Gladstone Branch
Gladstone Branch train atFar Hills en route toSummit.
Overview
Owner	New Jersey Transit (except fromKearny Connection to New York Penn) Amtrak (Kearny to Penn)
Locale	North Jersey
Termini	Hoboken NY Penn Station(two rush hour trips) Gladstone
Stations	24
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	New Jersey Transit Rail Operations
Operator(s)	New Jersey Transit
Rolling stock	ALP-46 andALP-45DP locomotives,MultiLevel coaches,Comet coaches,Arrow III multiple units
Technical
Line length	42.3 mi (68.1 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Route map Legend Gladstone Gladstone Yard Peapack Far Hills US 202 Mine Brook closed Bernardsville I-287 Basking Ridge Lyons Passaic River Millington Stirling Gillette Passaic River Berkeley Heights Murray Hill New Providence M&E toHackettstown viaMorristown 20.1 Summit Rahway Valley Railroad toRoselle Park Route 24 17.8 Short Hills Rahway River 16.5 Millburn 15.1 Maplewood 13.8 South Orange 13.1 Mountain Station 12.2 Highland Avenue I-280 11.4 Orange 10.6 Brick Church East Orange G.S. Parkway Grove Street 9.0 MOBO toHackettstown viaMontclair Roseville Avenue I-280 Newark Light Rail 7.8 Newark Broad Street Newark Drawbridge overPassaic River Harrison Harrison Cut-off Northeast Corridor toWashington 5.2 7.8 Kearny Connection │   Sawtooth Kearny Connection │ Bridges Sawtooth │ Waterfront Connection Hackensack River Meadows Maintenance Complex MAIN &BCLtoSuffern 5.0 Secaucus Junction Bergen Tunnels Hoboken Yard 0.0 Hoboken Terminal North River Tunnels underHudson River NJ NY 0.0 New York Penn Station East River Tunnels underEast River Sunnyside Yard LIRR Main Line toLong Island & AmtrakNEC toBoston This diagram: view talk edit

TheGladstone Branch (also known as theGladstone Line) is acommuter rail line operated byNJ Transit in the U.S. state ofNew Jersey, one of two branches of theMorris & Essex Lines. Gladstone Line trains operate betweenGladstone station and eitherHoboken Terminal orNew York Penn Station.

The Gladstone Branch itself runs from Gladstone to a junction with the Morris & Essex at Summit. It is single-tracked with passing sidings atMurray Hill,Stirling,Bernardsville and west ofFar Hills.

AtSummit, the Gladstone Branch joins with theMorristown Line. East ofNewark Broad Street station, Gladstone Line trains may either continue to Hoboken Terminal, wherePATH trains orNY Waterway ferries allow connection to New York, or use theKearny Connection to diverge to New York Penn Station; two peak-hour trains from Gladstone offer direct trips to/from New York Penn Station.^[1]

On weekdays during rush hours, the line operates in two zones: all stops from Hoboken to Summit; or express from Hoboken toShort Hills (one station east of Summit), and then local to Gladstone. All weekend and off-peak service is local across the entire line.

The Gladstone Branch proper, the part of the Gladstone Line west of the junction with the Morris & Essex at Summit, is The line primarily operates in the eastbound direction weekday peak hours, except for a small number of reverse peak trains. On weekends the line operates Gladstone-Summit service hourly along the branch. Until August 13, 2006 all trains continued 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 operated every two hours betweenNewark Broad Street andHoboken Terminal. (This shuttle train was later extended to provide bihourly service toBay Street on theMontclair–Boonton Line). Passengers for Penn Station connect at Summit to/from a Dover/Penn Station train.

The line is colored pale green on system maps and its symbol is a horse, a reference to theGrand National Hurdle Stakessteeplechase race held in the area.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(November 2014)

The only part of theNew Jersey West Line Railroad that was completed was from Summit west to Bernardsville. The New Jersey West Line Railroad was dissolved in 1878 and the assets were sold off. The Summit to Bernardsville line was then purchased by the Passaic and Delaware Railroad. TheDelaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) leased the line on November 1, 1882 as a branch of the Morris and Essex. The Passaic and Delaware Extension Railroad was chartered in 1890 and opened later that year, extending the line to its current terminus inGladstone, New Jersey. The DL&W continued to operate this line throughout its lifespan as the Passaic and Delaware Branch, later becoming labelled the Gladstone Branch. In 1960, the DL&W merged with theErie Railroad to form theErie Lackawanna Railway, who took over the branch line. In 1983, New Jersey Transit assumed control of the line, and continues to operate it to this day.

