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N4 Jamaica
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 860 Location: Long Island
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:12 pm Post subject: An incident at Western Electric |
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Shortly after the surrender of Japan in 1945, a group of trolley fans chartered a car to make the run on Lincoln Highway to Western Electric before the tracks were torn up. As I was not yet nine, my memory of this narrative by my Dad could be incorrect.
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Anyhow, the fan trip reached the end of the line at Western Electric. They took photos. A furious guard charged out to them and insisted that photography was still forbidden near a wartime plant. He had the fans empty their cameras and turn in their rolls. Photos survived because some guys slipped him the wrong rolls or unexposed rolls.
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NJT bus route #1 serves the Hudson County Jail in Kearny on four trips each way daily, but makes more trips on nearby Central Avenue. I wonder which property around there was Western Electric. Maybe twenty years ago, I rode that route and found no signs forbidding wartime photography. |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22970 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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Joe:
It's funny you brought this up; read on......
In the book on PSNJ Compromise roof cars "TROLLEY TREASURES" (Wrege/Mankoff) there is a photo snapped at Western Electric, showing several streetcars awaiting the next shift change at the plant.
The caption reads:
".......rare view of layover trackage for wartime cars at the Western Electric plant. #2761 and mates wait for shift end. Security was tight at the shipyards, and railfans risked loss of film, at best, loss of cameras and interrogations, at worst......."
"NYO"
Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22970 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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More on PSNJ's "WESTERN ELECTRIC" streetcar line.........
This car line (and, also, the one to FEDERAL) began in May, 1942, using new and refurbished rail along the Lincoln Highway (the old #1 line, between Jersey City and Newark, once ran along this route)
The #1 became an ASV line in 1938.
The "WESTERN ELECTRIC" line, after hostilities ceased, was only operated during the rush hours; the last cars on this line ran in 1948.
Interestingly, the "FEDERAL" line stopped running on August 31th, 1945......
"NYO"
Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22970 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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A "high 3200" (#3258), entering the elevated Hoboken terminal on a postwar fantrip.
Note that the car displays a "FEDERAL" sign........
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/psct/htm/psct071.htm
(courtesy: davesrailpix) |
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N4 Jamaica
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 860 Location: Long Island
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, so there were two lines to South Kearny during the war: Federal and Western Electric. Were they two branches off Lincoln Highway, just as the #1 bus now offers?
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When I hear "Western Electric" I think of the rotary table top phones you actually rented from New York Telephone, a rip-off like the rental charge for cable boxes from Verizon. Sometime after Dad died in 1973, I had the hardest time convincing Mom to replace her trusted Western Electric rental with a purchased phone.
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Dad was too old for military service. Again, my memory may be faulty, but I think he took a revenue trip out there and was really upset when he heard a woman express hope that the war would continue so the jobs would be available. That memory (from the viewpoint of 2020) seems garbled somehow. War deaths and injuries burdened families. |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22970 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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Joe:
Yes, the cars of both the "FEDERAL" and "WESTERN ELECTRIC" wartime streetcar lines shared common trackage for most of their runs, except for the outer part of the Lincoln Highway.
The "FEDERAL" line branched away at a point near the Hackensack River; the cars running to "WESTERN ELECTRIC" continued running on the Lincoln Highway until they reached the sprawling plant on Central Avenue (S. Kearny)
Jersey City streets where these wartime cars ran (no "regular" passengers were allowed to board) included......
SIP AVENUE (JSQ)
BERGEN AVENUE
MONTGOMERY ST.
thence via the former "NEWARK AVENUE" line to
WEST SIDE AVENUE
COMMUNIPAW AVENUE
Then, the cars shared private ROW for the remainder of their journeys to Western Electric and Federal.
Rails still in place from the old "#1 NEWARK" line (to ASV in 1938), along with newly-laid rail, carried the cars on to their final destinations........
"NYO"
Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 22970 Location: NEW JOISEY
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Early on, the Compromise roof cars used on the "FEDERAL" and "WESTERN ELECTRIC" wartime lines were still painted in their old 1920's paint schemes; by 1943, these cars had all been repainted into the "new" PS trolley paint scheme (recall, these cars had been in storage since 1937/1938 at Passaic Wharf, several years before PS began repainting their remaining streetcars)
Instrumental in the startup of these lines was that much trackage was already in place; most trackwork was done along Lincoln Highway, where the cars ran on a reserved, center median.
In fact, the track work project along Lincoln Highway would be the largest until the Newark City Subway's rebuilding in the early/mid-1980's.......
"NYO" |
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