Lanza Avenue is where the present day Passaic Industrial tracks end. The City of Garfield purchased the railroad The Boulevard crossing in Elmwood Park seen in modern times. The line is currently used to stage unused gondola and trash cars. Brian Cronk photo, 2011 Right of Way from Division Avenue all the way to the Passaic River in the 1980’s. Development of housing and a new fire house soon took over the ROW. Remnants of the ROW still exist and even small artifacts surface occasionally unknowingly showing the historical significance this rail line was. When the tracks were active south of Lanza Avenue they would have continued south toward Passaic. Dabal and Sons Scrap, Stull Engraving, Arctic Ice and Coal remained customers on the line. The branch crossed many small side streets south of Lanza Avenue. Division, Banta, Market and Semel Avenues all had manually protected crossings. Near present day Columbus Avenue another small spur line branched off the Passaic Industrial “main line”. This line was in close proximity to the city high school and served another wool mill. Samuel Hird and Sons manufactured many woolen textiles. This spur was ripped up and removed in the late 1950’s. Today a food and convenience store stand on the property used for this trackage along Outwater Lane. The Passaic Branch continued south with a crossing at Outwater Lane. After crossing Outwater Lane the Passaic Industrial Branch went on to service Presto Lock, Empire Box and Corrugated and yet another woolen mill, The Garfield Worsted Mills. The light colored brick of the Garfield Worsted Mills are still standing to this day, a testament to the strong brick and mortar construction practices of the early 1900’s. The stretch of track from the mill wound through Garfield and eventually would cross the Passaic River into Passaic, the terminus of the Passaic Industrial. Garfield’s passenger station was located at the foot of Belmont Street and River Road. As mentioned earlier, this station was closed down when passenger service ended in 1898. Being a native of the area it’s easy to see how the NYS&W Railway helped to develop this densely populated area. The Passaic Industrial Branch built up the area both with industry and population. Labor used by these mills and factories built houses which later developed these towns. With time and progress things change and so does transportation needs. Water from the Passaic River no longer powers and cools factories in Passaic. The Dundee Canal was covered up in the late 1990’s to make way for a highway. Small businesses rely on trucking to handle small less than car load business. These trends signaled the end of the Passaic and many other branch lines built to serve businesses far away from the main line. As of this writing in 2015, the right of way remains from Lanza Avenue all the way back to the NYS&W mainline junction point in Saddle Brook. The Passaic Industrial branch hosts car storage for when a down turn in business warrants laying up unused freight cars. I would like to thank the following contributors: Ray Wetzel, Jeff Burek, Tom Stanko, Mark Kolodny, Joe K. and many other online contributors who discussed operations through the years. conrail_66@yahoo.com Bibliography City of Garfield, NJ. (2015). Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://www.garfieldnj.org/content/2182/2627.aspx Kaminski, E. S. (2010). New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad in New Jersey. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 25, 2015, from http:// www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:% 20nj1660&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co %20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true Lucas, W. A. (1980). Railroadians of America: History of the NYSW. Mohowski, R. E. (2003). The New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Schmitt, J. C. (2009). Historic Rails of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad. West Milford, NJ: Tinfoil Rose Design. Scott, W. (1922). History of Passaic and Its Environs. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. Tupaczewski, P. R. (2002). New York, Susquehanna and Western. Scotch Plains, NJ: Morning Sun Books. NYSW 1800 crossing the manually protected Route 46 highway crossing in Elmwood Park. This crossing remains intact today and with electronic signals. Ray Wetzel photo, 1980 9 various. (n.d.). www.railroad.net. Retrieved March 1, 2015, fromRailroad.net
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