(erielack) Carlton Hill Branch Rails-To-Trails Quandary

[JG at graytrainpix <graytrainpix_@_hotmail.com>]

There's an interesting article on the Railway Age site about the little tempest in a teapot going on in Rutherford, NJ regarding the planned conversion of the long-unused Carlton Hill Branch into a recreational use trail. 

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/blogs/doug-bowen/railroad-property-rights-routinely-ignored.html?channel=50

The two bordering towns of Rutherford and East Rutherford had received some historical preservation and greenspace grant funding, and have for several years sought to purchase the right of way from NS for conversion to a trail.  The NS did negotiate with the towns for a while, but eventually decided that it was not going to sell. So, an enterprising citizen took it on himself to purchase some woodchips and carve out a 3 or 4 foot path through the overgrown trees and brush along the former Erie Main Line (it is a "him"; I myself once saw a fellow rolling a wheelbarrel from a chip pile along Jackson Avenue, while driving by; the paper says that his name is "Phil").  NS recently responded by putting up some NO TRESPASSING signs, and the local press responded somewhat cynically.   There was even a small 40-person "rally" of concerned Rutherfordians.

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2013/09/rail_company_wants_residents_to_stay_off_community-created_nature_trail.html  

http://www.northjersey.com/news/205718011_Rail_removal_along__highline__remains_a_mystery.html?page=all

Can't help but raise an eyebrow to the NS spokesman's comment that "if it serves our business interest, we're going to look for ways to make [the line] part of our very active train network".   There is a fairly modern light industrial park near the Passaic River, but I can't imagine any of its tenants needing rail-sized shipments.  I'm not sure if the Delsaco food processing plant, which was the last customer on the line, is still being used; I would think that it and the adjacent former Forbes Trucking site (which used to get tank cars for transloading, and is now an environmental remediation site) would be worth more as a condo development, which is what the old Royce Chemical factory became (Google Earth overhead shot shows trucks on the docks, but not sure how old this view is; sez copyright 2012).   I suspect that NS is stalling so as to keep the eventual sales price to the boros as high as possible.

Oh, PS, some people in Rutherford now call this project "Rutherford's High Line".   Ugh, oh please, this was certainly once a pleasant suburban stretch of the Erie Main, but a Manhattan West Side Freight Line it is NOT.  No third rail and bi-power motors, no geared steam locos, no "cowboys" on horseback leading the switching crews, no E-8's on mail trains (except for Atlantic Express #8, I guess; 7 went up the Bergen County Line), no tunnels thru warehouses and concrete right of way.   New York Central envy, I suppose.

Jim Gerofsky 
 		 	   		  

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