Morristown Line

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Morristown Line
standard gauge
ElectrificationOverhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Route map

Legend
Washington Secondary
to Phillipsburg
 Hackettstown
US 46.svg
US 46
Musconetcong River
 Mount Olive
I-80.svg I-80
 Netcong
Port Morris Yard
Lackawanna Cut-Off
to Andover
Landing Masonry Bridge
 Lake Hopatcong
I-80.svg I-80
 Mount Arlington
Chester & High Bridge Branches
 Wharton
Dover & Rockaway Branches
US 46.svg
US 46
 Dover
Dover Yard
original alignment
Rockaway
Denville
MOBO via Montclair
 Mount Tabor
Ellipse sign 10.svg Route 10
US 202.svg US 202
 Morris Plains
M&E Main Line
to Roseland
 Morristown
I-287.svg
I-287
 Convent Station
Madison
Chatham
Passaic River
GLAD to Gladstone
 Summit
Rahway Valley Railroad
to Roselle Park
Elongated circle 24.svg Route 24
 Short Hills
Rahway River
 Millburn
Maplewood
South Orange
Mountain Station
Highland Avenue
I-280.svg I-280
 Orange
Brick Church
East Orange
GSPkwy Shield.svg G.S. Parkway
Grove Street
MOBO
to Hackettstown
via Montclair
Roseville Avenue
I-280.svg I-280
Newark Light Rail
 Newark Broad Street
Newark Light Rail
Newark Drawbridge
over Passaic River
 Harrison
Harrison Cut-off
Northeast Corridor
to Washington
Kearny
Connection
│
 
Sawtooth
Kearny
Connection
│
Bridges
Sawtooth
│
Waterfront
Connection
Hackensack River
Meadows Maintenance Complex
MAIN & BCL to Suffern
 Secaucus Junction
Bergen Tunnels
Hoboken Yard
 Hoboken Terminal
Port Authority Trans-Hudson Hudson–Bergen Light Rail
North River Tunnels
under Hudson River
NJ
NY
New York Penn Station
Amtrak
East River Tunnels
under East River
Sunnyside Yard
LIRR Main Line
to Long Island
&
Amtrak NEC
to Boston
This diagram:

The Morristown Line is an

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
.

There is frequent service weekdays, with hourly service to/from New York (none going beyond Dover) on weekends. Until August 13, 2006, there was also hourly service to Hoboken. On that date, service between Hoboken and Summit was cut back to once every two hours on weekends. On May 11, 2008, off-peak weekday Hoboken-Dover trains (600 Series) were cut. In addition, weekend Gladstone trains were cut back to Summit, and a shuttle train is operated every two hours between

Newark Broad Street and Hoboken Terminal
.

The Millburn-Summit segment underwent extensive rehabilitation in the mid-2010s. This included the replacement of the creosote crossties on both tracks with concrete crossties, the replacement of all crossties on the double trestle over Short Hills Avenue, and the replacement of several sections of rail. Work has also progressed on rehabilitating both tracks between Summit and Dover with concrete crossties and new welded rail, and rehabilitation of select road overpasses.

Hurricane Sandy inflicted considerable damage on the Morristown Line on October 29–30, 2012, as fallen trees brought down catenary and signal wires and washed out sections of track, most notably through the New Jersey Meadowlands on both the main line and the Kearny Connection. Midtown Direct service was restored from Dover to New York on November 12, 2012;[2][3] service to Hoboken and west of Dover resumed on November 19.[4]

Description

The Morristown Line begins at

Route 7 and then passes NJ Transit's Meadowlands Maintenance Complex
(MMC).

PATH lines and Interstate 280 for a short distance here. The Waterfront Connection is just prior to the overpass at Meadows interlocking. It allows selected North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line
trains to reach Hoboken from the Northeast Corridor Line.

Newark Drawbridge over the Passaic River bridge. The swing bridge is to the right of the vehicular William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge (I-280) lift bridge in background.
Passing Passaic River by NJT train, east of Broad Street, in Newark, NJ

After following Interstate 280, the line crosses a 2-track swing bridge, the

Roseville Avenue station, now the location of Roseville interlocking, the Montclair-Boonton Line splits off to the right. The route west from Passaic River to a short distance to the east of Millburn station is triple tracked. The remainder of the route to Lake Hopatcong station is double tracked
.

After passing an abandoned station at Grove Street (now the location of Green interlocking) and over the

Short Hills
have two side platforms, with two tracks.

Summit
, a major station, is next with two high platforms and the station building above the tracks. A glass crossover passes above the platforms. Some weekday locals terminate and originate here. Many of the area's private schools are located in Summit and commuting high school students are a major source of traffic for this station. Schedules are timed for most Morristown trains to have a convenient transfer to a Gladstone branch train across the platform.

Just west of Summit the

Madison
on a viaduct is similar, with a recently refurbished 1916 station house on the eastbound side.

