Susquehanna Moveable Bridge Questions

How come the NYS&W was allowed to weld the bridges shut across Overpeck Creek and the Hackensack River, along with removing the electric motors? There's almost no commercial traffic on the river up there now, but locking the bridges in place prevents recreational/taxpaying boaters the opportunity to get up there. It seems to me that this obviously saves money for the railroad, but at the boating public expense. My guess is that there are other railroad bridges throughout NJ that have been welded shut to the same effect.

Your thoughts....

Well im not sure if hte overpeck bridge is welded shut, i had asked a similar question over a year ago. The bridge was opened quiet a while ago but with the help of a locomotive.

The hackensack river bridge, what would be even able to navigate that far north anyway? I mean the river gets very shallow once at court street bridge by pepboys. That bridge i dont even think opens either.

How big of a boat do you think you can get up the river once near the Hess oil in bogota? I know i have seen small outboard boats go up, jetskis and what not. But most at low tide since at high tide you won't make it under the girders.

The overpeck you can make it under at hightide. I've watched several guys crabbing in the overpeck go right under the csx and nysw bridge with no problem.

Conrail wielded their neigboring bridge shut years before the NYS&W did.

From what I remember the Overpeck Creek bridge can still be operated with an external power source. The rails may need to be cut, but advance notice would need to be given to open the structure anyway. The adjacent CSX bridge is supposedly no longer moveable.

The Hackensack River Bridge is fixed.

The ability to open and close the bridges is a requirement of the Coast Guard.

In the past there was a need to open and closed these bridges for commerce, but that is no longer the case. The cost of maintaining the bridge in operable condition probably outweighs the needs of the recreational boaters so the Coast Guard allows their closure.

The was just a story about the River Road moveable roadway bridge in Hackensack this past week. Seems the USS Ling needs to be relocated and they need to get past that bridge. Bergen County had plans to make it a fixed structure but backed off that saying it will be made moveable at a much greater expense.

According to the July 1, 2006 revision of the Code Of Federal Regulations

Regarding the Hackensack River Draw - 33CFR117.723(h)

(h) The draw of the New York Susquehanna
and Western Railroad bridge,
mile 16.3, and the Midtown bridge, mile
16.5, both at Hackensack, need not be
opened for the passage of vessels, however,
the draws shall be restored to operable
condition within 12 months after
notification by the District Commander
to do so.

Regarding the Overpeck River Draw - 33CFR117.738

§ 117.738 Overpeck Creek.
(a) The draws of the Conrail and the
New York, Susquehanna and Western
railroad bridges, mile 0.0 both at
Ridgefield Park, NJ, operate as follows:
(1) The draws shall open on signal if
at least 24 hours notice is given.
(2) Public vessels of the United
States, state or local vessels used for
public safety, and vessels in distress
shall be passed through the draw of
each bridge as soon as possible.

sirsonic, thanks for clearing it up.

The USS Ling needs to be repaired and badly. I wonder if thats why it needs to be relocated. Its just rotting away in the mud there. I can't see how they would even float it out of there. I wonder when they had planned on doing the move and bridge repair?

2005Vdub wrote:sirsonic, thanks for clearing it up.

The USS Ling needs to be repaired and badly. I wonder if thats why it needs to be relocated. Its just rotting away in the mud there. I can't see how they would even float it out of there. I wonder when they had planned on doing the move and bridge repair?

O/T but the group that cares for the Ling has actually been asked to take the ship and leave. The adjacent parking lot is owned by the owners of the Record newspaper and they want to sell the property to a developer. The factory site is also on the market since they moved the paper printing operations to the Rockaway facility.

I don't think the people at the Ling museum have even had time to think about where it would go, but they have asked Bergen County for help.

cjvrr, that was interesting about the USS Ling. Where did you see the article/is there a link on it?

Just coincidentally... the Susquehanna bridge mechanic that was telling me about welding the bridges shut and removing the electric motors was also a former Navy Reserve diver who worked on the Ling patching it back in the 80's. He said that it is sitting on the bottom resting in the mud and that by now you could probably poke your fingers through the rusty hull.

It will be an interesting sight to watch if they ever try to move it out of there.

So the Record plant in hackensack is for sale also? As for the ling, i've often wondered how many people they get in there a year. I almost never see anyone there. And if you want to see how bad the sub is, walk up to the fence along where the paper recycling bins are. Right up to the river and look. The front of the sub is practically gone. There is no way they could tow it out. It would sink once it hit open waters deep enough.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... FlZUVFeXkz

If the link doesn't work search the January 24, 2007 Bergen Record website for stories in Hackensack.

It would / will be very interesting to see the sub move.

If the claim of 750,000 visitors in 34 years is true, a lot of them must have come in the early years. They are only open Saturdays and Sundays and occasional class trips, so they would have to have several hundred visitors a day to keep up that pace.

The USS Ling is actually a great warning for a lot of groups involved with preserving railroad artifacts. It appears that the Ling people haven't got the money to do critical maintenance, much less pay for a move. How many RR restoration projects are in the same boat today? How many tourist lines are one major maintenance failure away from the end?

Perhaps moving the Ling could be coordinated with bridge rehabs on the road bridge and the NYS&W bridge. I would have to think the money saved by not rebuilding these two as movable bridges would more than cover such a move - if it was done at the time the bridges are replaced.

Is it safe to say the last time either of these bridges was opened was when the USS Ling went up river?

Steamtown Observer wrote: Is it safe to say the last time either of these bridges was opened was when the USS Ling went up river?

NO! When I worked at Bergen County from 1993-1996 the road bridge was regularly opened so that barges full of aggregate could get to the ready mix plant between the two bridges. They even had their own rail mounted cranes that ran adjacent to the water's edge for unloading the barges. Probably in 1995 they cut up the rail cranes and switched to a rubber tire crane, but still got materials intermitently via barge. I lef tin 1996 so I don't know how much material came in by barge after that.

My suggestion would be to move the Ling up river , pull it out of the water and place it in the park on the north side of the NYS&W tracks east of the river.

And I agree with you this is a really good example of how dwindling membership, visitors, and not having control of the property you use become a huge problem.

interesting the bridge was opened as late as 1996. I do remember it open once but it was late 80's early 90s' when i was a kid. Im not sure who would even know how to open it now. The county doesn't have anyone stationed there anymore, the security guards have to check it at end of tour every night cause of homeless people making the shack a home in the winter.