3:16 Most people watching this are too young to know that the rock seen in the distance at the right was much much larger into the early 80s. Geologically the remnant that exist today has got to be one of the most underrated yet significant rocks or remains of a mountain foothill perhaps anywhere in the United States. This is ~ Secaucus N.J. looking west past the Eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike. Newark Airport is south to the left. This video is in a very interesting spot for several reasons. For railfans from other parts of the country the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks are south of these tracks running somewhat parallel to these tracks from Newark, NJ into New York. I mention this because they ran the GG1 electrics on that line and left several GG1s parked idle for years on track about 2 or 3 miles from here for years before they were scrapped or sent to museums. Another interesting fact is this video is filmed on the edge of a large area extending toward the "Meadowlands", let's just say a permanent hang out spot for the NY, NJ Mafia. There's no telling who you could run into there, vertically or horizontally.
Always been fascinated with those abandoned telephone poles alongside the railroad tracks. My old house had a pole in the backyard laying on the ground for years with the wires still on it.
If the line is abandoned, get those signals and control box Those are searchlight signals and they are getting rarer all the time. Imagine having those in your backyard
The Northern Branch is way worse in Bergen County NJ either though CSX but they can't go to Piermont NY because one of the Tracks have been Cutted off the other half is by Norwood NJ By Railroad Ave but CSX can still use it for Local freight services to Leonia NJ to move Tanker cars around the siding and Cut off some cars and then bring them back to North Bergen yard
Looking around at google maps it looks like an old Pennsylvania Railroad Line (Catenary Poles). The line that was super overgrown that you were looking at looks like it connects the cleared line to the Northeast Corridor, further cementing it as an old Pennsy Line.
This line was never electrified. The catenary never reached the Main Line, Bergen County Line or the Boonton Line. What you're seeing is the support structure for the utility overbuild. This was common practice with the railroad and electric utility companies to basically "build over" the right of way through an agreement. If the utility were to construct their own support towers, it would have encroached on the ROW. A perfect example of this is in the Philadelphia area and surrounding suburbs where the utility company, at that time, constructed towers that straddled portions of the former Reading RR Norristown Branch.
This is the abandoned section of the NJ Transit Boonton Line that branches off from the present day Monticlair-Boonton Line at Pine Street in Montclair and runs down to the the Hackensack River and crossed DB Drawbridge (actually a swing bridge) where it then procced on to Hoboken. This line from Pine Street to the connection with the other lines right before Hoboken was abandoned by NJT in 2002 when they finished construction of the Montclair Connection.
This is NOT the Boonton Line. That was a Lackawanna line while this is an Erie line. The Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect with this line, the Erie Greenwood Lake Branch. This line is out of service east of Montclair. The Passaic River bridge would require extensive rehabilitation for train service again. There are no freight customers east of Montclair, and there were 4 or 5 passenger stations east of Montclair that no longer served.
@@erie910 You're correct on one thing.....Erie/Lackawanna did run on this line, but I've done extensive research on this line and watched this video and compared it to Google maps, amd this is Indeed the Lower Boonton line. Also another clue that proves my point is at the very end of the video, the camera is looking towards what remains of DB Drawbridge, which is what the EL used to cross the river via the Lower Boonton Line
@@FreedomtowerStudios Yes, during NJ Transit period, this was the Eastern end of the NJT Boonton Line. However, historically, this line was originally part of the Erie Greenwood Lake line which originally headed toward Croxton and then through the Bergen Arches to Jersey City Terminal (Pavonia Ave). When the Erie joined the DL&W in using Hoboken Terminal in 1957, the Greenwood Lake line tracks were reconfigured so commuter trains connected up with the main set of DLW tracks into Hoboken Terminal. There was so much reconfiguration and cutting of the former Erie Lackawanna rail lines in the 1960s especially. We're lucky we have what remains. The original Greenwood Lake line ran from Erie Terminal in Jersey City to Greenwood Lake. There was even a spur to serve Ringwood Manor. The Greenwood Lake line was then cut back in 1935 to Wanaque Midvale, which became the end of the line until 1966 when it was cut back to Mountain View where the then E-L connected it with the western portion of the DLW Boonton line.
@@FreedomtowerStudios This is NOT the "Lower Boonton" line. Historically, the Boonton Line left the Lackawanna Morris & Essex tracks just west of the Bergen tunnels. That line ran through Lyndhurst, Passaic, Clifton, Paterson, Mt. View, Boonton, and on to Dover and beyond. This is the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch, which went through Kearney, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Little Falls, and other towns en route to Wanaque-Midvale. It crossed the Boonton Line at Mt. View. In the 1960's, the Greenwood Lake Branch and the Boonton Line were connected at Mt. View. In 1966, train service to Wanaque-Midvale ceased. In the 1990's, the Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect to the Greenwood Lake Branch. All passenger service east of Montclair on this Branch ceased. I commuted on the Greenwood Lake Branch from 1968-1971, before this portion was taken out of service. It never was called the Boonton Line; I have a public timetable from this era with the Greenwood Lake title.
