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

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 partly of cellar earth, and partly of rock and earth excavated from other sections of the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad, being brought on scows up the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers from New York City. The material was handled expeditiously from the scows by orange-peel buckets