GLADSTONE BRANCH

The 'Gladstone Branch' is a historic and rather scenic branch of New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines. Out of 23 inbound and 26 outbound daily weekday trains, 2 inbound and 2 outbound trains (about 8%) use the Kearny Connection (opened June 10, 1996) to Secaucus Junction and New York Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken Terminal. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination if necessary. The part of the line west of Summit is single-tracked with passing sidings and operates in peak-direction on weekday peak hours. On weekends (as of August 23, 2006), the line operates Gladstone-Hoboken service every two hours, usually consisting of three Arrow III MU cars with a connection available to Midtown Direct service.
Peak trains arrive at Hoboken on weekdays between 6:50 am and 9:11 am; the two trains to New York arrive on weekdays in Penn Station at 7:32 am and 7:56 am. Peak trains leave Hoboken between 4:32 pm and 7:00 pm; the trains leaving New York do so on weekdays at 5:20 pm and 5:47 pm. [1] Buses are replacing the weekend trains on this line until August 26, 2007 (but not the July 4 holiday trains), and will be replacing the weekday trains in the middle of the day between about 9 am and about 3 pm from July 9, 2007 to the end of September on the Gladstone Branch. This substitution only occurs between Gladstone and Summit. [2][3]

Contents

History

Rolling stock

Freight service

Station listing

External links

History

The only part of the New Jersey West Line Railroad that was completed was from Summit west to Bernardsville. The New Jersey West Line Railroad was dissolved in 1878 and the assets were sold off. The Summit to Bernardsville line was purchased by the Passaic and Delaware Railroad and renamed to the same old name . The Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) leased the line on November 1, 1882 as a branch of the Morris and Essex. The Passaic and Delaware Extension Railroad was chartered in 1890 and opened later that year, extending the line to its current terminus in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Rolling stock

Most service is provided by Budd Arrow III electric cars built in 1978. The two weekday round trips to New York use Comet trains powered by ALP-44 or ALP-46 locomotives.

Freight service

Freight service on the Gladstone Branch is limited, but there is some, especially in Berkeley Heights. There, the usual once a week freight train (Norfolk Southern) stops at Rehels chemical plant. Before going to Berkeley Heights though, it stops at Murray Hill station to wait for the east and west bound passenger trains. The train is going backwards from the the Dover freight yard. It has a red caboose. This train can usually be spotted in the morning hours.

Station listing

Milepost	City	Station	Oper	Connections
0	Hoboken	Hoboken Terminal	NJT	PATH and New York Waterways to New York City, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to local points, NJT 22, 23, 64, 68, 85, 87, 89, 126 buses
		Meadows Maintenance Complex	NJT	Main Overhaul and Maintenance Shop, employee stop
'Midtown Direct trains join'
5	Kearny	Kearny Junction		Midtown Direct trains from New York Penn Station and Secaucus Junction join the line via the Kearny Connection
7.8	Newark	Newark Broad Street	NJT	Newark Light Rail service, NJT 11, 13, 27, 28, 29, 39, 41, 43, 72, 76, 78, 108 buses
		Roseville Avenue		NJT Montclair-Boonton Line splits, abandoned station
	East Orange	Grove Street	NJT	abandoned
10		East Orange	NJT	NJT 21, 71, 73, 79, 94, 97 buses
10.6		Brick Church	NJT	NJT 21, 71, 73, 79, 94 buses
11.5	Orange	Orange	NJT	NJT 21, 41, 71, 73, 79, 92 buses
12.2		Highland Avenue	NJT	NJT 92 bus
13.1	South Orange	Mountain Station	NJT	NJT 92 bus
13.9		South Orange	NJT	NJT 92, 107 buses
15.2	Maplewood	Maplewood	NJT
16.8	Millburn	Millburn	NJT	NJT 70 bus
17.8		Short Hills	NJT
20.1	Summit	Summit	NJT	Branches off NJT Morristown Line, NJT 70 bus, WHEELS 986 bus
21.8	New Providence	New Providence	NJT	WHEELS 986 bus
23.4		Murray Hill	NJT	WHEELS 986 bus
25.8	Berkeley Heights	Berkeley Heights	NJT
27.1	Long Hill	Gillette	NJT
28.5		Stirling	NJT
30.1		Millington	NJT
31.8	Bernards	Lyons	NJT
33.6		Basking Ridge	NJT
34.6	Bernardsville	Bernardsville	NJT
39.0	Far Hills	Far Hills	NJT
41.3	Peapack-Gladstone	Peapack	NJT
42.3		Gladstone	NJT
'Midtown Direct service'
0	New York City	New York Penn Station	NJT	Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, New York City Subway, New York City Bus, MTA Bus
	Secaucus	Secaucus Junction	NJT	All NJT Rail lines except the Atlantic City Line and Raritan Valley Line, NJT 2, 129, 172 buses

External links

★ Morris & Essex Line timetables