2010.007

Lukacs, Claire

Gift

Museum Collections. Gift of a friend of the Museum.

1957 - 1957

Date(s) Created: 1957 Date(s): 1957

Good

Notes: Transciptions of two articles Transcription of article on page 4 of The Lackawanna, March 1957, Volume 3, No. 12.; 2010.007.0206 81 Years Ago This Month - A NEW RAILROAD IN 24 HOURS This is the story of one of the most prodigious, yet unheralded, engineering achievements in the history of the Lackawanna Railroad. As a matter of fact, it could well be that there is no parallel in American railroading. It had its beginnings in the early years of the Ligett's Gap Railroad and its culmination on a Sunday, March 15, 1876. When the Ligett's Gap was being pushed over the mountains westward from Scranton, the goal was to link up with the Erie Railroad at Great Bend, and then on to a connection with the Cayuga and Susquehanna. Both the Erie and the C&S were built on a six-foot gauge. And at the time, this was considered the most practical rail span. The railroad was a coal-carrier and to a large extent any other freight business was incidental. George Scranton, the Ligett's Gap builder, had his eye on the coal markets of Western New York, by way of the Erie and the Cayuga and Susquehanna. To the Southeast from Scranton the plan included the Cobb's Gap Railroad over the Poconos and to the Eastern Seaboard where there also was a great market for coal and iron, particularly the former. The first train on the Ligett's Gap operated on October 15, 1851. In the meantime, however, work was progressing on the Cobb's Gap Railroad, to be known later as the Southern Division. This was opened for business from Scranton to the Delaware River on May 27, 1856. This line also was laid in the six-foot gauge. The railroad, which by now was known as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, was still a long way from the markets of the eastern seaboard. Therefore, in 1854 during the construction of the Southern Division, the Board of Managers of the Lackawanna negotiated a contract with the Central Railroad of New Jersey to haul coal and other freight, to Elizabethport on New York Harbor. The gap of 18 miles between the Delaware River and New Hampton was covered by the Warren Railroad, built by John Blair for that purpose. It was opened just two weeks after the completion of the Lackawanna's Southern Division, and four months later it was leased to the Lackawanna. It too was built on the six-foot gauge. In order to accommodate the Lackawanna's broad gauge cars, a third rail was laid down on the Central Railroad of New Jersey's tracks from New Hampton to Elizabethport. Coal and other freight was soon moving to the Atlantic seaboard. By 1860 the Morris and Essex Railroad had reached Easton, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River, from Newark, New Jersey. This railroad likewise eyed the Lackawanna's big coal traffic, but the M&E had a gauge of 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches. By 1867 the road had overstepped itself financially when building from Newark into Hoboken. As a result, the Lackawanna had an opportunity to step in and lease the road, which it did in 1869, and therefore had its own route to the Atlantic. The Lackawanna immediately started a rehabilitation program on the Morris and Essex, which included laying down a new main line from Denville through Paterson and Passaic, through a new tunnel in the Bergen Hills. A third track again was laid down to accommodate the Lackawanna's broad gauge cars. By this time Samuel Sloan had become president of the Lackawanna and it was during his administration that the line was extended to Buffalo. The Lackawanna now was a linehaul carrier in almost every sense. Its broad gauge freight cars, however, were not interchangeable with other railroads. To achieve this, the Lackawanna would have to shift from a six-foot gauge to the standard 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches in use by other railroads. The change was not as simple as it sounded. Hundreds of freight cars and passenger coaches had to be equipped with new axles, and scores of locomotives had to be made over. The total cost of the alterations to the equipment and tracks was more than a million and a quarter dollars. But as big a job as the re-equipping of the cars and locomotives was, the biggest job was yet to come . . . the shifting of the track. It had to be done in one fell swoop as a practical matter. It would take an army of track workers to perform the job with almost split-second timing. For months, construction crews were busy laying a third rail 1 foot, 3-1/2 inches inside the right-hand rail of the old track, working westward. On the prearranged