The Greenwood Lake Division
In my early years, I lived near
Arlington station on the Erie Greenwood Lake Division. As a boy, I spent hours
down by the tracks, watching the trains go by. One of my boyhood friends,
Jim Michel, was working for Amtrak the last I heard.
My interest didn't take me that far. My favorite way to go to New York City
was to take the train and then the ferry.
Sometimes, my friends in Boy Scouts would take the line the other way, up to
Wanaque, where we could hike out in the woods.
In 1963, I got a job near Brick Church,
but even managed to use the Greenwood Lake Division to get there.
From 1964 to 1973, I had a summer job in New York City. I'd
buy a ticket from Arlington to New York, taking the train to Hoboken and then the ferry to Barclay Street.
| When the ferry service was discontinued, I'd
buy a ticket to Hoboken and then
take PATH to 33rd Street. |  |
The GREENWOOD LAKE DIVISION
changed over the years.
- From 1963 to sometime around 1966, it consisted of
- a line from Hoboken to Great Notch to Mtn. View to Denville, Dover, Netcong & Washington thus combining the eastern part of the old Greenwood Lake Division (Erie) with the western part of the old Boonton Line (Lackawanna)
- a branch from Great Notch to Caldwell (the Caldwell Branch)
- a branch from Mtn. View to Wanaque with a few thru trains from Wanaque to Hoboken
- a branch from Netcong to Newton & Branchville the Sussex Branch
- After 1966 (or so)
- All of the branches, including the original line to Wanaque, lost all of their service, leaving only the line from Hoboken to Great Notch to Mtn. View to Denville, Dover, and Netcong. The lines to Caldwell, Wanaque, and Sussex County were all dropped.
More changes have happened since. The line was now part of New Jersey Transit. They built The Kearny Connection which allows connection with trains direct to Penn Station in New York. Then they cut the old Greenwood Lake again, at Montclair, where it came very close to the Montclair Branch of the Morris & Essex Division, thus they are now running the trains down thru Broad Street, Newark and out into the Jersey Meadows, where the old Lackwanna tracks run parallel to the old Pennsy tracks, allowing a connection direct into Penn Station. The result of this move was abandonment of the portion of the old Greenwood Lake Division east of Montclair. In other words, there isn't now a line past Arlington station at all. However, an individual bought the line and hopes to restore service to the 3 abandoned stations. He'll need to overcome both legal and economic barriers to make it work, but we can wish him well.
More timetables and photos can now be seen on my Kearny alumni site.
If you share my interest in the Erie-Lackawanna, e-mail me at: don@shorock.com
Return to Don's Erie-Lackawanna index page.
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