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Re: (erielack) DL&W, Kearny Jct 1960s-1970s
Bill,
Though one should know better than to say "never happened"
in this railfan business, but I suspect PRR freights didn’t
roll over the Jersey City branch Bridge over the Hackensack,
but used the lower level freight bridge on the P&H.
The only way to get to the Jersey City Branch Bridge was
through a very tight crossover at Waldo (the east end of
Journal Square). They would then have to go up a pretty
stiff grade to the bridge. On the P&H they switched to the
connecting track at Karny Interlocking and then to the route
through Harrison and Newark at Hudson Interlocking. In
short, I don’t think they went over the rollercoaster when
they could achieve the same end by simply running on the
through tracks that were in place for that purpose.
Further, a freight on the Joint Service tracks would have
been something the PRR avoided doing except in emergencies,
as there were both PRR and H&M trains on the line 24/7.
This isn't so OT as some might contend-- the M&E, the Erie
and the NYS&W all used this line back in the day, but before
the bridges we know were built.
Let me add that in the days when the NYS&W served Exchange
Place, they had to contend with PRR freight, as there were
no crossovers from the mainly-passenger Jersey City Branch
to the switch at Marion Junction. The NYS&W commuters
disliked that, as you might guess, especially since Jersey
City-bound trains had to crossover the westbound Harsimus
Cove Freight main to get to the eastbound track. Westbound
trains coul easily be stabbed as well, as the "PRR Freight
Main" was also the "NYS&W main"
Of course, as I wrote in a "Midlander"articles a few years
back, those complaints became something of a "be careful
what you wish for" when the Erie moved the trains over to
Pavonia after completion of the Arches. <g>.
Cheers,
Jim Guthrie
ELHS #1296
- -----Original Message-----
From: Bill Sheppard
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 6:37 PM
To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net
Subject: Re: (erielack) DL&W, Kearny Jct 1960s-1970s
David & List,
Great shots these are! Thank goodness Joe Seaman had a
steady hand.
Years ago, the PRR ran some fast freights from Harsimus Cove
behind
GG-1's over what is now the PATH bridge across the
Hackensack River.
These freight trains were scheduled to run at night and
would operate
right through Newark Penn Station after joining the Main
Line at Hudson.
Unlike PATH trains, these freight trains drew power from a
catenary system.
From the window of a MU train on the Morristown Line at
night, one could
sometimes see the silhouette of these freight trains
crossing the high-level
Hackensack River bridge downstream. These freight trains
moved right
along and sometimes the PRR motors and DL&W MU equipment
would
run right alongside one another between Kearny Junction and
Hudson.
Now that was a sight to behold!
Bill Sheppard
- -----Original Message-----
From: David J. Monte Verde <dmvgvt_@_earthlink.net>
To: EL List <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>; 'Peter Gores'
<petergores_@_yahoo.com>; 'P J TEMPLETON' <pjt1197@msn.com>;
Larry Malski <lmalski_@_msn.com>
Sent: Tue, Jan 31, 2012 4:01 pm
Subject: (erielack) DL&W, Kearny Jct 1960s-1970s
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Subject: Re: DL&W, Kearny Jct, 1978
Great find and annotation job! They say (I have no idea who
'they' are)
that a picture is worth a thousand words and I will probably
end up writing
that many words about this photo. It revives many memories
from my early
days on the railroad as well as my final days on the
railroad.
The original 1951 NJ Turnpike (now the Eastern Spur at this
location) was a
six lane bridge with no shoulders, clearing MHW by 135 feet.
In 1969, the
turnpike was widened to twelve lanes. At this location,
another bridge was
built west of and adjacent to the original bridge. This was
also six lanes
but with shoulders and became the Western Spur.
In December 1972 while on my way home from Military duty at
Fort Knox, I
rode a MP-54 local out of Penn Station to change to the CNJ
at Newark for
Bound Brook. The MP-54 local made an employee stop at
Portal.
Unexpectedly, a PC Civil Engineer that I graduated with
boarded there too.
While stopped, I noticed that the old Eastern Spur Turnpike
bridge was being
widened to accommodate shoulders on both sides.
Even with shoulders, it could be a suicide mission to stop
and take a
picture. I ran into such a situation about five or six
years ago. In
addition to joint facilities, I was also administering the
CBS Signboard
agreement. At nearly the exact spot that your photo was
taken, a new tall
(very tall!) signboard was proposed on Conrail property. I
also needed to
photograph the next signboard to the south from the
viewpoint of the
southbound turnpike driver on top of the bridge. I
solicited the assistance
of Joe Seaman who rolled down my truck window, held my
camera outside and
snapped a picture as I sped along the turnpike sandwiched
between two maniac
trailer trucks.
