Saturday, April 9, 2022

1930 (PATH+CRCX)/Penn Bridges over Hackensack River at Jersey City, NJ

1894 Passenger: (Bridge Hunter)
1930 Passenger: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; B&TSatellite)
1894 Freight: (Bridge Hunter)
1930 Freight: (Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; B&TSatellite)

CRCX = Conrail Shared Assets Operations
PATH = Port Authority Trans-Hudson
 
1 of 13 photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels
LEFT: Hackensack River PATH Bridge; CENTER: Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Branch Bridge and c. 1930 Wittpenn Bridge; RIGHT: c. 2021 Wittpenn Bridge

The Pennsylvania Railroad originally had two routes that crossed the Hackensack River. The northern crossing was the freight route that went to Harsimus Cove terminal on the Hudson River. It is now operated by CRCX. The southern route was Pennsy's 1858 route where passenger trains terminated at a 5-track station and ferry at today's Exchange Place, and that route is now owned by PATH. The War Department forced the Pennsy to replace their swing bridges with lift bridges, which were built during 1928-30. [NJ-outreach, academic-timeline] (The Pennsy now has a third route that they opened in 1910 that uses the Portal Bridge across the Hackensack River. That route is now owned by Amtrak and it is part of the Northeast Corridor.)

NJ-lift-bridges, p29
[The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad built tunnels under the Hudson River that connected the railroad ferry terminals on the west side of the river to stations in Manhattan.]

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the PATH Lift Bridge, which connects the cities of Kearny and Jersey City in New Jersey. It is a vertical lift bridge that was built in 1900 and carries the PATH’s Newark-World Trade Center rapid transit line over the Hackensack River.
Geoffrey Moreland: Talk about bridges! Are they still there?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Geoffrey's comment
It looks like the road bridge is being replaced.
https://www.google.com/.../@40.7370243,-74.../data=!3m1!1e3

HAER NJ,9-KEAR,3--2
2. AERIAL VIEW OF THE VERTICAL LIFT BRIDGES SPANNING THE HACKENSACK RIVER, LOOKING NORTHEAST. THE PATH TRANSIT BRIDGE IS IN THE FOREGROUND, WITH THE CONRAIL (HAER No. NJ-43), NEWARK TURNPIKE, AND ERIE & LACKAWANNA RAILROAD (HAER No. NJ-42) BRIDGES BEHIND IT - Path Transit System Bridge, Spanning Hackensack River, Kearny, Hudson County, NJ

HAER NJ,9-KEAR,3--5
5. AERIAL VIEW OF THE PATH TRANSIT SYSTEM BRIDGE LOOKING SOUTHEAST. TO THE RIGHT ARE THE NEWARK TURNPIKE AND THE CONRAIL BRIDGE (HAER No. NJ-43). THE PULASKI SKYWAY (HAER No. NJ-34) IS IN THE BACKGROUND

Michael Froio Photography posted
Former Pennsylvania Railroad Hackensack River movable bridges. Two sprawling lift spans designed by Waddell & Hardesty carry the PRR’s busy passenger and freight lines to Exchange Place and Harsimus Cove, respectively, on two different structures. The passenger line (overhead foreground) crosses the river at 166’ on a 325’ long Parker Truss lift span, while the freight line (visible in the distance) cross the channel on a 206’ long Parker truss just a mere 13’ above high water. The variation in height for the freight line was granted by the US Army Corp of Engineers so as not to interfere with the PRR’s operations in the adjacent Meadows Yard, which would have required considerable alterations if the freight bridge was built to current river clearance specifications. Construction began at the end of 1928 and took less than 22 months to complete at a cost $9 million combined. The first train to cross the passenger bridge was an eastbound on November 2, 1930. The freight bridge opened two days later.
Mike Froio shared

NJ-lift-bridges, p29

HAER NJ,9-KEAR,1--1
1. AERIAL VIEW OF THE CONRAIL BRIDGE FROM THE SOUTH. THE PATH TRANSIT BRIDGE (HAER No. NJ-44) IS VISIBLE IN THE FOREGROUND, AND THE NEWARK TURNPIKE IS BEYOND - Conrail Bridge, Spanning Hackensack River, Kearny, Hudson County, NJ

PATH is on the right and CRCX is on the left.
Street View

CRCX is left center.
James Groce, Jan 2022

This topo map shows how the freight bridge connected the Meadows Yard with their terminal facilities on the Hudson River. As we have come to expect, the Meadows Yard is now an intermodal yard. CSX now owns this one.
1947 Jersey City Quad @ 1:24,000

Pennsy had an even bigger freight terminal further south in Jersey City called Greenville Yard.
1947 Jersey City Quad @ 1:24,000

The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad built the tubes under the Hudson River that are now used by PATH. H&M worked with the Pennsy to use their 1858 passenger train route to operate all the way to the Pennsy Newark Station.
Satellite

River Rail Photo posted
[LEFT: Hackensack River PATH Bridge; RIGHT: Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Branch Bridge]
A Gift For Conrail Day on Conrail. On April 1, 1976, the Reading Railroad, which had been founded as the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road in 1833, became part of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). Conrail was created to rescue the bankrupt northeast railroading industry, and was later privatized and taken over, but April 1 is still celebrated as "Conrail Day". Norfolk Southern Corporation perhaps coincided the re-release of the Reading Railroad Heritage Unit 1067 (SD70ACe, EMD) after rehabilitation and repainting at the Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pennsylvania for this day, sending it east on Train 22X the previous night. On April 1, 2023, it traveled over the trackage of the current day descendant of that company, Conrail Shared Assets, arriving and leaving on the same day with its "Bee Line Service" paint scheme restored to its bright yellow and green.
The unit is seen leading Train 22X over the Hackensack River from Kearny into Jersey City, New Jersey with NS 9575 (C40-9W, GE) and BNSF 6346 (ES44AC, GE). After traveling overnight from 47th Street Yard in Chicago, Illinois, it will soon arrive at its destination, the Croxton Intermodal Facility.
Full resolution pics and prints: https://www.riverrailphoto.com/nsheritage
Rob Danner: The first Charter of the Philadelphia & Reading also happened to be on April 1st, 1833.
Robert Thomson: Hack Bridge in Newark , I was &B foreman ,myself an my gang maintained an repaired it for 33yrs.
Dennis DeBruler: This is the first photo that I have seen of the freight bridge that is not obscured by the old road bridge. The new Wittpenn would be out-of-frame to the right.
Robert Thomson: Dennis DeBruler yup
J.B. Rail Photog shared
River Rail Photo shared

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