ERIE-LACKAWANNA

This page will cover what is now commonly known as the "Mainline".  Because it is non-electrified and most trains end up
in Suffern, most people consider it to be a former Erie Railroad line.  While some of it is originally Erie, the eastern end was
once the Lackawanna's Boonton Line.  The change occurs right at the point where the Garden State Parkway crosses over
near exit 155.  East of this spot is the former Boonton Line while to the west a new connection was built to reach the original
Erie main on the southern edge of Paterson.  This allowed two major things to occur.  It allowed the construction of
Interstate 80 up on the hill above Paterson and also eliminate the Erie tracks through downtown Passaic.  I will attempt
a map as soon as I can to better explain this. 

To begin, trains headed out of Hoboken and crossed the New Jersey Meadowlands.  The first stop after passing through the
swamps of Jersey is Kingsland.

The Kingsland station actually sits above the tracks at street level.

  U34CH 4183 chugs east toward Hoboken with train 1110.  July 7, 1983.

Lyndhurst station. Eastbound side.  Also July 7, 1983.  Lyndhurst is my Mom's resting place.

  The standard power for virtually all diesel trains on this line were these former-EL ( NJ bought and owned them ) GE U34CH units.

    An inbound train passing over Route 21 and the Passaic River. 1993.

  Desperate for power, the new NJT bought a few Chicago & Northwestern passenger F7's.  Looking good in new paint 418 heads
west through Delawanna with train 1203.  July 7, 1983.

  Cab car 5121 leads train 1112 eastbound at Delawanna.  Note the Lackawanna signal on the right.  7-7-83.

  The former Lackawanna station at Passaic.  The Erie mainline went right through downtown while the Lackawanna skirted the edge.

  U34CH 4164 leads train #57 west through Passaic on its way to Port Jervis.  Note the wide separation of the two tracks.

  Athenia Avenue station in Clifton.  Note the 'classic' cars and a genuine telephone booth !

  4155 in its original paint scheme pushes an eastbound toward Hoboken.

     Cab car 5124 leads an eastbound dead-head train back to Hoboken.

    4163 on train # 1207 is at the end of double track in Clifton.  It is at this location that the new connection from the
old Lackawanna Boonton Line begins.  In the second image, the Garden State Parkway bridge passes over top.  NJT eventually added a second
track from here to Paterson to eliminate what was a bottleneck for many years.

  Paterson Station.  This is an Erie station.

  F7 418 is again westbound with another train entering Paterson.  This is train 1209.  July 7, 1983.

  The Erie eastbound station building at Hawthorne was well 'tagged'.

  4179 westbound with rush hour train 1211 at Hawthorne.  July 7, 1983.

  4165 pushes train 1208 east passing the former freight yard at Hawthorne.  The Susquehanna used this yard for interchange traffic.

  The town of Glen Rock has two separate stations a few blocks apart.  This one is on the Mainline side.   1982.

  4156 pushes an eastbound through Ridgewood Junction in 1980.  It is headed east on the Mainline.

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