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(erielack) Re: Boonton Line
- Subject: (erielack) Re: Boonton Line
- From: "Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>
- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:27:41 -0500
I wonder if there was also an element of misguided management stoicism,
reminiscent of Espee's T&NO culture. A similar thing (on a smaller scale)
happened around the same time on the Erie side when NY DOT offered to
replace the "leaning tower of Suffern" when the Thruway was constructed
nearly on top of it, and EL declined. Another Boonton Line problem
unforeseen in 1963 was that Kingsland tunnel could not clear tall trailers
(req'd 17' ), and I doubt the EL had the cash post-Agnes to fund a clearance
project. BTW, does anyone know which train derailed in Bloomfield?
Paul B
If the EL management hadn't been so desperate for cash, the route might
have remained intact, as Gary points out. As far as I know, the initial
plan was to include one track, but the DOT commissioner (it was actually
the Highway Department in those days) hatched a plan to avoid having to
condemn additional houses adjacent to the right-of-way by enticing the EL
with money to drop the idea of keeping the one track. I think a couple of
million dollars was involved, but don't quote me on that. No matter what
the "enticement" was, it wasn't worth it in the long-run. When I go
through that section of I-80 I try to imagine how the track would have
run--whether in the center or off to the side of the ROW--and sometimes
fantasize that the track could be put back...but the cost of doing so now
would be astronomical. This was clearly, in my opinion, at the top of the
list of EL boneheaded moves.
Chuck
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