What's left of the CNJ?

airman00 wrote:

transit383 wrote:Here's an abandoned CNJ signal bridge, located in Roselle:

Signal bridge at Linden Street

Nice picture! It's such a shame that a bustling 6-track main line, is reduced to this. I hope at least that signal bridge remains as a reminder of what once was. (all you need is for someone to complain and even history gets taken down.)

Just think CNJ had direct service from Broad St Newark to Newark Airport in the 1960"s. Which ended with the Aldene Plan. A one seat ride, maybe you could have used a cab to get to the terminal you needed. So now we have North East Corridor station with a people mover. And a maybe a 100 million dollars spent, with no service to Des Moines, or Louisville?

As I recall, the mainline was 4 tracks there. It was 6 only in the immediate vicinity of E'Port (for the passenger platforms) and then immediate vicinity of Cranford (again primarily for the passenger platforms). The Bay Draw, bridge over Route 1, the roadway bridges over the tracks, and the Lehigh Valley bridge over the main limited the main to 4 tracks. Could have been a spur to freight customers there, but not more than 4 main tracks.

The Beautiful CNJ station in Elizabeth was restored several years ago, still looks good when I occasionally pass by on the NEC.

Ken W2KB wrote:As I recall, the mainline was 4 tracks there. It was 6 only in the immediate vicinity of E'Port (for the passenger platforms) and then immediate vicinity of Cranford (again primarily for the passenger platforms). The Bay Draw, bridge over Route 1, the roadway bridges over the tracks, and the Lehigh Valley bridge over the main limited the main to 4 tracks. Could have been a spur to freight customers there, but not more than 4 main tracks.

That's my recollection as well.

the six tracks went all the way to garwood, as i remember. 6 tracks crossed over lincoln ave, and cut down to 5 just west of garwood, around 4th ave. (track 5 crossed into track 3) and back to 4 around brookside park. (track 6 crossed into track 4) if they haven't done any bridge rebuilding/removing along the line, you should be able to count the tracks, wherever the road cuts under the main.

I hiked a section of the CNJ Southern Division back in February. It was a very peaceful stroll through the pines. Click here to view more photos.

It's nice those old rails are still intact. I know it's oos but are those rails connected to any live trackage somewhere or is this a severed section? And how much of that section remains intact?

The tracks are severed on the geographic north end in Lakewood and at a several former crossings between Whiting and Woodmansie. There are several more breaksenroute due to theft of rail as well as the break for Rt 206 down south (and probably a few more crossings as well). I am not sure of the track status as it approaches Winslow Junction.

I looked on Google Maps and right by Newark Penn, there is a railroad bridge (3 tracks wide) that is close to the Prudential Center and ends at a parking lot, which is just west of NWP. Was that a part of the CNJ Newark Station. Also, are there any bridges like that still in Newark?

NJT4115 wrote:I looked on Google Maps and right by Newark Penn, there is a railroad bridge (3 tracks wide) that is close to the Prudential Center and ends at a parking lot, which is just west of NWP. Was that a part of the CNJ Newark Station. Also, are there any bridges like that still in Newark?

They were part of the approach to CNJ's Newark Broad Street Station. Its the old Newark Branch, going east it ended up at the Jersey City terminal.

I checked the thread to make sure I haven't mentioned this before. The portion of the Sound Shore (Chrome) branch that ran in Carteret is still active at least to the former FMC plant (now Astaris). After that, heading south, there is still trackage past the former Liebig's Lane location (once the site of a water tower between tracks with two outlets, one for each track), paralleling the Industrial Road. The track fades into weeds before it reaches the location of what was once the U.S. Metals and Refining Company in Chrome.

From Google Maps the roadbed of where the Sound Shore crossed the Rahway River can still be seen, but the bridge is long gone. This bridge was at the mouth of the river where it met the Arthur Kill-- not to be confused with the very much still in service Rahway River bridge next to the NJ Turnpike.

To reach the Carteret end of the Sound Shore Branch, there was a connector put in to what is now called the Chemical Coast line. That connector was there when we moved to Carteret in 1969 so it's hardly new.

Some Southern Division pics I took from Winslow Jct. to Vineland about a month ago.. I'll finish the album later this year to Bridgeton along with the Cumberland and Maurice river Branch

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 760&type=1

I'm in the process of re-shooting a video project I began in 1997. I'm trying to get as much of the active ex-CNJ trackage as I can .RV line is easy. The HBLR is another easy shoot as is NY&LB. I live in P,burg so I really can pick and choose from hours of trains by here. I need trains on the CRP(Pennsy div.) and Southern Division. I plan on getting the local that comes into Red Bank and goes to Farmingdale. What I really need is the far southern area from Winslow to Bridgeton. I don't have any clue as to what trains run and where down that way. It is a 2 hour drive and I'd hate to go down there and come up empty. Any info is appreciated.Thanks.

Winslow to Bridgeton

From Winslow south for about 2-3 miles is operated by Southern Railroad of New Jersey. (SRNJ) I believe the Bridgeton area Is Winchester and Western. Most of the rest is Out of Service.

How about Vineland ?
What part of the High Bridge branch does M&E still use ? How frequent?
I shot some good video in Bayonne last week. Even saw where Newark Bay Bridge was. So much has changed since CNJ days. I also saw lots of freight cars east of Spring St. near E'port. No engines moving anything though. Same for Bayonne. Lot of cars but no one moving them. Maybe a night time thing?