Re: (erielack) Northern Branch Moves

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

- --- hoboken <hoboken_@_vfemail.net> wrote:
> I commuted for a few summers in the late 1960's on the Greenwood Lake
> Branch.  Am I mistaken, or was a connection built from that to the
> Lackawanna Boonton Line?  As I recall, before Erie trains went to
> Hoboken, the Boonton Line would pass under the Lackawanna Boonton Line
> and join the Erie Main on its way to Jersey City.  Did not the Greenwood
> Lake Branch (& Newark Branch) come into the Boonton Line too far east to
> move onto the Erie Main Line and, from thence, onto the Boonton Line?

As originally built, the Boonton Line went over the Greenwood Lake line
with no connection.  The Greenwood Lake line split two ways: northward,
into the east end of Croxton, and southward into the Erie tunnel

After the merger, the EL performed a 'transplant' among several lines:
- - Connecting tracks were built at Mountain View (southwest quadrant) and
just north of West End (southwest quadrant) between the Boonton Line and
Greenwood Lake line.
- - Connecting tracks were built south of Paterson between the Newark Branch
and the Boonton Line.  The bridge south of I-80 that NJT double-tracked a
few years ago was part of this connection.
- - The Boonton Line was abandoned between Mountain View and Paterson,
except for stub freight service from Mountain View.
- - The Erie Main Line was abandoned for passenger service between the
Passaic River and Paterson.  A stub train ran for several years from
Rutherford to Carlton Hill, the eastern portion of the line.  Freight
service continued from Paterson east.

The Newark Branch crossed the Meadowlands to the south of the Greenwood
Lake line and then merged with it a short distance west of DB (the
Hackensack River spin bridge under the eastern side of the Turnpike).  

Satellite view:
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=13&Z=18&X=359&Y=2819&W=1

The Greenwood Lake is the line crossing from the top left corner to the
right middle.  The Newark Branch separates from it just above and right of
the center of the view.

You can scroll around or zoom in to see other features of the view.  Go
right, down, and zoom in to see Croxton, etc...

Dover trains ran over the Greenwood Lake line between the new connections
north of West End and Mountain View.  Main Line trains ran over the former
Boonton Line between West End and Paterson.


=====
Gary R. Kazin
DL&W Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

http://www.geocities.com/gkazin/index.html

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

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