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Farewell to Metro North West-of-Hudson rail service?
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are the covers of two E-L timetables, from 1965 and 1962.

The one on the right (1962) is for through service from Hoboken (serving Port Jervis, Scranton, and Binghamton).......

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/pax/tt5.jpg

(courtesy: FallenFloags Railroads)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
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Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 12:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This story from 2011 deals with the destruction along the Port Jervis line, caused by Hurricane Irene.

Thankfully, the line was repaired and service was eventually restored.

Will the Port Jervis line again "beat the fates"......?

www.secondavenuesagas.com/2011/09/02/what-future-for-the-port-jervis-line/

(courtesy: Second Ave. Sagas)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A handsome ERIE "PA" poses for the camera at Port Jervis, circa-1960.

I well remember such engines (some still wearing the the old ERIE scheme) heading Port Jervis trains, back in the early/mid-1960's.

These classic engines were later repainted in the DL&W-inspired passenger scheme, hauling passenger trains until the E-L sent them west to be used in freight service only, before they were retired.

These big engines were also common sights on the Hoboken-Scranton trains......

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie850ajh.jpg

(courtesy: FallenFlags Railroads)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"The Way It Was", circa-1960.......

This through train is awaiting departure from Port Jervis; the old ERIE depot can be seen in the background.

Into the early 1960's, a number of ex-ERIE E-8's still wore the handsome green ERIE paint scheme, with only with the old "ERIE" diamond being replaced with the new E-L herald.

These sleek machines looked fast even when standing still!

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie0824lbC.jpg

(courtesy: FallenFlags Railroads)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fast-forwarding now from the commonplace of yesterday to today's uncertain times, here is another article on the possible elimination of the MTA's West-of-Hudson commuter rail services.......

https://patch.com/new-york/newcity/no-west-hudson-commuter-train-service-mta-plans-deep-cuts
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Only a year ago........

https://midhudsonnews.com/2019/08/23/work-continues-on-port-jervis-rail-line-upgrades/
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Prior to the MTA/Metro North era, what are today's West of Hudson" rail services had no affiliations whatsoever with the MTA.

Through early 1976, these ex-ERIE rail lines were operated by the E-L; then, ConRail took over, and this agency was never to shy about bemoaning the fact that they had to operate passenger service.

Ironically, in the early 1970's, there was talk about reviving E-L passenger service to Binghamton from Hoboken; several inspection trains were run, station sites were re-evaluated, but, sadly, nothing ever came about (as noted earlier here, the last E-L through trains to serve Binghamton ran in early 1970's.

For both the ERIE and the E-L, Port Jervis was the terminal point for commuter trains (from both Jersey City and from Hoboken); the only passenger runs west of "the Port" were through trains......

"NYO"
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If they cut it, little hope it would ever return any time soon.
Look at what happened to the Raritan Valley Line extension to Phillipsburg...
Or Bound Brook to West Trenton on the former Reading...

I rode a steam excursion back in 1969 from Hoboken to Binghamton, behind Nickel Plate Berkshire #759, operated by Ross Rowland's "High Iron Company".
We left on a Saturday morning via Scranton, and spent the night in Bingo.
We returned on Sunday morning via Port Jervis. A fabulous trip. That was the last time I rode a train over that line. I did ride over the Lackawanna side a year later, on one of the final Hoboken - Chicago runs of the Lake Cities...
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some information at what was once ConRail's SOUTHERN TIER (from: "SOUTHERN TIER LINES" Humphey/Humphrey, 1992)......

"......the nearly 66 miles on ConRail's Southern Tier Line between Port Jervis and the NY/NJ State line at Suffern had its origins in the ERIE's New York Division. Between Howells Junction and Newburgh Junction near Harriman, trains follow the Graham Line, originally a low-grade cutoff for freight trains, which was built in 1909......"

".......This route, following the 3,201-foot long Moodna Viaduct, has outlasted the old min line through Monroe, Goshen, and Middletown, which ConRail abandoned in the early 1980's......"

".......the Port Jervis-Sufferen trackage is also the only Southern Tier to retain regular passenger service: the daily commuter trains from Port Jervis to to the historic Lackawanna Terminal on the Hoboken waterfront......."

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver:

How lucky you were to make that grand excursion! Wink

As I had mentioned earlier, the last time Mom and I rode up to Port Jervis was during the Summer of 1966; after the service cuts that took place that Fall, Mom was always afraid of being stranded nearly 100 miles from home, so, sadly, this ended our "day trip excursions" out of Hoboken.

Switching over to what's left of the former CNJ, the massive station complex/junction at Elizabethport has vanished entirely, save for a small section of an overpass and a crumbling stairway up to where platform level was.

