NJT anounced today they will start weekend service on the Montclair-Boonton Line from Montclair East. What it appears to be is extending the Hoboken to Newark every two hour shuttle to Montclair giving riders the option of Hoboken or a MidTown Direct train to New York Penn. Its a start. Weekend service west of Montclair has to be considered soon as well as west of Dover. East of Montlcair is electric and west to Denville, Dover, Mt. Arlington, Lake Hopactcong, Netcong, Mt. Olilve, and Hackettstown... and within a few years Andover, Blairstown, NJ, and Stroudsburg, Pocono Mt. points,and Scranton PA...is diesel. But it could be either by shuttle west of Montclair or an all diesel train for entire route.
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
This is great news. Transit probably could have done a little better by a) making the service hourly to attract more passengers, and b) extend the service to MSU, or end of wire in Great Notch, instead of having it terminating at Bay Street.
West of Bay Street service is going to be a problem:The people of Montclair wanted weekend service BUT, they were NIMBYs, and said "we want service, but not in our town." So which is it. I don't see service going west of Bay Street until this is resolved.And west of Dover (Mount Arlington-Hackettstown), is completely unrelated, unless NJT decides to extend M-B service from Bay Street, all the way to Hackettstown (or at least Lake Hopatcong).
And, althought NJT has started with the Lackawanna Cutoff, it's only to Andover. They've only dreamt of going past there.
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
People west of Bay St. are beginning to ask for the service, so that may not be far away. West of Dover is related in that MSU station/Great Notch is as far as the wire goes and it is diesel pus pull west to Dover and Mt. Arlington et al. Mid day and late night there are MSU to Hackettstown (or shorter) trains or straight from Hoboken. Thus, push pull instead of electric on the weekend could put the train as far west as they want. Under the present Hoboken-Newark weekend shuttle system I believe there are only two, maybe three crews; longer distance service would require more. The present set up allows for Dover and Gladstone to NYP hourly with G'stone passengers changing trains at Summit, to Hoboken every two hours with another change at Broad St.
And, yes, Andover construction is underway but monies have been released with the adoption of the environmental study, etc. for the remainder of the service to Scranton. The Lackawanna Rail Authority has purchased the track from Scranton to the east side of the Delaware RIver. It is a very slow, politically charged, and bureaucratic impeded process. It is a bit more than just a dream..
henry6People west of Bay St. are beginning to ask for the service, so that may not be far away.
They've been asking for this for years, but then they've been contradicting that using the typical Montclair NIMBYism and saying they don't want their peaceful weekends being disrupted by the loud diesel engines... And they don't want them building Cat poles either... *Sigh*
I have a feeling that once the dual modes arrive, service will increase. Straight diesels can go to M-B weekend service, and MidTOWN Direct will be extended west, using dual modes, and Lower Coast Line trains will also be able to go into NYP, as well as RVL trains. Until ARC is built, they won't be able to add trains to NY, but maybe they could extend the Dover and MSU MTD service through WORM territory and west of Dover, without adding more trains.
But the wire is already in between Bay St. and MSU/Great Notch, so the sounds of a diesel is not the issue. Blocking grade crossings and blowing for grade crossings is thier gripe which is rediculous because there's been a railroad blowing for grade crossings for over a hundred years there. And how can people who have had Sony Walk Man, other stereo headphones, ipods, cell phones, and 10 speakers in a Honda Civic hear a train horn anyway. They've been coddled long enough!!!
Exactly... NIMBYism at its greatest...
What are they going to do next, prohibit cars from driving because they're too loud too?
I rode the line to Boonton once, that I can remember, to visit relatives. I was, maybe 8 y-o-a, in 1946. I'd like to do it again. Hope y'all get thru service to Scranton! That would be great!
