Gladstone Line

[Tadman]

Any of you guys follow the Gladstone line or regularly ride it? I see a lot of cool pics. It reminds me of where I grew up on the South Shore - a very bucolic interurban-like setting. Curious if we have any regulars. Happy Friday!

[ExCon90]

One thing that added to the interurban flavor was the wooden poles, but I assume they're on the way out; can anyone report on whether any are left? The stations and semaphore order boards also contributed to the rural effect, but I'm sure that with the new signaling the order boards are all gone.

[lstone19]

It's been years since I've been on the Gladstone Branch but I grew up in a town on the branch (in the 70s) back when it really did run like an interurban and was a true timetable and train order operation with all passing sidings having hand-throw switches. And also back when EL carmen could add or cut Gladstone cars at Summit to or from a Dover train in all of about two minutes. I learned a lot about real railroading from watching how that branch ran.

[R36 Combine Coach]

Gladstone will likely be the last stronghold for the Arrows. In fact, since 1984 it has been hard to picture anything but Arrows on the line.

Don't know exactly about the wood poles, but Gladstone was the last section of the M&E division to be electrified (1931), while work started on the main HOB-Summit trunk as early as 1928. A new station at Lyons was built during electrification (to serve the new VA Medical Center) and is a unique depot in the Lackawanna system.

[Roadgeek Adam]

There is still several semaphores standing (Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Far Hills for example, but obviously not active.) Millington has a pole for one, but the semaphore is gone.

[MattW]

As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

[TrainPhotos]

As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

I thought the gladstone branch was an attempt at DL&W creating a trunk line between jersey city and philadelphia, with auspices to continue to baltimore via B&O.....? PRR i think leased the other end of the project, located in pennsylvania, which put the brakes on the project permanently.

[Ken S.]

As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

I thought the gladstone branch was an attempt at DL&W creating a trunk line between jersey city and philadelphia, with auspices to continue to baltimore via B&O.....? PRR i think leased the other end of the project, located in pennsylvania, which put the brakes on the project permanently.

Last I checked, the Branch ends facing northwest like the DL&W wanted to go towards Chester.

[lstone19]

You might want to do a search for "Passaic and Delaware railroad" to find lots of stuff about the history of the Gladstone Branch. At one time, it was the Passaic and Delaware and even well into the DL&W and EL days (including when I lived along it in the 70s), it was still referred to by many employees as the "P & D" (and signal numbers all started with P - is that still true today?).

[Greg]

I thought the gladstone branch was an attempt at DL&W creating a trunk line between jersey city and philadelphia, with auspices to continue to baltimore via B&O.....? PRR i think leased the other end of the project, located in pennsylvania, which put the brakes on the project permanently.

It was actually a separately chartered railroad that was to run from Newark to Phillipsburg and on to a possible connection in Pennsylvania.

[TrainPhotos]

As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

I thought the gladstone branch was an attempt at DL&W creating a trunk line between jersey city and philadelphia, with auspices to continue to baltimore via B&O.....? PRR i think leased the other end of the project, located in pennsylvania, which put the brakes on the project permanently.

Last I checked, the Branch ends facing northwest like the DL&W wanted to go towards Chester.

Hm, interesting! You learn something new every day! Did they want to connect to the line up near mount olive? Looks like that one dead ends next to a huge warehouse looking structure to the north of chester...

[Greg]

Hm, interesting! You learn something new every day! Did they want to connect to the line up near mount olive?

No. It was supposed to run to the Delaware River and cross into Pennsylvania.

[TrainPhotos]

Hm, interesting! You learn something new every day! Did they want to connect to the line up near mount olive?

No. It was supposed to run to the Delaware River and cross into Pennsylvania.

Oh. even though they had the line up north all ready? It seems far closer to chester...

[Greg]

Oh. even though they had the line up north all ready? It seems far closer to chester...

In February 1872 the company under Asa Packer's control obtained authorization to continue east into Hudson County to the Hudson River, and to build a branch west to Phillipsburg (opposite Easton). Source

[lstone19]

Hm, interesting! You learn something new every day! Did they want to connect to the line up near mount olive?

No. It was supposed to run to the Delaware River and cross into Pennsylvania.

Oh. even though they had the line up north all ready? It seems far closer to chester...

Who is this "they" you are referrring to? When it was first built, the DL&W wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. It appears it was initially chartered to be a competitor to the Morris & Essex (which was not part of the DL&W yet). By the time construction started, the M&E was in the DL&W camp but it would be another eight years (1878) before what would become the Gladstone Branch was obtained by the DL&W (at least according to the Wikipedia article about the "New Jersey West Line Railroad" (one of the many names this line had)). The Summit to Gladstone segment was the only portion of what was chartered to be a much longer railroad that was ever built.