After the Aldene Plan went into effect in 1967, the ticket office and waiting room (at street level) were shuttered; the only passenger trains that still stopped here were the Bayonne shuttles ("The Scoot"), which lasted until 1978; RDC's handled most of these runs.

What had once been "The Heart" of the CNJ, one of the most complex rail junctions in the State, has virtually been totally obliterated; this long-gone junction could have been a valuable link today, had it not been destroyed.

CNJ's NY&LB shore trains branched off here for the old Perth Amboy branch ("Chemical Coast"); mainline trains stopped here, and trains of the B&O and the RDG once passed through.

Also, trains of the CNJ's Newark Branch stopped at E'Port; most service on this line was provided by RDC shuttles, but, during the rush hours, loco-hauled trains ran from the Broad St. station in Newark, to both Atlantic Highlands (via Matawan) and Plainfield.

To lose the PJ line, would, of course, hammer a huge nail into the coffin of area commuter rail lines; ditto, the Pascack Valley line.

One can only hope of some "Eleventh Hour" bailout.......

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sat Sep 19, 2020 6:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some information on the Southern Tier......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Tier_Line
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

After 1966, Port Jervis (passenger train-wise) became a "commuter only" stop.

With no more through trains west of PJ, the only passenger trains to still call at "The Port" were the commuter runs out of Hoboken; after late 1966, all Sunday service had vanished (indeed, by this late date, no diesel-hauled passenger trains ran on any of the E-L lines on Sundays)

Interestingly, until about 1950, a number of Port Jervis trains (out of Jersey City) were hauled by "Go Devil" gas-electrics; some of these hulking monsters had Stillwell-type roofs, to further blend in with the coaches they pulled.

Express box cars, baggage cars, mail storage cars, RPO's, and TOFC's on Port Jervis trains disappeared in late 1966, after the abandonment of Trains #21 and #22.............

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The year 1966 on the Erie-Lackawanna......

As I have already mentioned, the E-L axed a good chunk of passenger services that year; by year's end, the axe had fallen, and much had been lost, due to deep financial losses.

The loss of REA and mail traffic* (recall, in the late 1960's, the Government switched most mail traffic from rails to rubber, further contributed to the downfall of trains that, now deprived of their main source of revenue, could not survive) was also a huge factor in the massive service cuts that year, not to mention competition by buses and private autos.

With the demise of the Hoboken-Binghamton locals (#'s 21 and 22) all passenger service west of Port Jervis was eliminated.

The famed "PHOEBE SNOW" (Hoboken-Chicago) was also abandoned late that year.

All commuter service on the Sussex Branch, as well as passenger services on the Newark and Northern branches, ended.

Ditto the Carlton Hill spur.

South Orange (M&E) had been both a "through" station as well as a terminal for rush-hour MU electrics; a yard and interlocking tower was also located here.

By late 1966, all South Orange trains had been cut, and the yard closed (no trace remains today)

The electrified Montclair Branch was cut back to rush hours only.

Several Hoboken-Scranton trains had already been eliminated by this time; as mentioned earlier, Saturday schedules were drastically cut back, and no diesel-hauled trains ran on Sundays.

A far cry from what E-L passenger services were like, only a few years earlier......

"NYO"

*Through the mid-1960's, head-end traffic was still quite substantial on the E-L; it was not at all uncommon to see through trains with nearly a dozen head-end cars, ahead of passenger-carrying cars.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are a few nostalgic views of E-L through trains at Binghamton, NY, back in the early 1960's.

Port Jervis would have been a stop for these trains.

Note the heavy head-end consists of these trains; also, in one photo, the row of REA vans awaiting their next loads.

When REA began using the rails less and less, and most mail was shifted over to trucks and airplanes, the revenue lost to the E-L was staggering and substantial; without any sort of Federal subsidies, there was no way that trains like this could have survived.

When I recall timeless images such as these, I truly feel my age.......

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/el809at.jpg

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/el809as.jpg

www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/el810at.jpg

(courtesy: FallenFlags Railroads)
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traildriver




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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking of Erie commuter trains...there was this often forgotten last commuter train...

http://www.jtbell.net/transit/Cleveland/EL/

Besides being an "orphan" on the E-L, and later Conrail, separated from all their other commuter operations, it also has a couple of other distinctions...
When Amtrak first started in 1971, there was a period when Cleveland was left off their map....NO passenger trains at all, other than the Rapid Transit and Shaker Heights trolley. So this was the only passenger train serving Cleveland.

And when Amtrak did permanently resume service thru Cleveland, they moved from the Terminal Tower out to their new Lakefront Station, leaving the Conrail commuter as the last train to run from the Terminal Tower station until it ended.
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