An Introduction to Lost Railroads of Jersey City

Hello, and welcome to Lost Railroads of Jersey City.

This first post will serve as a sort of “about us” section.

My name is Joseph Cook. I have been interested in trains and railroads for basically my entire life. My fascination with rail transport was launched from my experiences of riding Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor between BWI Airport and Metropark almost weekly between the years of 2004 and 2008. After settling down in northern New Jersey in 2008, I continued to learn more and more about trains as I grew up.

After many experiences of researching the history of the rail lines that surrounded my locale, visits to Hudson County to see family, and attempting to create online photo collections of rail operations that used to exist near me, I kept coming back to find that almost every major railroad operating into the New York City area had tracks at one point or another in Jersey City. A young person, such as myself, would not realize much of Jersey City’s history as a railroad town without doing some research.

I created Lost Railroads of Jersey City along with two of my friends (Robert Amoia and Andrew Smith) with one goal in mind: compile photos, documents, and information into one centralized repository of Jersey City (and Hudson County) railroad history. We plan to focus on lines such as the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Harsimus Branch (Harsimus Stem Embankment; from Exchange Place to Harsimus Cove), the Erie’s “Bergen Arches” (from Tonnelle Avenue/US 1-9 to Pavonia Terminal/Newport), the New York Central’s River Line (now part of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail; from Tonnelle Ave station to Waldo Ave near Exchange Place), and the Jersey Central’s main line (now part of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail; from Avenue A/North Street Bayonne to Communipaw Terminal/Liberty State Park).