Hoboken - Jersey City Elevated

Folks, sometimes one takes a walk with their loved one, not knowing that one is walking on the same streets and pathways that dozens before us took. During such a walk,  we saw an old trolley pole in Hoboken. We also came across this train atop the entrance near the Terminal. This led me and my wife to look more into Hoboken and its trolleys. So much history to relive and so many memories to treasure...

"There is a little mystery about this elevated line.

We know for sure, from contemporary newspaper and magazine sources, that it opened on January 25, 1886, running from a station adjacent to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Hoboken Terminal to a station on the west side of Palisade Avenue, Jersey City, between Ravine Avenue and Ferry Street. The first part ran along Ferry Street (now Observer Highway) on a structure similar to elevated railways in Manhattan, but then it veered into private right of way up a long incline that rose about a hundred feet on a 5.5% grade to the top of the Palisades cliff. The cliff was the reason for building the line. The el provided the only fast route from the Heights neighborhood to a New York ferry connection, and soon carried 10,000 to 15,000 passengers a day."

http://warofyesterday.blogspot...1/09/hoboken-el.html

http://world.nycsubway.org/us/...oboken_elevated.html

Photos:

http://www.flickriver.com/phot...5088@N07/5743797358/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...t-72157621719959203/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...t-72157621719959203/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...t-72157621719959203/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...t-72157621719959203/

OLD HILLSIDE ROAD TROLLEY

Before there was a 14th Street Viaduct, there were other ways to climb the Bergen Hill from this spot.  A steep, winding road, known as Old Hillside Road ascended from the west end of 13th Street in Hoboken.  It climbed the hill north beyond 14th Street before turning sharply southwest along what is today the Yardley Stairs.  The Old Hillside Road ceased to be used when the 14th Street Viaduct opened in 1912.

In 1893, the first significant transportation improvement in the vicinity of 14th Street was the Old Hillside Road Trolley Horseshoe Curve of the Jersey City, Hoboken & Paterson Railway.  The electric trolley cut into the hard rock of Bergen Hill, carving out two horseshoe curves (hairpin turns) and a lengthy system of stone retaining walls.  At the foot of the hill, at approximately the location where you stand today, was a nearly two-block-long timber trestle that carried the trolley line between 13th and 15th streets.

The trolley was initially a great convenience to passenger travel between West Hoboken (now Union City) and Hoboken.  In 1928, a mere 35 years after opening, the Old Hillside Trolley Horseshoe Curve shut down, a victim to competition from automobiles and buses using the 14th Street Viaduct.  Some remnants of the old trolley’s stone walls can still be seen if you look carefully at the hillside.

http://hoboken.pastperfect-onl...x=20100050001-25.JPG

http://www.14thstviaductreplac...ure_19_postcards.jpg

And a general post worth of pictures:

http://www.maggieblanck.com/Hoboken/TrainStation.html

I am going to try to locate this book... From 

One can see clearly the trolley tracks in these photos. 

Prairie