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.
Peak trains arrive at Hoboken on weekdays between 7:00 am and 9:18 am; the two trains to New York arrive on weekdays in Penn Station at 7:26 am and 7:49 am. Peak trains leave Hoboken between 4:32 pm and 7:00 pm; the trains leaving New York do so on weekdays at 5:18 pm and 5:50 pm. [1]
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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.
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.
Station listing
| Gladstone Branch stations | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone | Miles from east terminal | Municipality | Station | Services | Public transportation | Notes |
| – | 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 | |
| 4 | 10.0 | East Orange | East Orange | ADA-accessible | NJ Transit buses: 21, 71, 73, 79, 94 | |
| 10.6 | Brick Church | – | NJ Transit buses: 21, 71, 73, 79, 94, 97 | |||
| 11.5 | Orange | Orange | – | NJ Transit buses: 21, 41 71, 73, 79, 92 | ||
| 5 | 12.2 | Highland Avenue | – | NJ Transit buses: 92 | ||
| 13.1 | South Orange | Mountain Station | – | 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 | – | NJ Transit buses: 70 | |
| 17.8 | Short Hills | 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 | – | NJ Transit buses: 986 Wheels | ||
| 10 | 23.4 | Murray Hill | – | NJ Transit buses: 986 Wheels | ||
| 11 | 25.8 | Berkeley Heights | Berkeley Heights | – | – | |
| 12 | 27.1 | Long Hill Township | Gillette | – | – | |
| 14 | 28.5 | Stirling | – | – | ||
| 30.1 | Millington | – | – | |||
| 31.8 | Bernards Township | Lyons | ADA-accessible | – | ||
| 16 | 33.6 | Basking Ridge | – | – | ||
| 34.6 | Bernardsville | Bernardsville | – | – | ||
| 17 | 39.0 | Far Hills | Far Hills | – | – | |
| 18 | 41.3 | Peapack | Peapack | – | – | |
| 42.3 | Gladstone | Gladstone | ADA-accessible | – | ||
| Gladstone Branch abandoned stations | ||||||
| 2 | Harrison | Harrison | – | – | Abandoned | |
| Newark | Roseville Avenue | – | – | Abandoned circa 1984 | ||
| 4 | East Orange | Grove Street | – | – | Abandoned circa 1979 | |
| 6 | Maplewood | Wyoming | – | – | Abandoned | |
| 17 | Far Hills | Mine Brook | – | – | Abandoned | |
External links
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