Was it really such a few short years ago?
When the crescendo call of "Bo-o-o-oard!" raised your
spirits along with the conductor's cry in high anticipation of that
long awaited holiday, or the excitement of a day's shopping in the city?
When the metallic "clunk" of the engine's first tentative
tug at your coach made your heart thump with joy?
When the mournful wail of the train whistle on a frosty
winter night made you glad you were sitting cozily by the kitchen stove--or
the same whistle on a lazy, warm summer afternoon took your thoughts
and dreams along with it to distant places you'd never seen?
It seems incredible to think that, when the first train
pulled into Newton just a little more than 100 years ago, it was hailed
as the most wonderful thing that ever happened to Sussex county -- a
step that assured a prosperous future --a boon to agriculture and industry.
Foresaw Doom
But even then, a reporter from the New Jersey Herald
who covered that first trip wrote with prophetic fatalism, in the flowery
journalism of the day, almost as though he could sense the transience
of the railroad's glory.
His account of the ride from Newton to Waterloo, which
was as far as the train went, ended with the following observance:
"At this ancient village where the junction is formed
with the Morris and Essex Railroad, stands the ruins of a forge which
was in operation before the Revolution. What a miracle has been wrought
in the realms of iron since its ponderous hammers sounded through the
mountains! The iron track is laid beside it, the iron wheels roll past
it, the iron engine, like a flying creature carries along a freight
of human life. But the wheel of the old forge is broken--its fires are
out--and the wall echoes to the rattling train, 'Progress! Progress!
But do not roar too pompously; some offspring of human ingenuity may
supersede you, and in a hundred years your voice may be as still as
mine'."
And Today the train's voice is stilled, at least as
far as Newton is concerned. If that reporter were alive today he would
be amazed at how close he came to the truth. He took that first ride
on Dec. 13, 1854, and on July 13, 1966, the last train pulled into Newton--111
years and seven months to the day--a comparatively infinitesimal stretch
of time in the scheme of things.
Last Lap
On its final run Wednesday night, the last two
cars of no. 1015, relics of 60 years or more ago, dropped their passengers
for the last time at the once spanking bright station, now closed and
forlorn, with flaking green paint revealing the crumbling bricks beneath.
One greeter was on hand to witness the last arrival. "Just curious,"
he remarked sadly.
The 6:55 trip from Netcong was taken by more passengers
than the train has seen in years. About 40 railroad men, children who
had never ridden a train and whose chance to do so diminishes with the
years, and just plain old sentimentalists joined the regular commuters
in marking what is symbolic of the passing of an era.
Holiday gaiety was conspicuous by its absence. The
old train which had faithfully carried commuters to their places of
business, milk to city distributors, city people to their summer homes,
and vacationers on excursions, seemed no longer to be needed, except
by those for whom the railroad still held its emotional pull. There
was no rejoicing.
Commuter's Lament
"I remember when there were 30, 35, 40 regulars,
no exaggeration," commented Matthias Reister of 80 Madison Street, Newton.
A regular commuter for 27 years, Reister will now take the bus to his
job in Hoboken.
"It's really a shame," agreed conductor Johnny Keane
of Morris Plains, who had been on the Newton run for the past three
years. "Newton will be the only county seat in the state of New Jersey
without a railroad."
A commuter for the past three and a half years, Louis
Schnell of 3 Kory Road, Newton, used No. 1015 to reach his job in Morris
Plains. "Sure, we don't like to see these things, but what can we do?"
he philosophized. "You might say 'futility'," chimed in the conductor
over the noise of the train.
And Edward H. Shields of Lafayette, who has commuted
from Newton to Newark for three years said "There's not much that can
be done about it. Obviously it couldn't support itself with the number
of passengers. It was simply a matter of time." He added bemusedly,
"I can't understand, though, why they don't want to maintain an opening
here. I don't know their intentions in ending the run, but I think they're
rather foolish."
John Drake of Greendell, assistant superintendent of
the line, was the last high company official to ride the tracks from
Andover to Newton. "Three out of the four railroads in the county have
passed out of existence in the last six years," he noted, adding that
he, too, had ancestral ties with the railroad. His great-great uncle
was the first engineer on the Sussex Branch.
Hobby Riders
Two young men from South Jersey and Jersey City were
there, passengers on the Newton Train's last run. George Williams of
Maple Shade said, "My hobby is trains. I rode the last one to Branchville
Sunday and I just couldn't miss the last one to Newton today. Come to
think of it, I've ridden the one to Branchville five times just for
the ride." He added, "It's an expensive hobby, but..." and left the
thought unexpressed, although the message was explicit.
A Jersey City youth, George Kartanowicz, also came
along for the ride. "He's a real railroad buff," noted the train's flagman
by way of introduction. George added that he got his interest in trains
from his father, a marine division employee of the line.
The engineer and flagman between them had almost a
century invested in railroad work. Thomas Powell of Bloomfield, the
engineer, noted he had worked 44 years for the railroad. Even in his
three short years on the Newton run he had witnessed the steady decrease
in business.
