Summit's previously distinctive and classy municipal Christmas ornaments of trees wrapped around lamp posts are gone in favor of standard wreathes. So too is the Rahway Valley track and siding leading east from the station, so too any sign that Huntley Road and Milton Avenue once went through to Morris Turnpike.
But the DL&W mile marker 20 is still there, embedded into the westbound retaining wall, as is a remnant of the original platform in front of, what I take to be, the Summit substation.
And the decaying, ghostly switching tower. Gates, bolted, padlocked and impenetrable citadel of railway signalling, engineering, employment. The engineering is so old throughout, the physical infrastructure of the charmless, utilitarian station. Now all strictly function, no form. There's light and air, but it's more stifling than the dark, old Geddes and Hill City taxi stands, Union newsstand and shoe shine and Union place ticket booth.
Where did the 70 bus terminate before it ended at the Livingston Mall? Morristown?
And say what you will, Newark does have a gleaming new light rail connecting Penn Station with Newark Broad Street, with a ballpark and a new concert hall to boot. But that seems to be the last public infrastructure investment to expect for a good long while.
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