Hoboken Shore Railroad
{{Short description|Railroad in New Jersey, United States}}
{{Infobox rail
|railroad_name = Hoboken Shore Railroad
|logo =
|logo_size =
|logo_alt =
|system_map = Hoboken Shore Road Route Map.jpg
|map_caption = Route map of the predecessor Hoboken Shore Road
|map_size = 350px
|map_alt =
|image = Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad Locomotives.jpg
|image_size = 350px
|image_caption = Locomotives of the predecessor HMRR around 1930
|image_alt =
|marks = HBS
|locale = Hoboken
|start_year = {{Start date|1954}}
|end_year = {{End date|1978}} (predecessor since 1897)
|predecessor_line =
|successor_line =
|gauge = {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
|electrification = predecessor 650 V DC till about 1930
|length = {{convert|1.411|mi}}
|hq_city = 1419 Bloomfield St, Hoboken
|website =
}}
Hoboken Shore Railroad {{reporting mark|HBS}}, initials HSRR, was a New Jersey railroad which was created around 1954. It took over the activities of the Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad {{reporting mark|HMR}}, initials HMRR. This railroad owned only {{Convert|0.221|mi}} of mainline but around 1906 leased the longer route of the Hoboken Shore Road which had been operated since 1897 by the Hoboken Railroad Warehouse and Steamship Connecting Company, initials HRRWH&SSConCo or HRRW&SSCCO.
The {{Convert|1.4|mi}} long route of the HBS ran along the Hoboken waterfront, serving as a switching and terminal railroad for all connecting carriers between the Erie yard in Weehawken and the Hoboken Piers and a car float transfer bridge. It used electric operation till the 1930s and was abandoned in 1978, after the demise of the Hoboken Piers and the general decline of rail traffic.{{cite web|url=http://hbs.railfan.net/|title=Hoboken Shore Railroad Home Page|last=Tupaczewski|first=Paul R.|website=hbs.railfan.net|access-date=2009-05-14}}
History
= Hoboken Shore Road =
In 1784 John Stevens purchased the land of today's city of Hoboken from the State of New Jersey. After his death in 1838, his heritage was managed by the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company (HLIC), which held the subsidiary Hoboken Railroad Warehouse and Steamship Connecting Company (HRRWH&SSConCo){{cite book|author=Richardson Dilworth|title=The Urban Origins of Suburban Autonomy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RuPLJygIwZwC&pg=PA121|year=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01531-9|pages=121–123}} founded at September 17, 1895.{{cite book|title=Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad|last=Bernhart|first=Benjamin L.}} The railroad began operation as Hoboken Shore Road on September 20, 1897.{{Cite journal|year=1898|title=Electricity on the Hoboken Shore Road|url=https://archive.org/stream/streetrailwayrev08amer/streetrailwayrev08amer#page/56/mode/1up|journal=The Street Railway Review|volume=8|pages=57–58|via=archive.org}}
= Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad =
In 1902 the Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad (HMR) was incorporated. Its task was to extend the Hoboken Shore Road further South to connect with the DL&W in Jersey City, which never happened. Incorporated in 1905, the American Warehouse & Trading Company took control of the HMR. The less than a quarter mile long mainline of the HMR ran from the end of the Hoboken Shore Road to 1st Street and was opened about 1906. In the same year the HMR leased the railroad operation from the HRRWH&SSConCo for 99 years.{{Cite book|title=Sale of Hoboken shore line to Port of New York authority. :Hearings before the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, Sixty-eighth Congress, first session, on S. 2287 and H.R. 7014.|date=1924-01-01|publisher=Washington|hdl = 2027/umn.31951d03573894g}}
When the United States joined the Allies in World War I in 1917, the government seized all the piers and properties of German transatlantic shipping companies, namely the Hamburg America Line and the North German Lloyd. Furthermore, the Government bought all the shares of the American Warehouse & Trading Company for 2.45 Million dollars on July 1, 1917{{Cite web|url=http://hoboken.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Hoboken+Manufacturers+Railroad|title=Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad|website=hoboken.pastperfectonline.com|publisher=Hoboken Historical Museum|access-date=2016-12-03}} and therefore gained control over the HMR. After the war, in 1924, discussions were held about selling the railroad to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but it didn't have sufficient funds for the purchase. Therefore, it got sold in September 1927 to the Hoboken Railroad & Terminal Company{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_QgAAAAMAAJ|title=The Port of New York, and Ship News|last=Smith|first=Alexander Rogers|publisher=Port of New York publicity Company|year=1926|volume=6|location=New York|pages=31|language=en|quote=Hoboken Railroad Sold. A majority of the stock of the Hoboken Manufacturers' Railroad Company has been transferred to the Hoboken Railroad & Terminal Company. This carries with it the sale by the Manufacturers' Railroad Company of ...|via=Google Books}} owned by the Paul Chapman Company, which sold it in 1932 to Seatrain Lines.{{Cite court|litigants=Interstate Commerce Commission v. Hoboken Manufacturers' Railroad Company|court=USSC|reporter=|vol=320|opinion=368|pinpoint=|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Interstate_Commerce_Commission_v._Hoboken_Manufacturers'_Railroad_Company/Opinion_of_the_Court|quote=In 1932 Seatrain secured control of Hoboken by the acquisition of all of its shares of capital stock ...}}
= Hoboken Shore Railroad =
After the death of Paul Chapman in 1954, the Hoboken Shore Railroad was created. Its 4000 shares were all owned by the HRRWH&SSConCo, which was owned by Webb and Knapp, but was up for sale.{{Cite book|url=http://ponyrr.blogspot.co.za/2012/11/for-sale-one-point-six-eight-mile-long.html|title=Hoboken Shore Railroad|publisher=Webb & Knapp|year=1954|type=Sales brochure}} Traffic declined when industry and shipping in Hoboken closed or moved to other places. The railroad operated till 1977 and was officially abandoned in 1978.
