CONRAIL’S CAST-OFF COMMUTERS: 2 30 YEARS OF NJ TRANSIT
eastern Pennsylvania to the ports of New York. The oldest portions of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western date back to 1832, eventually connect- ing with the Central Railroad of New Jersey at Hampton in 1856. In 1869, the Lackawanna acquired the Morris & Essex Railroad, which allowed them to bypass the CNJ with their own route to New York harbor. A brisk commuter business developed on the railroad’s east end, along with a number of im- provements to help the flow of both freight and passengers. The new Hobo- ken Terminal opened in 1907, which al- lowed direct connections to ferries and the Hudson & Manhattan. A massive rebuilding and upgrade program elimi- nated grade crossings and built new stations throughout suburban territo- ry. The electrification of the suburban routes began in 1929, using a 3,000 volt d.c. system, with Thomas Edison him- self at the controls of the first electric train to Montclair on September 3, 1930. Suburban service on the former Morris & Essex extended to Dover, Gladstone, and Montclair. Non-electri- fied service continued on the Boonton Line route via Denville to Dover. To- day’s Morris & Essex Lines is made up of the Morristown Line and the Glad- stone Branch.
The sprawling Erie Railroad also traces its earliest beginnings to 1832, proposed as an alternate route for com- merce for those cities bypassed by the Erie Canal. Initially constructed as a broad gauge railroad, the entire system was standard gauged in 1899. Subur- ban service included trains along the Main Line, crossing the New York state line at Suffern and on to Port Jervis, as well as on the Northern Branch to Ny- ack, N.Y., the Greenwood Lake Branch to Wanaque, and the old New York & New Jersey line to Spring Valley, N.Y. In 1958, the Erie Railroad closed their terminal at Jersey City and consolidat- ed all service to Hoboken Terminal, in anticipation of the upcoming 1960 merger with the Lackawanna. By the end of the 1960s, the only former Erie services that would remain would be on the Main Line and the Pascack Valley Line (the former NY&NJ). In 1974, the Erie Lackawanna began receiving a subsidy from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to operate commuter service on the Main Line be- tween Suffern and Port Jervis, and also to Spring Valley on the Pascack Valley Line. The Main Line also includes the Bergen County Line, which branches off near Secaucus Junction and recon- nects at Ridgewood.
Starting in 1831, the Central Rail-
road of New Jersey grew to form a con- duit for eastern Pennsylvania coal traf-
Cape May 29
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