Conrail (former CNJ) Harsimus Branch - Abandonment (Freight rail line next to Rt 1/9 after Skyway)

[JasW]

In the time-honored tradition of responding to years-old threads -- sometime in or just before 1985, which is when CR sold the property. In 1986, I moved to Third Street in downtown JC, just 2-3 blocks south of the Harsimus embankment, and I remember my landlady telling me that runs over the embankment had only stopped within the previous couple of years.

Here's a gratuitous hi-res pic of the yard in its 1924 heyday. The H&M powerhouse is clearly visible at left. I can even see my old place on Third Street in the upper left.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7839/474 ... a4a9_o.jpg

[pdtrains]

Is there any sign of the RR left between the PATH tunnel portal in JC and exchange place and the yard?

[JasW]

Is there any sign of the RR left between the PATH tunnel portal in JC and exchange place and the yard?

The tracks to the yard branched off from the main Pennsy JC line just before the turnpike. The massive embankment carrying the line to the yard (minus the bridges) is still there along 6th Street. Some bridge supports on the other side of Newark Avenue from 6th Street are still there, too (including a big one right next to a basketball court in a park!). But there's nothing left of the main passenger line between the PATH portal and Exchange Place -- it was all wiped out and replaced with Columbus Dr.

Edit: I take that back -- not all traces of the trestle that ran from the PATH portal (the Waldo Yard) to Exchange Place are gone. There is part of a stone embankment still standing at Brunswick Street and Columbus Drive that marked the beginning of the trestle. It's visible here: https://goo.gl/maps/zkhmakKefH92

[umtrr-author]

I spent the first few years of my life living on Fifth Street between Jersey and Erie, on the third floor walkup apartment that, thanks to a low building on the other side of Fifth, faced "The Embankment" that went into Harismus Cove.

Not long before the bridges were pulled but well after the line was out of service, I walked the line from Henderson Street to the point from which I used to see GG-1s, E-44s and switchers pull cuts of cars and entire trains in and out of the yard.

Life would have been a lot different if we'd lived on the second floor!

Great photo of the place at its peak. Thanks for sharing.

[Jeff Smith]

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... /50767.pdf

In these dockets, Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), CSXT Transportation, Inc.
(CSXT), and Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) jointly filed a verified notice of exemption for Conrail to abandon, and for CSXT and NSR to discontinue service over, an approximately 1.36-mile portion of a line of railroad known as the Harsimus Branch, located in the City of Jersey City, N.J.1 The Harsimus Branch has not been used for rail service in decades.
...
The Harsimus Abandonment Proceeding began in 2008, but the Board held it in abeyance while related proceedings were litigated in the federal courts.3 After that litigation concluded, the Board vacated the abeyance and resumed the historic and environmental review processes. See Harsimus Aban. Proc., AB 167 (Sub-No. 1189X) et al., slip op. at 6 (STB served Aug. 11, 2014). Thereafter, the parties engaged in discovery on several issues, including the potential application of Section 110(k) of NHPA.
...
3 Conrail filed its notice of exemption to abandon the Harsimus Branch following a 2007 decision by the Board in a related case finding that the Harsimus Branch is a line of railroad subject to its abandonment licensing authority. City of Jersey City—Pet. for Declaratory Order, FD 34818 (STB served Aug. 9, 2007). The courts ultimately agreed that the Harsimus Branch is a line of railroad. See Consol. Rail Corp. v. STB, 571 F.3d 13, 19 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (sending the case to district court for a determination of the status of the Harsimus Branch); City of Jersey City v. Consol. Rail Corp., 968 F. Supp. 2d 302 (D.D.C. 2013) (finding that Harsimus Branch was conveyed as a line of railroad in 1976), aff’d, No. 13-7175 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 19, 2014).
...
Consistent with ACHP’s request, arguments and evidence may now be formally filed so the Board can determine the applicability of Section 110(k) before moving forward with any further historic review under Section 106 if appropriate. Opening submissions will be due by June 18, 2021; replies will be due by July 19, 2021.
...

[lvrr325]

13 years of court proceedings to abandon a mile and a third of track. Including apparently a case to determine if it's a rail line or not. Yikes

[pumpers]

Can someone explain the "who's on first" here, meaning how does this legal decision related to the question if the 6th ave embankment will become a linear park, or sold off for more housing? Jim S

[pumpers]

Further updates:

Conrail and the preservationists (including Jersey City) still haven't come to terms. Let's hope they do:
https://www.nj.com/hudson/2021/07/jerse ... fight.html

The preservationists: http://embankment.org/
JS

EDIT: Here's a puzzler. In the above news link, Conrail officially says: “First, all of the parcels owned by Conrail have been acquired, owned, maintained or operated for railroad purposes and are likely in the future to continue to be owned, maintained or operated for railroad purposes,”
What the heck can they mean by "to continue to be owned, maintained, or operated for railroad purposes" when talking about the embankment?