R36 Combine Coach wrote:That is, of course, the much more thorough explanation.nick11a wrote:I'm told that the Bergen Line is the busier (and faster, barely) of the two routings. The Main Line is called the Main Line as it was the original Lackawanna Main Line (up through Paterson) and was the first few stops on the present day Boonton Line (pre-Montclair Connection and pre-NYGL). The Port Jervis Line will use either the Main or the Bergen Line, depending on the schedule (and also, depending on conditions; I've been on trains that were routed to the other line due to changing conditions.)The Main Line was the original Erie Main Line from Jersey City to Chicago via Paterson, Buffalo and Akron. It was in 1963 that the section in Passaic was abandoned (by request from local officials) in favor of a reroute via the Lackawanna Boonton Line from West End north over Upper Hack and via Clifton to Paterson Jct. where the Newark Branch connector would link to the original Main Line. The Boonton Line now went via the Greenwood Lake to Mountain View and then west on the original route, as the section in West Paterson and Totowa was severed by I-80 construction. Bergen Line is 100% Erie, Main Line is Erie north of Paterson, the former built as a "bypass" or shortcut. Rutherford was part of the original Main Line.
See maps: Pre 1963 Post 1963
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Moderator of the "widely popular" NJT Rail Forum! What once was first is now seventh!
Moderator of the "widely popular" NJT Rail Forum! What once was first is now seventh!