WR Draw
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WR Draw is an out-of-service
railroad bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
crossing 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, ...
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 the Arlington section of Kearny,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. The
plate girder A plate girder bridge is a bridge supported by two or more plate girders. Overview In a plate girder bridge, the plate girders are typically I-beams made up from separate structural steel plates (rather than rolled as a single cross-section), ...
rim-bearing
swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
, originally built in 1897 and modified in 1911 and 1950, is the 14th bridge from the river's mouth at
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 ...
and is upstream from it. Last used for regular passenger service in 2002, it is welded in closed position as its height is not considered a hazard to navigation. The lower of the long Passaic River downstream of the
Dundee Dam The Dundee Canal was an industrial canal in Clifton and Passaic in Passaic County, New Jersey. It was built between 1858 and 1861 and ran parallel to the Passaic River. It supplied hydropower and water for manufacturing. There was interest by some ...
is tidally influenced and
navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...
. Rail service across the river was generally oriented to bringing passengers and freight from the points west over the Hackensack Meadows to
Bergen Hill Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet. Rai ...
, where tunnels and cuts provided access terminals on the Hudson River.


History

An alignment crossing the river at Arlington and North Newark was part of a grander scheme developed in the 1860s by the New York, Oswego, and Midland Railroad to run lines from
Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...
, also opening up new areas for suburban development (including Belleville, just north of the current bridge's western end). Originally, the plan called for incorporating the Montclair Railway which had been established in 1867. Ultimately that plan was scuttled as a route was established farther north connecting to the
New Jersey Midland Railway The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern New Jersey and Orange County, New York. Formation and construction The New Jersey Midland Railway ...
and
Hudson Connecting Railway The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern New Jersey and Orange County, New York. Formation and construction The New Jersey Midland Railway c ...
. Nonetheless, expansion on the Montclair Railway continued and 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) over the river was established circa 1872-1874,Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement Project, New York, NY (2008)
"Chapter 5.2: Historic Resources."
''Final Environmental Impact Statement and Final Section 4(f ) Evaluation.''
The WR Draw's predecessor was known as the Midland Bridge, a name recalled in Midland Avenue which descends from Passaic Street to the former
West Arlington Station West Arlington was a former commuter railroad train station in the Arlington section of Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey. Located overlooking Passaic Avenue ( Hudson County Route 699), West Arlington station was one of two in Kearny on the ...
. The line ran between Sterling Forest at the New York state line to
Croxton, Jersey City Croxton is a section of Jersey City in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It is bounded by Secaucus at Penhorn Creek (named for the 17th century American colonial judge and President of the New Jersey Provin ...
. The financially unstable Montclair Railway went into
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
, and in 1875 became the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railway In 1878 the company was re-organized as the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (NYGL), under control of
Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...
. In 1887, the Erie created a new subsidiary, the Arlington Railroad, to create a new ROW in the Kearny Meadows which ran more directly to the WR Draw once the line had passed through the
Long Dock Tunnel The Long Dock Tunnel is a freight rail tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey that is part of the North Jersey Shared Assets Area and used by CSX Transportation on the National Docks Secondary. The single track (formerly dual track) tunnel runs thro ...
and crossed the
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 ...
. In 1889, it opened the
DB Draw DB Draw is a derelict railroad swing bridge crossing the Hackensack River between Secaucus and Kearny, in New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1889 by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, (reorganized in 1895 as the Erie Railroad) ...
over the river, providing the company a modernized ROW from its
Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...
for use by both the NYGL and the
Newark Branch The Newark Branch was a branch of the Erie Railroad in New Jersey, United States, running between Jersey City and Paterson with stops in the Broadway Section in North Newark. Inaugurated in the 1870s, the line was last used for passenger serv ...
, which crossed the Passaic on the
NX Bridge The NX Draw (sometimes colloquially known the "Annie Bridge") is an out-of-service railroad bridge on the Passaic River between Newark, New Jersey, Newark and Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny, New Jersey. It is the 13th bridge from the river's mouth at ...
at the southern end of Kearny. Within Erie, the NX was known as Bridge 8.04, which indicated the number of miles from the Jersey City waterfront terminal. The WR Draw was known as Bridge 7.57. In the mid-1890s, the Erie greatly expanded the infrastructure and service on the Greenwood Lake, taking over the Watchung Railway in 1895 and the Caldwell Railway and the Roseland Railway in 1897, the former becoming the Orange Branch and the latter two, the Caldwell Branch. The WR Draw was modified in 1911 when the Erie opened a new tunnel-cut, the Bergen Arches, in Jersey City, creating the Penhorn Creek Railroad to run through it and make connections to its lines on the west side of the
Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs st ...
. The bridge was again modified in the 1950s when
New Jersey Route 21 Route 21 is a state highway in northern New Jersey, running from the Newark Airport Interchange with U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1-9) and US 22 in Newark, Essex County to an interchange with US 46 in Clifton, Passaic County. The route ...
was constructed under its west end. In 1943, in a major re-organization, the New York and Greenwood Lake as well as other subsidiaries were absorbed into the Erie. In 1960 the Erie and the
Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
(DL&W) merged, consolidating at
Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...
. In 1963, in conjunction with the construction of
Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
in Paterson, the combined
Erie Lackawanna Railroad The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...
's Boonton Line was rerouted over the WR Draw. Service over the bridge was diminished in phases. Numerous stations were taken out of use and the mainline was retracted in 1935. By 1966 service on the New York and Greenwood Lake was terminated. In 1976, the Erie-Lackawanna was taken over by
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
which continued to run Boonton Line trains over the bridge.
New Jersey Transit Rail Operations NJ Transit Rail Operations is the rail division of NJ Transit. It operates commuter rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered on transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark. NJ Transit also operates rail service i ...
(NJT) took over Conrail's commuter lines in 1983. With the 2002 opening of the
Montclair Connection The Montclair Connection is a short section of double-track railroad on the NJ Transit Rail Operations system in New Jersey, United States, connecting the former end of the Montclair Branch at Bay Street station to the old Boonton Line southeast ...
, NJT re-routed the Boonton Line to its
Montclair Branch The Montclair-Boonton Line is a commuter rail line of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations in the United States. It is part of the Hoboken Division. The line is a consolidation of three individual lines: the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R ...
east of Montclair, thus bypassing the ROW to the bridge. Service was discontinued to Rowe Street, Benson Street and Arlington stations. DB Draw over the Hackensack River was also taken out of use and left in the open position. As of December 2022, the line is being converted to a
rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
.


See also

*
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 of ...
*
List of crossings of the Lower Passaic River The Lower Passaic River in New Jersey is the section of the Passaic River below the Great Falls which flows over the Dundee Dam to the river mouth at Newark Bay in the northeastern part of the state. Its midpoint generally delineates the Es ...
*
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 Yo ...


References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =
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, ...
, bridge = WR Draw , bridge signs = , upstream = Passaic Avenue , upstream signs = , downstream =
NX Bridge The NX Draw (sometimes colloquially known the "Annie Bridge") is an out-of-service railroad bridge on the Passaic River between Newark, New Jersey, Newark and Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny, New Jersey. It is the 13th bridge from the river's mouth at ...
(abandoned) , downstream signs = Kearny, New Jersey Erie Lackawanna Railway Erie Railroad bridges NJ Transit bridges Bridges over the Passaic River Railroad bridges in New Jersey Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Newark, New Jersey Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Bridges in Newark, New Jersey Bridges completed in 1897 Plate girder bridges in the United States