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Before the September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorist attacks a car waits at the World Trade Center platform...
... the same station after the Islamic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington ...
... the temporary WTC station with the first train that arrived on November 23, 2003 - which was the last train that left on September 11, 2001. [See further below for pictures of the current / temporary WTC station.]
View of the WTC complex under construction. One of the original Hudson Terminal towers which was being replaced is in the upper center-right with the word "Terminal" on the roof. To the right [south] of the tower is Cortlandt Street; to its left [i.e. between it and the demolished north tower] is Dey Street which disappeared in the WTC construction. To the left [north] of the foundation of the demolished north tower is Fulton Street. St. Paul's is to the upper left. [www.nycsubway.org/ Here is a link to the same photograph with clarifications, [from Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations.]
And here is the "opposite" view - Hudson Terminal being constructed 70 years earlier. This picture, however, may bring memories of the many views of the demolition work after the terrorist murder attacks on the same site in 2001.
The blacked out WTC segment of the destination board at Pavonia is a sad reminder of the terrorist attacks on America.
An early 2002 proposal foresaw a new downtown station at one of two locations, one of which is the original Hudson Terminal station, and a pedestrian tunnel connecting the station to several subway lines.
The twin towered Hudson
Terminal stood between the Singer Building
(foreground) and the Vesey-Barclay
Building (background)
Hudson Terminal just after construction; the facade facing New Jersey [From the Terry Kennedy collection]
In this contemporary idealized view from the North River, Hudson Terminal towers over its neighbors, while The Tubes supplant the boat traffic above them.
This contemporary and more realistic image shows Hudson Terminal with the Singer Building to the right, which had taken over the title of "World's Tallest Building" from the World Building to the left. [From Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations.]
This contemporary post card view of Hudson Terminal somewhat idealizes reality but appears to be based closely on a photograph with the Singer Building on the right and the Woolworth Building behind Hudson Terminal.
From a contemporary press release on Hudson Terminal: "NOT A MERE BUILDING - AN ACTUAL CITY! Covers almost 2 square blocks, with bridges over Dey street connecting the 2 huge structures at the 3rd and 17th stories. Fronts 2 blocks on Church St. with nearly full block frontages, on Fulton, Dey and Cortlandt Streets. One of the largest office buildings in the world, also one of the most up-to-date and one of the best managed- where tenants swear by the "Hudson," and retain their quarters year after year." *Ass'd value $14,000,000 Architects Clinton & Russell Owners Hudson & Manhattan R.R. Co. completed 1908 26 floors, 39 elevators 5 subway lines within the building"
In the late 60s, just before the destruction of the entire area for the construction of the World Trade Center, Hudson Terminal is on the left with the Jersey Central Railroad ferry terminal on the right. Above the ferry terminal rises the Singer Building. [Image from Paul Matus]
The concourse at Hudson Terminal was filled with shops and services the commuters could use before descending to the platforms. Note Journal Square is still "Summit Avenue", Manhattan Transfer is a stop but not Harrison and Park Place is the Newark station. Also note that the entrance to the Tube is also the [connecting] entrance to the crack Pennsylvania Limited to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the West. Grove-Henderson became simply Grove around the time of the PA takeover.
This 1950s photograph shows only a tiny portion of the Hudson Terminal concourse with all its commercial activity.
Although Hudson Terminal extended as far down as the later WTC, it had fewer underground levels: an arcade level, a concourse level and the track level.
Passengers reached the concourse level of Hudson Terminal via an unusual ramp system [also adopted about the same time at Grand Central Terminal]. The concourse, filled with commercial establishments, extended through the space underneath both towers as well as underneath the intervening Dey Street. The replacement World Trade Center mirrored this layout on a much larger scale.
Sketch from Passenger Terminals and Trains - John A. Droege 1st ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1916 LC Classification: TF305 .D83
Descending from Hudson Terminal's concourse, passengers reached track level. As at several other stations, such as Erie, where large crowds were expected, there were separate platforms for passengers boarding and for passengers alighting from the same train. The platform labelled "working platform" had various uses, including a short lived freight and baggage service.
Sketch from Passenger Terminals and Trains - John A. Droege 1st ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1916 LC Classification: TF305 .D83
This cross section from around 1908 shows the levels of Hudson Terminal frm the street down to the platforms.
Many of the elements of Hudson Terminal were especially designed for it, such as the windows from the Hecla Iron Works.
Here is the 2002 status of the trackage at and near the WTC station [The side platform at Pavonia, shown as abandoned, was re-opened in mid 2003; also in 2003 major changes were made to the west end tracks and stubs of Exchange Place.] From Peter Dougherty's "Tracks of the New York Subway" Further information on this book can be gotten at www.nyctrackbook.com.