In your photo, just to the right of the Lackawanna main
tracks, you can just
barely see the east leg of the wye to the Harrison Branch.
That is now the
site of a junk yard. Notice the slightly different colored
grass to the
right of the Lackawanna and curving along the wye. That
property is still
owned by Conrail and is known as RA-26 (Residual Asset). A
natural gas main
trunk line is buried underneath. This was the ROW of the
former PRR-DL&;W
interchange track that came off the NEC in the vicinity of
what is now known
as 'Swift' - the 'Midtown Direct' connection that keeps the
commuters happy.
Actually, it's probably a major source of discontent among
commuters because
it seems like there is a major NEC disruption on a weekly
basis that
necessitates diversion into Hoboken.
Today is January 31. Two years and two days ago (January
29, 2010) there
was an incident involving the Conrail operator-bridge tender
who occupied
the PATH bridge and controlled both the CR Hack bridge as
well as the PATH
bridge. This became known as the "Moon in Perigee"
incident. The third
trick operator was an avid astronomer and photographer.
Early that fateful
morning, that operator apparently climbed higher than the
control cabin in
the upper reaches of the structure and attempted to
photograph the moon.
Although the exact circumstances will never be known,
somehow he slipped and
fell off the bridge, plunging to his death in the mud flats
below. Almost
exactly a year later, another operator was found dead there
by his relief.
He apparently died of natural causes, though.
Back in November 1977 when I bumped Pickelmtn Fred out of
2nd Cranford, he
went on to 2nd Summit. When I got bumped out of Cranford in
March 1978, I
decided to give Fred a break and not bump him again, so I
went to 2nd Hack.
Simultaneously, I qualified as Extra Movement Director. I
ended up working
either that or Train Dispatcher on a daily basis. It wasn't
until late
Summer that year that I finally made it to Hack. I lugged
my camera
equipment to work on the first day I worked there.
To get to the operator's cabin, one first has to climb up an
embankment to
the freight bridge, check that there's no train, walk down
the track onto
the bridge, climb down a ladder to the pilings, walk a
boardwalk on the
pilings between the two bridges, climb up a ladder to the
PATH bridge, check
that there's no PATH train coming, walk along the PATH track
looking out for
the third rail, then go up a couple hundred step exposed
stairway on the
side of the bridge. Needless to say, I only lugged the
camera equipment out
there once.
The freight bridge sits so low to the water that a lift is
needed to clear a
rowboat while the PATH bridge sits high enough to clear all
the tug and
barge traffic, requiring a lift only for the occasional
larger craft, maybe
one or two lifts a week. On my first day there, I had three
lifts of the
PATH bridge, including one at rush hour when the PATH ran at
3 minute
intervals in each direction. The PATH dispatcher thought I
just wanted to
raise and lower the bridge for kicks!
To this day, I regret never taking my camera equipment when
I worked the now
gone CNJ Newark Bay Draw, a much more impressive structure.
Attached are some of the photos I took from Hack as well as
others.
1. Photo from NJTP that you originally attached.
2. Photo of signboard taken by Joe Seaman from the same
location.
3. 375 Eastbound DL&W approaching their Hack bridge, NEC
Portal in
background.
4. 374 Looking South, down Newark Bay, NJTP Extension
overhead, PRR/LV
"Upper Bay" being raised.
5. 372 NEC moving train crossing Portal Bridge
6. 377 Westbound two GG-1s crossing Portal, DL&W in
foreground, NJTP East
Spur in background.
7. 371 Westbound DL&W exiting their Hack bridge.
8. 370 Westbound DL&W on their Hack lift span.
9. 376 Westbound DL&W crossing their Hack, PSE&G
generating station in
background.
10. 373 Four bridges are up in the air for passage of the
Asphalt Merchant.
I am on the PATH bridge, the next bridge in view is the
Freight bridge
raised to 135' MHW. Immediately adjacent to it on the other
side is the
Highway bridge. In the background is the DL&W bridge that
looks like it has
just started to lower. Collectively, these were know as the
Triple Bridges,
rather than the expected Quadruple bridges, probably because
the Freight and
Highway bridges were immediately adjacent to each other.
11. Bayonne Scoot crossing west lift span of CNJ's Newark
Bay Draw. DY
tower sits between the east and west draws as well as
between the north and
south bridges. Both Pickelmtn and JerseyZephyr worked there
many times.
Photo by former CNJ (and NJT) towerman, the late Bill Burke.
12. Bay Draw tower being dismantled. Port Authority photo.
13. Photo taken by me at the site of my favorite bridge
experience. George
Washington Bridge looking toward Upper Manhattan from the
Fort Lee NJ tower.
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