Center Street Branch

{{see also|United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company}}

File:Centre Street Bridge, Newark, NJ.tif

The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company was incorporated on March 7, 1832, to build a line from Jersey City, New Jersey, to New Brunswick, New Jersey.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|pp=73–74}} The line opened between Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey, on September 15, 1834. This initial segment crossed two rivers: the Hackensack River, and the Passaic River in Newark.{{sfnp|Freeman|1953|p=116}} The railroad had planned to cross the Passaic at Market Street, near the commercial dock, but objections from shipping interests forced the railroad to cross at Centre Street, some {{convert|2000|ft}} upriver. This relocation meant that trains passing over the line had to make a sharp turn in Newark, and then again in Harrison, New Jersey, after crossing.{{sfnp|Freeman|1953|pp=144–145}}

The New Jersey Legislature authorized the construction of a bridge over the Passaic at Market Street in 1855, but subsequent litigation held up the start of construction until 1862.{{sfnp|Freeman|1953|p=145}} The new bridge opened in 1869, and the main line of the New Jersey Railroad was re-routed, avoiding the curves of the original route.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=76}} The original route in Newark and Harrison, approximately {{convert|1.34|mi}} long, was retained as the Center Street Branch.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=75}}

In 1872, the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company was consolidated with the Camden and Amboy Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, which was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|pp=65; 74}} The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company continued to exist on paper, and remained the owner of the line until the creation of Conrail in 1976.{{sfnp|USRA|1975|p=272}}

File:New Jersey Railroad ROW (Harrison).jpg

The Pennsylvania Railroad continued to maintain a freight station on River Street in Newark, immediately west of the new main line and the Market Street passenger station.{{sfnp|Robinson|1926|loc=Plate 1}} The elevation of the main line through Newark in 1904 eliminated the connection on the western end.{{Cite magazine | title=Track Elevation of the Pennsylvania in Newark, N.J. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6ExAQAAMAAJ&dq=Market+Street+station+newark&pg=PA339 | volume=XXXVI | issue=19 | date=May 6, 1904 | magazine=The Railroad Gazette | pages=338–339}} The Center Street Bridge over the Passaic was rebuilt as a double-deck bridge in 1911 to accommodate the electric rapid transit trains of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH), which traveled over an elevated right-of-way from Manhattan Transfer to Park Place station, a block southwest of the Center Street Branch tracks.{{sfnp|Robinson|1926|loc=Plate 10}}{{sfnp|Carleton|1990|p=17}}{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=76}} The new Pennsylvania Station in Newark opened in 1935, replacing Market Street station, and the Hudson and Manhattan moved its Newark terminus there in 1937 with the closure of Manhattan Transfer.{{Cite news |date=June 20, 1937 |title=New Station Open for Hudson Tubes |language=en-US |page=35 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B14FB3A541B728DDDA90A94DE405B878FF1D3 |access-date=March 25, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}} The upper span was rebuilt to handle road traffic and for a time was designated as New Jersey Route 158.

Prior to 1976, service over the bridge was abandoned leaving the track in Harrison as the remainder of the line. This was conveyed to Conrail in 1976, following the Penn Central Transportation bankruptcy.{{sfnp|USRA|1975|p=272}} The Center Street Branch remained part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations after the 1999 Conrail split.

{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFCoverdale_&_Colpitts1946}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last=Carleton | first=Paul | title=The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Revisited | date=1990 | publisher=D. Carleton Railbooks | location=Dunnellon, Florida | oclc=22762786}}
• {{Coverdale & Colpitts 2}}
• {{cite journal | last=Freeman | first=Leslie E. Jr. | title=The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company | journal=The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin | date=May 1953 | issue=88 | pages=100–159 | jstor=43520074 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43520074}}
• {{cite book | title=Robinson's Atlas of the city of Newark, New Jersey : in three volumes : compiled from official records, private plans and actual surveys | last=Robinson | first=Elisha | date=1926 | oclc=13639198 | volume=1 | url=https://dana.njit.edu/items/show/885}}
• {{cite book | title=Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 | year=1975 | author=United States Railway Association | author-link=United States Railway Association | location=Washington, DC | url=http://multimodalways.org/docs/govts/federal/executive/Agencies/DOT/USRA/FSP/FSP%20VI.pdf | oclc=2889148 | volume=1 | ref={{Harvid|USRA|1975}} }}

• [http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/PRR/PRR%20CT%201000%20Stations%20&%20Sidings%205-1-1945.pdf List of locations on the Centre Street Branch, 1945]
• [http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/PRR/PRR%20Maps/PRR%20NYC%20Harbor%20Map%201940.pdf New York Harbor map, 1940]

Category:Harrison, New Jersey

Category:Rail infrastructure in New Jersey

Category:Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey

Category:Transportation in Newark, New Jersey