Re: (erielack) NKP Car Movements

["Jim Guthrie" <jguthrie_@_pipeline.com>]

> Does anyone know if the Edgewater branch is still in service? Also, acc to
> my SPV map, Erie's Weehawken branch at one time went to Edgewater (I guess
> it was once known as the "Edgewater branch") and connected with Susie-Q
> there. When was it cut back to Weehawken?

The Erie went as far north as Weehawken qhwere the stockyards and D&H, Erie 
and PaCoal Co oal terminals were located. Later, the Erie had other marine 
facilities and piers there as well.  Edgewater was NYS&W, and at various 
times in sundry agreements, there were some trackage rights agreements that 
permitted the Erie to get to Edgewater, and the NY Central to serve 
Edgewater as well.

The 1930s trackage agreements were a result of the Port Authority's master 
plan for the Port, which included a tunnel under New York Harbor, but also 
making "Line 13" --- essentially from Bayonne to the southern border of Fort 
Lee, a "Union Terminal" with open access for all. Among the incidents that 
killed the idea was the Erie's lawsuit against the PA when the latter built 
a connection to make the line whole.

The Central had access to all the facilities along the route, except the O&W 
coal piers, which they cared less about anyway.

Aside from warding off the "socialist" Port Authority with what the 
railroads considered an ill-advides, if not ecil plan to "ruin everything" 
with a cross-harbor tunnel, joint tracjage rights were helpful in 
persuadiung Ford to move its automobile plant from South Kearny *the site 
later became part of Western Electric on the CNJ) to Edgewater in 1929.

If one wanted to look for a huge error on the part of Henry K Norton, 
Trustee, I think the move to kick the New York entral out of Edgewater leads 
directly to the move to find new quarters, which led to Ford moving to 
Mahwah. Having one railroad responsible for the movements of auto parts was 
a big incentive for Ford -- from which the Erie (and E-L) benefitted 
mightily, as we all know. It went a long way to wrecking the NYS&W after 
1955 as well.
>
> I wonder which Lever Bros facility in Edgewater is referenced here.  In
> recent years they have had a sizable research facility at 45 River Road
> abutting the Hudson River (as Unilever Home & Personal Care Products), and
> although there is currently no rail there now, the NYS&W may have gone 
> down
> that far at the time.  Was this once a factory, or was there one on the 
> site
> at the time?

Well, Corn Products Inc. became part of Lever Bros -- their best known 
product being Mazola Corn Oil. South of the tunnel, you had Bulls Ferry 
Chemical, Lever Bros., Spencer-Kellogg, Barrett Mfg., General Chemical, Corn 
Products, NY Edison at Edgewater.

For the NKP historians, it is important to understand the NKP-Erie 
relationship under the Vans, where there were real efforts to attract online 
business promising "single line" service. There was much more to this than 
the locomotive committee <g>.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie 



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