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AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

INSTITUTED 1852


TRANSACTIONS

Paper No. 1153


THE NEW YORK TUNNEL EXTENSION OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.

MEADOWS DIVISION AND HARRISON TRANSFER
YARD.[A]

BY E. B. TEMPLE, M. AM. SOC. C. E.



The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad diverges from
the New York Division in the Town of Harrison, N. J., and, ascending on
a 0.5% grade, crosses over the tracks of the New York Division and the
main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Thence it
continues, with light undulating grades, across the Hackensack Meadows
to a point just east of the Northern Railroad of New Jersey and the New
York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, where it descends to the tunnels
under Bergen Hill and the North River. (Plate XVI.)

[Illustration: PLATE XVI.--Plan and Profile of the Pennsylvania Tunnel &
Terminal R. R., from Harrison, N. J., to the Hudson River]

That portion of the line lying west of the portals of the Bergen Hill
Tunnels has been divided into two sections: First, the most westerly,
known as the Harrison Transfer Station and Yard (Plate XVII), which is
located on the southern side of the New York Division, Pennsylvania
Railroad, and extends from the connection with the New York Division
tracks at grade up to the point of crossing the same, where the
Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad has its beginning; second, the
Meadows Division of the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad, which
is a double-track railroad, 5.08 miles long, extending from a point just
west of the bridge over the New York Division to a point 300 ft. west of
the western portals of the Bergen Hill Tunnels.

_Harrison Transfer Station and Yard._--The necessities for the Harrison
improvements are two-fold: First, as a place to change motive power from
steam to electric, and _vice versa_; second, as a transfer for
passengers from trains destined to the new Station at Seventh Avenue and
33d Street, New York City, to steam or rapid transit trains destined to
the present Jersey City Station, or to the lower part of New York City
_via_ the Hudson and Manhattan Tunnels, and _vice versa_.

All steam trains from Philadelphia, the South, and the West, from New
Jersey seashore resorts, and local trains on the New York Division bound
for the new Pennsylvania Station, will change their motive power from
steam to electric engines at the Harrison Transfer Station. Likewise,
all trains from the Tunnel Line will change from electric to steam
motive power there, and passengers coming from Jersey City and the
southern section of New York City can take through trains at the
Harrison Transfer platforms. It is estimated that the time required to
make this change of motive power, or to transfer passengers, will not
exceed 3-1/2 min.

The plan at Harrison provides at present for two platforms, each 1,100
ft. long and 28 ft. wide, and having ample shelters and waiting rooms,
connected by a 12-ft. tunnel under the tracks, provision being made for
two additional platforms when necessity requires their construction. The
platforms are supported on walls of reinforced concrete, with an
overhang to provide a refuge for employees from passing trains. The
concrete walls are supported on wooden piles, prevented from spreading
by 7/8-in. tie-rods at 10-ft. intervals, and embedded in concrete under
the paving of the platform. As the elevation of the top of the platform
is +21.83, and the top of the piles is +14.54 above mean tide, the piles
will, of course, decay; but, as the embankment has been completed for
some time and is well packed and settled, the concrete being deposited
directly on the embankment, very little trouble from settlement is
anticipated when the piles decay. The surface of the platforms, with the
exception of the edges, is to be of brick, on a concrete base; and, if
settlement occurs, the bricks can be taken up and re-surfaced. The tops
of the platforms are 3 ft. 10 in. above the top of the rail and on a
level with the floors of the cars, so that passengers may enter or leave
trains without using steps, as all cars which will enter the
Pennsylvania Station, New York City, are to be provided with vestibules
having trap-doors in the floor to give access to either high or low
platforms. Details of the platforms are shown on Plates XVIII and XIX.

As planned at present, there will be four main running tracks, one
adjacent to each side of the two platforms, providing standing room for
four of the longest trains, two in each direction, or double the number
of trains of ordinary length, so that passengers having to transfer from
a train destined to the Pennsylvania Station at 33d Street to a train
destined for the Jersey City Station or the Hudson and Manhattan Tunnels
will merely cross the platform. Between the two interior main tracks are
two shifting tracks, so that between the platforms there will be two
passenger tracks on which trains will stop to change motive power and
transfer passengers, and two shifting tracks for rapid despatching of
the empty engines and motors, each of the four tracks being 15 ft. from
center to center to allow for uncoupling and inspection of cars.

