New Jersey West Line Railroad

The New Jersey West Line Railroad was a proposed railroad running east and west across northern New Jersey, of which the only part constructed was what is now the Gladstone Branch of New Jersey Transit between Summit and Bernardsville. Some other remains of it can be found in Summit, Millburn, and Union Township.

The earliest charter was granted by the New Jersey Legislature in March 1865, for the Passaic Valley and Peapack Railroad which was to run from "some point in the county of Union or the county of Essex" via Springfield Township (Union), New Providence, and Basking Ridge to Peapack. That is, it would run between the Morris and Essex Railroad (M&E) to the north and the Central Railroad of New Jersey to the south.

The charter was amended in 1867 to continue the road west to the Delaware River at any point between Milford and Frenchtown. In 1868, a further amendment allowed the company to vary the route up to three miles from the points stated. In 1869, the railroad was authorized to build a bridge to Pennsylvania near Milford. This was not obviously useful since there was no railroad on the Pennsylvania side near Milford. It looked as if the Passaic Valley and Peapack was being manipulated as part of some larger plan. But money for the road had been raised by the usual procedure of selling bonds to investors in the towns along the line, so ostensibly it was under local control.

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