ERA BULLETIN — FEBRUARY, 2016 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 59, No. 2 February, 2016 The Bulletin CONTRACT 4 SUBWAY CONTROVERSY Published by the Electric by Bernard Linder Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box (Continued from January, 2016 issue) 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. In 1913, the City and Brooklyn Rapid ening of station platforms.” Transit signed Contract 4, which provided for During the last two years of the Hylan Ad- For general inquiries, the construction of certain lines and their op- ministration, Mr. Dahl was persistent, but he contact us at bulletin@ eration as a unified system. Eleven years was unable to persuade the City to build the erausa.org. ERA’s later, most of the construction was complet- Nassau Street Line. Fortunately, James J. website is ed, but the City failed to build the Nassau Walker succeeded John F. Hylan on January www.erausa.org. Street Line. After the Board of Transportation 1, 1926. About two years later, contracts for Editorial Staff: replaced the Transit Commission on June 1, construction of the line were awarded to Mar- Editor-in-Chief: 1924, BMT’s Chairman, Gerhard Dahl, sent cus Contracting Company for the portion Bernard Linder the Board a letter requesting that the City north of Liberty Street and to Moranti and Tri-State News and Commuter Rail Editor: complete construction of the items in Con- Raymond for the remaining portion. Work Ronald Yee tract 4 in accordance with the terms of the was to be completed in 39 months and was North American and World contract. 60 percent complete in March, 1929. News Editor: Following are excerpts from Mr. Dahl’s let- Underpinning of the buildings was one of Alexander Ivanoff ter dated July 12, 1924: the biggest jobs ever undertaken in subway Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz “This company, as the present contracting construction. Because Nassau Street is only party with the City of New York under Rapid 34 feet wide and the subway floor is only 20 Production Manager: Transit Contract 4 and related certificates, feet below the building foundations, 89 build- David Ross desires to call certain matters to your atten- ings were underpinned. During excavation, tion in view of the jurisdiction conferred upon massive jacks supported 25 columns sup- ©2016 Elect ric your Board by Chapter 573 of the Laws of porting Third Avenue Elevated’s City Hall Railroaders ’ 1924. It is assumed that, because of public station. Eventually the station was supported Association, need, you will take under early consideration on other beams. Another interesting job was Incorporate d possible additional transit facilities. There has the excavation alongside and 20 feet below already been very considerable public dis- the Lexington Avenue Subway while trains cussion of possible new routes. In addition were running. Between John Street and this Company has pointed out to your prede- Broad Street, the excavation revealed a In This Issue: cessor, the Transit Commission, the need of quicksand area with water seeping through From completing the lines contemplated under the ground from a spring that used to bubble Contract 4. It is hoped, therefore, that it will in Maiden Lane. Recognition to not be regarded as out of place if this Com- Because the employees in the Financial Dominance— pany now indicates to you its position on var- District objected to loud noises during work- The New York ious transit questions so that you may have ing hours, construction was done at night. In Connecting them before you in an early consideration of the daytime the excavation was decked over. Railroad transit problems. This 0.9-mile extension cost $10 million, “These obligations are the completion of $2,068 a foot, more than three times the av- (Continued) the 14th Street Line, the construction of the erage cost of building subway lines. …Page 2 Nassau-Broad Street connection, the con- On May 30, 1931, trains started running on struction of shops and yards and the length- (Continued on page 4) NEXT TRIP: GRAND CENTRAL TOUR1 — SATURDAY, MARCH 19 NEW YORKERA BULLETINDIVISION BULLETIN — FEBRUARY, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CON- NECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from January, 2016 issue) THE PENNSY’S FIRST NEW ENGLAND Street at B Street North; its Philadelphia terminal was then the brand-new “Centennial Station,” located on GATEWAY nd rd The inward portion of the virgin railroad did not retain Market Street between 32 and 33 Streets; and the its bucolic character for very long, for during the next New York, New Haven & Hartford was serving the Mas- year (1874) the Westchester County townships of Mor- sachusetts capital through its Boston & Providence affil- risania and West Farms were ceded to New York City, iate, with a depot located at Park Square. On June 25, then immediately transformed into Manhattan’s 23rd and 1877 these through trains were joined by a Washington 24th Wards. Just as eagerly, the Parks Department, as & Boston or Boston & Washington Night Express official holders of the non-deeded properties therein, (depending on the direction of travel) and with a total of transferred large plots of captured land between the four through trips, the Pennsylvania’s initial gateway to Harlem and Bronx Rivers into private hands. Meanwhile New England became institutionalized. an immense grid-work of streets was slowly designed In 1878, the Union Star Freight Line (a relatively and constructed (a process that ultimately continued young fast freight company that was a “dark holding” of well into the 1890s), upon which to support the resultant the Pennsylvania Railroad) codified a haulage agree- residential and commercial development. The fates and ment with the New Haven for the movement of carload fortunes of nature shone upon the Harlem River Branch freight through the Harlem River Terminal, and in so during February of 1875, when an extended cold snap doing established a formal rate. Nevertheless, Union iced over Long Island Sound and brought maritime Star was merely a forwarding company with no trans- shipping in the area to a virtual standstill. With the new portation assets of its own, so it was not until 1883 that railroad in place to provide a ready alternative, carload the New Haven commenced its first true railway inter- freight from around the waterfront was diverted from its change through that facility, contracting with the Balti- usual transport by steamship to the Harlem River Termi- more & Ohio’s syndicate (in the form of the Central Rail- nal and on to the New Haven’s rails. Much of this busi- road of New Jersey and the Philadelphia & Reading) for ness remained after the waters thawed and during suc- through, direct carload freight movement between west- ceeding months the terminal was expanded for addi- ern points, New England, and even eastern Canada via tional capacity, adding a new yard between Willis and the car floats at the Harlem River Terminal and the New Brook Avenues and pontoon-type (tide-sensitive) car Haven system. Within a decade, by 1892, this initial pair floats that would allow it to receive entire railway cars, of interchange partners was joined by a score more, contents and all, for furtherance to anywhere the New including such luminary carriers as the Delaware, Haven could reach. These qualities were given a rigor- Lackawanna & Western; Erie; Lehigh Valley; Atlantic ous test during 1876 as they enabled the mass move- Coast Line; the still-forming “Seaboard” consortium; the ment of supplies in support of Philadelphia’s Centennial New York Central (in the form of its New York, West Exposition, and were magnified all the more by the Shore & Buffalo affiliate); and, last but not least, the startup of through passenger service in cooperation Pennsylvania Railroad itself. Needless to state, this with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Specifically, a premium combination of traffic commitment and the volume it Boston Express was inaugurated on April 17, 1876, also generated served to keep the Harlem River Terminal in concert with the Centennial commemoration, which and the New Haven quite busy, prosperous, and con- used PRR rolling stock and was provided with “home” tented over the longer term. It was not too long after- crews as it traveled. This train operated along the Penn- ward that the original handling yard on the banks of the sylvania’s (Northeast Corridor) main line between Harlem River proved to be inadequate, and by 1896 the Washington and Jersey City, was transferred around railroad added an “outbound” classification facility near the length of Manhattan to and from the Harlem River the Van Nest station in the far-flung and still lightly- Terminal by the PRR-owned steamship Maryland, and populated “annexed district” of what would become the concluded its journey with a trip along the New Haven’s Bronx. This was matched within two more years by an “Shore Line” route to Boston. Two more such trains equivalent “inbound” facility that was coined Westches- Night Express ter Yard, and situated near that passenger station. All in were instituted on August 1, a between th Philadelphia and Boston that had through cars from all, by the turn of the 20 century the Harlem River Washington, and another “day” train (the Philadelphia & Branch had become a key component of a freight main Boston or Boston & Philadelphia Express) serving the line that was second to none in the Northeast. same two points. At that time the Pennsylvania’s station (Continued on page 3) in Washington was at the “B&P” depot, situated on 6th 2 ERA BULLETIN — FEBRUARY, 2016 From Recognition to Dominance URBANIZATION, THE HARLEM RIVER (Continued from page 2) BRANCH, AND THE NEW HAVEN’S “RAPID TRANSIT” SERVICE On May 31, 1880 the Pennsylvania Railroad began Just as it grew into its role as a prolific freight-hauling using its New Haven gateway to forward passenger corridor, the Harlem River Branch was also constantly cars from southern points to New England for the first being redefined by urban and suburban development in time.