Cranford Questions

From "Triumph V"....

"On Dec 24 1890, an agreement was signed by the city of Elizabeth, the United NJ Railroads, and PRR for elevation of the PRR ROW to eliminate the "dangerous" grade crossings through the city. It involved constructing the fill, the lowering of several city streets and bridging of the Jersey Central main at Broad St. Discussions among the parties continued, however, adn the document was modified several times until agreement was reached on the final configuration on Jan 3, 1893, although work actually began the previous year."

A picutre shows the station work and fill completed by 1895.

CJPat wrote:That represents one heck of a civil engineering project considering all the bridges that replaced most of the grade crossings that had to be constructed also. Can you imagine the coordination problems with trying to run a ground level railroad and keep it moving to generate money at the same time as constructing the miles of elevated berms? I'm curious how they accomplished it. They couldn't have shut down their lines until the elevation project was completed and the elevation couldn't be used unless they finished the whole job or constructed a lengthy trestle to bring the train back to ground level. And because of the heighth, they couldn't construct one "lane" and then come back for the other. Was there an alternate ROW they operated on until complete? Does anyone have any knowledge with how they went about it? Where did the trains run while constructing the elevated ROW?

I don't specifically know exactly how this project was done, buy I can use other near-by changes as possibilities. Often the railroad's right of way or land is wider than the tracks, to allow for future expansion, changes, and slopes. At Elizabeth, the CNJ was already 4 tracks, so it would be more possible to build 2 at a time in the same place, using a temporary side wall until both sides are completed. The Reading did this North of Reading Terminal, Philadelphia. (In some places, the last 2 tracks were completed so much later that the bridges are of 2 different types on either side of their centers!) In Manayunk in 1930, a concrete 2 track elevated with passenger station was built mostly on the same site 1 track at a time, so 1 track was almost always available for two-way operation. The P-RSL elevated their tracks through Abseacon, N.J. partly by easing a curve with new alignment and by building a temporary shoo-fly or bypass at ground level where necessary, partly on ajacent land temporarily aquired. There is evidence of a similar method on the LV at Roselle Park. Was that part of the Aldene Plan?
More complexity is what to do about sidings and branches. Who pays for the alterations to a factory if the new track must go into the 2nd floor because a ramp to ground level is not to be built. (Siding agreements often say that any necessary alterations due to changes in the railroad are the customer's problem.) In some places, like the PRR in South Newark and New Brunswick, N.J. and Chester, Pa., and on the New Haven in Bridgeport, Conn., it seems that the outside tracks (numbers 0 and 5) stayed at ground level with their grade crossings to keep serving the freight customers. In 1950, the Long Island had a fatal passenger train collision at Rockville Center on the temporary track past a grade crossing elimination project. Recent books with photos ("Change at Ozone Park") show how the Long Island did it at Far Rockaway about 1930. Staten Island Rapid Transit was still changing from ground level with grade crossings in the mid 1960s, so more photos and memories are available on the Internet.

Regarding elevation dates, I can be specific for 2 locations.
Dunellen was elevated in 1954 and Garwood was the last elevation project on the mainline which was 1962.

CNJFAN...

There are two CNJ crossings in Garwood, Lincoln Avenue (the short stretch between North and South Avenues is actually part of a north-south state highway that was partially built for all of a few hundred feet under the railroad, but abandoned beyond that when the Parkway was built) and Walnut Street. The Walnut Street crossing is a deep underpass with smooth concrete walls. The design suggests a newer construction date than the Lincoln Avenue Bridge. I am assuming that Walnut Street was the grade crossing that was eliminated in 1962. If so, probably not much track elevation involved - more of a significant undercutting.

Correct Baran.
First of all, I totally forgot about Lincoln ave because I keep thinking it is Cranford there.
And yes Walnut/Center street was the final one in 1962.