The branch received severe damage fromHurricane Sandy on October 29–30, 2012, especially to thecatenary and signal system, causing a suspension of service for one month. High winds brought down five tall catenary poles (whose replacements had to be custom-made), approximately five miles of catenary, and 49 trees across the tracks. Gladstone service resumed on Monday, December 3 with electric Midtown Direct trains to Penn Station anddiesel-powered trains to Hoboken; full electric operation was impractical until substation damage near Hoboken was repaired in early 2013.^[2][3][4]

Gladstone Line trains begin atHoboken Terminal, with the exception of two weekday trains which run in and out ofNew York Penn Station. Gladstone Line trains run over the Morris & Essex from Hoboken or New York toSummit. At Summit, schedules are timed for most Morristown trains and Gladstone trains, permitting easy transfers across the platform or one right after the other.

The Gladstone Branch parallels the Amtrak Northeast Corridor andPATH lines andInterstate 280 (I-280) for a short distance here. TheWaterfront Connection is just prior to the overpass at Meadows interlocking. It allows selectedNorth Jersey Coast Line andRaritan Valley Line trains to reach Hoboken from the Northeast Corridor Line.

The line begins its journey by following I-280 and crosses a two-trackswing bridge over thePassaic River. It enters the newly renovatedNewark Broad Street station, which features two high platforms serving all three tracks. Within the city limits of Newark, the line runs in a trench, passing beneath numerous streets, I-280, and theNewark City Subway. At the site of the formerRoseville Avenue station, now known as the Roseville interlocking, theMontclair–Boonton Line diverges to the right. The section of the track extending westward from the Passaic River to just east of Millburn station is composed of triple tracks, while the remainder of the route toLake Hopatcong station is adouble-track railway.

After passing the abandoned station at Grove Street, now the location of Green interlocking, the line crosses theGarden State Parkway and reachesEast Orange, which is situated on a viaduct. Subsequent elevated stations includeBrick Church andOrange. The line then curves southward over Interstate 280, passing pastHighland Avenue andMountain Station. The next station isSouth Orange, an elevated structure with two platforms and three tracks, nearSeton Hall University.Maplewood follows, with a side platform and a center platform serving all westbound and some eastbound trains. Beyond Maplewood, the line narrows to two tracks at Millburn interlocking.Millburn andShort Hills stations each have two side platforms serving two tracks.

Just west of Summit, the Morristown Line separates. The Gladstone Branch curves left at the Summit substation before enteringNew Providence. After New Providence, the line passes its first grade crossing at a 4-way intersection of Central Avenue and Livingston Avenue. This crossing is one of the few 4-way crossings along NJ Transit rail lines. The line then continues, crossing Foley Place and enteringMurray Hill station. At Murray Hill, the track splits in two to allow eastbound trains and westbound to pass each other, since most of the line is single tracked. There is a wooden plank at Murray Hill to allow passengers on westbound trains to get off before the eastbound train arrives on the track closest to the station platform. Schedules are timed for a convenient meetup at Murray Hill. After Murray Hill, the line passes three more grade crossings: at Warner Field Path, at Union Avenue, and at Snyder Avenue. There used to be a siding for the General Chemical Company plant just west of the Snyder Avenue crossing, but this was removed between 2018 and 2019.

The line crosses Plainfield Avenue and entersBerkeley Heights station, which also contains a siding for parking equipment. The line then continues and crosses thePassaic River a second time and enters Morris County.

There are three stations inLong Hill Township. The first isGillette station. After Gillette, the line crosses Morristown Road and entersStirling station. At Stirling, the track splits in two, again to allow eastbound and westbound trains to pass each other. The line also crosses Central Avenue at the station. Continuing westward, the line crosses Northfield Road by Millington Elementary School before curving right, crossing Division Avenue, and enteringMillington station. At Millington, there used to be another gateless crossing on the other side of the platform, where the line will cross River Road, a small connection road between Commerce Street and Long Hill Road, but this crossing was closed off sometime around 2014-2015.

