Interesting old maps

These are all screenshots of maps at http://www.davidrumsey.com/.


1844 The original alignments in Newark and Jersey City.

1866 The Elizabeth Loop Line was already there.

1868 An interesting old alignment (maybe never built) for the Erie Weehawken Branch. Also shows the DL&W before it had its own tunnel.

1874 Both sides of the DL&W before it had its own tunnel. The bridge over the Hackensack was later used by the Newark & Hudson, and part of the S curve on the Boonton Branch was used by the NY&GL connection to the tunnel.

1874 A slightly different Weehawken Branch alignment through Hoboken, plus the New Jersey Junction.




1874 The New York & Fort Lee, including the never-built portion.

1874 The original alignment of the New Jersey RR, plus the Harsimus Branch (which was slightly shortened when the NJRR was straightened).


1891 The Hudson County peninsula, showing only part of the dense network that was later built.

1891 After most of the new routes were built; the old DL&W tunnel approaches are visible.

Triumph VI says that's not the original NJRR route thru Newark. It seems to say that coming west you crossed the Passaic, turned south along the river as shown, but then turned west on Market and south on Broad. Wonder how sharp the curve was there?

I've never seen that route on a map, but when you stand on the overhead walkway at the EWR airport station, looking eastward up the track, you can see you're also looking up Broad St. Broad St isn't quite straight so we can't be too definite, but an extension of the PRR centerline at MP 11, eastward from the Hunter curve, would be mostly or all between the curbs as far as Market St.

Interesting - I'd love to see an old map showing that.
For the record, Broad St (and Market St) are straight because they were turnpikes. Broad St was the Essex & Middlesex Tpk from Newark to Elizabeth and maybe further; the railroad used the old right-of-way south of the Hunter Curve, so it's very possible that it did to the north as well.

Turnpikes weren't allowed to curve?

Was the turnpike west/south of Hunter already abandoned when the NJRR took over that alignment?

Surely Broad St in Newark is older than the turnpike?

Turnpikes were generally built in straight lines, often to a fault, with the turnpike going over the hills and the old road staying on a reasonable grade and serving the towns. Look at roads that still carry the name turnpike (Newark & Jersey City Turnpike, Straight Turnpike (US 1 in Middlesex/Mercer), Bordentown-South Amboy Turnpike) - they're generally as straight as possible.
My guess is that the turnpike company sold the ROW to the railroad company.

Speaking of old maps, I had an 1871 map of Brooklyn and Queens showing the old extended Bushwick Branch. But now I can't find it