An efficient system of connections and cross-overs is provided for all
tracks, and there is ample storage capacity for 10 steam engines at the
western end of the platforms and 20 electric motors at the eastern end,
both of which are conveniently located for quick movement, with
provision for additional storage tracks, if required. Steam engines,
upon being disconnected, can be quickly sent to the main engine storage
yard, and by the use of a loop track no turntable is required. The main
engine storage yard is located south of the running tracks adjoining the
bulkhead along the Passaic River, where provision is made for the
storage of 20 engines. There are two 50,000-gal. water tanks, an
ash-pit, inspection-pit, work-pit, sand-hopper, and the necessary
buildings. Water is brought from the city water main in the Meadows
Yard, on the New York Division, about 8,200 ft. eastward from the center
of this yard.

It was at first planned to locate a power-house and car and engine
repair shops in the yard, but as the ultimate extent of the
electrification of the New York Division cannot now be determined, the
facilities in the large power-house in Long Island City, and in the shop
and round-house in the Meadows Yard of the New York Division, were
increased to provide for the power and repairs necessary for the next
few years. In order to reach the Meadows shops and round-house without
interfering with the present passenger and freight tracks, it was
necessary to build track connections with the Meadows Yard. Twelve
stalls of the existing round-house were extended to accommodate the
motive power; a large transfer table and pit were increased in size, and
an additional ash-pit and engine storage tracks were constructed.

Any extensive repairs to the electric engines will be made for the
present in the Jamaica Shops, Long Island; and the large shops at
Trenton, on the New York Division, as well as the Meadows Shops, will be
available for repairs to the steam locomotives. There is ample room at
Harrison, and plans have been prepared providing for storage and light
repair of cars, locomotives, electric motors, and rapid transit trains,
if the future demands require such construction at this place.

The rapid transit line will extend from Park Place, Newark, to Harrison,
and thence over the present line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which
will be electrified, to a junction with the Hudson and Manhattan
Railroad Company's tunnel tracks at Prior Street, Jersey City. It will
be constructed and owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. A joint
and frequent through service will be conducted by both companies between
Park Place, Newark, and the terminal of the Hudson and Manhattan
Railroad, in New York City, by the use of multiple-unit trains similar
to those now being operated in the Hudson and Manhattan tunnels. These
trains will pick up and discharge Pennsylvania Railroad passengers at
the Harrison Transfer Station, so that all passengers bound for lower
New York City, who desire to use the tunnel service, will make the
change at Harrison instead of at Jersey City as at present. Provision is
made for two additional platforms, each 1,100 ft. long, to accommodate
the rapid transit trains when the present platforms prove inadequate.
The existing passenger tracks between the Harrison Transfer Yard and
Summit Avenue, Jersey City, where a new local passenger station will be
constructed, will be used jointly by steam and electric trains.

The embankment for the Harrison 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 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 operated from the shore, deposited in
standard-gauge dump-cars, and transported by locomotives at one time
used on the elevated railroads in New York City. No excavation whatever
was required on the Meadows Division or in the Harrison Yard.

[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.--Details of Shelters and Platforms, Harrison
Transfer Station.]

[Illustration: PLATE XIX.--Details of Shelters and Platforms, Harrison
Transfer Station.]

The substructures for all the bridges, except the Hackensack River
Draw-bridge, are of concrete, without reinforcement, heavy enough to
withstand the ordinary earth pressure for the exposed height. With the
exception of three bridges, foundations were built on clay and sand;
these three, on account of excessive depth of soft material, were built
on piles. In some cases loose stone was deposited back of the
foundations for a width of 10 or 12 ft. after the mud had been removed.
This precaution has prevented trouble due to the thrust of the high
embankments on the saturated material. Masonry for all these bridges was
constructed under contract dated August 21st, 1905, with McMullen and
McDermott, of New York City. The superstructure consisted principally of
half-through girders, floor of I-beams, filled solid with concrete, on
top of which were placed five layers of Hydrex felt, and water-proofing
compound, protected by a layer of sand and grouted brick from the stone
ballast.

