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Re:(erielack) More Cliff Dwellers
Paul -- you will get many responses. Here's one:
There were two H&M "Tubes". One ran from about Exchange Place, Jersey City, to H&M Terminal, close to th World Trade Center site. On the NJ side, a tunnel branched northward to Hoboken. The Erie station was on this line, which terminated at the DL&W Hoboken station. The second tube under the Hudson branched off between Erie and Hoboken, went to Christopher Street, Manhattan, and thence to 33rd Street, with stations at 9th, 14th, and 23rd Sts.
H&M was a pioneer. Backed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the very early 1900s, it was PRR's first shot at a rail entrance to Manhattan. It was intended and designed to carry only passengers, so used a smaller loading gauge with narrower cars on standard gauge track. It was an early electrification -- 600V DC 3rd rail.
H&M's first cars, which lasted about 40 years, were the first Stillwells, albeit smaller than those built later for the Erie.
The Pennsy soon extended the H&M service to Newark, along the PRR main line through Journal Square.
The routes remain unchanged today and are operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as the Port Authority Trands Hudson ( PATH ) system.
The Tubes have an unmistakeable atmosphere and aroma. They smell damp and dank.
Randy Brown
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Lynn's map shows two features I wasn't previously aware of, one being the Hudson Tunnel (H&M) Tube. I gather this was a 3rd rail system similar to but distinct from the subway system. I don't recall a reference to it at the Transit museum in Brooklyn when I visited in late 2004. What entity owned it, and when did it cease operation? The other is a bypass around Denville. Was this a freight bypass, and when and why was it abandoned?
Paul B
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