New York And Newark Railroad Bridge
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The Newark and New York Railroad was a passenger rail line that ran between
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
and the
Communipaw Terminal The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, also known as Communipaw Terminal and Jersey City Terminal, was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's waterfront passenger terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The terminal was built in 1889, replacing ...
at the mouth of the North River (Hudson River) in
Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...
and
Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...
just north of their mouths at the
Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...
in northeastern New Jersey. The Central Railroad of New Jersey operated it from its opening in 1869. Though operations ended in 1946; portions remained in use until 1967.


History

Opened on July 23, 1869 and operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), the railroad provided a direct route between
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
and its
Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.ferries to New York. The line cost $300,000 per mile, unprecedented at the time, earning it the sobriquet "the country's costliest railroad". In 1872 a connection south was added at a junction called Newark Transfer to Elizabeth, where it joined the railroad's main line, which crossed
Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...
at
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
on the predecessor of the CRRNJ Newark Bay Bridge. The line was built partially to relieve overcrowding and reduce the travel time taken on the
New Jersey Railroad The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...
line to Exchange Place on the Hudson River waterfront. The route travelled west from the Hudson and crossed Bergen Hill where a cut had been excavated for a
right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
(ROW). It then crossed the Hackensack to Kearny Point, the tip of a larger peninsula formally known as
New Barbadoes Neck New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, US between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County. The neck begins in the ...
, to the
Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...
. The bridges across the rivers were raised in 1913 to accommodate shipping. Upon crossing the Passaic River, it entered the Ironbound Section of Newark at Ferry and St. Francis Streets, traveling parallel to and south of Market Street until it crossed Ferry Street again between Union and Prospect Streets. From there, the line crossed over the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
(PRR) tracks and terminated at Broad Street. At its peak over 100 passenger trains used the route daily. After a boat collided with the Hackensack Drawbridge in 1946 causing severe damage, the through line was discontinued, and the bridge was dismantled. Passenger trains from both Newark and
Elizabethport Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.PD Draw PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to: Arts and media * People's Democracy (newspaper), ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) * ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper * Post Diaspora, a t ...
over the Passaic to Kearny to serve a
Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
plant on Kearny Point until the Aldene Plan was implemented in 1967. The
piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
of the Hackensack bridge are still visible (at ) from the shoreline along the proposed
Hackensack RiverWalk Hackensack RiverWalk, also known as the Hackensack River Greenway, a is partially constructed greenway along the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The linear park, which closely follows the contour ...
. Several open-deck spans of the Passaic River swing bridge, and its main pier (though not the swing span itself), remain (at ). While the Newark terminal building is still standing and is part of the Four Corners Historic District the trackage and train shed which served it are now the site of the Prudential Center. The rail yard is site of the proposed Triangle Park. The bridges from the yard over McCarter Highway, the PRR tracks now used by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
/ New Jersey Transit (NJT) to Newark Penn Station, and New Jersey Railroad Avenue still exist. A station house at the Jackson Avenue station survived until at least 2007.Jackson Avenue Station
/ref>Jackson Avenue Station
/ref> The ROW through Bergen Hill and
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...
in Jersey City has become part of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail. NJT has announced plans for 0.7 mile extension of the West Side Branch from its current terminus at West Side Avenue Station over Route 440 to a redevelopment area known as Bayfront, where a new station would be constructed.NJ Transit's board advances light-rail extension, awards transit center contract
/ref>


Service


See also

* Newark Plank Road *
Timeline of Jersey City area railroads __NOTOC__ For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater (the Northern end of the line along the Hudson River), South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east o ...
*
List of stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey The following is a list of all stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, including the line they were on, the date service began and ceased, and notes on the station's current status. Main Line Perth Amboy & Elizabethport Branch and ...
*
List of bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey This is a list of vehicular and rail bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey. Located in the northeastern part of New Jersey Hudson lies at the heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey and is a major crossroads of the New Yor ...
* List of ferries across the Hudson River to New York City * Park Place (H&M station)


References


External links


1931 aerial view of the rail line through Ironbound Section of NewarkNewark and New York BranchInterior photograph of Newark terminalinterior photograph of Newark terminal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newark And New York Railroad Central Railroad of New Jersey Railroad bridges in New Jersey Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Newark, New Jersey History of Newark, New Jersey