The line passes its first grade crossing at

Convent Station at Saint Elizabeth University
. This station has two side platforms with the station building on the eastbound side and a brick waiting house on the westbound track. An old freight station is on the eastbound side. After this station there are two more grade crossings.

Crossing

Morristown & Erie Railway
's main office are located. The Morristown & Erie's main line diverges at this point.

The next station on the line is

Parsippany
located at a grade crossing. This stop is served by selected weekday and limited weekend trains and lacks an eastbound platform.

Denville station
is a short distance from Mount Tabor. The Morristown Line rejoins the Montclair-Boonton Line just past this station.

The line passes over Estling Lake and alongside the

Dover, the final stop in electric territory, is next. The 1905 station was recently renovated in the mid-1990s and has a single high platform. Since the electric wiring ends near here, this is the last stop for most NJ Transit trains: as of 2022 all Midtown Direct Morristown Lines are exclusively electric, though this may change if NJ Transit purchases more dual mode locomotives and assigns them to Midtown Direct service on the Morristown line; also, most Hoboken trains on the Morristown line are electric due to its better efficiency and performance. Only a few Hoboken diesels continue west towards Hackettstown. The Morristown Line catenary wires end about a half-mile west of the station near the US Route 46 overpass. However, there are plans (currently unfunded)[citation needed] to extend the electric service to Lake Hopatcong as the Dover Yard is at capacity, and the substation at Wharton
to supply this extension has been in service since 1984.

Two tracks continue west over the Rockaway River and past D&R Junction in Wharton where

Lackawanna Cutoff is on the right as the train approaches Port Morris Yard, where the Montclair-Boonton and Morristown line's diesel fleet is based. Netcong station
has a brick house on the low platform. Until late 1994, this was the endpoint of the line. Crossing under Interstate 80, the line enters the Mount Olive International Trade Center, where a station is located at Waterloo Valley Road.

The route passes through

Norfolk Southern and operated by the Dover and Delaware River Railroad as part of the Washington Secondary
to Phillipsburg.

The Morristown line is the main line of the historic

Scranton
.

Electrification

The Morristown Line east of

electrified, using 25 kV, 60 Hz AC overhead catenary wire. The line was electrified in 1930 at 3 kV DC, but was re-electrified in 1984 at the contemporary standard of 25 kV, 60 Hz. The connecting Gladstone Branch and Montclair Branch
were also re-electrified at this time.

Rolling stock

Weekday local service between Hoboken and Dover now is mainly diesel (electric if the locomotive is an

ALP-45DP
dual-power locomotive (runs electric east of Dover, diesel west of Dover) with Comet cars.

Stations

State Zone
[5] 		Location Station[5]
Miles (km)
 Date opened Date closed Connections / notes[5]
NY 1 Manhattan
Pennsylvania Station Disabled access
 0.0 (0.0) 1910
Eastern Shuttle
Vamoose Bus
NJ Secaucus Secaucus Junction Disabled access 3.5 (5.6) 2003 NJ Transit Rail:
353
Hoboken Hoboken Terminal Disabled access – 1903 NJ Transit Rail: Bergen County, Gladstone, Main, Meadowlands, Montclair-Boonton, Pascack Valley, Raritan Valley, and North Jersey Coast lines
Metro-North Railroad: Port Jervis Line
New York Waterway
2
Harrison Harrison 7.13 (11.5) September 16, 1984[6]
Newark Newark Broad Street Disabled access 10.4 (16.7) November 19, 1836[7] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line and Gladstone Branch
108
4
Roseville Avenue 11.6 (18.7) September 16, 1984[6]
East Orange
Grove Street 12.2 (19.6) April 7, 1991[8]
East Orange Disabled access 12.6 (20.3) November 19, 1836[7] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
94
Community Coach
: 77
Brick Church 13.2 (21.2) November 19, 1836[7] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
ONE Bus
: 24
Orange Orange 14.1 (22.7) November 19, 1836[7] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
92

Community Coach: 77
ONE Bus: 24, 44
West Orange Community Shuttle
5 Highland Avenue 14.8 (23.8) NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
92

ONE Bus: 44
South Orange Mountain Station 15.7 (25.3) NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
92
South Orange Disabled access 16.5 (26.6) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
107

ONE Bus: 31
South Orange Community Shuttle
West Orange Community Shuttle
6 Maplewood Maplewood 17.8 (28.6) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
Maplewood Community Shuttle
Wyoming
7 Millburn Millburn 19.4 (32.2) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
70
Short Hills Short Hills 20.4 (32.8) July 1879[10] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
Springfield Community Shuttle
9 Summit Summit Disabled access 22.7 (36.5) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Rail: Gladstone Branch
NJ Transit Bus:
Lakeland Bus
: 78
10 Chatham Chatham 26.1 (42.0) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Bus:
873
11 Madison Madison Disabled access 28.1 (45.2) September 17, 1837[9] NJ Transit Bus:
873
12 Convent Station
Convent Station
 30.3 (48.8) 1867[11] NJ Transit Bus:
879
14 Morristown Morristown Disabled access 32.5 (52.0) January 1, 1838[12] NJ Transit Bus:
880

