TheNEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2003 Bulletin New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association Vol. 46, No. 10 October, 2003 The Bulletin SECAUCUS TRANSFER OPENS Published by the New by Randy Glucksman York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association, What was an idea for 50 years came to When one considers what this project has Incorporated, PO Box fruition on Saturday, September 6, 2003, done for rail riders in northern New Jersey, 3001, New York, New when the Secaucus Transfer station was superlatives must be used to describe its York 10008-3001. opened. My first involvement with this project magnitude. All rail lines in this part of the came as a member of the Rockland County state are now linked. How much did it cost to For general inquiries, Transportation Advisory Committee in the construct Secaucus Transfer? NJ Transit’s contact us at mid-1970s. At that time, it had been pro- press release give a figure of $450 million; [email protected]. posed that a direct rail connection to midtown one newspaper reported $600 million, an- Manhattan be provided for commuters from other $650 million, but one source told me it Editorial Staff: Bergen, Orange and Rockland Counties in was more like one billion dollars when Editor-in-Chief: order to provide a one-seat ride. “everything” is counted. Nonetheless, this is Bernard Linder Allied Outdoor Advertising, Incorporated something that was never accomplished News Editor: financed a study that was done by Edwards when the railroads were under private owner- Randy Glucksman and Kelcey, Incorporated. In a copy of the ship by either the Pennsylvania, Erie, or later Contributing Editor: “Draft” report, which was released in May, by Penn-Central or the Erie-Lackawanna. Jeffrey Erlitz 1985, it was decided that it was operationally The biggest benefit is in time savings, which more efficient to construct a transfer station could be between 15 and 20 minutes each Production Manager: whereby train service would not be reduced way for each commuter, and the potential to David Ross to Hoboken. It was also felt that attempting to lure car drivers to the trains and reduce pollu- insert trains into what was already a con- tion is another tangible benefit. gested Northeast Corridor would be counter- How do passengers navigate Secaucus productive. Allied proposed to construct the Transfer? When Bergen County and Main station and a commercial complex that would Line passengers arrive on the lower level, contain a 400-room hotel, shopping and rec- they must either take an escalator or elevator ©2003 New York Division, Electric reational facilities. In the intervening years or walk to the mezzanine level, and then an- Railroaders’ the responsibility for constructing this facility other set of escalators, etc., which will bring Association, passed to NJ Transit, which commenced en- them to the main concourse. There they will Incorporated gineering studies in 1989. I have an article have to pass through turnstiles, which accept from The Rockland Journal News dated only the magnetically coded tickets to board In This Issue: April 4, 1991, which quoted Bill McCann, who trains to Manhattan or Newark and points was head of the Allied Junction Project, as beyond. At this time, no additional charge is West Belt Line being “positive” about this project, which had being assessed, but that will change when — History and been a dream of the Company’s chairman, service operates 7 days a week. NJ Transit is Track Plan George Newman, back in 1953. Mr. McCann not saying what the additional fare will be, ...Page 2 believed that the construction would be un- but the amount will be somewhere in the derway by late 1991 or early 1992. Ground neighborhood of what the cost is to ride was actually broken on May 30, 1995. (Continued on page 5) 1 NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN - OCTOBER,OCTOBER, 20002003 WEST BELT LINE by Bernard Linder Owners: STREET CARS July 18, 1863 Central Park, North & East River Railroad Company October 14, 1892 Metropolitan Cross-Town Railway Company May 28, 1894 Metropolitan Street Railway Company August 6, 1908 Central Park, North & East River Railroad Company January 21, 1913 Belt Line Railway Corporation August 4, 1913 Third Avenue Railway Company Route: STREET CARS July 18, 1863 Horse cars started operating from W. 51st Street and Tenth Avenue to South Ferry. We do not know when service was extended About 1865 Cars operated from W. 59th Street and Fifth Avenue via W. 59th Street, Tenth Avenue, West Street, Battery Place, and State Street (southbound)/Whitehall Street (northbound) to South Ferry About 1882 Cut back to W. 54th Street and Tenth Avenue May 8, 1913 Battery cars started operating June 26, 1913 Last horse car in