNJ NY&LB trains were routed over the PRR routing to the main line and terminated at Penn Station Newark.
Today, the NJCL is what used to be the NY&LB and PA&W, the PRR main line is the NEC, and NJCL trains still follow the same PRR routing from the 1890's; except that Jersey City is no longer a destination. So while the NJT Midtown direct trains are a very recent addition to Penn Station New York, at least some NJCL trains have terminated at NYP since the 30's