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From: tommy meehan tmeehan0421 AT gmail DOT com
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2020 16:05:38 -0500
Subject: Question about DL&W Bergen Jct in 1900
"NY_Times_Tunnel_opens_02151909.jpg" - image/jpeg, 556x2117 (24bit)

A question came up in a discussion about the physical layout of Bergen Jct
on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in the years before the
electrification project. This was the result of someone finding a comment
about it by William Truesdale, Lackawanna's president in that era, in the
company's 1909 Annual Report. Truesdale stated:

The important crossing at grade of this Company’s four main line tracks
> with an equal number of those of the Erie and New York, Susquehanna &
> Western main tracks just west of Bergen Hill Tunnel has been eliminated by
> carrying the tracks of this Company over those of the other companies
> named. This was a difficult undertaking, owing to the work having to be
> done virtually under the movement of very heavy traffic on the tracks of
> the three companies. It was accomplished without accident, casualty or
> delay of consequence, and will result in expediting the movement of trains,
> and in eliminating the risk of serious collisions on the crossings. The
> cost of this improvement is charged to the Morris & Essex Railroad under
> the provisions of the lease of the lines of that Company.
>
This is from page 9 of the 1909 report which is available online at
HathiTrust Digital Library. Below is a link:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000055674737&view=1up&seq11

In the 1907 Annual Report the project was described as, " Elimination of
Grade Crossing, Susquehanna Railroad, Bergen Junction, under construction."

In a *New York Times* news article from February 15, 1909, written when the
new second tunnel under Bergen Hill was opened to traffic (I am attaching
an image of the article), Truesdale said the work to eliminate the
"Susquehanna grade crossing, probably the most dangerous in the country,"
would be finished in Summer 1909.

I was not aware there was an at-grade crossing at Bergen Jct. of the M&E
and the Suquehanna (NYS&W's line to Marion Jct.) in that late a time
period. To further muddy the waters, a news article was found describing a
collision between a Susquehanna local passenger train from Jersey City and
Lackawanna Train No. 4 at the crossing in September 1907. Several New York
City newspapers reported on this. It was a minor collision caused by the
Susquehanna train failing to stop and colliding with the rear car of No. 4.
I think it got a lot of press coverage because it disrupted the evening
rush hour. However, someone commented, "Schedules indicate the Lackawanna
train probably operated via the Boonton Branch, not the M&E. Was that
another crossing in the area or was the crossing mentioned in the Annual
Report actually a Boonton Branch crossing, not the M&E main line?"

This led to someone asking: "The annual report mentions four tracks, was
the Boonton Branch four-tracked? My understanding was, the M&E only had
three tracks from West End to the Hackensack River bridge, at least after
the electrification project was finished."

Anybody familiar with this area circa 1900? Thanks.

tommy meehan


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