Spooky Side Of The Greenway: NJ Urban Explorer Walks Old Boonton Line

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Before the Essex-Hudson Greenway, there was the Old Boonton Line. And thanks to New Jersey urban explorer and photojournalist Wheeler Antabanez, its death throes in the next few years won’t be forgotten.

Antabanez, a Montclair native who has written for Weird NJ, is no stranger to the unusual. Over the years, he’s captured rare footage of the demolition of a local legend – Overbrook Asylum in Cedar Grove – and has explored an abandoned structure hidden “somewhere in New Jersey” with an interesting connection to the world of professional skateboarding.

It seems that probing into the guts of urban decay is something Antabanez has acquired a talent for – and he knows it.

His latest endeavor – exploring a soon-to-be-redeveloped abandoned railway line in North Jersey – has produced a book that released earlier this month, “Walking the Old Boonton Line: A Photographic Journey on the Abandoned Rails of New Jersey.” It also served as the source for a movie that will premiere at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30 … just in time for Halloween (catch it here).

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Last year, officials announced that the state will be purchasing nearly 135 acres of property in North Jersey. The plan? Turn an old, defunct nine-mile railroad line into a 100-foot-wide biking and hiking path.

The ambitious project will cross above the Passaic and Hackensack rivers and pass through eight towns: Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Belleville, Newark, Kearny, Secaucus and Jersey City.

The greenway will follow the right-of-way of the eastern portion of NJ Transit’s former Boonton Line. Passenger service was discontinued on this portion of the line in 2002. Following termination of NJ Transit’s commuter service, limited freight service continued until the last rail customer ceased operations in 2015.

• See related article: NJ Will Turn Old Railway Into Huge 'Greenway' For Hiking, Biking
• See related article: Essex-Hudson Greenway Closer But Work May Take Years, Officials Say

The area is technically off-limits to visitors until it’s completed. But as he’s done in the past, Antabanez has managed to get a firsthand glimpse at a piece of New Jersey history that will soon become just a memory.

Antabanez’s new book and movie are the latest chapters in his efforts to document the abandoned rail system. In 2021, he released a 200-page book of photos and accompanying 40-minute movie, “Walking the Newark Branch: A Photographic Journey on the Abandoned Rails of New Jersey” – which details his exploration of an offshoot of the old Boonton Line.

To capture his footage, Antabanez ventured into what he calls the “underworld” of New Jersey, walking the abandoned tracks from one end of the line to the other.

As he made the journey, Antabanez says he found a hidden beauty amid the haunting rubble. Read More: Poetry Amid Decay; NJ Photographer Explores Abandoned Railway

Starting in the Meadowlands where the Newark Branch peels off from the Old Boonton Line, he passed landmarks such as the abandoned WNEW radio transmitter, Clark Thread Mill, NX Bridge, Riverside Industrial Superfund Site, Walter Kidde Brownfield Site and the Nutley Train Trestle.

He also encountered a hulking “Christmas cat” structure in Belleville that's surely among the weirdest sights in North Jersey. Read More: NJ's Giant Weird Kitty – Essex County Urban Explorer Tells Its Story

In the end, Antabanez said he hopes his book and movie about the old Boonton Line will serve as a glimpse into a piece of Garden State history.

“This book is a marker for the winter of 2021/2022, the last moments when the Old Boonton Line was still perfectly abandoned, wild, and free,” he writes.

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