If you haven’t done so, I suggest, insist you go to Neshanic Station in Somerset county (near Hillsborough). There you’ll find a abandoned rail line that includes a bridge over a branch of the Raritan river and also an unused rail station, of similar design to the one in Pennington. Running along side the abandoned line is an active ROW that goes to phillipsburg nj. Very picturesque area.
That was the former Jersey Central branch line that went from Somerville, through Dukes Estate making stops in Flagtown, Neshanic, Station, Three Bridges, Flemington eventually arriving in Lambertville at the PRR river line or Bell Del line. That branch line was abandoned in the early 1960's. If you lived in Central NJ and wanted to travel to Chicago there were connections on the river line to the Lackawanna at Phillipsburg and the PRR at Trenton.
There are so many hobbyist railroaders who build railroads on their vacant farms and residential properties. I don't know why these commercial railway companies simply don't give these people permission to remove the tracks and ties they need to fulfill their dreams. What could it hurt, these tracks will only decay and become useless; And even if in the future by some fluke the railway company wants to reuse the line or branch, they'd have to re-rail the tracks to stay updated with current spec requirements.
This is the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch. It and the old Erie Newark Branch shared tracks from Jersey City (now Hoboken) across the Hackensack River into the Meadows, where they separated. The Greenwood Lake Branch ran to Greenwood Lake with a short branch to Ringwood. It was cut back in the 1930's to Wanaque-Midvale. This branch was connected to the former Lackawanna Boonton Line in the early 1960's. Service to Wanaque-Midvale ended in 1966. Service on the line in this video ended when the Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect with the Greenwood Lake Branch in the 1980's. I commuted to Little Falls on the line in this video in 1969-1970. The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad operated the trains.
@@suppylarue220 Yes. For a short while, ConRail operated the freight and commuter trains on this line. Norfolk Southern now owns this track, I understand. It might become a trail from Montclair to Jersey City.
Laurel hill off to the right at the end of the clip. Just south of what is labeled on the map as NJTP interchange 15 X .and next to the PSEG Hudson switchyard. Penhorn creek area.
I believe that NJ has the most abandoned rail lines in the whole country. If I'm wrong those tracks may be part of the Arcs that went adjacent to route 9 that leads to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel. There is soooooo many abandon lines in NJ that it is absolutely staggering.
Wrong, it's either Maine or New Hampshire with the most abandoned lines. There was an entire article in Trains magazine many years ago that covered that topic including an abandoned lines map, pretty interesting.
The line that connects the Staten Island Railway now CSAO to New Jersey is the Staten Island branch. It connects at Cranford to the Raritan Valley line. The line to me like one of the deelectrified lines that belonged originally to the PRR. Interesting photography. lines of Conrail.
No, its not. This is the old NJ Transit Boonton Line that was abandoned in 2002 when they built the Montclair Connection that basically bypassed this line.
It would be so nice to have a map of where exactly this is, included in the video. Or maybe it is brilliant to make viewers guess the location in the comment section, to influence the UA-cam algorithm (higher community engagement).
3:16 Most people watching this are too young to know that the rock seen in the distance at the right was much much larger into the early 80s. Geologically the remnant that exist today has got to be one of the most underrated yet significant rocks or remains of a mountain foothill perhaps anywhere in the United States. This is ~ Secaucus N.J. looking west past the Eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike. Newark Airport is south to the left. This video is in a very interesting spot for several reasons. For railfans from other parts of the country the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks are south of these tracks running somewhat parallel to these tracks from Newark, NJ into New York. I mention this because they ran the GG1 electrics on that line and left several GG1s parked idle for years on track about 2 or 3 miles from here for years before they were scrapped or sent to museums.
Another interesting fact is this video is filmed on the edge of a large area extending toward the "Meadowlands", let's just say a permanent hang out spot for the NY, NJ Mafia. There's no telling who you could run into there, vertically or horizontally.
LMAO at the last part. Who did you run into LOL?
How old is it? The number should be on the rails.
Always been fascinated with those abandoned telephone poles alongside the railroad tracks. My old house had a pole in the backyard laying on the ground for years with the wires still on it.
What was it for?
it is a damn shame that so many railroads were let go of; we cant even fill our stores now!
And more trucks on the road.
The government should have done more to support Conrail.
I blame the new admin for everything thats going on now.
@@577buttfan I blame the old admin for the same thing.
@@-mahermusic I want my cheap gas and food back.Tired of this administration showing nothing but weakness on the world stage..corrupt liars.
