The east side of the Erie Railroad's Newark Branch lies in ruins since having seen its last train in 1977. Heading west, this branch spurred off the Boonton Line near Arlington and continued across NX Drawbridge, visible in the distance in this photo (a close up view can be seen in photo 266691), and then joined the Main Line near Clifton. NX Drawbridge, built in 1922, was permanently raised and abandoned in 1977, slicing the Newark Branch into two sections on either side of the Passaic River. Service dwindled on the east side, and the last nail in the coffin occurred in 2002, when the Boonton Line was abandoned by NJ Transit, completely severing this section of track. The ROW, still in tact after all these years, is being encroached upon by local citizens as well as Mother Nature. The partially obscured brick building to the left of the photo is the former Clark Thread Factory, which at one time hosted the world's tallest brick chimney. It is unlikely any trains will ever traverse this section of track again, but for now, traces of the Newark Branch live on.
This gallery contains photos of equipment and properties that became, were and used to be part of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. This gallery also contains photos of equipment paying tribute to the EL or its predecessors.
