(erielack) Re: Hoboken Happenings / Erie RR in Jersey City.

[David Goessling <"dgoessling_@_lucent.com">]

Paul's right about the view from the new park: it's really great. Just about as
far out as you can get out into the river without a boat...

The Hobokem Reporter finally published my letter suggesting some presevation of
Hoboken Shore RR tracks in this area...

Re: the sign and terminal. Didn't the railroad itself add the ERIE after the
merger?  Then the restoration guys just stuck with it...

I read that the "guts" of the restoration is the removal of asbestos in and
around the ceiling of the waiting room. They are also making sure that the
Tiffany glass in the skylight is clean and not leaking, I think. (This was done
once before in the mid-80's, but I guess it still needed work.)

If you go around the south side of the terminal (to the NY Waterway ferry
slip...) you can see the new copper work along the peak of the roof: nice! Now,
if they would just do some of that around the sign... and, maybe restore the
restaurant ;-) Actually, if they really did restore the restaurant (which in its
heyday supposedly rivaled the Oyster Bar) somebody would make megabucks there.
Imagine if you could sit outside on the pier and watch the ferrys go... <sigh>

Some other stuff I noticed on my bi-weekly bike ride around:

NJT has done a massive cleanup job in the MOW storage area on the south side of
the yard (across the canal...) Looks like they took up some rail too. Anybody
know what's planned for this area? All the junk is gone, the area has been
leveled, leaving just an old  black NJT wire car and gon. Most of the equipment
that was there has been moved to the leads behind the new MOW building. The
jet-engine snowmelter that was on the other side of the Bergen Tunnel is parked
on that lead  now...

Re: Erie RR in JC

I'm not sure that the signal bridge is still there: I'll have to check on the
way home, cause they have done a lot of clean-up on that viaduct in the past
year or so. Conrail still uses a short lead at the west end, I think: I have
seen switchers stowing cars up there in midday. This lead went all the way down
to the site of Newport as late as the early '90s, I think: I recall seeing a
long string of freight cars stored up there with a Conrail switcher pushing
things around about that time. Can't recall when all the bridges were finally
removed, but they are all gone and fenced off now. Yesterday I saw that the rock
wall along the west end of C.Columbus Ave. has been restored, and something is
going on up top...

I was poking around the Bergen Tunnels just yesterday. As others have reported,
it's all overgrown and kinda dangerous. Hadn't heard about the plan to reroute
part of 1+9 into it! When will that happen? It's possible to get a good photo of
the west portal (looking west) from a bridge over a local street: 1909 cast in
the arch...

There are some other RR remnants around if you walk around the neighborhoods:
some support piers just east of the Conrail line, some track remnants around old
industrial buildings various places. Perhaps some of this was CNJ or PRR? I'll
bring a map next time...

Other things maybe of interest:

The CNJ mail car at the CNJ Terminal in Liberty State Park has been moved. A
section of track about 100 feet long has been laid parallel to the northern-most
trainshed, and the car is at the east end of it. The parking lot is all ripped
up and fenced off (the old paving stones have been saved in pile all the way up
at the west entrance to the park for reuse?) Anybody know what's going on here?

Lot's of progress on the light rail, and there's a car-set in the trainshed over
by Liberty State Park...

cheers,

dmg

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