If the line is abandoned, get those signals and control box
Those are searchlight signals and they are getting rarer all the time.
Imagine having those in your backyard
That would be sweet
That would also be theft but wouldn't it?
@@james.black981 if the line is truly abandoned then no. Would be like finding a 20 dollar bill on the sidewalk.
@@alcopower5710 It is not abandoned, but owned by Norfolk Southern. So taking those items without permission is stealing.
@@erie910 that’s why I said and I quote “ if it’s truly abandoned “. Thanks for your insight 👍
Thank you for showcasing this trackage for future Railway Customers ....perhaps a truck to rail TRANSLOADS FACILITIES GRANTS...
The Northern Branch is way worse in Bergen County NJ either though CSX but they can't go to Piermont NY because one of the Tracks have been Cutted off the other half is by Norwood NJ By Railroad Ave but CSX can still use it for Local freight services to Leonia NJ to move Tanker cars around the siding and Cut off some cars and then bring them back to North Bergen yard
The Railroad crossings are in bad shape and Tracks are always bended up and down all the way to Piermont NY
Dude, use some punctuation in that run-on sentence, so it's readable.
Looking around at google maps it looks like an old Pennsylvania Railroad Line (Catenary Poles). The line that was super overgrown that you were looking at looks like it connects the cleared line to the Northeast Corridor, further cementing it as an old Pennsy Line.
Near the end of this video, I see catenary poles in the distance. Amazing that once electrified lines get abandoned.
This line was never electrified. The catenary never reached the Main Line, Bergen County Line or the Boonton Line. What you're seeing is the support structure for the utility overbuild. This was common practice with the railroad and electric utility companies to basically "build over" the right of way through an agreement. If the utility were to construct their own support towers, it would have encroached on the ROW. A perfect example of this is in the Philadelphia area and surrounding suburbs where the utility company, at that time, constructed towers that straddled portions of the former Reading RR Norristown Branch.
Thanks for the detailed answer@@jetfixer170
This is the abandoned section of the NJ Transit Boonton Line that branches off from the present day Monticlair-Boonton Line at Pine Street in Montclair and runs down to the the Hackensack River and crossed DB Drawbridge (actually a swing bridge) where it then procced on to Hoboken. This line from Pine Street to the connection with the other lines right before Hoboken was abandoned by NJT in 2002 when they finished construction of the Montclair Connection.
This is NOT the Boonton Line. That was a Lackawanna line while this is an Erie line. The Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect with this line, the Erie Greenwood Lake Branch. This line is out of service east of Montclair. The Passaic River bridge would require extensive rehabilitation for train service again. There are no freight customers east of Montclair, and there were 4 or 5 passenger stations east of Montclair that no longer served.
@@erie910 You're correct on one thing.....Erie/Lackawanna did run on this line, but I've done extensive research on this line and watched this video and compared it to Google maps, amd this is Indeed the Lower Boonton line. Also another clue that proves my point is at the very end of the video, the camera is looking towards what remains of DB Drawbridge, which is what the EL used to cross the river via the Lower Boonton Line
@@FreedomtowerStudios Yes, during NJ Transit period, this was the Eastern end of the NJT Boonton Line. However, historically, this line was originally part of the Erie Greenwood Lake line which originally headed toward Croxton and then through the Bergen Arches to Jersey City Terminal (Pavonia Ave). When the Erie joined the DL&W in using Hoboken Terminal in 1957, the Greenwood Lake line tracks were reconfigured so commuter trains connected up with the main set of DLW tracks into Hoboken Terminal. There was so much reconfiguration and cutting of the former Erie Lackawanna rail lines in the 1960s especially. We're lucky we have what remains. The original Greenwood Lake line ran from Erie Terminal in Jersey City to Greenwood Lake. There was even a spur to serve Ringwood Manor. The Greenwood Lake line was then cut back in 1935 to Wanaque Midvale, which became the end of the line until 1966 when it was cut back to Mountain View where the then E-L connected it with the western portion of the DLW Boonton line.
@@FreedomtowerStudios This is NOT the "Lower Boonton" line. Historically, the Boonton Line left the Lackawanna Morris & Essex tracks just west of the Bergen tunnels. That line ran through Lyndhurst, Passaic, Clifton, Paterson, Mt. View, Boonton, and on to Dover and beyond. This is the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch, which went through Kearney, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Little Falls, and other towns en route to Wanaque-Midvale. It crossed the Boonton Line at Mt. View. In the 1960's, the Greenwood Lake Branch and the Boonton Line were connected at Mt. View. In 1966, train service to Wanaque-Midvale ceased. In the 1990's, the Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect to the Greenwood Lake Branch. All passenger service east of Montclair on this Branch ceased. I commuted on the Greenwood Lake Branch from 1968-1971, before this portion was taken out of service. It never was called the Boonton Line; I have a public timetable from this era with the Greenwood Lake title.