The line continues westward, crossing the Passaic River a third time before entering Somerset County andBernards Township and crossing Pond Hill Road. After this crossing, the Millington quarry can be seen on the left (going westbound). Here, there is a short passing siding; although trains going opposite directions can also pass each other here, this area is not usually used for that.Lyons station is the next stop. The line enters the station after crossing a bridge over South Finley Avenue. After another crossing at Lake Road near Ridge High School and another bridge over West Oak Street, the line entersBasking Ridge station at the crossing at Ridge Street. Until recently, the original semaphore signal from the DL&W years used to sit atop the Basking Ridge station over the platform, one of the last vestiges of the previous operator of the line.

Afterwards, the line crosses overInterstate 287 before curving left and enteringBernardsville station after crossing under Mount Airy Road. At Bernardsville, the track splits in two, again to allow trains to pass each other if necessary, and the line crosses Depot Place. Continuing westward, the line parallelsU.S. Route 202 and crosses Old Quarry Road, Meeker Road, and Whitenack Road. At Whitenack Road is the site of the former Mine Brook station, a flag stop in the line's DL&W years. Mine Brook is the only station that was never rebuilt or even acquired by New Jersey Transit. Today, all that is left of the station is gravel where the platform used to be and a small gravel road where the parking used to be. The line then crosses Route 202 and enters Far Hills station, which has a station depot and a freight house to the west. Just west of the station near the freight house, the track splits in two again to allow eastbound and westbound trains to pass each other.

After Far Hills, the line snakes through the Far Hills area before entering the borough ofPeapack and Gladstone while crossing over theNorth Branch Raritan River and under Peapack Road.Peapack station is next at the crossing at Holland Avenue. The line then crosses a walkway in Liberty Park before entering Gladstone yard. At Gladstone yard, the track splits into 5 to allow for parking of trains. One of the tracks switches back to condense into one or can act as a siding, while the other 4 tracks condense back into one. West of the yard, the tracks enterGladstone station and its freight house. One track leads to the freight house, while two lead to the station.

The timetables are arranged so that most of the trains meet at Far Hills and Murray Hill. While Bernardsville and Stirling each have two tracks at the station, the second track at those two stations is less commonly used unless a train is running late.

At the time of NJT acquisition, freight service was operated byConrail. Upon the breakup of that company, theNorfolk Southern Railway inherited the business. Customers on the line dwindled, and the last customer, the Reheis Chemical Company, was bought out by the General Chemical Company and planned to close down in 2008. The apparent last freight train made its run on November 7, 2008; however, seven months later the facility began receiving shipments again, on June 19, 2009. Although this industry is east of theBerkeley Heights station, the freight trains actually operate as far west as Stirling, where the engine uses the siding to run around the train to reverse direction. In 2019, theDover and Delaware River Railroad took over freight service along the line.^[5]

Like theMorristown Line, the Gladstone Branch is electrified using overheadcatenary at 25 kV 60 Hz. Traction power comes from the NJT substation atSummit, which also powers much of the Morristown Line. The Summit substation is located north ofNew Providence on the Morristown Line, between theSummit andChatham stations, and receives power from the nearby Summit Utility substation. In addition to the NJT Summit traction substation, three other switching facilities are located along the line.