Inside
Hudson Terminal in the late 1950s / early 1960s was the Commuter's
Cafe with an image of the new PA car series on its cover .... ........

..... and an extract from that menu. [The filet mignon that costs $6.50 is really $42.89 in 2006 dollars.]
In none of the three photos immediately above is it possible to see the gigantic "Hudson Terminal" sign that stood on the roofs of these 22 story buildings. [Half of that sign, however, is visible in the scene of the demolition of Hudson Terminal for the World Trade Center.] And in this shot the letters "UDS" of the HUDSON part of the sign are visible. [The man painting the flag pole 22 stories up is the father of Tom Monchek who kindly supplied the picture.]
On November 23, 2003 the
temporary WTC station opened with its entrance on Church Street
....
.... opposite St. Paul's chapel.
Although now a
"framework", the temporary station is essential the same as
PATH's first downtown station with four levels ...
... here details on the street level...
... the similarity to the 1971-2001 station can be seen in this diagram of the PATH Tubes downtown station under the World Trade Center before the Islamic terrorist attacks on America. Washington Post
Entering the temporary WTC PATH station from Church Street, the slurry wall [" bath tub"] construction is still visible.
The temporary station, just like the destroyed WTC station, has four levels: street, concourse, mezzanine and platform. The mezzanine and concourse are still connected to each other with a 6 banked escalator at the same point as in the original WTC station.
The mezzanine, as all the
levels, is basically in raw construction .......
... adorned by blown up aerial views of the area on the walls. The views are both historical of the area as well as of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
The murals, however, cannot overcome the practicality of the surroundings.
Although the platforms are 80+ feet below ground trains enter and leave through the open air over the slurry wall "bath tub" reconstruction area. Temporarily the platform area has natural daylight.
From the platforms stairs lead to the mezzanine, concourse and street.
The original plan for Summit Avenue / Journal Square was simpler and more rural, befitting the then-bucolic area around the station. The trolley loop as well as an entry hall leading to a separate passenger concourse were retained in the actual construction. Both elements, however, were on a grander scale than in the original plan, particularly the trolley loop which evolved in a major traction terminal and transfer point.
Still known as Summit Avenue in this 1912 postcard view before the Boulevard Bridge was built, Journal Square station was to remain in this basic form for over a half century. The building at the top of the cut on the left is Public Service.
This picture of unknown provenance from the opening of Summit Avenue / Journal Square station makes clear that the Pennsylvania RR had the through mainline and that the Hudson & Manhattan RR went off onto a [major] siding.
View of Journal Square station, c.1935. The station consisted of 2 parts: left, the red entry hall and right, the white passenger concourse and platforms. A dark red pedestrian bridge connected the concourse building with Magnolia Avenue to the right. [The high yellow building in the upper left is the movie palace Loew's Jersey, which still stands.]
In the late 1940s the H&M constructed this wind shelter on the Journal Square platform level after complaints from the riders. Note the pay scale on the platform, common at the time.
Likely also from the 1940s is this view of the exterior of Journal Square station [north side], facing eastwards.
The Port Authority demolished the original station and constructed a new one. Here is a hemisphere view of the present circular mezzanine at Journal Square with the turnstile entrances. From here hallways lead to the parking garage, bus platforms and stores.
This official PA publicity shot shows the transportation center building as an uptown train of the PA series leaves Journal Square station for 33rd Street. Note the brownstone of the Palisades in the background. Not only the Pennsylvania and the Hudson & Manhattan, but also the Erie and the DL&W had to blast their rights of way through the Palisades, in this section called Bergen Hill.
Looking eastwards the
brown trap rock of the Bergen Hill cut is obvious. Along the top of
the cut on the right of this picture is/was the Concourse: a
pedestrian walkway running from Summit Avenue [the first bridge in
this picture] back toward and past the viewer to the Boulevard Bridge. The original plans envisioned a much wider concourse with its own
connection to the platforms of the Tube station. As built and
functioning, the section from Summit / Sip Avenue to the station
entrance was relatively quiet; the section from the entrance westwards
to the Boulevard Bridge was, however, filled with stores and jammed
with pedestrians and commercial activity until the PA's reconstruction
which destroyed not only the commercial activity of the West Concourse
but also all surface commercial activity for at least a block in every
direction from the station. Only in the past 10 years has there been
some private recovery.
Approximately half of the Journal Square station lies under the soaring concrete arches of the Boulevard Bridge.
