Gladstone Branch

Gladstone Branch
Train #730 at Far Hills en route to Hoboken.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail line
System	New Jersey Transit
Locale	North Jersey
Termini	Hoboken or New York Penn Station Gladstone
Stations	24
Operation
Owner	New Jersey Transit (except from Kearny Connection to New York Penn) Amtrak (Kearny to Penn)
Operator(s)	New Jersey Transit
Rolling stock	All except Midtown Direct: Arrow III Midtown Direct: ALP-44/ALP-46 locomotives, Comet Coaches
Technical
Line length	42.3 mi (68.1 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Route map Legend Northeast Corridor/LIRR Sunnyside Yard East River Tunnels East River Penn Station New York Hudson R., N.J./N.Y. border North River Tunnels Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Yard Secaucus Junction (Main Line - no more sevice) Meadows Maintenance Complex Hackensack River Kearny Connection Northeast Corridor Passaic River Newark Broad Street Interstate 280 Roseville Avenue Montclair-Boonton Line diverges Grove Street Garden State Parkway East Orange Brick Church Orange Interstate 280 Highland Avenue Mountain Station South Orange Maplewood Millburn Rahway River Short Hills proposed Morristown & Erie branch NJ 24 Summit Diverging from Morristown Line New Providence Murray Hill Berkeley Heights Passaic River Gillette Stirling Millington Passaic River Lyons Basking Ridge Interstate 287 Bernardsville Mine Brook US 202 Far Hills Peapack Gladstone This route map:  view talk edit

The Gladstone Branch is a branch of New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines. The Gladstone Branch primarily serves commuter trains; freight service is no longer operated. Out of 24 inbound and 27 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 at Murray Hill, Stirling, and west of Far Hills and operates in peak-direction only on weekday peak hours, except for some service operating reverse-peak from Murray Hill in the PM peak. On weekends the line operates Gladstone-Summit service hourly along the branch. Gladstone Branch trains to New York run through Secaucus Junction but no longer stop there.

The branch received severe damage from Hurricane Sandy on October 29-30, 2012, especially to the catenary and signal system, causing a suspension of service for one month. High winds brought down five tall catenary poles (whose replacements had to be custom-made), approximately five miles of catenary, and 49 trees across the tracks. Gladstone service resumed on Monday, December 3 with electric Midtown Direct trains to Penn Station and diesel-powered trains to Hoboken; full electric operation will be impractical until substation damage near Hoboken is repaired in early 2013.^[1][2][3]

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 then purchased by the Passaic and Delaware Railroad. 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, since Arrows cannot make the voltage change at the Kearny Connection.

Freight service

At the time of NJT acquisition, freight service was operated by the Consolidated Rail Corporation. Upon the breakup of that company, the Norfolk Southern Railway inherited the business. Customers on the line dwindled, and the last customer, the Reheis Chemical Company, was bought out by the General Chemical Company and planned to close down in 2008. The apparent last freight train made its run on November 7, 2008; however, seven months later the facility began receiving shipments again, on June 19, 2009. Although this industry is east of the Berkeley Heights station, the freight trains actually operate as far west as Stirling, where the engine uses the siding to run around the train to reverse direction.

Electrification

Like the Morristown Line, the Gladstone Branch is electrified using overhead catenary at 25 kV 60 Hz. Traction power comes from the NJT substation at Summit, NJ, which also powers much of the Morristown Line. The Summit substation is located north of New Providence on the Morristown Line, between the Summit and Chatham stations, and receives power from the nearby Summit Utility substation. In addition to the NJT Summit traction substation, three other switching facilities are located along the line.

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Gladstone Branch Electrification Stations

Name	Coordinates	Comments
Summit Traction Substation	40°43′29″N 74°23′18″W / 40.7248°N 74.3883°W
Stirling	40°40′26″N 74°29′51″W / 40.6738°N 74.4976°W
Bernardsville	40°42′57″N 74°34′20″W / 40.7159°N 74.5723°W
Gladstone	40°43′09″N 74°39′52″W / 40.7192°N 74.6644°W

Station listing

Gladstone Branch stations
Zone	Miles from east terminal	Municipality	Station	Services	Public transportation	Notes
–	0.0	New York City	Penn Station	ADA-accessible, TVM	Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit: North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Gladstone Branch, Montclair-Boonton Line NYC Subway: 1 2 3 A C E trains NYC Transit buses: M4, M7, M20, M34 / M34A Select Bus Service, Q32|
–	0.0	Hoboken	Hoboken	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 22, 22X, 23, 54, 68, 85, 87, 89, 126, New York Waterway	Eastern terminus of the line; Transfer here for PATH trains and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
2	7.8	Newark	Newark-Broad Street	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 11, 13, 27, 28, 29, 39, 41, 43, 72, 76, 78, 108, go28	10.4 miles from New York Penn Station
4	10.0	East Orange	East Orange	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 21, 71, 73, 79, 94
10.6	Brick Church	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 21, 71, 73, 79, 94, 97
11.5	Orange	Orange	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 21, 41 71, 73, 79, 92
5	12.2	Highland Avenue	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 92
13.1	South Orange	Mountain Station	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 92
13.9	South Orange	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 92, 107
6	15.2	Maplewood	Maplewood	TVM	–
7	16.8	Millburn	Millburn	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 70
17.8	Short Hills	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 92, 107
9	20.1	Summit	Summit	ADA-accessible, TVM	NJ Transit buses: 70, 986 Wheels	Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch lines merge/diverge here
21.8	New Providence	New Providence	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 986 Wheels
10	23.4	Murray Hill	TVM	NJ Transit buses: 986 Wheels
11	25.8	Berkeley Heights	Berkeley Heights	TVM	–
12	27.1	Long Hill Township	Gillette	TVM	–
14	28.5	Stirling	TVM
30.1	Millington	TVM
31.8	Bernards Township	Lyons	ADA-accessible, TVM	–
16	33.6	Basking Ridge	TVM	–
34.6	Bernardsville	Bernardsville	TVM	–
17	39.0	Far Hills	Far Hills	TVM	–
18	41.3	Peapack	Peapack	TVM	–
42.3	Gladstone	Gladstone	ADA-accessible, TVM	–
Gladstone Branch abandoned stations
2		Harrison	Harrison	–	–	Closed September 16, 1984[4]
	Newark	Roseville Avenue	–	–	Closed September 16, 1984[4]
4		East Orange	Grove Street	–	–	Closed April 7, 1991[5]
6		Maplewood	Wyoming	–	–	Abandoned
17		Far Hills	Mine Brook	–	–	Abandoned/Closed when NJT took over The DL&W Railroad. NJT never reopened Mine Brook Station after that occurred. The old station site can be seen when the railroad crosses Whitnack Road. The crossing is all that remains of the station

References

External links

• Morris & Essex Line timetables