service December 29, 1919 Cars operated from W. 42nd Street and Tenth Avenue to South Ferry March 24, 1921 Discontinued CAR ASSIGNMENT the following statement, which explained why service Following is an incomplete assignment: was discontinued: “The East Belt Line of the Belt Line Railway Corpora- DATE CARS tion was the first line to be abandoned. The line oper- December 31, 1913-June 30, 1918 1202-1280 ated in Manhattan along the waterfront of the East River December 30, 1918-June 30, 1919 1202-1279 from the Battery northward, a distance of three and three-quarter miles. Its abandonment became effective December 31, 1919 1202-1227 June 3, 1919. On March 24, 1921, the West Belt line of the same company, extending from the Battery along HORSE CAR NOTES the Hudson River front a distance of four and one-half There were 43 cars in service during the year ending miles, was abandoned. These two lines were operated September 30, 1867. The number of horses required for by storage battery cars and had for years been oper- the East Belt and West Belt Lines is as follows: ated at a loss. The travel, generally speaking, is to and from the water front rather than along it and the large NUMBER COST amount of trucking on these streets made the speed Horses on Hand 988 with which these cars could be operated so slow as to Horses Bought 267 $156.51 make them unattractive for passenger service. In addi- tion to the loss from operation, the maintenance of this Horses Sold 88 $31.65 trackage was very high, due to the rapidity with which Horses Died 279 the pavement was destroyed by trucks, and we were confronted with the reconstruction of the tracks and the HORSES’ WORK PROGRAMS renewal of the pavement in the near future. This recon- Running time was 54 minutes. Each team of horses struction would have involved and expenditure of an worked two round trips a day with three changes of amount of money that could not have been collected on horses in each round trip. the cars in many years.” SERVICE DISCONTINUED (Continued on page 3) In its June 30, 1922 annual report, the company made 2 West Belt Line (Continued from page 2) NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2003 West Belt Line North Portion W 54th St Circa 1897 AA W 29th St W 28th St 10th Ave W 23rd St NYC&HRR W 53rd St W 14th St 10th Ave W 13th St Little W 12th St W 42nd St Gansevoort St N Y Horatio St C W 34th St & H R R W e s t NYC&HRR - New York Central S W 30th St t Jane St & Hudson RiverKey Railroad AA W 12th St 3 Data: B. Linder Drawing: J. Erlitz (Continued on page 4) NEWNEW YORKYORK DIVISIONDIVISION BULLETINBULLETIN - OCTOBER,OCTOBER, 20002003 West Belt Line West Belt Line (Continued from page 3) South Portion Circa 1897 Except as Noted A A W 11th St W 10th St Chambers St Warren St Christopher St Barclay St Leroy St Houston St West St Fulton St West St Charlton St Cortlandt St Spring St Bowling Green C a na l S t NYC&HRR Battery Pl State St State Whitehall St Whitehall Watts St Greenwich St Desbrosses St State St Front St Vestry St 1901 Layout Duane St A A South South St Ferry Key Data: B. Linder NYC&HRR - New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Drawing: J. Erlitz 4 NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2003 TECH TALK by Jeffrey Erlitz Finally! Over the Labor Day weekend, as I mentioned was removed from this portion of the structure except in last month’s column, the Atlantic Avenue Interlocking for a small bundle of signal cables that had been in use reconfiguration took place on the 14th Street-Canarsie up until Friday evening when service was terminated. Line. From Friday night, August 29 to Tuesday morn- ing, September 2, subway service was cut back to Broadway Junction while crews from several depart- ments and outside contractors made the changeover. The September, 2000 Bulletin contains before and after track diagrams of this very big project (contract C- 33226). With the completion of this work, all remaining references to Canarsie Line Tracks P1 and P2 were eliminated. The images shown below were taken on Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, August 31. I never got the opportunity to photograph either the cutting away or the lifting into position of the large, main track girders. Apparently, only two main girders needed to be immediately cut away for this cutover operation while five main girders needed to be installed. Track panels on the original northbound track, P2, were lifted from just north of Sutter Avenue station to several hundred feet north, around the reverse curve taking the line over to Snediker Avenue. Everything (Continued on page 6) Secaucus Transfer Opens nections to destinations including Newark Airport, NJ Performing Arts Center, Radio City Music Hall, and the (Continued from page 1) (New) Jersey Shore.