- --- Erie910 <erie910_@_fastmail.fm> wrote: > Earlier in this or a related discussion, someone mentioned the > Lackawanna's Paterson station on the Boonton Line. I visited > it once, close to the time when service was rerouted over the > Erie Main Line, and, of course, it was closed. But it was > magnificent, although with not much parking. Considering that > this was quite a distance from downtown, which was the place > where one would expect to put a station, does anyone know (or > have a good conjecture) as to why the Lackawanna missed > downtown Paterson with its rail line and put a fairly elaborate > station out towards what must have been the far edges of town > when it was constructed? I think Taber describes this pretty well in the 19th Century book. The reroute made the part of the Boonton line south of Paterson into the south end of the EL Main Line while the part west of Mountain View (on the Erie) was hooked up with the Erie's New York and Greenwood Lake line. The section between Paterson and roughly Union Boulevard was abandoned; the next section to US 202 was downgraded to an industrial spur (still used occasionally). This also allowed the Erie's tracks through downtown Passaic to be abandoned and its swing bridge at the Passaic River was abandoned. Freight customers on both sides of the river were served and a shuttle train was run up the east side for some years. IIRC, the DL&W had to build on a reasonable grade while going around Garrett Mountain. Going into downtown Paterson would have put the railroad at a lower elevation and faced it in the wrong direction. It would have put them too low to cross the Passaic River where they did build the Paterson High Bridge (where I-80 now crosses the river; the highway goes high over the streets of Paterson). The area used was undeveloped so much easier to buy the land and build. The DL&W was mainly interested in building a route that bypassed the existing busy Morris & Essex line through Morristown for coal trains. It roughly paralleled the Morris Canal north and west from Clifton (Athenia) and the railroad tried not to have to cross it, which would have required costly bridges and led to train delays. The downtown industries were already pretty well served by the Erie and the DL&W really wanted a through route rather than looking to poach on the Erie. Parking? When this line was built, people took stagecoaches to the train stations! The canal charged more for coal delivered to Paterson than to Newark or Jersey City! Gary R. Kazin DL&W Milepost R35.7 Rockaway, New Jersey __________________________________________ Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less. dsl.yahoo.com The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
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