Newark Branch

Newark Branch

Legend Erie/NJT Main Line Waldwick Yard 27.1 Waldwick 26.0 Ho-Ho-Kus 24.8 Ridgewood Bergen County Line 23.3 Glen Rock (Main Line) 21.6 Hawthorne NYS&W Passaic River 20.5 River Street (Paterson) 19.5 Paterson former Erie Main Line (closed 1963) 18.3 South Paterson DLW Boonton Branch/NJT Main Line 15.9 Athenia (Clifton) 14.5 Allwood (Clifton) 13.1 Franklin Avenue (Nutley) 12.3 Nutley 12.0 Walnut Street (Nutley) 10.7 Belleville 9.9 Cleveland Street (Belleville) NY&GL 9.3 Woodside (Newark) 8.0 Newark (4th Avenue) NX Bridge over Passaic River 7.4 Kearny 7.1 Harrison DLW Harrison-Kingsland Branch NY&GL DB Draw over Hackensack River PRR Northeast Corridor/NJT NEC Main Line & Northern Branch DLW Mntclr M&E/NJT Mntclr M&E Main Pavonia Terminal (closed 1958) Hoboken Terminal Hudson River

The Newark Branch was a branch of the Erie Railroad's Main Line in New Jersey, United States, running between Jersey City and Paterson with stops in the Broadway Section in North Newark. Inaugurated in the 1870s, passenger service was discontinued on the line on September 30, 1966.

History

The Newark Branch (center) crossed the Jersey Meadows and converged with the NY&GL (left) nearby the DB Draw

The Paterson and Newark Railroad, a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad, was founded in 1864^[1][2] and by 1869 had developed a 10.8 miles (17.4 km) right-of way (ROW) along the western banks of the Passaic between the two cities for which it was named.^[1] The line was conceived as a connection between Newark and Paterson, where a transfer was possible to Erie's Main Line southbound service to the Hudson Waterfront and ferries across the Hudson River to New York or northbound to New York State and the Midwest.^[3] Service began by 1870 but was hindered by unresolved issues with landowners opposed to the seizure of their riverfront property.^[4][5]

Originally a crossing of the Lower Passaic River was planned so trains from Newark could travel east using the New Jersey Railroad bridge, ROW, and terminal at Exchange Place in Jersey City.^[6] In 1871, construction began on a new alignment from Newark to Jersey City.^[7] The company was re-organized in 1872 and renamed the Paterson, Newark, and New York Railroad.^[1] when a crossing was developed at the site of NX Bridge.^[8] Eventually trackage from the river crossing converged with the New York and Greenwoood Lake Railway,^[1] which crossed the Passaic to the north over the WR Draw. From that junction in the Kearny Meadows, the two lines continued east over the Hackensack River on the DB Draw to the Long Dock Tunnel through Bergen Hill, terminating at Erie's Pavonia Terminal,

Service

Looking west towards the NX Bridge from the right of way of the Newark Branch at the border of Kearny and the Clark Thread Company Historic District in East Newark

Passenger service on the line became known as the Newark Branch. From Pavonia Terminal, and later Hoboken Terminal, service ran west to Harrison and Kearny. After crossing the Passaic into Newark, it ran west of and parallel to the river to Belleville, Nutley, Clifton and Paterson with some continuing service to Glen Rock, Ridgewood, Ho-Ho-Kus, and Waldwick^[9][10][11] Like the Bergen County Line, the Newark was a branch of the Main Line, both with service extending north to Waldwick.^[12] laying over at nearby Waldwick Yard. Commuter operations on the Newark Branch were discontinued in October 1966.^[13]

Status of right-of-way

Newark Industrial in Nutley

By the 1960s, only one of the two tracks was in a suitable condition, The line became part of Conrail and later Norfolk Southern Railway.^[14] (NS). In 1977 the line was severed when the NX Bridge over the Passaic the taken out of service and left in the open position. By 2002 the line east of it was out of service. ^[15] A portion of the line along the west bank of the Passaic known as the Newark Industrial Track is still used to serve several industries in Newark.

See also

• Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
• List of bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey

Notes

1. "Erie Railroad" (PDF). Inventory June 1918. June 30, 1918. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
2. Urquhart, Frank J. (1913), A History of the City of Newark New Jersey Embracing Practically Two and a Half Centuries, Lewis Historical Publishing
3. "The Paterson and Newark Railroad", The New York Times, July 28, 1869, retrieved 2012-06-21
4. "Another Railroad War- The Newark and Paterson Railroad--Seizure of Dock Property in Newark", The New York Times, April 28, 1869, retrieved 2012-06-21
5. "Erie's Trials - Trains discontinued on Paterson and Newark Railroad", The New York Times, February 1, 1870, retrieved 2012-06-21
6. "Paterson & Newark Rail Road Company". Stocklobster. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
7. "New Jersey Railroads Some of the Projected and Completed Improvements - Emigrant Travel and Its Peculiarities", The New York Times, September 5, 1871, retrieved 2012-06-22
8. "Bridge 8.04". Erie Railroad Magazine. December 1948. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
9. "Erie Railroad Newark Branch". www.97wwdj.com. November 25, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
10. Newark Branch http://shorock.com/don/trains/donel4.htm
11. Newark Branch timetable, 1962
12. "Erie Newark Branch timetables". Newark Branch photos. Kearny High School. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
13. "The Decline and Fall of EL Passenger Service". Retrieved 2012-03-20.
14. Hudson County (PDF) (Map). New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
15. "Railfan Guide to Newark NJ, RSUS". Retrieved 24 December 2015.