The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. | Page 3

Yard was made, under contract dated
July 21st, 1906, with Henry Steers, Incorporated, of New York City, of
cellar earth from New York City, and with rock and earth excavated
from the Pennsylvania Station and cross-town tunnels. It was necessary
to construct 1,000 ft. of stone and crib bulkhead along the bank of the
Passaic River. The plan of the yard was prepared by a committee of
operating, electrical, and engineering officers, consisting of Mr. F. L.
Sheppard, General Superintendent, New Jersey Division, Pennsylvania
Railroad Company; George Gibbs, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Chief Engineer,
Electric Traction and Terminal Station Construction, Pennsylvania
Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company; Mr. J. A. McCrea, General
Superintendent, Long Island Railroad Company; Mr. C. S. Krick,
Superintendent, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company;
Mr. A. M. Parker, then Principal Assistant Engineer, New Jersey
Division, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, now Superintendent,
Hudson Division; and approved by Mr. A. C. Shand, Chief Engineer,
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Chief Engineer, Meadows
Division, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.--Plan of Harrison Yard]
Meadows Division, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad.--The
two main tracks ascending through the Harrison Yard continue on an
embankment to a point 500 ft. west of the west abutment of the bridge
over the New York Division tracks, which is the point of beginning of
the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad. From this point the
line extends in a general northeasterly direction, crossing the
Hackensack River, skirting the base of Snake Hill, and thence to the
approach cut to Bergen Hill Tunnels. The embankment varies in height
from 25 to 30 ft. above the surface of the meadows.

In this Division the following bridges were necessary:
Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Division, Passenger and Newark
Freight Tracks;
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Morris and Essex
Division;
Newark and Jersey City Turnpike;
Public Service Corporation Right of Way;
Erie Railroad, Newark and Paterson Branch;
Belleville Road, and Jersey City Water Company's Pipe Line;
Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie Railroad), Arlington Branch;
Hackensack River;
Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie Railroad), Reconstructed Line;
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Boonton Branch;
Erie Railroad, Passenger Tracks;
Bridge of 11 spans over proposed yard tracks, Erie Railroad;
County Road;
Secaucus Road;
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad;
Northern Railroad of New Jersey.
The alignment for this distance consists of 3.57 miles of tangent and
three curves, two of which are 0° 30' each, one of the latter being at the
western end of the Division, and the other adjoining Snake Hill; the

third is a regular curve of 1° 54' on the east-bound track, and a
compound curve with a maximum of 2° on the west-bound track, the
variation being due to the track spacing of 37 ft. from center to center
in the Bergen Hill Tunnels, while on the Meadows Division it is 13 ft.
from center to center.
The profile was adopted to give 18 ft. of clearance from the under side
of the bridges to the top of the rail of the Erie Railroad branches, 21 ft.
to the top of the rail of its main line, 19 ft. to the top of the rail of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and a clearance of 24 ft.
above high water in the Hackensack River. With the exception of that
portion of the line adjoining the Bergen Hill Tunnels, where it was
necessary to continue the 1.3% grade up to the bridge over the Northern
Railroad of New Jersey, and the east-bound ascending grade of 0.5%
from the Harrison platforms to the bridge over the New York Division
tracks, the grades do not exceed 0.3 per cent.
When the construction of the embankment was commenced, it was
expected that there would be considerable trouble by settlement due to
the displacement of the soft material underlying the surface of the
meadows to a depth of from 10 to 15 ft.; but, with the exception of the
trouble the contractors had in maintaining their temporary trestles, the
embankment as completed has settled very little. The section east of the
Hackensack River was made, in great part, of rock excavated from a
borrow-pit in the Town of Secaucus, north of the eastern end of the
Division. The embankment was built under two contracts, one for the
work east of the crossing of the Boonton Branch of the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad, under contract dated January 15th,
1907, with H. S. Kerbaugh, Incorporated, the material being taken from
the borrow-pit in narrow-gauge cars and dumped from a strong pile
trestle along the total length of the section, the same being completed in
19 months; the other for the embankment west of the Boonton Branch,
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, under contract dated
April 10th, 1906, with Henry Steers, Incorporated, of New York City,
the material, consisting