Newark Penn Station: why such long and unused platforms?

In my experience at Dock working for the PRR and PC, 22 car westbound trains made second stops on two occasions.
Also, track two is lower than the other tracks. We rain Truck Trains out of Harsimus Cove, across the Hack passenger bridge, (what a sound,) and through track two in Penn Station, Newark.

kilroy wrote:

25Hz wrote:One could also put a people mover on the old CNJ row from the bridge to the old station headhouse on broad st.

Why go past the Rock so you can walk back to it? And how are you planning to get through the parking deck to get to the station?

Go around the rock in a loop, the old headhouse would serve broad st, you could have a stop on either side of the rock for people going different directions..... build elevator and escalator at the old bridge to connect it to newark penn trak A, 1, and 2, and boom! :D

philipmartin wrote:In my experience at Dock working for the PRR and PC, 22 car westbound trains made second stops on two occasions.
Also, track two is lower than the other tracks. We rain Truck Trains out of Harsimus Cove, across the Hack passenger bridge, (what a sound,) and through track two in Penn Station, Newark.

So they ran TOFC through there?

philipmartin wrote:We rain Truck Trains out of Harsimus Cove, across the Hack passenger bridge, (what a sound,) and through track two in Penn Station, Newark.

Hack passenger bridge: That's the PATH lift bridge. Interesting to see freight running over H&M.

25Hz wrote:

kilroy wrote:

25Hz wrote:One could also put a people mover on the old CNJ row from the bridge to the old station headhouse on broad st.

Why go past the Rock so you can walk back to it? And how are you planning to get through the parking deck to get to the station?

Go around the rock in a loop, the old headhouse would serve broad st, you could have a stop on either side of the rock for people going different directions..... build elevator and escalator at the old bridge to connect it to newark penn trak A, 1, and 2, and boom! :D

No.

In my experience, they made that move with the trailer train through Penn Station occasionally. It was a big time saver since the train didn't have to go through two yards, Meadows and Waverly. It got on the main track in Jersey City instead of at Lane on the Newark - Elizabeth border..
The passenger trains to and from the Pennsy's Exchange Place terminal came that way too.

Actually, trains could make good time on the P&H Branch through the yards if it was clear. But the main track was faster.
Sometimes it took a train as long to get through Waverly yard as it took it to get there from Harrisburg. True Tales.

For the abandoned elevated rail line that goes over the south end....did that ever have platforms at Penn?

jamesinclair wrote:For the abandoned elevated rail line that goes over the south end....did that ever have platforms at Penn?

These threads will likely answer your questions. http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 1&p=642595" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; & http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... newark+cnj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

morris&essex4ever wrote:

25Hz wrote:

kilroy wrote:

25Hz wrote:One could also put a people mover on the old CNJ row from the bridge to the old station headhouse on broad st.

Why go past the Rock so you can walk back to it? And how are you planning to get through the parking deck to get to the station?

Go around the rock in a loop, the old headhouse would serve broad st, you could have a stop on either side of the rock for people going different directions..... build elevator and escalator at the old bridge to connect it to newark penn trak A, 1, and 2, and boom! :D

No.

Care to elaborate, or are just trolling? I think it'd be useful to re-purpose this old infrastructure.

25Hz wrote:

morris&essex4ever wrote:

25Hz wrote:

kilroy wrote:

25Hz wrote:One could also put a people mover on the old CNJ row from the bridge to the old station headhouse on broad st.

Why go past the Rock so you can walk back to it? And how are you planning to get through the parking deck to get to the station?

Go around the rock in a loop, the old headhouse would serve broad st, you could have a stop on either side of the rock for people going different directions..... build elevator and escalator at the old bridge to connect it to newark penn trak A, 1, and 2, and boom! :D

No.

Care to elaborate, or are just trolling? I think it'd be useful to re-purpose this old infrastructure.

