BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Newark Subway trivia.......

When the line opened in May, 1935, it only ran between Broad Street (today's "Military Park") and Heller Parkway.

In 1937, the Subway was extended one stop from Broad Street to Penn Station (opened in 1935), where direct connections could be made the the PRR, the LV, and the H&M tubes.

In 1940, the line was extended one stop from Heller Parkway to Franklin Ave; a loop was built here in 1953 in anticipation of the arrival of the ex-TCRT PCCS, which were, of course, single-ended.

The very last of the elderly PSNJ streetcars were retired in January, 1954 (the very last of the connecting subway-surface lines, the #29, was converted to buses in March of 1952)........

"NYO"

["29 BLOOMFIELD"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

........the old PSNJ streetcars that connected with the City subway were emblazoned with the legend:

"SUBWAY CARS: SAVE TIME & PARKING"

When all of the subway-surface lines were converted to buses by 1952, PS management, at the time, never considered the fact that the buses that replaced the subway-surface cars could NOT operate into downtown Newark via the Subway, as the streetcars did.

The streetcars utilized private ROW prior to entering the downtown area, enabling them to quickly travel into the downtown business district, without encountering motor vehicles or traffic lights, which, of course, the buses could SOT avoid.

Ironically, the Subway was built to "speed up travel time between downtown Newark and the suburbs."

Not a one of the connecting surface lines remained in service for even two decades........truly ironic.....and sad........

'NYO"

["21 ORANGE"]

[Cyberider]

Sounds like the private ROW saved the City Subway even without the connecting lines. Now, if they only wouldn't have ditched the PCC's for those ugly monstrosities.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Palisades Junction, 1937.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116271

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

I have lived only a 10 minute walk from the location of this photo for 50 years; this junction was at one time the busiest on the "BERGEN" Division.

Here, you are looking due west.

The PS bus on the left has just started its run at the busy 125th Street Ferry terminal, a 5-minute ride to the east (note the sign for the ferry in the rear window of the bus; PS operated this ferry until 1943)

The street where the bus is heading west is now a one-way, heading east; the lower area off to the right was filled in and raised in later years, and is now a one-way, heading west.

The 3200-series car is on the always-busy "HUDSON RIVER" line, which ran between the Ferry and Paterson.

The tracks curving towards the right were used by the "FORT LEE", "COYTESVILLE", "HACKENSACK", and "ENGLEWOOD" car lines.

The tracks off to the right were used by the cars of the inter-divisional "PALISADE" line, running from the West Shore Ferry terminal in Weehawken to the Junction.

Today, only NJT's #751 bus calls here every few hours, six days a week; all other routes were either re-routed/cut back, over the years.

The area where the "HUDSON RIVER" line tracks were located are now dominated by tall pines; interestingly, the power poles seen along the alignment seem much the same today.

The last "BERGEN" Division cars ran in late 1938; interestingly, ASV's never operated on the "BERGEN" Division, the ONLY PS division not to have car lines converted to ASV.

So busy was this location that PS built a power station (out of the photo to the left) which is still used by PSE&G today, looking much the same as when the trolleys last ran, nearly 90 years ago......

"NYO"

["HUDSON RIVER"]

[Cyberider]

Sounds like you're a rock of stability, NYO. Too bad all the rail transit action wasn't!

I've lived in two different locations in Tempe for the last 60 years, minus the year in LA. There was a lot of action on the SP main line through town when we first moved here in 1964, both passenger and freight. Now there are no passenger trains and most of the freights are just auto carriers. Our first location here was right on that line so there was plenty of train-watching to be done. My father was a train fan, too. That's probably where I got it from.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Today, New Jersey, rail commuter operations are but a mere skeleton of what they were in the 1960s; many busy terminals and junctions were eliminated, as well as numerous lines, which either became all-freight, or were abandoned altogether (1966 was a particularly devastating year for the State's commuter rail lines)

Bus routes, also, are but a shadow of what they were in the 1960s, with all the old suburban (and local) companies now long gone.

Regarding Palisades Juntion, ACADEMY/NJT's #22 buses laid over at this location until 2005, when the line was cut back to a location a mile south.

Ditto buses of the #21/#181, which now no longer serves the Junction.

So much has vanished, never to return...........

"NYO"

["B1-EDGEWATER"]

[Cyberider]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider.........

Many years ago, when I was still working, one of my work pals made a comment: "when your number's up, your number's up."

I replied with:

"Well, it's a good thing then that I have an UNLISTED number!"

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here are two 1930s views of the wye at Palisades Junction; the wye was installed in the late 1920s, when PS began converting a number of cars to single-ended configuration.

Note the electrical gear for the power station (which is still used by PSE&G today)

Last "PALISADE" line cars ran in September of 1938; thus marked the end of the trolley era in Bergen County (cars of this line were based out of the WEST NEW YORK carhouse (HUDSON Division), which is still standing today, and used by the local DPW, and looking much as it did during the trolley era)............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116263

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116270

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["3260"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

These two photos depict the famed and spectacular "Horseshoe Curve" (originally a switchback) that PS streetcars used to reach the top of the Palisades from the 125th Street Ferry terminal in Edgewater.

At night, the big "Golden Glow" headlights of the cars would slice right across the busy Hudson River, and illuminate the apartment buildings on Riverside Drive in posh upper Manhattan!

This serpentine ROW still exists today (minus tracks and line poles) but totally covered with nearly 90 years of underbrush and trees, as well as tons of construction debris dumped there during the 1970s, as new high-rise condos were being built atop the Palisades............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116268

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116265

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["SAVE STEPS-RIDE WITH US"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. Way better looking than I imagine it does today.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Glad you enjoyed the pics!

The former ROW of the "PALISADE" line (which combined both private ROW and street running) is very easy to discern today, running through my town, as it is used for both car parking and also as a minor thoroughfare (north/south)

It is officially known as "Commercial Avenue", but, for many years, older residents referred to it as "the Car Line".

There had been a large steel trestle that carried the cars above the intersection at Gorge Aoad and Palisade Avenue, but remained idle from late 1938 until WW2, and it was taken down for the scrap metal drive.

The area has been totally rebuilt, and is now totally unrecognizable to the way it appeared when the cars were still crossing the trestle.

Both deck roof and Compromise-roof cars served the "PALISADE" line until September, 1938............

"NYO"

["PALISADE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This rare photo from 1960 shows a 4509 loading passengers in Newark, operating on a special replacement run for the City Subway (note hand-lettered sign taped to the destination sign's glass)

The Subway's overpass spanning the electrified Erie-Lackawanna tracks at Orange Street was replaced over the weekend that this special replacement bus route operated............

"NYO"

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154501

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["PUBLIC SERVICE COORDINATED TRANSPORT"]

[Cyberider]

Great photo, NYO. As worthy a replacement for the PCC's as possible. I'd rather ride that bus than the LRV's they have running on the subway now. Nice sign on the bus!