Re: (erielack) West Essex RR's

[Bob Mitchell <nebula07869_@_yahoo.com>]

Todd - Too bad all that information couldn't be
organized into a book. I'd enjoy reading about those
railroads and seeing the pictures. I think it would
also help to preserve some of our history.

Bob Mitchell
ELHS 899
- --- "Hollritt, Todd" <todd.hollritt_@_attws.com> wrote:
>    Last night I had the opportunity to attend the
> Cedar Grove Historical
> Societies presentation on Railroads in the West
> Essex area of NJ. It was
> presented by a Mr. Jaeger and included some photo's
> contributed by many
> photographers. It concentrated on the "West Essex
> County" area defined as
> within a few miles of Cedar Grove and the Erie
> Railroads Caldwell Branch
> (Caldwell RR). So obviously the Erie / EL days were
> well documented, neat
> photos of all the stations and bridges with some
> excellent then & now
> comparisons were shown with a couple of NJ Transit
> images thrown in too.
> Actually the show covered about eleven railroads I
> guess!!! Here's a sample,
> The NY&GL RR, Caldwell RR, M&E RR, EL, NJ Transit,
> SJ Groves RR, Erie RR, A
> narrow gauge RR that built the Jersey City
> reservoir, the Turtleback Zoo
> narrow gauge, the Centerville and Southwestern live
> steam RR and of course
> the never completed Montclair RR r.o.w. on either
> side of the never
> completed Tunnel through Watching Mountain! That
> part was fascinating as he
> showed the still visible embankment through
> Montclair (Did you know Tierneys
> Pub on Valley Rd. is shaped so odd so that the
> Montclair Railroad could pass
> beside it?) and up to the portal. And in Verona NJ,
> Verona Park still has
> signs of the r.o.w. cutting though and over it,
> that's why there's an island
> in the lake... for the never completed Montclair RR
> bridge support! Although
> in later years "live" steam did arrive in the form
> of a small narrow gauge
> tourist RR. 
>    Some other highlights included classic images of
> Great Notch, originally
> called Caldwell Junction! And Overbrook Mental
> Hospital, don't panic I won't
> delve into Weird NJ lore right now :)  and some
> great views of the M&E and
> Erie interchange in Essex Fells NJ and the Erie's
> Caldwell Branch including
> numerous storm damage photos and 19th century views
> of the spur to supply
> the narrow gauge reservoir RR. He even discovered
> the base of the water vane
> used to pump water up to Erie steam engines in
> Caldwell near the former
> station site, it's the only thing still visible
> today! Oh, you can still
> find the little r.o.w. of the C&S RR in Roseland
> where the mini-Pocono
> roamed.
>    Ok, now for today's EL List Trivia question
> (sorry, I don't have the
> answer either)  Why did Great Notch (Caldwell Jct.)
> have a third track
> "Directly" in front of the station?
> A) The lead to the west leg of the Wye.  (Started
> that far west of the wye?
> Passed in front of GA Tower?)
> B) A spur to the Quarry west of the station. (I
> heard a rumor about a spur
> up to Houston Rd. behind the Firehouse, the quarry
> now a large pond is still
> visible today behind a house!)
> C) Where's Great Notch?
> 
> I threw C in there for you westender's who stare at
> that dusty weed grown
> trail and curse the @^&^%$ A&GW RR for missing every
> city! :)
>   
>      Oh, by the way the new Weird NJ hits the
> shelves in the next few weeks,
> can't wait to see if there's RR content! A few weeks
> ago Mark & Mark were
> interviewed on the radio and commented about the
> "rail buffs" out there, and
> out of all the fans we are the Weirdest when it
> comes to nit-picking the
> details and letting them know it... any guilty
> parties out there?  
> 
> Todd (ELHS#1318)
> 
> 


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