Down at the Junction...
by Ronald J. Vassallo

     We all talk about places along our favorite lines that evoke feelings in us which are sometimes hard to describe. Though we may not get to these places too often when we do it can seem as if we transcend time and are back to a place and time that seemed so much simpler and where the most urgent things seem out of reach now. Like getting the instamatic out of the dresser drawer and racing down to one of my favorite places on my favorite road. Passaic Junction on the New York Susquehanna and Western Railway, in Saddle Brook, NJ.

     Any day was a good day to catch some action on the Suskie and being fortunate enough to live within sight and sound of old Suzy was cause for much jealousy amongst my grammar school friends. Actually my bedroom window faced the Susquehanna on one side and the Erie's Bergen County line on the other so there was never and dull moment when it came to rail action and sometimes I would scramble from window to window trying to figure out which line was active, with some happening at the same time on many occasions!

     With my good friends, Mike Murray, Joe Vieitez, Mike Vignola, Joe Damico and others we would make our daily pilgrimage to the junction and proceed to get into trouble. Although we never made it to the level of some local "bandits'" who were said to be responsible for the sudden explosion of Wrigley's gum in the area, we did get ourselves into other predicaments such as boxcar jumping (not while they were moving though!) and anything else we could do to bring out the local law"interest".

     Throughout  the years we did start to gain a respect for the local railroads and really started to appreciate the special area we lived in. Our local school had one side facing the Erie and we earned many a detention gawking at a string of Conrail units blasting towards Suffern and beyond, and many of our classmates started taking a bigger interest at what all this TRAIN stuff was about...even some of the girls!

     So off we would go on many a day, rain or shine, snow or heat, to ply the cinders in the great Passaic Junction yard. We had heard some stories about her, maybe even kidding ourselves that these bits of information had been passed down from generation to generation, but such is the imagination of adolescence mixed with folklore. I think Mike had heard the there was a station at the end west end of the yard next to the steel yard and that it had burnt sometime before we were born in the mid 1960's. I remember us walking there one day and actually finding a piece of the foundation which was still there until the early 90's. There were also other stories about places surrounding the yard such as Obel's old farm and the house that use to be there that burnt down also and the haunted house across the street with the old lady that would chase you if she caught you walking past her house. I remember many a night walking past that house with only one streetlight in the area and being scared out of my mind and wishing that I hadn't heard that story from my brother or whomever had told it.

     When we were first getting to know the Junction the old tell tales were still up at the Erie bridge and the semaphore was still down on the east end of the yard, where many a dare was made to see who had enough courage or stupidity to climb to the top. It was on one of these days of discovery that a man came towards us and asked us if we liked trains. His name happened to be John Treen and he became a familiar friendly face around the area and I guess he was always keeping an eye out to make sure we didn't let our fun and curiosity get out of hand. On another occasion, Mike and I got to go up in the cab of a Conrail unit and got a cab ride up and over the Garden State Parkway bridge, courtesy of a Conrail Engineer who happened to be a local volunteer fireman.

     Through the years my friends and I started talking more and more about the goings on with regards to the local railroad scene, usually by way of a much coveted Railfan magazine or through Mike Murray's various railroad contacts, primarily his Uncle who had a camera shop in Warwick, NY and knew railfans such as Marty Feldner and others. It was actually through his uncle that Mike acquired a copy of "The Final Years", by Ed Crist and John Krause, which led to putting together the bigger puzzle of my second "love" and a story for another day. In one of these magazines we had heard that the Susquehanna might be up for sale and that there was a threat of Conrail acquisition. As if someone told you your best friend might be moving, it just didn't seem right that the familiar yellow-jacket paint scheme might become a thing of the past and the familiar faces of the engineer's and trainmen might disappear. I remember hoping that this would not happen, but when High School started and that walk down the tracks every day took me over the yard it was hard to not look around at the rotting ties and crooked rail and think there was much hope for the line, but who could have dreamt that she was just a sleeping volcano. 

     One of my fondest memories was meeting up with a track crew that was working on a derailment of a boxcar and covered hopper, and hanging out with them for the better part of a cold winters' day. These guys really showed us some great railroad hospitality and took us on a ride in the track car. Derailments were frequent in the area, as well as train and car fatalities. The aforementioned did not happen to my knowledge on the Susquehanna, but did happen quite frequently on it's neighbor the Erie, right up the street from where I lived. This became known as Death Alley over the years and I can vividly remember many a night standing with half the town as they went about the grisly task of removing the wreck, the engine always coming out the winner. As for derailments, it almost or actually did get to the level of town joke as the "swamp" that the yard was built on became the Le Brea tarpit of Northern New Jersey and there was many days when the crews were out attending to "beached" pieces of rolling stock in the yard.

     Although I still live only about a mile form Passaic Junction, I haven't had a chance to get down there as much as I used to, maybe passing by on an occasional bike ride. Lately though I have taken an interest in photographing the yard and some action to possibly do a piece for the M&NJ's website and got to looking at some old and more recent photos, which prompted me to sit down and put this together. I still may go down and take some new photos but in the meantime I hope you enjoy some pieces from my scrap book and visit to my playground growing up.If there is one feeling I can put my finger on to describe how the Junction has touched me over the years I could best sum it up in two words. Old Friend.

Photos

Photo taken from my backyard on Lyster Avenue sometime in the 1960's showing the Azco steel yard with the Junction in the background.

The west end of the yard where the station once stood. I have just found out after all these years that this was aslo called the Coalburg yard, where the Pennsylvania Coal Company maintained ten coal trimmers with a total estimated capacity of 250, 00 tons. You can just about see where the Passaic branch splits off just beyand the Bergen Coutny Line bridge.

These shots on the Erie side of the yard were taken during the transition to Conrail in the mid-70's. Althought the quality is not there these are perhaps two of my favorite photos.

During the Bicentennial the Susquehanna painted up one of their RS-1 units in the red, white and blue paint scheme, as did other lines across the country. I have seen some of the other s and if you ask me I think the did a bang-up job!

Engine No. 238 which was doubled with the Bicentennial unit on that snowy day.

Southbound Conrail freight passing over the Bergen County Line bridge.

The crew I spoke about earlier working a derailment sometime around 1975.

Restored O&W NW-2 No. 116 was a frequent visitor to Passaic Junction over the years and is seen plying the rails in this Jan. 1988 photo.

One...two...three....four...five...six.....Six Conrail units were brave enough to enter the Junction before it's rebuilding and I can tell you that the group I was standing with and most certainly the crew of the train were holding their breath the whole time these units were in the yard. Another shot taken from NJT's Bergen County line.

A NYST&HS fan trip in the late 1980's gave me a chance to finally ride the line as far as Vernon Junction as the abandoned portion of the line was not re-opened yet.