(erielack) Northern Branch Moves

["Curtis Brookshire" <curtis.brookshire_@_verizon.net>]

Here's some information on the Northern Branch I gathered from Bob
Mohowski's book on the New York Susquehanna and Western, the Arcadia Book,
Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City, Baxter & Adams book Railroad Ferries
of the Hudson, Taber's DL&W in the 20th Century Vol 1, and personal
observation.

- - When the Erie moved service to Hoboken, commuter groups and the City of
Jersey City filed suit to keep Erie Terminal and the Pavonia Avenue ferries
running.  The Northern Branch and NYSW trains used the station, and all but
two tracks were taken up after the balance of trains moved to Hoboken in
1957.  The Erie won the suit and ferry service ended on 12 December 1958.
The following Monday, Northern Branch trains started using Hoboken Terminal.
The Erie tore the Terminal head house down, and passengers on the five
remaining Susquehanna trains used a spooky-looking brick building to access
the Hudson & Manhattan tubes.  That building remained until the site was
redeveloped for Newport City in the 1980s.  In September 1960, the ICC
permitted the NYSW, now down to three round trips, to terminate trains at
Susquehanna Transfer rather than the ruins of Erie Terminal.

- - How did the Northern trains get from Hoboken to the Northern Branch?
First a little background for those unfamiliar with what West End looked
like around 1960:
The DL&W used two double track tunnels to go under the Palisades.  Exiting
the tunnels westbound, tracks crossed over the Erie on twin truss bridges
and entered West End interlocking.  There the triple track Morris and Essex
lines continued straight west over "Lower Hack" draw and headed for Newark.
The four-track Boonton Branch curved sharply to the right and headed toward
Secaucus.  As it descended to ground level it ran parallel for a short time
to the Erie passenger main.
Erie passenger trains crossed the Palisades through a four-track cut called
"Bergen Archways".  Freight trains used a double track tunnel that was
Erie's original route under the Palisades.  At the west end of the tunnels
(Erie experts help me out here, I don't know all the tower names) were a
several interlocking plants, one was BR, another was JR.  In short
succession the following happened east-to-west.  Northern Branch and
Susquehanna tracks curved to the north; freight tracks entered the east end
of Croxton yard; passenger tracks skirted the south side of Croxton and both
passed under the NYSW interchange tracks that ran to Marion Jct and the
Pennsylvania RR.  After about a mile there were towers controlling junctions
with the Newark and Greenwood Lake Branches.
To use Hoboken Terminal, a connection was built between the DL&W Boonton
line and the Erie passenger main east of the Newark and Greenwood Lake
junctions.  The connection allowed trains, upon taking the sharp right at
DL&W West End to access the Boonton Line, Erie Main, Erie Greenwood Lake or
Erie Newark Branches.   This connection is used today by New Jersey Transit,
although passenger trains no longer use the lines once called the Newark
Branch or Greenwood Lake Branch.
To reach the Northern Branch from Hoboken a train would go through the
Lackawanna tunnel, come off onto the Boonton Line at West End, take the
connection to the Erie Passenger Main, clear the plant and stop.  It would
then reverse back into the west end of Bergen Archways.  One track was kept
for that purpose and was still there a few years ago.  Then the train would
start forward again onto the Northern Branch.  Inbound trains would reverse
the procedure.  Looks like probably 10-15 minutes to me for all that.
Freight trains out of Croxton yard backed into Bergen Archways to head north
on the Northern Branch.

The Susquehanna and Erie Northern Branch paralled each other from Granton
Jct to West End.  Before 1959 they ran a "joint line" service with the NYSW
being used as the eastbound track and Northern being used as westbound.
Granton tower burned in October 1959 ending joint use.  The NYSW then
installed CTC from Croxton to Little Ferry, allowing it to single track that
segment.  People wondered for years why the Susquehanna would install CTC
over such a short stretch of track.

The Northern Branch (and its cousin, the NJ&NY) would be neat to model, with
mostly single track, many industries, commuter trains, semaphores and some
of the most handsome stations anywhere.

Curtis Brookshire
Manassas, VA

------------------------------