Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 | Page 2

Railroad system, by means of the Long Island Railroad, and a tunnel under the East River, which in later years, as the result of further consideration of the situation, has been covered by the proposed New York Connecting Railroad with a bridge across the East River and over Ward's and Randall's Islands.
As a result of these investigations, the late George D. Roberts, who was then President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, authorized an expenditure of about $25,000 for soundings to determine the nature of the strata for tunneling under water. These soundings were carefully made by Mr. Richards with a diamond drill, bringing up the actual core of all rock found in crossing the waters of New York Bay from the west to the east side and extending from the Narrows to the Jersey City Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
After these investigations had been made, early in 1892, Mr. Roberts expressed himself as being favorable to the undertaking, with the definite limitation that the tunnels must be for small cars doing local suburban business, and for the transfer of Pennsylvania Railroad passengers to and from New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, and not in any way to be tunnels for standard steam equipment, the expense for terminals and the prohibited use of coal for fuel in such tunnels not warranting any broader consideration. Under such instructions, the interests of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for effecting a physical entrance into New York City in that year were turned over to Samuel Rea, M. Am. Soc. C. E., then Assistant to the President of that Company, who has been identified with the investigations, and the progress and construction of this work since that time, Mr. Cassatt also working in conjunction with him on the plans then and since considered by the Pennsylvania Railroad Management.
On October 5th, 1892, Mr. Rea, under special direction of President Roberts, made an extended investigation of the various routes which had then been projected for extending the system into New York City by rail or transport, and reported to Mr. Roberts that, in his opinion, because of the limitation of the tunnel scheme to rapid transit trains and the consequent transfer of passengers and traffic carried in passenger trains, and because of the drawbacks caused by the use of steam locomotives in full-sized tunnels, and the objection to cable traction or any system of transportation which had not then stood the test of years of practical service, the plan of the North River Bridge for reaching New York City and establishing a terminus therein was the best that had been evolved up to that time. The plan provided a direct rail entrance into New York City for all railroads reaching the west side of the Hudson River, and also for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, as well as adequate station facilities in that city. This bridge would have had one clear span of 3,100 ft. between pier heads, landing on the New York side at the foot of West 23d Street, and thence the line would have passed diagonally to the terminus at Sixth Avenue and 25th Street. The location of the terminus was subsequently changed to the vicinity of Seventh Avenue and 36th Street. The bridge was designed with three decks: The first or lower deck was to accommodate eight steam railroad tracks; the second was to have six tracks, four of which could be assigned for rapid transit trains operating with electric power, and the other two for steam railroad trains; the third deck, reached by elevators, was to be a promenade extending from anchorage to anchorage. A connection with the Eleventh Avenue tracks of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad was to bring the trains of that road into the Union Station. The Bridge Company had a Federal charter--granted in 1888--with broad powers. Gustav Lindenthal, M. Am. Soc. C. E., was Chief Engineer, and he and Mr. Rea were corporators and among its early promoters. The Pennsylvania Railroad Management looked with favor on its construction at that time, as subaqueous tunnels, with standard railroad equipment with steam traction, were not regarded as a final or attractive solution of the problem, from the standpoint of the Management, and at a subsequent period the Pennsylvania Railroad Company agreed to use the North River Bridge provided the other roads reaching the west bank of the Hudson River would join. These roads, however, did not avail themselves of the opportunity which in its broadest scope was laid before them in 1900, after the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had approved the scheme at the instance of Mr. Cassatt.
The scheme of Mr. Corbin for a subway connection, between Flatbush Avenue and the Jersey City Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad, for local transit,