Community Coach: 77
16 Morris Plains Morris Plains 34.6 (55.7) July 4, 1848[13] NJ Transit Bus:
880
Mount Tabor Mount Tabor 38.3 (61.6) NJ Transit Bus:
880
Denville
 Denville Disabled access 39.3 (63.2) July 4, 1848[13] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
NJ Transit Bus:
880
17 Dover Dover Disabled access 43.1 (69.4) July 31, 1848[14] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
NJ Transit Bus:
electrification
, transfer point between trains to New York/Hoboken and Dover
19
Wharton Wharton January 6, 1958[15][16]
Mount Arlington Mount Arlington Disabled access
(limited service) 		January 16, 1854[17][18]
January 21, 2008[19] 		November 8, 1942[20][21] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
Lakeland Bus: 80
Also known as Howard Boulevard Park and Ride
Roxbury Lake Hopatcong
(limited service) 		48.5 (78.1) 1882[22] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
Lakeland Bus: 80
Port Morris April 24, 1949[23][24] Passenger service ended on April 24, 1949, but the site continued to serve as split of the Lackawanna Cut-Off.
Netcong Netcong
(limited service) 		51.0 (82.1) January 16, 1854[17][18] NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
Former western terminus, originally Netcong-Stanhope
Mount Olive
 Mount Olive Disabled access
(limited service) 		52.7 (84.8) January 16, 1854[17][18]
October 31, 1994[25] 		April 24, 1960[26][27]
 NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line
Originally
Waterloo
Hackettstown Hackettstown Disabled access
(limited service) 		60.0 (96.6) January 16, 1854[17]
October 31, 1994[25] 		September 30, 1966[28]
  		NJ Transit Rail: Montclair-Boonton Line

References

  1. ^ a b NJ Transit celebrates 10-year anniversary of MidTOWN Direct service New Jersey Transit Retrieved 2007-09-08
  2. ^ "NEW FERRY OPTION TO MIDTOWN MANHATTAN FROM HOBOKEN: EFFECTIVE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12". NJ Transit Customer Notices: Post-Hurricane Service Updates and Travel Options. NJTransit.com. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Midtown Direct Will Resume Limited Service Monday". Millburn-Short Hills Patch. Archived from the original on 18 November 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  4. ^ "All But One NJ TRANSIT Rail Lines Fully or Partially Restored Starting Monday, November 19". njtransit.com. New Jersey Transit. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Morris & Essex Line Timetable" (PDF). New York, New York: New Jersey Transit. November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Morris & Essex Lines Timetable (September 16, 1984 ed.). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. 1984.
  7. ^ a b c d Douglass 1912, p. 339.
  8. ^ Morris & Essex Lines Timetable (April 7, 1991 ed.). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. 1991.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Morris and Essex is Seventy-Nine Years Old". The Madison Eagle. June 16, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved February 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ Stern, Fishman & Tilove 2013, p. 131.
  11. ^ Housing Legislation of 1966: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Banking and Currency - United States Senate Eighty-Ninth Congress Second Session on Proposed Housing Legislation for 1966 (Report). 89th United States Congress. 1967. p. 1198. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  12. ^ Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen 1913, p. 533.
  13. ^ a b Arch, Brad (January 1982). "The Morris and Essex Railroad" (PDF). Journal of New Jersey Postal History Society. X (1): 4–8. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  14. ^ Platt 1922, p. 36.
  15. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. October 27, 1957. p. 14. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  16. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. January 6, 1958. p. 14. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d Davis, J.M. "Letter to the New York Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society" (PDF). The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. p. 8. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c New Jersey Comptroller of the Treasury 1856, p. 31.
  19. ^ Saha, Paula (January 21, 2008). "NJ Transit Station in Mount Arlington Offers Choice to Commuters". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  20. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. August 1, 1942. p. 14. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  21. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. November 8, 1942. p. 14. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  22. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - Ledgewood Historic District" (PDF). nps.gov. National Park Service. p. 38. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  23. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. February 14, 1949. p. 14. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  24. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. April 24, 1949. p. 14. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  25. ^ a b Ciliberti, Dino F. (October 30, 1994). "Train Service Starts Tomorrow to Mount Olive, Hackettstown". The Daily Record. Morristown, New Jersey. p. E7. Retrieved April 7, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  26. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. April 24, 1960. p. 14. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  27. ^ "Lackawanna Railroad Timetables" (PDF). New York, New York: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. January 1, 1960. p. 14. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  28. ^ "Erie Curtailment Approved by Judiciary". The Morning Call. Paterson, New Jersey. October 1, 1966. p. 1. Retrieved April 8, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon

Bibliography

External links
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