While America's northeastern railroads are very well-known and well represented in Train Simulator, I feel that the region's vintage days are often overlooked. The New York and Long Branch railroad was constructed in the 1870's and went on to be jointly operated by the Central Railway of New Jersey (AKA Jersey Central) and the Pennsylvania Railroad as a commuter line. The NY&LB ran from Perth Amboy, to Bay Head Junction, 40 miles south. As of today, the line is owned and operated by New Jersey Transit and is included in the North Jersey Coastline route. During the mid-20th century the line saw heavy traffic as the region saw continued economic growth due to its proximity to New York City. For my idea, the route would start at the CNJ's Communipaw Terminal, a short trip down the Hudson from the Lackawanna's Hoboken terminal featured in the North Jersey Coastline. The Communipaw terminal had an extensive array of coach yards and locomotive servicing facilities during this time. The station was also served by the Reading Company and the B&O. From there the route would venture 26 miles south to Perth Amboy where it joins up with the NY&LB, sharing trackage rights with the Pennsy. From there it follows the line the rest of the way to Bay Head junction, where the route would end. Motive power was one of the main attractions of this route for railfans during this period. In the 1940s, steam was still alive and well on both the CNJ and the Pennsy. For their crack commuter trains, the CNJ had a large fleet of , 4-4-2, 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 Camelback locomotives. Built during the 1910's and 20's these unique little things sped all across the CNJ's system well into the 1940's and 50's. In addition to Camelbacks, the CNJ also used 2-8-2 Mikados and 4-6-2 Pacifics. The Pacifics mainly saw use on the CNJ's famous Blue Commet, which terminated at the Communipaw Terminal. In addition to steam the railroad used a number of early diesel locomotives. For Pennsy motive power, the line was one of the main stomping grounds for the railroad's famous K4 Pacifics. In addition, the railroad also used 2-8-0 consolidations and 4-4-2 Atlantics. Rolling stock for this route wouldn't be much. The line's bread and butter was heavyweight passenger cars. Perhaps to add a little diversity, there can be versions painted in CNJ, B&O, RDG, Aand PRR colors to go with the standard Pullman green cars. I'm not sure if any stainless steel passenger trains originated out of Communipaw, but if there were any, those could probably be included too. So, what do you guys think? Would this be a good route? I look forward to seeing your guys' thoughts! This video briefley shows a CNJ fan trip on the NY&LB, and served as my inspiration for this route proposal.
This is like a backdated version of the NJCL right? I completely support this as well. CNJ and more PRR would be so cool. Also, were there any notable industries to serve in local freight service, I would love to do those runs in a Mikado.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it's basically a backdated NJCL lol. After doing a quick Google search, I couldn't find much info as to whether or not there was any freight traffic on the NY&LB. Seems like it was mostly used for commuter trains.
Another thing I’d love to see would be the Newark Bay Bridge, so I say set it in the late 40s or early 50s, when Steam and Diesel ran side by side.
I was thinking of some options for first and second gen diesel power. How about some high hood geeps? GP7s regularly pulled commuter trains, especially in the Newark Bay Area. Hence the 1958 bridge disaster. And some GP40Ps, before EL converted them to GP40PH-2As. These may be slightly out of era though. GP7 1524, which is preserved by the NRHS. GP40P 3677, running LHF.
Sounds good! I was mostly thinking about steam power when I made this post, but now that I think about it, some Baldwin Babyface diesels along with the geeps you mentioned would work nicely with this route.
I absolutely ADORE this suggestion. A steam era commuter route? Y E S P L E A S E. Talk about something we ain't got enough of.