State	Zone	Location	Station	Miles (km) FromNYP	Date opened	Date Closed	Connections/notes
NY	1	Manhattan	New York Penn	0.0 (0.0)	1910		Amtrak (long distance):Cardinal,Crescent,Lake Shore Limited,Palmetto,Silver Meteor Amtrak (intercity):Acela,Adirondack,Carolinian,Empire Service,Ethan Allen Express,Keystone Service,Maple Leaf,Northeast Regional,Pennsylvanian,Vermonter Long Island Rail Road:Babylon,Belmont Park,City Terminal Zone,Far Rockaway,Hempstead,Long Beach,Montauk,Oyster Bay,Port Jefferson,Port Washington,Ronkonkoma,West Hempstead branches NJ Transit Rail:Morristown,Montclair–Boonton,Northeast Corridor,Raritan Valley,North Jersey Coast lines New York City Subway:1, ​2, and ​3 (at34th Street – Penn Station (Seventh Avenue)),A, ​C, and ​E (at34th Street – Penn Station (Eighth Avenue)) New York City Bus:M7,M20,M34 SBS,M34A,Q32 Academy Bus:SIM23,SIM24 Flixbus:Eastern Shuttle Vamoose Bus
NJ		Secaucus	Secaucus Junction	3.5 (5.6)	2003		NJ Transit Rail:Bergen County, Morristown,Main,Meadowlands, Montclair–Boonton, Northeast Corridor,Pascack Valley, Raritan Valley, and North Jersey Coast lines Metro-North Railroad:Port Jervis Line NJ Transit Bus:2,78,129,329,353
		Hoboken	Hoboken Terminal	–	1903		NJ Transit Rail: Bergen County, Morristown, Main, Meadowlands, Montclair–Boonton, Pascack Valley, Raritan Valley, and North Jersey Coast lines Metro-North Railroad: Port Jervis Line Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: 8th Street-Hoboken, Hoboken-Tonnelle PATH:HOB-WTC,HOB-33,JSQ-33 (via HOB) NJ Transit Bus:22,22X,23,68,85,87,89,126 New York Waterway
	2	Harrison	Harrison	7.13 (11.5)		September 16, 1984[6]
		Newark	Newark Broad Street	10.4 (16.7)	November 19, 1836[7]		NJ Transit Rail: Montclair–Boonton Line and Morristown Line Newark Light Rail: Broad Street – Newark Penn NJ Transit Bus:11,13,27,28,go28,29,30,41,72,76,78,108
	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	12.6 (20.3)	November 19, 1836[7]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:21,71,73,79,94 Community Coach: 77
			Brick Church	13.2 (21.2)	November 19, 1836[7]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:21,71,73,79,94,97 Community Coach: 77 ONE Bus: 24
		Orange	Orange	14.1 (22.7)	November 19, 1836[7]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:21,41,71,73,92 Community Coach: 77 ONE Bus: 24, 44 West Orange Community Shuttle
	5		Highland Avenue	14.8 (23.8)			NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:92 ONE Bus: 44
		South Orange	Mountain Station	15.7 (25.3)			NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:92
			South Orange	16.5 (26.6)	September 17, 1837[9]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:92,107 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: Morristown Line Maplewood Community Shuttle
			Wyoming			November 10, 1907[10]
	7	Millburn	Millburn	19.4 (32.2)	September 17, 1837[9]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:70
		Short Hills	Short Hills	20.4 (32.8)	July 1879[11]		NJ Transit Rail: Morristown Line Springfield Community Shuttle
	9	Summit	Summit	22.7 (36.5)	September 17, 1837[9]		NJ Transit Rail:Morristown Line NJ Transit Bus:70,986 Lakeland Bus: 78
		New Providence	New Providence	24.4 (39.3)	January 29, 1872[12]		NJ Transit Bus:986 Lakeland Bus: 78
	10		Murray Hill	26.0 (41.8)	January 29, 1872[12]		NJ Transit Bus:986
	11	Berkeley Heights	Berkeley Heights	28.4 (45.7)	January 29, 1872[12]		Lakeland Bus: 78
	12	Long Hill	Gillette	29.7 (47.8)	January 29, 1872[12]
	14		Stirling	31.1 (50.1)	January 29, 1872[12] (1974[13])
			Millington	32.7 (52.6)	January 29, 1872[12]
		Basking Ridge	Lyons	34.3 (55.2)	January 29, 1872[12]		Lakeland Bus: 78
	16		Basking Ridge	36.2 (58.3)	January 29, 1872[12]		Lakeland Bus: 78
		Bernardsville	Bernardsville	37.2 (59.9)	January 29, 1872[12]		Lakeland Bus: 78
	17		Mine Brook				Former minor DL&W minor flag stop located at Whitenack Road
		Far Hills	Far Hills	41.6 (66.9)	October 10, 1890[14][15]		Lakeland Bus: 78
	18	Peapack-Gladstone	Peapack	43.9 (70.7)	October 10, 1890[14][15]
			Gladstone	44.9 (72.3)	October 10, 1890[14][15]

• Douglass, A.M. (1912).The Railroad Trainman, Volume 29.Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. RetrievedApril 4, 2020.
• Stern, Robert A.M.; Fishman, David; Tilove, Jacob (2013).Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern City.New York, New York: The Monacelli Press.ISBN 9781580933261.

• Morris & Essex Line timetablesArchived September 4, 2012, at theWayback Machine

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