Newark and New York Railroad

CRRNJ Terminal near Four Corners in Downtown Newark

Newark and New York Railroad Bridge
Crosses	Hackensack River Passaic River
Locale	Jersey City Kearny Newark
Opened	1869[1]
Closed	removed
Coordinates	40°43′07″N 74°06′14″W / 40.718709°N 74.103985°W / 40.718709; -74.103985

The Newark and New York Railroad was a passenger rail line that ran between Downtown Newark and the Communipaw Terminal at the mouth of the North River (Hudson River) in Jersey City, bridging the Hackensack River and Passaic River just north of their mouths at the Newark Bay in northeastern New Jersey.

History

Opened on July 23, 1869 and operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the railroad provided a direct route between downtown Newark and its Jersey City terminal, where passengers could transfer to ferries to Manhattan, New York City.^[2] Service was added from Newark south to Elizabeth in 1872 where it joined the railroad's main line, which crossed Newark Bay at Bayonne on the CRRNJ Newark Bay Bridge.

The line was built partially to relieve overcrowding and reduce times on the New Jersey Railroad line between Exchange Place on Hudson waterfront and the city of Newark.^[3][4][5] The route travelled west from the river and crossed Bergen Hill where a cut had been excavated for a right of way (now part of Hudson Bergen Light Rail).^[6][7] It then crossed the Hackensack to Kearny Point, the tip of a larger peninsula formally known as New Barbadoes Neck, to the Passaic River. The bridges across the rivers were raised in 1913 to accommodate shipping.^[8][9] 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 tracks and terminated at Broad Street.^[10][11]

After a boat crash into the Hackenack River bridge causing irreparable damage in 1946, the line was discontinued.^[12] Though the bridge was later demolished, its caissons are still visible from the shoreline along the proposed Hackensack RiverWalk.^[13] While the Newark terminal building is still standing and is part of the Four Corners Historic District the trackage and trainshed which served it are now the site of the Prudential Center. The bridges from the yard over McCarter Highway, the Pennsylvania Railroad (now New Jersey Transit/Amtrak) tracks to Newark Penn Station, and New Jersey Railroad Avenue are still standing.

Service

City	Station	Service Began	Service Ended	Station Status
New York City	Liberty Street[14][15][16]			location filled as part of Battery Park City Service provided by NY Waterway at BPC Ferry Terminal
	West 23rd Street[16][17]			Pier 63 at Hudson River Park
North River (Hudson River)
Jersey City	Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal[14][15][16][18]	1864	April 30, 1967	Partially preserved in Liberty State Park
	Communipaw[14][15][16]			Liberty State Park (HBLR station) is just to the north of the former station
	Pacific Avenue[16]
	Arlington Avenue[16]			Garfield Avenue (HBLR station)
	Jackson Avenue[16][19][20]			Martin Luther King Drive (HBLR station)
	West Side Avenue[16]			West Side Avenue (HBLR station)
	Bayfront is a proposed Hudson Bergen Light Rail station along right right of way on the West Side[21]
Hackensack River
Kearny[16]	Kearny Station
Passaic River
Newark	Newark Transfer[16]
	East Ferry Street Station[16]			trackage and stations removed
	Ferry Street[16]
	Broad Street[16] 40°44′1″N 74°10′16″W / 40.73361°N 74.17111°W / 40.73361; -74.17111			terminal building standing trackage removed, now Prudential Center

See also

• Newark Plank Road
• Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
• List of stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey
• List of bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey
• List of ferries across the Hudson River to New York City

External links

• 1931 aerial view of rail line through Ironbound Section of Newark

References

1. ^ "Opening of the Newark and New-York Railroad". New York Times. July 24, 1869. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20713FD385E1A7493C6AB178CD85F4D8684F9. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
2. ^ Opening of Newark and New York Railroad New York Times, July 24,1869
3. ^ "Importance of the New Railroad to Newark". The New York Times. March 4, 1866. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00C13FE3859107B93C6A91788D85F428684F9. 
4. ^ "NEW-YORK AND NEWARK RAILROAD; Enthusiastic Meeting in Newark-Abuses of the New-Jersey Railroad Denounced--Resolutions in Support of a New Road--Importance of Proper Communications with New-York". The New York Times. February 14, 1866. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F5071FF73959107B93C6A81789D85F428684F9. 
5. ^ "Article 1 -- No Title". The New York Times. February 16, 1866. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0917FE3859107B93C4A81789D85F428684F9. 
6. ^ "The Newark and New-York Railroad Company". The New York Times. September 16, 1866. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9803E6D6133DE53BBC4E52DFBF66838D679FDE. 
7. ^ French, Kenneth (February 24, 2002). Images of America:Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 25–29. ISBN 978-0-7385-0966-2. http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9780738509662&Store_Code=arcadia&search=Images+of+Rail&offset=0&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=&range_low=&range_high=%20%26srch_series%3D1. Retrieved November 21, 2009. 
8. ^ "Dredge Hackensack River". New York Times. February 9, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40D10FD385F13738DDDA00894DA405B838DF1D3. Retrieved 2011-02-16. 
9. ^ Title "Dredge Hackensack River Improving Newark Meadows Section for Development". New York Times. 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B07E1DC133BE633A2575AC0A9649C946296D6CF. Retrieved 2010-04-19. 
10. ^ "Railway Management.; A New Story Of A Deal". The New York Times. January 12, 1890. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0F10FD3F5F10738DDDAB0994D9405B8085F0D3. 
11. ^ http://timetables.m72express.com/scans/CNJ-NewarkWeekday1925.jpg
12. ^ http://jcrhs.org/cnjtowers2.html
13. ^ Hackensack River bridges
14. ^ ^{a b c} Travelers' official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 1970-06-01. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} Travelers official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. June 1893. 
16. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Timetable (1925), Service schedule (Newark and New York), Central Railroad of New Jersey, http://timetables.m72express.com/scans/CNJ-NewarkWeekday1925.jpg 
17. ^ http://timetables.m72express.com/scans/CNJ-NewarkWeekday1941.jpg
18. ^ "Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal". http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/C_Pages/Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. 
19. ^ Jackson Avenue Station
20. ^ Jackson Avenue Station
21. ^ Whiten, Jon (Aug 23rd, 2010). "West Side Light Rail Extension Project Picks Up Some Federal Funding". www.jerseycityindependent.com. http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2010/08/23/west-side-light-rail-extension-project-picks-up-some-federal-funding/. Retrieved 2011-04-04.