I spent Sunday checking out all three New Jersey branches for the first time in a couple of years. I found all three lines moribund, but still with tracks in place.
Passaic Branch - Still exists, although there hasn't been a train on the line since Garden State Paper closed over five years ago. Won't be any more as GSP is being demolished and the tracks within their plant have been removed. Tracks are still in place up to Lanza St and on the branch to the Central Bergen Terminal.
Lodi Branch - for the first time ever, (in my experience) there were no cars spotted at Flexwrap (Bear Bags), the line's only customer. The new trackage which has been reported as some kind of repair facility was also bereft of cars. All track was heavily rusted. I did note that the repair facility at Passaic Junction, next to Mayhill Street in Saddle Brook, is active and in fact a GP-38 came out lite and picked up 5 repaired cars while I was there on Sunday.
Edgewater Branch - track still extends up to the 1&9 viaduct, but does not appear to have been used in some time. There was a new C&D facility constructed about four years ago in Fairview, with a new siding down from the elevated Edgewater branch. This trackage was rusted, although there was a sign on the gate stating the debris facility was operated by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. Not sure if this was one of the plants shut down by the State, but it is a brand new facility, the only customer on the remains of the Edgewater branch, and appears now to be not active, at least railroad wise.
It has alwas been a mystery to me why these branches were kept in the first place. There is no traffic on two of them, minimal on the other and both Lodi and Passaic branches feature crossings of extremely busy highways which must create some liability, even without trains. I know the three lines were listed as potential abandonment candidates as required by law, but why they have lasted as long as they have is a real mystery. Perhaps Suskie's new management may not have such a warm feeling for them.
Passaic Branch - Still exists, although there hasn't been a train on the line since Garden State Paper closed over five years ago. Won't be any more as GSP is being demolished and the tracks within their plant have been removed. Tracks are still in place up to Lanza St and on the branch to the Central Bergen Terminal.
Lodi Branch - for the first time ever, (in my experience) there were no cars spotted at Flexwrap (Bear Bags), the line's only customer. The new trackage which has been reported as some kind of repair facility was also bereft of cars. All track was heavily rusted. I did note that the repair facility at Passaic Junction, next to Mayhill Street in Saddle Brook, is active and in fact a GP-38 came out lite and picked up 5 repaired cars while I was there on Sunday.
Edgewater Branch - track still extends up to the 1&9 viaduct, but does not appear to have been used in some time. There was a new C&D facility constructed about four years ago in Fairview, with a new siding down from the elevated Edgewater branch. This trackage was rusted, although there was a sign on the gate stating the debris facility was operated by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. Not sure if this was one of the plants shut down by the State, but it is a brand new facility, the only customer on the remains of the Edgewater branch, and appears now to be not active, at least railroad wise.
It has alwas been a mystery to me why these branches were kept in the first place. There is no traffic on two of them, minimal on the other and both Lodi and Passaic branches feature crossings of extremely busy highways which must create some liability, even without trains. I know the three lines were listed as potential abandonment candidates as required by law, but why they have lasted as long as they have is a real mystery. Perhaps Suskie's new management may not have such a warm feeling for them.