The headhouse was demolished several years ago as part of the arena project, all that remains is the facade on Broad Street with a short, maybe 80 feet long or so, hallway east from the facade doors. East after that as mentioned is the new parking garage which would preclude the people mover (and pedestrians) from accessing the hallway, absent some costly modifications. That said, the plan from years ago to construct a covered walkway to the Mulberry Street front of the arena with access to the Penn Station platforms would be beneficial I think providing a direct route with complete shelter from precipitation. Though I recall well some decades back when the new office buildings were proposed for downtown, skywalks (like that built to Gateway in 1972) were part of the plans for the new buildings, but eliminated as "elitist" (or even "racist") as the commuters and visitors to the new buildings would thereby be segregated from the Newark population at large. The Legal Center did get its skywalk, but that was largely due to it being developed by the Port Authority and being essentially adjacent to Penn Station so the street walk was so short that no local business were passed and Raymond Boulevard at that location is complex with bus and car traffic thus being especially hazardous to pedestrians. PSEG and the building Seton Hall law is in did not get the proposed skywalks extended to them because of the aforementioned objections.

Piggyback and Flexi-van mail trains operated thru Newark Penn station on track 2 which is lower. Flexi-vans would fit no problem but piggyback flats had to be LTTX flats which sat lower than standard TTX flats. Meadows-Pot yard trains TV-23 and TV-24 ran thru the station via HUDSON and crossed the PATH on a diamond and traveled along the river into South Kearny piggyback yard. South Kearny - St Louis mail trains Nos. 10 and 11 and South Kearny - Chicago mail trains Nos.8 and 9 also traveled thru the station on track 2. They were the hottest freights on the railroad and getting past the Meadows and Waverly yard congestion was a top priority.

Regarding the long platforms it was not uncommon as late as the mid 1970's for Florida trains to have as many as 24 cars in a consist during the winter season. The Silver Star was regularly the longest during that time period. A train that length always required double stops to get the baggage and coach travel on/off and then pull up to get the sleeper travel on/off.

25Hz,

Here what's left of the CNJ newark station, taken from the previously mentioned parking deck.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3003783

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3003784

As you can see, the entire station is blocked by the parking garage (and between there and the station is the arena as well).

And just how much do you want to spend to get what, 10 people a year people from Mulberry to Borad St?

I also remember seeing an all mech reefer train going thru Newark Penn on track 2, 1970's. Could have been the juice train,,but it was not tropicana reefers.

Ken W2KB wrote:

25Hz wrote:

morris&essex4ever wrote:

25Hz wrote:

kilroy wrote:

25Hz wrote:One could also put a people mover on the old CNJ row from the bridge to the old station headhouse on broad st.

Why go past the Rock so you can walk back to it? And how are you planning to get through the parking deck to get to the station?

Go around the rock in a loop, the old headhouse would serve broad st, you could have a stop on either side of the rock for people going different directions..... build elevator and escalator at the old bridge to connect it to newark penn trak A, 1, and 2, and boom! :D

No.

Care to elaborate, or are just trolling? I think it'd be useful to re-purpose this old infrastructure.

The headhouse was demolished several years ago as part of the arena project, all that remains is the facade on Broad Street with a short, maybe 80 feet long or so, hallway east from the facade doors. East after that as mentioned is the new parking garage which would preclude the people mover (and pedestrians) from accessing the hallway, absent some costly modifications. That said, the plan from years ago to construct a covered walkway to the Mulberry Street front of the arena with access to the Penn Station platforms would be beneficial I think providing a direct route with complete shelter from precipitation. Though I recall well some decades back when the new office buildings were proposed for downtown, skywalks (like that built to Gateway in 1972) were part of the plans for the new buildings, but eliminated as "elitist" (or even "racist") as the commuters and visitors to the new buildings would thereby be segregated from the Newark population at large. The Legal Center did get its skywalk, but that was largely due to it being developed by the Port Authority and being essentially adjacent to Penn Station so the street walk was so short that no local business were passed and Raymond Boulevard at that location is complex with bus and car traffic thus being especially hazardous to pedestrians. PSEG and the building Seton Hall law is in did not get the proposed skywalks extended to them because of the aforementioned objections.

I'm guessing no one is realizing that i'm talking about a LOOP that stops at the headhouse location on broad street, with one stop on lafayette and one stop on market or edison before returning to newark penn. The other option would be to utilize hamilton as the neck, and loop around via mulberry, lafayette, broad, and market....

You could use existing 416 bus type, some kind of self-guided low floor street tram, trackless trolley, or even a small airport style hopper.

Anyways, it was just an idea.