Center Street Branch - Misplaced Pages

For the former railway line in Connecticut, see Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut River Railroad.

Center Street Branch

Overview

Locale

Hudson County, New Jersey

Stations

Technical

Track gauge

1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Route map

Legend

					Passaic and Harsimus Line

					Passaic and Harsimus Line
					Waterfront Connection
					Northeast Corridor
					PATH
					Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96
					Morristown Line

					Northeast Corridor
					Morristown Line
					PATH
					Centre Street Bridge
					Park Place
					Freight station
					Northeast Corridor
					PATH
					Newark Penn
					Northeast Corridor

This diagram:

The Center Street Branch, formerly known as the Centre Street Branch, is a short railway line in Harrison and Kearny, New Jersey. It was formerly the main line of the New Jersey Railroad between Jersey City and Newark, before the building of a new crossing of the Passaic River reduced its importance. Today, it is an industrial freight line and owned by Conrail Shared Assets Operations with connections to the Passaic and Harsimus Line and the Morristown Line.

History

The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company was incorporated on March 7, 1832, to build a line from Jersey City, New Jersey, to New Brunswick, New Jersey. The line opened between Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey, on September 15, 1834. This initial segment crossed two rivers: the Hackensack River, and the Passaic River in Newark. The railroad had planned to cross the Passaic at Market Street, near the commercial dock, but objections from shipping interests forced the railroad to cross at Centre Street, some 2,000 feet (610 m) upriver. This relocation meant that trains passing over the line had to make a sharp turn in Newark, and then again in Harrison, New Jersey, after crossing.

The New Jersey Legislature authorized the construction of a bridge over the Passaic at Market Street in 1855, but subsequent litigation held up the start of construction until 1862. The new bridge opened in 1869, and the main line of the New Jersey Railroad was re-routed, avoiding the curves of the original route. The original route in Newark and Harrison, approximately 1.34 miles (2.16 km) long, was retained as the Center Street Branch.

In 1872, the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company was consolidated with the Camden and Amboy Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, which was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company continued to exist on paper, and remained the owner of the line until the creation of Conrail in 1976.

The Pennsylvania Railroad continued to maintain a freight station on River Street in Newark, immediately west of the new main line and the Market Street passenger station. The elevation of the main line through Newark in 1904 eliminated the connection on the western end. The Center Street Bridge over the Passaic was rebuilt as a double-deck bridge in 1911 to accommodate the electric rapid transit trains of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH), which traveled over an elevated right-of-way from Manhattan Transfer to Park Place station, a block southwest of the Center Street Branch tracks. The new Pennsylvania Station in Newark opened in 1935, replacing Market Street station, and the Hudson and Manhattan moved its Newark terminus there in 1937 with the closure of Manhattan Transfer. The upper span was rebuilt to handle road traffic and for a time was designated as New Jersey Route 158.

Prior to 1976, service over the bridge was abandoned leaving the track in Harrison as the remainder of the line. This was conveyed to Conrail in 1976, following the Penn Central Transportation bankruptcy. The Center Street Branch remained part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations after the 1999 Conrail split.

Notes

Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), pp. 73–74.
Freeman (1953), p. 116.
Freeman (1953), pp. 144–145.
Freeman (1953), p. 145.
^ Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 76.
Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 75.
Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), pp. 65, 74.
^ USRA (1975), p. 272.
Robinson (1926), Plate 1.
"Track Elevation of the Pennsylvania in Newark, N.J." The Railroad Gazette. Vol. XXXVI, no. 19. May 6, 1904. pp. 338–339.
Robinson (1926), Plate 10.
Carleton (1990), p. 17.
"New Station Open for Hudson Tubes". The New York Times. June 20, 1937. p. 35. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 25, 2023.

References

Carleton, Paul (1990). The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Revisited. Dunnellon, Florida: D. Carleton Railbooks. OCLC 22762786.
Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945. Volume II: Lines East of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC 13172415.
Freeman, Leslie E. Jr. (May 1953). "The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company". The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin (88): 100–159. JSTOR 43520074.
Robinson, Elisha (1926). Robinson's Atlas of the city of Newark, New Jersey : in three volumes : compiled from official records, private plans and actual surveys. Vol. 1. OCLC 13639198.
United States Railway Association (1975). Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (PDF). Vol. 1. Washington, DC. OCLC 2889148.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

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