Road Description
The Hoboken Shore Road was built by Hoboken Railroad Warehouse and Steamship Connecting Company and operated a 1.411 mile long main line, which started from the Erie yard in Weehawken and ran along the shore. The northern end point was at 18th Street & Park Avenue, and the southern end point was at 5th Street & River Street. From the main line, sidings branched off to serve local industry. At 11th Street, a car float transfer bridge was operated, which connected the railroad to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The total network had a length of 7.068 miles.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KcFAAAAIAAJ|title=ICC Reports: Decisions of the ICC of the United States. Valuation reports|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1938}}
The Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad operated only 0.221 mile of main line and was therefore called the shortest railroad in the US. It connected at 5th Street & River Street to the Hoboken Shore Road and continued South to 1st Street. In addition, it owned about 1.375 miles of yard tracks.
Operation
Shortly after opening to traffic on January 6, 1898, the railroad electrified.{{cite journal |date=1898-01-14 |title=New Electric Freight Locomotive |journal=The Railroad Gazette |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=25 }} The contact wire was installed at a height of {{convert|22|ft}} in order to allow the brakemen to circulate on the roofs of the freight cars during switching.
By 1911 the railroad had four electric locomotives in operation, and switched between 100 and 150 cars daily.{{cite book|year=1911 |title=Electric Traction for Railway Trains |url=https://archive.org/details/electrictraction00burc |pages=[https://archive.org/details/electrictraction00burc/page/310 310]–311 |access-date=2016-11-27 }} Electric operation was ceased in the 1930s when the GE boxcab diesel locomotives arrived.{{cite web|title=General Electric/Ingersoll-Rand Oil-Electric Box Cab Diesel Locomotive Roaser|url=https://www.cnwhs.org/ageir/ge_roster.html|access-date=2016-11-27 }}
1938 brought an Alco HH660 series locomotive and 1947 two GE 44 ton switchers.
After World War II traffic declined. By 1954 the railroad had 38 employees and owned 2 shunting locomotives.
Roster
= Hoboken Shore Road =
== Electric Locomotives ==
class="wikitable sortable"
!Road Number !Delivery !Manufacturer !Weight tons !Power hp !Drawbar pull !Description !Bild |
1
|1898 |GE |28.5 |540 |{{convert|10000|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} at {{convert|8|mph|abbr=on}} |electric steeplecab locomotive with McGuire trucks |
2
|1900 |GE | | | |
3
|1906 |64 |400 |{{convert|15000|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} at {{convert|6|mph|abbr=on}} |Baldwin trucks |
4
|1911 |GE |80 | | |Alco trucks | |
== Snow Sweeper ==
class="wikitable sortable"
!Road Number !Delivery !Manufacturer !Description !Bild |
|ca. 1898
Similar vehicle of the Joliet Railway Company |
= Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad =
class="wikitable sortable"
!Road Number !Delivery !Manufacturer !Weight (tons) !Power !Drawbar pull !Builders # !Description !Bild |
500
|1928 |GE |70 |300 | |10704 |first GE boxcab diesel locomotive |
600
|1928 |GE |108 |600 | |10705 |first GE boxcab diesel locomotive |
601
|1938 |Alco | |660 | |69086 |
700
|1947 |GE |44 |380 |26,400 lbf | |two Caterpillar engines |
701
|1947 |GE |44 |380 |26,400 lbf | |two Caterpillar engines |
= Hoboken Shore Railroad =
Hoboken Shore Railroad continued to use the 44-ton switchers and also purchased an observation car.
See also
Further reading
{{commons category}}
- {{cite book|url=http://ponyrr.blogspot.co.za/p/blog-page.html|title=Hoboken Shore Railroad (Sales Brochure)|publisher=Webb and Knapp (real estate development)|year=1954|location=New York}}
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoboken Shore Railroad}}
Category:Defunct New Jersey railroads