Timeline of Jersey City area railroads

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Port of New York Railroads ca. 1900
Port of New York Railroads ca. 1900

For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area goes 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. Thus all events relating to travel east from Newark is covered but not in any other direction.

These abbreviations are used, mainly to identify which system a line ended up with:

[edit] 1833

[edit] 1834

[edit] 1836

[edit] 1837

  • The New Jersey Railroad (PRR) cut through the Palisades opens; the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad (Erie) also uses it.[4]

[edit] 1838

[edit] 1858

[edit] 1861

  • January 28: The Long Dock Company (Erie) finishes its tunnel through the Palisades, bypassing the PRR cut.[7]
  • March 14: The New York and Bull's Ferry Railroad (NYC) is chartered and buys the Hoboken and Hudson River Turnpike. Its name is changed to the New York and Fort Lee Railroad on March 8, 1862.[8]

[edit] 1862

  • May: The Pavonia Ferry (Erie) opens.[9]

[edit] 1864

  • July 29: The CNJ's Jersey City extension opens.

[edit] 1868

  • The PRR Harsimus Branch opens, for a new freight terminal at Harsimus Cove.

[edit] 1869

  • July 23:The full length of the Newark and New York Railroad (CNJ) opens, using the CNJ's Hudson River terminal.

[edit] 1870

[edit] 1871

  • January 9: The frog war between the Erie and DL&W ends, with the frog being placed to allow DL&W Boonton Branch trains to run through the Erie's tunnel.

[edit] 1872

  • August 23: Trains are first run along the Erie's Newark and Hudson Railroad from Newark through their tunnel to Jersey City.

[edit] 1873

  • The Pennsylvania Railroad constructs a new passenger ferry terminal with 12 tracks and 6 platforms. The wooden terminal is built on piers over the water.[1]

[edit] 1877

  • May 12: The DL&W opens its new tunnel through the Palisades, ending its trackage rights through the Erie's tunnel. Included with the tunnel are western approaches to the DL&W main line and Boonton Branch; the former includes a new bridge over the Hackensack River, south of the old one (which is then used only for the Erie's Newark and Greenwood Lake Branches). The new alignment at first crosses the New Jersey Midland Railroad (NYS&W) at grade.

[edit] 1884

[edit] 1885

[edit] 1886

[edit] 1887

[edit] 1891

  • The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) rebuilds the passenger ferry terminal to replace the old terminal which was partially destroyed by fire. The new terminal is raised 15 to 20 feet above the old level to accommodate new elevated rails that eliminate grade crossings in the city.[1]

[edit] 1894

  • May 15 The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway tunnel through the Palisades is opened for traffic. The two mile long tunnel took 18 months to construct and provides the NYS&W access to its own terminal in Edgewater. The NYS&W had previously used the DL&W terminal in Hoboken.[3]

[edit] 1897

[edit] 1908

[edit] 1909

[edit] 1910

  • November 27: The Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad (PRR) opens from Kearny Junction into New York Penn Station. Manhattan Transfer opens.
  • The Penhorn Creek Railroad's (Erie) four-track cut through the Palisades (Bergen Arches) opens, just south of the Erie's two-track tunnel, including a western approach through Secaucus.

[edit] 1911

[edit] 1937

[edit] 1939

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Buildings and Structures of American Railroads, Walter G. Berg, C.E., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1892, p. 412
  2. ^ "In One Mass of Flames, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Buildings Burned", New York Times, August 5, 1884
  3. ^ "Palisades Tunnel Completed", New York Times, May 14, 1894