The main line of the West Shore Railroad is a partially-abandoned railway line in the states of New Jersey and New York. At its fullest extent, it ran from Weehawken Terminal on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York. It runs roughly parallel to the former main line of the New York Central Railroad and was originally built as a competitor to that line, but was acquired by the New York Central Railroad and used as primarily as a freight line. Much of the line has been abandoned but several sections remain in use, including most of the line on the west side of the Hudson between Weehawken and Albany.
History
editThe Ridgfield Park Railroad began constructing a 13-mile (21 km) line between Tappan, New York, on the New York/New Jersey border, and Ridgefield, New Jersey, in 1867. The Jersey City and Albany Railroad acquired the Ridgefield Park Railroad in 1873 and completed the line that same year.[1] At Ridgefield Junction it connected with the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad.[2] The line was pushed a further 13 miles (21 km) north to Haverstraw, New York, in 1879.[3]
Notes
edit- ^ ICC (1929), p. 78.
- ^ Official Guide of the Railways. New York: National Railway Publication Co. October 1881. OCLC 6340864.
- ^ ICC (1929), p. 77.
References
edit- Interstate Commerce Commission (1929). Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office.
Further reading
edit- Ham, John (2017). Along the Old West Shore: Weehawken to Buffalo. Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press. ISBN 978-0-9720709-9-7.
- Metzger, Bill (February 2013). "Map of the Month: Heart of the Water Level Route". Trains. Vol. 73, no. 2. p. 38. ISSN 0041-0934.