Sunday, December 5, 2021

Weehawken, NJ: NYC West Shore Ferry Terminal

(Satellite)

NYC had a tunnel west of this terminal that connected it to the rest of the railroad.

Bob Chaparro posted
New Jersey Railroad Terminal, Circa 1940s
A photo from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
New York City across the river.
Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA
Ronald Amberger: This is Weehawken NJ terminal of New York Central/NY Ontario and Western. Freight car floats and passenger ferries to Manhattan.

Jack Bobby Lou Mulreavy posted three photos with the comment: "Found 3 KILLER photos by Anthony Zinskie showing action around Manhattan- a LIRR tug carrying two carfloats up the East River, Penn Central (ex-NYC and ex-PRR) barges and a view of the NYC/West Shore ferry terminal in Weehawken NJ" [Note that I changed the order so that the ferry terminal would be at the top.]
3

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Ken Myles: Notice those two Co-Ed coal fired power plants on the East River… many coal barges were needed to keep them going…

2
Dennis DeBruler commented on Jack's post
The ferry terminal land now has a dog park.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jack's post
This is the map that I used to locate the terminal.
1935 Weehawken Quadrangle @ 1:24,000
Dennis DeBruler commented on Jack's post
While researching the tunnel through the Palisades between the NYC railyard and their waterfront facilities, I found this web page about the ferry service:
This photo, which shows the coach yard behind the terminal, is one of a few interesting photos on that page.
ttt
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Charles A. Warren posted
June 29, 1958, was the last day of passenger train service on the New York Central RR West Shore Line between Weehawken and Albany. Commuter service between Haverstraw and Weehawken continued until Dec 10, 1959. The very last train (#993) left Weehawken at 11:44pm for West Haverstraw arriving there at 12:59am (Dec 11).
Chris Adams: If the NY Central's commuter service had been subsidized, this terminal would have been a godsend today.
Lawrence Laskowski: There were two ferry routes to Weehawken, one from west 42nd street and a second to downtown at Cortlandt street. That one was a long ride. PRR boats used this slip as well.

Keith W. Heard shared

A different exposure.
American-Rails.com posted on Aug 2, 2022
A bird's eye view of New York Central's Weehawken Terminal in Weehawken, New Jersey, circa 1955.  The Manhattan skyline can be seen in the background. The waterfront terminal served the NYC's West Shore Division and also handled Ontario & Western trains until 1953.  The station closed to all passenger/commuter service in 1959.  Meyer Pearlman photo.  American-Rails.com collection.
Jack Norris: The government wouldn't let them discontinue commuter service. The answer was to keep the trains but kill the ferries, the real only connection to NY. Ridership immediately went from a couple thousand commuters a day to a couple hundred. With those numbers the passenger trains were allowed to be discontinued. There are always loopholes.
John Barth: This looks more like 1959 after the ferries were discontinued in March 1959 since that is only a 2 car train leaving the terminal. With no ferry connection and subsequently no passengers, commuter service ended on Dec 10, 1959.
Walt Lankenau: After the station burned and was torn down, most of the platform tracks remained. Penn Central converted them into a circus loading piggyback terminal for midwestern beef. Lots of trailers from GN, NP, Burlington, C&NW and Milwaukee Road.

Bernie Anderson commented on Charles' post
John Landry: Albany Union Station had two swing bridges crossing the Hudson. Only the North one exists today. Trains came in and could loop back out. Rensselear was the yard that serviced everything. D&H trains from Binghamton and trains from the West Shore came up from the south. The D&H track still exists in the middle of the interstate.
Ernie Mann: Bernie Anderson The first Albany-Rensselaer station was opened by Penn Central on Dec. 29 1968 at 11:00 PM. Amtrak built the second one around 1984. The current one is very nice and was built by the Capital District Transit Authority in 2002. The old Albany Union Station still stands on Broadway (no embankment, no tracks, no bridge leading into it). A banking outfit owns it now.
Bob Cooley: There was a single-track ramp built I believe right after the E-L merger that allowed for a train heading south on the West Shore (just south of Weehawken Terminal) to climb up and enter Hoboken Terminal. A subsidized West Shore passenger service could have abandoned Weehawken and consolidated everything at Hoboken. Ah, well.
Ralph Puccini: I don't realize 1958 was such a devastating year across the board for NYC passenger service.
Richard Carey: Thanks to the ICC and other out of touch Regulatory Agencies, Commuter Rail Fares were still pretty much frozen at 1918 levels in the Late 1950s. That and the GW Bridge caused Passenger Service to collapse on the Central's West Shore, and lead to abandonment of the service, single tracking of the line (I remember that line being 4 TRACKS to Dumont, NJ!) and Freight Service only, which the line thrives with today.
Ronald Amberger: At the time of this photo, ferry service was already abandoned. That is why that train is only two coaches (one smoking and one non-smoking).
Richard Conrad: NYO&W passenger service ended from here in 1953.
Comments on Charles post

Charles commented on his post
For O&W fans

 I think this is a better exposure of a photo above.
Charles commented on his post
Steam Days, 1949
George Sucich: Charles A. Warren Good old Pier 7

Charlie Smith commented on Keith's share
I thought I'd throw this in here. Not sure who the photographer is so can't credit.
Jim Valle: Charlie Smith A ship of the Italian Line in the background is either entering or leaving her berth. Black hull leads me to believe it is the Andrea Doria.
Charlie Smith: Wow, I really didn't take notice of that. It sure looks like Andrea Doria. Just a few years before her fatal collision with the Stockholm.
Keith W. Heard: And a southbound tanker that’s seriously down by the stern.

Comments concerning Charlie's photo

Jeffs4653 Flickr via Pinterest via Facebook

NY Ontario & Western Terminal Weehawken NJ

Weehawken yard for the New York Ontario & Western and West Shore railroads. On this site today is the Port Imperial Ferry Terminal. Photo date 1956. The NYO&W will cease operation and liquidate within a year.



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