The Morris & Essex Lines are a group of former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) railroad lines in New Jersey now owned and operated by NJ Transit. The lines include service offered on the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch. Prior to 2002, the former Montclair Branch, now part of the Montclair–Boonton Line, was included as well. The name refers to the Morris and Essex Railroad, which originally constructed the lines before being leased by the DL&W in 1868, and later outright acquired in 1945.
The lines were electrified by the DL&W at 3000 V DC in 1930/31, [1] and by August 1984 had been converted to 25 kV 60 Hz by NJ Transit. [2]
Service is available directly to Hoboken Terminal or via the Kearny Connection to Secaucus Junction and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination if necessary.[ citation needed ]
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.
Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by eight NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, an NJ Transit event shuttle to Meadowlands Sports Complex, one Metro-North Railroad line, various NJT buses and private bus lines, the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit system, and NY Waterway-operated ferries.
The Gladstone Branch is a commuter rail line operated by NJ Transit in the U.S. state of New Jersey, one of two branches of the Morris & Essex Lines. Gladstone Line trains operate between Gladstone station and either Hoboken Terminal or New York Penn Station.
The Morristown Line is an NJ Transit commuter rail line connecting Morris and Essex counties to New York City, via either New York Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal. Out of 60 inbound and 58 outbound daily weekday trains, 28 inbound and 26 outbound Midtown Direct trains use the Kearny Connection to Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination. On rail system maps the line is colored dark green, and its symbol is a drum, a reference to Morristown's history during the American Revolution.
The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
The New Jersey West Line Railroad was a proposed railroad running east and west across Northern New Jersey, of which the only part constructed was what is now the Gladstone Branch of New Jersey Transit between Summit and Bernardsville. Some other remains of it can be found in Summit, Millburn, and Union Township.
Newark Broad Street station is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail and light rail station at 25 University Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. Built in 1903, the station's historic architecture includes an elegant clock tower and a brick and stone façade on the station's main building. In June 1984, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historical significance.
Chatham is a railway station in Chatham, New Jersey. A commuter rail station, Chatham receives rail service from statewide provider NJ Transit on its Morristown Line, a branch of the Morris & Essex Lines. Trains on the Morristown Line go to both Hoboken Terminal and New York Penn Station.
Denville is an active commuter railroad train station in Denville Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Located on Estling Road, the station contains three side platforms–two curved low-level platforms that service New Jersey Transit's Morristown Line, and a third that services their Montclair-Boonton Line. Both platforms on the Morristown Line contain miniature high-level platforms for handicap accessibility. Trains on both lines operate between Hoboken Terminal, New York Penn Station and Hackettstown. Heading westbound, the next station is Dover while the next station east on the Morristown Line is Mount Tabor. The next station east on the Montclair-Boonton Line is Mountain Lakes.
Dover is an active commuter railroad train station in the town of Dover, Morris County, New Jersey. Located at the end of electric service, Dover station serves as a secondary terminal of NJ Transit's Morristown and Montclair-Boonton Lines. Non-electric service continues west to Hackettstown on both lines. The next station to the west is Mount Arlington while the next station to the east is Denville. Dover station consists of a single island platform, accessible for the handicapped.
Netcong is an NJ Transit station in Netcong, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Located on Route 46 at Main Street in downtown Netcong, the small, 1-low level side platform station service passengers for the Morristown Line and the Montclair-Boonton Line. These lines provide service to Hoboken or to New York City via Midtown Direct on the Morristown Line at Dover station and Montclair-Boonton at Montclair State University station. Midtown Direct service can also be transferred at Newark Broad Street station in Newark. There is one track and one platform on the north side, adjacent to the station. NJ Transit maintains a substantial train servicing yard east of the Netcong station at Port Morris in Roxbury Township. Port Morris Yard is proposed to return as the junction of the Montclair-Boonton and Morristown lines for the Lackawanna Cut-Off line to Scranton. Transfers would be provided at Lake Hopatcong station in Landing.
Watsessing Avenue station is a New Jersey Transit rail station in Bloomfield, New Jersey, along the Montclair-Boonton Line. It is located beneath the Bloomfield Police Benevolent Association meeting hall near the corner of Watsessing Avenue and Orange Street in Bloomfield. It is one of two stations on the line where the boarding platform is below ground level. The Watsessing station and the Kingsland station in Lyndhurst on the Main Line shared similar designs and were built about the same time.
Roseville Avenue was a transfer station on New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines in Newark, New Jersey, United States. The station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1903 as part of a project to lower the tracks below the road surface to eliminate grade crossings. It serviced Newark's Roseville neighborhood. It once had two tracks on the Lackawanna mainline and two low-wall platforms, with an additional platform along the Montclair Branch. The station remained in service during most of the 20th century, until New Jersey Transit closed the station on September 16, 1984.
Ampere, formerly known as The Crescent, is a defunct stop on New Jersey Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line in the city of East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. A station was first built there in 1890 to service to new Crocker Wheeler plant in the district. The stop was named in honor of André-Marie Ampère, a pioneer in electrodynamics and reconstructed as a new Renaissance Revival station in 1908. Ampere was the second stop on the branch west of Newark Broad Street Station until 1984, when the Roseville Avenue station was closed. In June of that year, the station, along with 42 others, was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. In 1986, after continuous deterioration, New Jersey Transit demolished the westbound shelter built in 1921. The agency discontinued rail service to Ampere on April 7, 1991. The entire station was demolished in 1995.
The Montclair-Boonton Line is a commuter rail line of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations in the United States. It is part of the Hoboken Division. The line is a consolidation of three individual lines: the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Montclair Branch, which ran from Hoboken Terminal to Bay Street, Montclair. The Erie Railroad's Greenwood Lake Division, a segment from Montclair to Mountain View-Wayne, originally ran from the Jersey City Terminal to Greenwood Lake, NY, and the former Lackawanna Boonton Line ran from Hoboken to Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Lackawanna Terminal is a former railroad terminal in the township of Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey. Built in 1913, the station was the terminal of the Montclair Branch of the Morris and Essex Lines. The station, boasting four platforms and six tracks, was built by William Hull Botsford, an architect who died in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. The station opened on June 28, 1913 in a grand ceremony in Montclair. The station was used until March 2, 1981, when New Jersey Transit moved service to a single platform station at Bay Street. The station was converted to an enclosed shopping mall.
The Newark Drawbridge, also known as the Morristown Line Bridge, is a railroad bridge on the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison, New Jersey. The swing bridge is the 11th bridge from the river's mouth at Newark Bay and is 5.85 miles (9.41 km) upstream from it. Opened in 1903, it is owned and operated by New Jersey Transit.
Harrison was a station on New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines in Harrison, New Jersey, United States. The station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1906. It was situated between Newark Broad Street Station and Hoboken Terminal.
Grove Street was a NJ Transit station in East Orange, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, along the Morris & Essex Lines. The station was first built in 1901 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), and opened to the public in 1903. A second story was added to the eastbound station house after the DL&W elevated the tracks through East Orange in 1922. NJ Transit discontinued rail service to Grove Street on April 7, 1991. The entire station was demolished in 1995.
The Harrison Cut-off is a substantially abandoned north–south rail line constructed by the Lackawanna Railroad for freight and equipment moves, running between Lyndhurst, New Jersey and Harrison, New Jersey and currently owned by NJ Transit.