Nicholas Gallo of Morris Plains, the flagman has been
with the railroad for 53 years, working in the Newton-Andover-Branchville
area for years. "I guess they had enough time to think about it," he
commented on the discontinuance of the run. "There are two ways to look
at it." He didn't look too exuberant, however.
"Remember When"
Gallo and Arthur Harris of Newton, who was retired
from the signal department of the Sussex Branch after 42 years of service,
reminisced about former times. "Those were the good old days," smiled
Gallo, "the days of the three-wheeled velocipede and..."
"They went out around 1930 in this area, 1930 wouldn't
you say?" queried Harris.
"Remember New Providence... Mike Schwartz and old Dick
from Morristown...?"
Ed Quinn of Spring Street, Newton, also had memories.
"I used this train way back in the 30's to attend summer school in South
Orange, and for about five years to commute to New York. Way back then
they had even older cars, old plush seats and everything."
Russell Walker of 2 Howard Street, Newton, the lone
greeter at the station, remarked, "I just came in to see it. You might
say from curiosity. You remember that reception for Hoffman," he mused,
"how long ago was it...can't pinpoint it exactly... the band and everything.
That was quite a day."
Among the area residents who went by
bus from Newton to Netcong Wednesday to catch the last train was Mrs.
Leo McCluskey, whose grandfather, "Uncle Joe" Quackenbush, was the engineer
on the first train into town. [unlikely-DR] The McCluskey's
are still in possession of the whistle on that engine.
The special three-toned whistle was presented to Uncle
Joe by fellow members of Harmony Lodge 8, F & AM, and he used it
on "Old Sussex" until he retired in 1908. He later gave it to a close
friend, Watson Littell, who used it on the Littell Bottling Works in
Franklin for many years. When that business closed, the whistle was
returned to the family, going first to Quackenbush's daughter, Mrs.
William Hendershot of Newton, and after her death to her daughter, Mrs.
McCluskey.
Hardy Men
Railroad men were a rugged lot in the early days--by
necessity. Quackenbush, for instance, had to walk from his home in Andover
to Waterloo to pick up his train every day, then walk back home from
Waterloo every night. On one of his nightly hikes, he encountered a
wildcat on the tracks, one of the largest he had ever seen. Armed with
nothing but the lantern he was carrying, he managed to scuff up a large
rock with his foot as he kept an eye on the snarling beast, then threw
it with all his might into the cat's face, knocking it screaming off
the tracks and down the bank.
Uncle Joe lost no time going on his way, and after
that always made sure he carried a weapon of some sort on his lonely
journeys by foot.
That first train to come from New York to Newton was
the forerunner of a service that grew to mean much to the county. As
the "Sussex Mine Railroad", it had been incorporated in 1848 to build
a line from the Andover Mines, and Newton, if desired, to Waterloo on
the Morris Canal. Before the line was completed, the name was changed
to the Sussex railroad Company.
Branching Out
At Waterloo, connections were made with the old Morris
and Essex Railroad, which was geared for all westbound traffic. However,
when it was decided to run trains eastbound from Waterloo, it became
necessary to turn the locomotive on the turntable and put the engine
on the other end of the train, an awkward, slow procedure.
Years later, in 1901, a cut-off was constructed from
a point east of Cranberry Lake to Netcong and the Port Morris Yard to
eliminate this nuisance. In the meantime, the Sussex had opened a line
to Franklin in 1869, serving the miners there, and to Branchville. A
connection was made with the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad at Franklin
when that line was brought south from Warwick, N.Y. But plans to extend
the line from Branchville toward New York State never came to fruition.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western bought an interest
in the Sussex in 1869, then gained control in 1881. In the days of the
Lackawanna, there was a daily interchange of cars and freight trains
between the Lehigh and Hudson River and the Lackawanna at the Port Morris
Yard. L&H locomotives and crews worked into Port Morris every day
from Maybrook and Warwick, getting on the Sussex Branch at Andover Junction.
Today, though, the Port Morris Yard is a "ghost Yard" with practically
all its tracks taken up.
14 A Day
The popularity of such spots as Cranberry Lake and
Culver Lake with city vacationers brought added business to the railroad,
and in the 1920's there were as many as seven passenger trains in each
direction on the Sussex Branch on week days, and six on Sundays.
Few people are aware that the once famous "Boston Flyer",
which ran from Hoboken to Boston every night in the early 90's actually
traversed Sussex County on its way. It worked like this--operating over
the Boonton Branch, the Flyer reversed direction and turned the engine
at Waterloo, then traversed the Sussex Branch to Franklin Junction where
the L&H did the honors to Maybrook, with the C.N.E. taking the train
over the Poughkeepsie Bridge, via Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford to
Boston.
The trip took 12 hours!
