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  • What's this in Weehawken on the West Shore?

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #1469096  by bellstbarn
 
At the top is Boulevard East at Liberty Place. I have been up there, walking Boulevard East, without realizing that the road needed to be supported by stonework and steel. Somehow, I had imagined that the edge of the cliff was naturally flat. The view, of course, is looking up Pershing Road. A zig-zag stairway now climbs the cliff from the curve (ahead in the photo) to a gate in the fence along Boulevard East. See Google Street View for a recent view. There is no railroad in that hole atop the cliff. I would label it as roadway support "under construction."
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Of interest to me is the derail that faced Union City cars coming down the hill before the curve. The Public Service motorman would have to open the door and move a large lever to negate the derail. The purpose was to halt runaway cars before the curve. I rode this line two or three times in the late 1940's.
 #1469131  by mackdave
 
Back when the West Shore was new, there was a horizontal elevated structure that started at this passageway cut in the cliff and went out the to the ferry terminal called the "Eldorado". It had an elevator that then took passengers down to ground level.
10805682_363276370516708_7939337815192706138_n.jpg
10805682_363276370516708_7939337815192706138_n.jpg (113.25 KiB) Viewed 4059 times
mackdave
 #1469150  by granton junction
 
This structure 'El Dorado' was dismantled very early, likely before 1900. So the postcard is either before the structure was built or after it was dismantled. Trains ran under Blvd East and then out onto the structure. Then you took the elevator to ground level for the ferry. Today you can still see the tunnel from the ferry parking lot although the bridge for Blvd East appears to be newer.
 #1469209  by ccutler
 
Just a guess...that the structure would have come down when the Weehawken tunnels were completed?
What the early railroads built is simply amazing, and a reflection of what could be done when there's actual profits involved with passenger service.
 #1469233  by CarterB
 
Eldorado was actually an amusement park atop the palisades, who built the elevator (by Eiffel of the tower fame) for attendees to get up the palisades from the ferries. Opened 1891 closed 1893(?) main bldg used until 1898
http://www.weehawkenhistory.us/timemach ... 0&s=0&cv=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Jersey.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.facebook.com/WeehawkenSocie ... 0976325582" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eldorado Elevator
Eldorado Amusement Park, Weehawken, New Jersey.jpg
The Eldorado Elevator rose from the West Shore Ferry Terminal at Weehawken to meet the streetcar line that travelled along a trestle to a cut in the Palisades which ran parallel to the Eldorado, a pleasure garden, and then proceeded east and north to the Nungesser's Guttenberg Racetrack