Tracks branching off of Montclair Boonton Line in Wayne, NJ

[MaRoFu]

West of the junction, according to Google Earth, there is a stub-ended abandoned branch that comes off of the Montclair Boonton Line, but the tracks seem to be long lost. I'm not sure if this was a mistake on behalf of Google. Very little information on this line exists. What I am theorizing is that this is an abandoned shortcut that connected the Boonton Branch with the Greenwood Lake Line, which would be completely unnecessary anyways. I may have even discovered some other branches in the area. Keep in mind however that this is all speculative information, and that this may be false. I have uploaded an attachment containing the routes I've marked. Please excuse the other garbage on my Google Earth client. Any other info on this obscure branch would be greatly appreciated.

[pdtrains]

I have no idea what the current track arragement is there now. but originally, the DLW freight main line (the boonton lne) crossed the Erie Greenwood lake line at a diamond just west of the Erie Mountain View station. Whats left....the Montclair-boontn line, the totowa industrial spur (orig DLW freight main), and a small piece of the Erie Greenwood lake line west of Mtn View

[rr503]

As you seem to have concluded, it is the old NYGL main. The DLW Boonton line used to continue east to Paterson and then down what is now the NJT Main Line to Hoboken (Erie originally went down through downtown Passaic). The line through Paterson was abandoned in the early 60s to make way for I 80, so the EL grafted what was left of the Boonton to the NYGL coming south from Wanaque at Mountain Lakes to create what we know as the Boonton line today.

Back to your line though, before the NYGL became part of an EL main line, it went from Newark to.....Greenwood Lake, a popular resort at the time. The line you highlighted was part of that route, and if you look on google maps terrain view, you can see where it went north of the NYSW. The line was cut back from the lake to Wanaque in the 50s, and from Wanaque to Pomton jct (NYSW crossing) in 1966. CR operated freight to PJ up until the early 80s, then stopped.

Currently, the line is in use north of Mountain Lakes for a short stretch to allow NS to access the Totowa Industrial, the it peters out. Short stretches of trackage are used around PJ by the NYSW to access various customers, but I don't think they ever go south of Post Ln anymore.

[MaRoFu]

Thanks for the info, but I'm actually not referring to the NYGL Main line. Google Earth marked some random tracks branching off of the Boonton Line Tracks west of the junction.

[SemperFidelis]

West of the junction there was an old branch to a Voice of America transmitter. The line was rebuilt in 90s to haul dirt away from the site as it was being changed to wetlands as remediation for the construction of Interstate 287.

[rr503]

Thanks for the info, but I'm actually not referring to the NYGL Main line. Google Earth marked some random tracks branching off of the Boonton Line Tracks west of the junction.

Whoops! Didn't see arrow. Yes. That is the dirt branch. As Semper Fi said, it was used to haul of contaminated soil for wetlands remediation. The trains ran from the site to Jersey City, where the dirt was used to construct Liberty State Park.
(I've also heard the dirt went to the golf course south of there, so I'd wait for someone else to chime in before coming to conclusions.) The trains were made up of GE C39-8s and old ore cars, and ran on extremely tight schedules due to commuter traffic and an agreement with the town not to run trains past 12:30 am. Because of this, I've heard that they were some of the hottest trains on the Conrail system, but again, take this with a grain of salt. Trains stopped running sometime in the mid 1990s when the project was finished.

Sorry again and hope I helped with this.

[Greg]

What you are highlighting in blue also appears to be the old ROW for the Morris Canal feeder. There was only one set of tracks from Pompton to Mt. View Junction.

[Matt3010]

As you seem to have concluded, it is the old NYGL main. The DLW Boonton line used to continue east to Paterson and then down what is now the NJT Main Line to Hoboken (Erie originally went down through downtown Passaic). The line through Paterson was abandoned in the early 60s to make way for I 80, so the EL grafted what was left of the Boonton to the NYGL coming south from Wanaque at Mountain Lakes to create what we know as the Boonton line today.

Back to your line though, before the NYGL became part of an EL main line, it went from Newark to.....Greenwood Lake, a popular resort at the time. The line you highlighted was part of that route, and if you look on google maps terrain view, you can see where it went north of the NYSW. The line was cut back from the lake to Wanaque in the 50s, and from Wanaque to Pomton jct (NYSW crossing) in 1966. CR operated freight to PJ up until the early 80s, then stopped.

Currently, the line is in use north of Mountain Lakes for a short stretch to allow NS to access the Totowa Industrial, the it peters out. Short stretches of trackage are used around PJ by the NYSW to access various customers, but I don't think they ever go south of Post Ln anymore.

They go south of Post Ln. occasionally if they need headroom while switching Riverdale. My friend got a picture of an NS GP38-2 running down from Post Ln. all the way to the next crossing south (by the NJDOT facilities) in August 2016. They last went to Pequannock in 2011 to pull a gondola out from Morris Pipe.

[cjvrr]

Semperfi has the correct answer. That branch was temporarily put back in during the early 1990s to remove soil and create a new wetlands area in lieu of wetlands taken for a nearby highway project. As soon as the soil removal was completed, the branch was removed.

GoogleMaps still shows that branch.