The Northern Branch
Exploring the Line
Page added 2006. Last
Updated February 2009.
Copyright © 2006, 2009 Lewis Bogaty
Ridgefield
From Fairview, the train proceeds north into Ridgefield. In the morning, until recently, the crew stopped on the Ridgefield run-around adjacent to Lowe Paper to set up the cars for the trip north. On the way back south, the train stopped at Lowe Paper, just north of Edgewater Avenue, and Colorite Polymer on Railroad Avenue, about a half mile south of Edgewater Avenue. In 2006, Lowe Paper was sold. The new owner demolished the plant. Today, since the demise of Lowe Paper and Weyerhaeuser in Closter, the train does not normally stop on the run-around in Ridgefield in the morning, but proceeds north to Englewood. The remaining Ridgefield customer is usually serviced in the late afternoon.
To reach Railroad Avenue from Broad Avenue (Routes 1 & 9), turn west at the Ridgefield Circle, cross over the tracks and make a right turn. A second right turn will put you on Edgewater Avenue west of the tracks, and a third right turn will put you on Railroad Avenue.
Above & Below: Southbound under the Erie-era pedestrian bridge, adjacent to Colorite, on October 28, 2004 and August 17, 2004.
Colorite
Above & 4 Below: C777 -viewed from the
south - crosses Railroad Avenue
as it reverses onto the Colorite
Polymer siding with full hoppers on October 11, 2004.
Above: C777 is pulling the empties off the siding on October 11, 2004.
Above & Below: Two engines - viewed from
the north - cross Railroad Avenue, entering the Colorite
siding
to take away empties on August 26, 2004.
Edgewater Avenue
Above: 5-1 heads north past Edgewater Avenue on the morning of
January 12, 2009.
The Ridgefield Train Station stood just to the left.
Lowe Paper
Above and Below: The C777 crew is working at Lowe Paper on August 17,
2004.
Lowe Paper, with its dilapidated exterior and smoke belching from it's chimney,
was a truly Dickensian presence on the Northern Branch.
Above & Below: October 12, 2004.
Below: October 11, 2004
Above: As 5-1 disappears to the north on
January 12, 2009, the desolate view of what was once Lowe Paper is exposed.
The switches are still in place as are the siding and the run-around, but where
Lowe Paper stood, nothing remains.