Bill
P. S.: check out my "new" NIMBY/BANANA thread. Comments, please.
I rode the DL&W Boonton Line several times backn in the 40's to today. Steam and diesel, regular pull and push-pull. And it really changed over the years as tracks and towers were removed then with the EL merger the line gone entirely from Mt. View east to east of Paterson. From Mt. View it now uses the Erie's Greenwood Lake Division to Hoboken, most recently getting cut over to the former DL&W Montclair Branch a quarter mile west of Bay St. The "lower" end of the line from east of Paterson to West End is now part of the "Main Line" and is connected west with the former Erie Main which itself was abandoned through Passaic. It is still a fun ride (if you're not a commuter, I'm sure) with access as far as Hackettstown on the west, and with a change of trains at or east of MSU, a trip to NYPenn is possible as well as direct to Hoboken.
Transit has posted the new schedule on their website. It takes effect November 8 (obviously!)http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/upcoming/r0030.pdf
Judging from how the train numbers are assigned and how they skip numbers, they are planning on adding more trains in the near future (within a few schedule changes). For example, the EB trains are 510, 514, 518, etc. This means that trains 512, 516, etc. will be added once they upgrade to hourly service.
This is actually a very simple and not very costly thing for NJT to do. The trains are every two hours one way, and every two hours the other. The missing numbers would be for hourly train service should or when it would be instituted. Also note that these are the same trains that heretofore have operated Hoboken to Newark to connect with the MidTown Direct trains allowing for Hoboken to Gladstone and Dover service every other hour. Originally the trians would have been Gladstone trains. After dropping off the westbound passengers at Newark the train would go west and tie up on the middle track at Roseville Ave.(except one which tied up on the Montclair/Boonton line tracks up to the last timetable) because of overhead work being done on the M/B and would come back to Newark behind the eastbound run MTD. So, in effect, they are not using any more equipment, probably only two crews over the day; equipment and crews which they already were using only to Roseville Ave. What is the major shame of this is that the service does not go all the way through to MSU because of the NIMBYs. A handful of people preventing masses of people from taking advantage of a service that should have been grandfathered in from the 1800's! A travesty of rights if I've ever seen it!
Well, it SHOULD go to Hackettstown, or at least Lake Hopatcong. There are 8 sets that sit in Port Morris Yard all weekend with nothing to do. But again, it's the NIMBYs (mostly in Montclair).
What I don't get is why they don't run service to Hackettstown (or at least Lake Hopatcong) on the Morristown Line. No NIMBYs to worry about there...
That is an interesting thought, especially for Summer service. Again it could be a simple every other hour, single train set, two whole crews over the day, to make the connections in Dover. Or go on east to MSU to allow for atttending MSU events, etc. I believe that soon traffic on routes I80, 46, and 3 will force NJT to run trains, the NIMBY's be damned. I actually think the future bids well for increased services both weekdays and weekends. An interesting article on the Star Ledger's web pages is that Morris County, NJ (Lake Hopactcong east to Chatham and Mountail View on NJT lines) is to hold meetings concerning meeting the infrastructure needs of the next 10 to 50 years with the idea that Japanese container ships will soon come throught the Panama Canal and unload in New York area ports including Newark and Elizabeth. Part of the premise is that increased truck traffic will clog roads enough that both increased freight and passenger rail services will be needed.
It's sad, how many possibilites there are for new services, but nothing is done to improve existing service, nevermind add new ones. At least Transit has taken initiative recently by adding ACES, Meadowlands service, and now M-B Weekend Trains.
It's sad how long the Cutoff is taking, as well as other services such as the proposed Phillipsburg and MOM. The only one of these where progress is actually being made is the Cutoff, since MOM is still in the argument stage, they don't even know if Phillipsburg is possible.
Looking at the timetables it looks easy enough to make this service hourly, even hourly if extended to MSU. Better yet would be hourly to MSU but every second hour go on to Denville, Dover, and west. The train would actually be on the markers of the MidTown Direct going into Dover. Eastbound, however, all schedules need a little finageling to make the match at Newark Broad; but it could be done.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.