Gladstone Line

When I was about ten years old I started to "work" with my father. He was a nurseryman and landscaper from our home land in Gillette. Tom Tabor (Sr.) was a friend of my parents, and I loved when they were at our home for dinner or vice versa. My father landscaped their home in the Morristown area (as I remember). But, I remember him telling me that the P&D was not seriously destined to extend from Gladstone to Chester because the M&E was doing that from what was west of Dover. Also, there was (is) too much of an elevation difference between Gladstone and Chester.

The other thing I remember is him saying that the "line to Philadelphia" was considered to split off at Far Hills because that would have been less hilly to the Deleware River. Millington had been briefly considered, but Far Hills would have been a much easier route.

MattW wrote:As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

I ride it fairly often. The real capacity limiter on most of the line is limited parking/resident use only parking. Berkeley Heights has a ~2 year wait for a resident spot (and no non-resident parking), New Providence only sells 40 non-resident permits and isn't that great for residents, Long Hill's 3 stations have very limited parking (Gillette is only 82 spots), and so on. You have to get out to Lyons, (not Basking Ridge, tiny lot again), Bernardsville and the further out stops for there to be an ample supply of parking. So a lot of non-residents in surrounding towns or people who can't get a permit/don't want to risk not finding a spot wind up driving into Summit or points further in rather than take the Gladstone Branch at all.

millerm277 wrote:

MattW wrote:As an outsider, I've always found the Gladstone to be interesting. Can't really put my finger on why, it just is. But are there any plans for it? I don't necessarily mean expansion plans as I understand the neighbors would start World War 3, 4 and maybe 5 over extending the tracks past Gladstone, but any capacity improvements in the even distant pipeline? Electrical improvements?

I ride it fairly often. The real capacity limiter on most of the line is limited parking/resident use only parking. Berkeley Heights has a ~2 year wait for a resident spot (and no non-resident parking), New Providence only sells 40 non-resident permits and isn't that great for residents, Long Hill's 3 stations have very limited parking (Gillette is only 82 spots), and so on. You have to get out to Lyons, (not Basking Ridge, tiny lot again), Bernardsville and the further out stops for there to be an ample supply of parking. So a lot of non-residents in surrounding towns or people who can't get a permit/don't want to risk not finding a spot wind up driving into Summit or points further in rather than take the Gladstone Branch at all.

Any space for a parking structure? Even just adding one level could help?

I used to take the Gladstone line every day for work for about 10 years out of Murray Hill first for a short while and then New Providence when I moved across the street from the station. I have always wanted to ride it out to the end of the line, as it gets very scenic (I've driven quite a few times out there and the line looks quite picturesque!). I do miss riding the train as my commute - it was so much more relaxing, but I don't miss losing the 3 hours of my day to it round trip.