Sunday, March 15, 1876, crews stood by at every location with prefabricated switches to complete the changeover. All operations were halted for 24 hours, the switches were set in place, spiked down and the trains were started again. On the second day, every train was on time. The results were evident almost immediately. Lackawanna stock, which had been selling at 30 jumped to 94. Coal and general freight shipments increased steadily up to 160 per cent during the next 14 years. The Lackawanna's freight and passenger service-all steel and standard gauge-had the rest of the nation at its doorstep. [end] ----------- Transcription of article on pages 5-7 of The Lackawanna, March 1957, Volume 3, No. 12.; 2010.007.0206 March 25 Set As Date For Step 2 Of Lackawanna-Erie [caption for photo top page 5: Diesel locomotives of the Erie are serviced at Hoboken by Lackawanna men, such as Walter Romejko, an electrician, who has been with the D. L. & W. for 30 years.] COORDINATION AT HOBOKEN On March 25 the Lackawanna and Erie Railroads will place in effect Step 2 of the plan for the coordination of passenger services at Hoboken. Step 2, which marks the completion of almost two years of studies and planning by the two railroads, involves the movement of virtually all of the Erie Railroad's rush-hour commuter service into the Lackawanna Terminal at Hoboken. Trains from the Erie Northern Branch and the Susquehanna Railroad, however, will continue to operate into Jersey City. Step 1, which involved the bringing of Erie non-rush- hour and through line trains into the Hoboken station, was placed into effect October 13, 1956. Plans and studies for the coordination were undertaken by a joint committee of Lackawanna and Erie representatives, who shared office space in the Hoboken Terminal. The program was broken down into a number of projects, and each of the various projects, which have now led to complete coordination, consists of many items. Project 1 was the mainline and Greenwood Lake Branch physical connections between the Erie and the Lackawanna just east of Secaucus, where trains of the Erie come onto Lackawanna tracks. This included signal changes, some additional trackage and enlarging of the West End Tower. Project 2 was the Weehawken Branch connection at Hoboken from Track 3 at Grove Street Tower to the Erie. This included the erection of a bridge across Grove Street and a long fill from the elevated Lackawanna tracks to the ground level Erie rails. In addition, crossovers were installed at the east end of tracks two and three in the station to allow Erie Diesels to cut off and run around their trains. This lessens the number of back-up movements with these suburban trains during the off-hour period. Project 3 was concerned with the expansion of the Railway Express facilities at Hoboken. It included the installation of a canopy over all tracks, new island platforms between tracks, and hydraulic lift bridges over the tracks at each end. In addition the building was further modernized with the installation of an extensive conveyor system. This work is Being done by the Railway Express Agency. Project 4 covered the mail handling facilities at Hoboken, which had to be enlarged and speeded up in order to handle the mail of both railroads. The facility was moved from outside the station to an area in the ferry terminal, which formerly housed a pedestrian waiting room and a truck entrance. Here was installed a modern conveyor system. An additional 100 four-wheeled baggage trucks were purchased along with three electric tractors. Pier 1 was partially [caption for top photo, pg 6: This is one of the new electric trucks and baggage trucks for handling mail at Hoboken. Operator here is Chestrer Cook, mail handler, who has been with Lackawanna for 10 years. ] paved and trackage altered so that cars can be loaded, and the pier was partially covered with a large wooden canopy to allow work to be carried on despite the weather. Project 5 was something of a catchall, which included a number of miscellaneous and unrelated items such as new train destination boards in the terminal, relocation of some offices and lockerrooms, an extensive installation of electric outlets for air conditioning of passenger equipment in the station, steam and air connections throughout the terminal yard, the electrification of three tracks in the Pullman Yard for storage of MU equipment and the installation of additional snow melting units, both electric and steam, at switches. In addition, 5,000 feet of additional running and storage tracks was installed in the vicinity of Day's Yard and the Old Main. A large area west of the Hoboken roundhouse was paved and a private telephone system was installed to aid in