Paul, For two of your questions:the Bergen Tunnel at the east end of Croxton is good only for 19'6", or one 8'6" and one 9'6" box. I have personnaly observed what happens when you try to take two 9'6"s into the tunnel. Similarly, the route through the Waldo Tunnel to the Nat'l Docks line can only handle one high, one low. The original DS clearace route into North Jersey was via the Southern Tier, initially hi-lo; later two highs, followed by the Water Level Route, which connected to the various terminals via the "swamp switch" and the Northern Secondary. Until the trackage at the east end of Croxton was reconfigured for a straight shot to Marion Jct, a train would pull into the tunnell, back onto the Croxton runner, and head into MJ-they would still have to back into South Kearny. To get to Erail, trains would go down the P&H as far west on the LVmain as necessary, then down to the Chemical Coast connector. Once the PRR clearances were done, trains to Erail had a straight shot off the Lehigh Line. There was /is no need for the higher clearances on the ND. The Waldo Tunnel itself is high enough, it is the south portal that is the problem. Jim Dalberg The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
This HTML page is © 2000-2008 Blue Moon Online System and The Railfan Network
This page and the data contained therein may not be reproduced
for any form of commercial use without the explicit permission
of J. Henry Priebe Jr. or his duly authorized agent.