Wow, can you Tell me more about this? I used to live in Wayne and ride the trains circa 2002. Where in Mountain View was this?@@thomasturrin8984
If you haven’t done so, I suggest, insist you go to Neshanic Station in Somerset county (near Hillsborough). There you’ll find a abandoned rail line that includes a bridge over a branch of the Raritan river and also an unused rail station, of similar design to the one in Pennington. Running along side the abandoned line is an active ROW that goes to phillipsburg nj. Very picturesque area.
That was the former Jersey Central branch line that went from Somerville, through Dukes Estate making stops in Flagtown, Neshanic, Station, Three Bridges, Flemington eventually arriving in Lambertville at the PRR river line or Bell Del line. That branch line was abandoned in the early 1960's. If you lived in Central NJ and wanted to travel to Chicago there were connections on the river line to the Lackawanna at Phillipsburg and the PRR at Trenton.
If that rail road was still in service people would still have jods
jods?
Jobs he probably meant.
I think this track is more than one hundred years old however it is a a great video nicely filmed
Where in NJ is this?
Secaucus, I read in the other comments.
There are so many hobbyist railroaders who build railroads on their vacant farms and residential properties. I don't know why these commercial railway companies simply don't give these people permission to remove the tracks and ties they need to fulfill their dreams. What could it hurt, these tracks will only decay and become useless; And even if in the future by some fluke the railway company wants to reuse the line or branch, they'd have to re-rail the tracks to stay updated with current spec requirements.
This is the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch. It and the old Erie Newark Branch shared tracks from Jersey City (now Hoboken) across the Hackensack River into the Meadows, where they separated. The Greenwood Lake Branch ran to Greenwood Lake with a short branch to Ringwood. It was cut back in the 1930's to Wanaque-Midvale. This branch was connected to the former Lackawanna Boonton Line in the early 1960's. Service to Wanaque-Midvale ended in 1966. Service on the line in this video ended when the Lackawanna Montclair Branch was extended to connect with the Greenwood Lake Branch in the 1980's. I commuted to Little Falls on the line in this video in 1969-1970. The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad operated the trains.
so did it ever come under CONRAIL operations?
@@suppylarue220 Yes. For a short while, ConRail operated the freight and commuter trains on this line. Norfolk Southern now owns this track, I understand. It might become a trail from Montclair to Jersey City.
Laurel hill off to the right at the end of the clip. Just south of what is labeled on the map as NJTP interchange 15 X .and next to the PSEG Hudson switchyard. Penhorn creek area.
This track is missing some rail
It doesn't take Mother Nature long to reclaim what's hers.
I believe that NJ has the most abandoned rail lines in the whole country. If I'm wrong those tracks may be part of the Arcs that went adjacent to route 9 that leads to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel. There is soooooo many abandon lines in NJ that it is absolutely staggering.
I believe this is kearny
I use to take my dirtbike down the elm street tracks in kearny and it would take us to jersey city until the open the train bridge
Wrong, it's either Maine or New Hampshire with the most abandoned lines. There was an entire article in Trains magazine many years ago that covered that topic including an abandoned lines map, pretty interesting.
New Jersey basically taxed its railroads right out of business.
I wonder why NJ would have so many? It's a heavily populated industrial state, I get it, but there are far bigger states. Genuinely curious.
The line that connects the Staten Island Railway now CSAO to New Jersey is the Staten Island branch. It connects at Cranford to the Raritan Valley line. The line
to me like one of the deelectrified lines that belonged originally to the PRR. Interesting photography.
lines of Conrail.
Not this one, This is the old NJ Transit Boonton Line that was abandoned in 2002 when they built the Montclair Connection.
OMG. That used to be a part of the Staten Island railway that went to New Jeresy!
No, its not. This is the old NJ Transit Boonton Line that was abandoned in 2002 when they built the Montclair Connection that basically bypassed this line.
The New York and Susquehanna Railroad is the Next Rail Line to be
Closed 🔐 Down !!! On It's way Out !!
Not likely, or if it is, not in out lifetime
No it didn’t !
Betcha rails to trails is circling like hyenas; how's the truck traffic lately?
Interesting! I’m guessing the tracks were owned by CNJ.
Can you emagin what would happen if a train where to be acsedently was switched on to those tracks.
Were to be not where to and the word is spelled accidentally.
It would be so nice to have a map of where exactly this is, included in the video.
Or maybe it is brilliant to make viewers guess the location in the comment section, to influence the UA-cam algorithm (higher community engagement).
Na,never give out locations on social media.Seen way to many get closed or destroyed.
It's ~Secaucus, NJ. @ 3:16 that's looking west at the New Jersey Turnpike Eastern spur
Easy to find anyway@@577buttfan