The bridges over the New York Division passenger and Newark freight
tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the main-line tracks of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, at the west end of the
Meadows Division, are separated by 300 ft. of embankment. The skew angle
is 9°, the total length of each bridge being about 450 ft. The floors
consist of I-beams embedded in concrete.

The Hackensack River Draw-bridge consists of six spans of deck plate
girders, each 110 ft. long, and a draw-span 300 ft. long, operated by
two 70-h.p. electric motors. The masonry was constructed under contract
dated August 25th, 1905, with the Drake and Stratton Company, of
Philadelphia; and the steelwork was furnished and erected by the
Pennsylvania Steel Company, of Steelton, Pa. An important and
interesting feature of the draw-bridge is the lift rail, and new
rail-locking device. Mitered rails are used, with sufficient opening
between the ends to prevent binding at times of expansion. It was deemed
advisable that the mitered joint should occur on the abutment, or fixed
span, instead of at the opening at the end of the draw. The lift rail,
therefore, was a necessity; and the design, as shown on Plate XX, was
perfected. It consists of lift-rails, 8 ft. 4 in. long, moving
vertically 8 in. at the free end, reinforced on both sides by sliding
steel castings, which are lifted with the rail; when the latter is
dropped in place, the wedges on the castings engage at the abutment and
heel joints and at one intermediate point in dove-tailed wedge seats,
insuring tight contact with the rail, and absolute fastening to the deck
of the bridge. The objection to the ordinary lift-rail, which in
lowering must make its own joint by seating in tight boxes, has been
that any slight deviation from a true line would prevent the rail from
seating itself properly. This objection has been entirely overcome in
this design, by allowing liberal clearance on all seats, and securing
rigidity by the sliding bars and wedges which are connected with the
inter-locking system, so that it is impossible for a clear signal to be
given unless the lift-rails and wedges are in their proper positions.
This device has been operated successfully on the New York and Long
Branch Railroad bridge over Raritan Bay for the last 18 months.

Each of the two main tracks on the Meadows Division, and all the main
tracks in the Harrison Transfer Yard, are of standard construction, with
Pennsylvania Section, 1909, 100-lb., open-hearth steel rails, and stone
ballast. Every fifth tie is made 9 ft. 5 in. long, to carry the third
rail for the electric current, and all joints of the running rails are
bonded for the same purpose. Track-laying on the Meadows, and in
Harrison Transfer Yard, has been done under contract dated April 26th,
1909, with Henry Steers, Incorporated, of New York City.

Samuel Rea, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Second Vice-President, Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, is the executive officer under whose direction the
work has been carried on. Mr. William H. Brown, Chief Engineer,
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Chief Engineer of the Meadows
Division, also a Member of the Board of Consulting Engineers for the
tunnel extension, until his retirement by age limit on February 28th,
1906, located and started the construction of the line from Harrison to
the western portals of the Bergen Hill Tunnels, which latter point was
the westernmost limit of authority of the Board of Consulting Engineers.
Mr. A. C. Shand succeeded Mr. Brown as Chief Engineer of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and as Chief Engineer of the Meadows
Division, with the writer, who was Assistant Chief Engineer of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and had been closely associated with Mr.
Brown at the time of the location of the line and its earlier period of
construction. H. E. Leonard, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Engineer of Bridges and
Buildings, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, designed the Hackensack River
Bridge, the superstructures of the other bridges, and the rail-locking
device on the Hackensack River Draw-bridge. The surveys and construction
of the Meadows Division and of the Harrison Transfer Yard have been in
charge of Mr. William C. Bowles, Engineer of Construction.

[Illustration: PLATE XX, FIG. 1.--LIFT RAIL AND LOCKING DEVICE, DRAW
PARTLY OPEN.]

[Illustration: PLATE XX, FIG. 2.--LIFT RAIL AND LOCKING DEVICE, DRAW
CLOSED.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: Presented at the meeting of June 1st, 1910.]