the backup of equipment into and out of the terminal. In the ticket offices in Hoboken mechanical ticket printing equipment was installed. Ticket offices at Hoboken and Barclay Street were modernized and altered to provide for the increased business. [caption for bottom left photo, page 6: New track indicator boards installed are among the most modern in any railroad terminal. This is Gateman Walter Wortman, a Lackawanna employe for the past 40 years.] [caption for bottom right photo, page 6: Among innovations in ticket office at Hoboken were new automatic ticket printing machines, like this one. Ticket clerk here is Walter Koglin, with Lackawanna 33 years.] The Commissary department was moved from Hoboken to other quarters in Jersey City; service tracks at the south side of the MU shed were reactivated and an emergency fuel tank was installed west of the MU shed. In addition, a number of track improvements were made in the same area. Project 6 was concerned entirely with the relocation of facilities on the piers. The gantry crane on Pier 1 was dismantled to allow the pier to be used for the handling of mail. Pier 8 was reactivated and a diesel- electric locomotive crane, equipped with special outriggers as a safety feature, was purchased for use there. A diesel mobile crane, mounted on large rubber tired wheels was purchased for use in handling cement containers and other work formerly handled on Pier 1, the facility for which was moved from Pier 1. Several paving jobs were included in this project, along with the widening of clearances under Piers 5 and 6. These are only the highlights of the six projects and do not spell out the vast amount of planning which preceded their being put into operation. At the same time, these projects are only a part of the whole coordination program, which included many other necessary activities before it could become a reality. For example, numerous hearings were held before the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Public Utility Commission of New Jersey. More than 500 Erie train and engine employes had to be qualified to operate on Lackawanna property and there were training classes for others. There have been many meetings with Lackawanna and Erie labor representatives to iron out specific and general problems incident to the coordination. The terminal for the crosstown bus in Manhattan was changed from Chambers Street to Barclay Street, a new milk platform was built west of the MU shed, and the platforms for tracks 11 and 12 were lengthened. Negotiations were undertaken to sell two Erie ferryboats to the Lackawanna, both of which had to be repainted and fitted with 15-foot extensions on each end to operate into Lackawanna ferry slips. Finally all ferries were equipped with ship-to-shore radio telephones. Since October, 1955, a special Operating Department Committee has been working on the schedules and other factors necessary to the smooth coordination of the service. Not the least of these included a special Terminal Timetable, which would make few if any changes in the arrival and departure schedules of trains. Lackawanna I rains were assigned new tracks in the terminal and some local trains were doubled up to split at Harrison, thus saving a terminal track in each instance. Dry runs of Lackawanna equipment are being made so that all crews will be familiar with the operation in advance. In addition operating programs were established for the Terminal, and for yards and towers which will be affected by the coordination. From a practical point of view, the coordination of the services of the two railroads stands to auger well for [text in sign reproduced at top right page 7: WELCOME ERIE R.R. MAY OUR YEARS BE HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS LACKAWANNA R. R. VETERANS ASS'N, INC. caption: Signs like this one have been posted throughout the terminal area by the Lackawanna Veterans Association.] the future. It is estimated that the combined operation will save the two carriers approximately $2 million annually. A large part of Lhis savings comes from improved efficiency and relief from taxes. The net result will be stronger companies financially, which means better jobs. The measure of success with which the complete coordination goes into effect and is operated will depend in no small part upon the cooperation with which every operation is handled. Joint participation by all employes will assure a favorable achievement. [caption for photo bottom right page 7: To handle cement containers and other heavy freight, this big rubber-tired mobile crane was purchased. Operator is Joseph Kearns, a 20-year veteran with the Lackawanna.] [end] Status: OK Status By: dw Status Date: 2010-10-14