But times change, faster for some than for others,
and walking and trains both seem to be on the way out as far as transportation
is concerned. Cars, trucks and buses have taken over on the county scene--planes
for distance travel--and here and there across our county we find bare
rail beds stretching for miles like dirt tracks, their ties and iron
rails torn up and carted away.
Abandoned railroad stations and freight offices echo
with emptiness or have been converted to other uses. And if there are
any ghosts in the Newton station, they must be haunted themselves by
the memories of a day described by the editorial writer in 1854 as "an
epoch in the history of Sussex County when, for the first time, did
her citizens speed from her centre to her circumference, borne along
by the mighty energy of an iron steed."
The editor's version of the occasion continued thus:
"The previous announcement of this event drew together a large assemblage
of persons from different parts of the county...About half past 12 o'clock,
a wild scream echoed among the hills, and in a moment many eyes beamed
with pleasure, and many hearts throbbed with a generous emotion as the
engine rolled rapidly forward, like a thing of life, to the feet of
the expectant multitude.
"Farewell old times, jolting coaches and venerable
nags are among the things that were. Although in their day they did
their duty as well as can be expected, we give them up without a sigh.
They must clear the track, their destiny...telling them to move on."
'Twas ever thus, the old making way for the new, but
in the case of the railroads, at least for some, certainly not without
a sigh. And they may yet be back, in some more modern version, when
highways and skyways are no longer enough to cope with the ever growing
multitude of travelers.
Photo
Captions:
LAST PUNCH...Newton
- Commuter Louis Schnell (second from right) has his ticket punched
for the last time by Erie-Lackawanna conductor, John Keane, for the
last trip made by the train Wednesday Evening. Among the railroad buffs
and local officials who joined the few remaining commuters for the final
trip were Newton Mayor Edward Hicok (left) and Sussex County Freeholder
Director Denton W. Quick (right). Now that the line operates only as
far as Andover Junction, the county seat is left without any rail service.
END
OF THE LINE... The two-car train pulls away
from Newton after completing its commuter run for the last time. George
Williams, railroad buff from South Jersey; John Drake, assistant supervisor
of the line, and Flagman Nicholas Gallo bid farewell to Leo McCluskey,
who organized a special bus trip from Newton to Netcong to catch the
last train, and to over a century of railroad service to Newton.
NOW
HISTORY... Dwayne Lockburner, four year old
son of Freeholder and Mrs. Francis Lockburner of Fredon, explores the
workings of the train's steam generator with Tom McGowan of Scranton,
foreman. Dwayne, who had never been on a train, took what as time goes
on becomes a diminishing opportunity to ride the railroad. McGowan,
whose regular job is on the morning train, stayed with the run to the
end.
GO
AHEAD... Flagman Nicholas Gallo, who worked
the Andover-Newton-Branchville run for years, signals to the engineer
that all are aboard for the last journey from Netcong to Newton. After
Wednesday night, Sussex County railroad service to Newton ended and
trains will now come only as far as Andover Junction.
ALONG
FOR THE RIDE...Mr. and Mrs. William Aumick
settle back for the short jaunt from Netcong to Newton, as veteran railroad
man of 53 years, Nicholas Gallo of Morris Plains, checks their tickets.
For the Aumicks it was the last opportunity to ride to their home by
train.
MOST
IN YEARS... The cars on the Erie Lackawanna's
Newton run were filled with more passengers than they had carried in
years, as railroad lovers gathered to witness the passing of all passenger
and freight service to Newton. "On a normal run," commented the conductor,
"we could get by with maybe two, three seats."
FIRST
ENGINEER... "Uncle Joe" Quackenbush, engineer
on the first train to come to Newton, is shown in this old picture with
the special three-tone whistle given to him by his fellow masons, and
which he used on the "Old Sussex" until he retired.
BLIZZARD OF '88 VICTIM... "Through rain and sleet and
dark of night" the Old Sussex wended its way faithfully from Newton
to Waterloo. But it didn't quite make it during the great blizzard of
'88, which on March 11, the train had just reached Whitehall, below
Andover, when nature's snows overpowered man's iron creation and forced
it from the track, the cars piling up behind it. The rescue engine,
at left, was sent out the next day, met with little better fate, and
it was two days before the weary train crews got out.
AND
LIFE GOES ON... A Newton Housewife intent
on getting her groceries home pays little attention to the Saturday
afternoon train and its railroad buff passengers who went along for
the ride and took pictures on the last Saturday run, July 9.
LINE'S
END...Andover--Installation of a barricade
taking another cut into Sussex County's rail service took place Friday
Afternoon, when the section gang from the Port Morris Yard put this
barricade in place at the Lehigh and Hudson crossing on the Erie Lackawanna
track at Andover Junction. Supervising the operation, which followed
the last run of the commuter train to Newton. Wednesday night, are Michael
Menna foreman, and Joseph Esposito, track supervisor. The engine in
the background took the remaining cars from above the cut-off point
before the track was sealed off. Unlike spiking, barricading does not
ruin the track.]
{Can anyone tell me what kind of or which engine
pulled this train?-DR}