Journal Square station was built on a loop off the Pennsylvania RR mainline, just before splits to Exchange Place [original PRR right of way] and one leading southwards towards Lafayette. Here a track schematic of the Journal Square station. From Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Revisited by Paul Carleton
Exchange Place in 1905 when the Tubes station was still in the planning-construction stage. View looking eastwards to the North River with the ferry house of the Pennsylvania RR terminal.
Montgomery Street [south] side of the PRR terminal at Exchange Place c.1900. If one walked alongside the terminal about one half block beyond the mansard-roofed section of the station, one would be at the spot below today, facing south.
Nov. 17, 1961 the Jersey City Terminal was abandoned after 127 years. PRR passenger trains made the last runs between Jersey City and Newark; the last service was seven eastbound and six westbound trains. The last departure was at 5:05, The Broker, to Bay Head Jct. What remained of the station: .c. 1970 After the PA's takeover the street level of exchange Place remained for awhile as it had been after the demolition of Pennsylvania Station Jersey City. Image from Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Revisited by Paul Carleton
2003: To the left is the escalator entrance through the east head house; to the right on the far side of the building is the elevator entrance through the west head house.
Moving slightly forward from the previous picture and looking to the right is the Exchange Place station entrance through the west head house with the elevators. In front is the Katyn Memorial, a reminder of the attempted Communist holocaust of the Poles.
These two following views are from approximately the same point. The brick/cream hotel in 2003 is on the site of the train terminal in 1903 but somewhat further out to the bulkhead line; the east head house cannot be seen in the 1903 image since it was integrated into the terminal. The Colgate Clock, "The Largest In the World", is now at street level just to the left of and outside the 2003 picture.
Looking westwards from the North River: the pink and cream east entry house to Exchange Place, as well as the station itself, was undamaged by the terrorist attacks and the aftermath.
The open and airy turnstile area of the east head house is in contrast to that more confined feeling of the west head house entry.
From the east head house a _ foot long triple escalator flanked by two stairways descends to the platforms.
At the foot of the escalator the broad east passenger cross tunnel connects to the two platforms.
At the west end of the station a narrower cross tunnel leads to the elevator exits in the west head house.
Train to the temporary terminal, Exchange Place pulls into the north tunnel ....
.... until November 23, 2003 when trains again began running through to the temporary WTC station.
Looking westwards from the north tunnel into the "Penn Pocket" and the junctions northwards to Pavonia Avenue and westwards to Grove Street.
Until the temporary station at the WTC opened in November 2003 Exchange Place functioned as a terminal. The sloppily executed EXPL addition to the car's sign board sticks out.
Grove Street has been modernized twice, leaving the original ornate capitals on the columns as bolted iron segments.
Grove Street in 1950 showing the stainless steel cladding of the columns and the indirect lighting of the station; this was the first - and only - station updated during the Hudson & Manhattan period. It has since been changed again to match the PA's uniformity plan.
A new entry pavillion for Grove Street was erected after the demolition of the Pennsylvania RR trestle which had been above it.
The Erie Railroad tunnelled through
Bergen Hill to its terminal on the North River where the Hudson Tubes
station was built. While the Pennsylvania cut was basically open and
shallow, and the Lackawanna cut was covered and deep, the Erie cut was
a mixture. In 2003 various plans were being argued for the future of
the cut.
After the Erie moved its operations over to the Lackawanna Terminal, its former main station rapidly decayed. This c. 1970 picture From the Joseph Korman Collection. shows the kiosks, reminiscent of the IRT's in Manhattan that lead down to the tube station.
1999 view of Pavonia/Newport Station [photographed by Wayne Whitehorn]
Two long, wide, curved passenger tunnels connect the platforms to the street at Pavonia Newport.
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The large crowds entering and leaving Pavonia
Newport. while the
downtown line was out of operation after the Islamic terrorist attacks
sped up plans to re-open the second passenger platform in September
2003. This view is on the newly re-opened platform, looking northwards
in the direction of Hoboken and the uptown junction. [Use
slider bar to see full panorama in the left window]
The restored passenger tunnels at Pavonia are decorate with contemporary mosaic designs.
Entering Pavonia station from the hotels and shopping center, the historical marker reminds you that Henry Hudson's Half Moon put in here.
The ventilation shaft at Pavonia Avenue stands in the center of Washington Boulevard.
The PA has begun installing Path Vision monitors on the platforms, such as here at Pavonia. The display gives general information about operations, delays, announcements, etc. but, most helpfully, also updates on the trains approaching the station. Not only can you see when the next train to any of the destinations served will arrive at Pavonia [or whichever station you happen to be at] but you also learn where the train going to 33rd Street now is, e.g. in Grove Street, and that the train to Hoboken is still in Harrison..
The long and narrow Christopher Street station now has only one exit/entrance .....
.... this winding stairway from Christopher Street's sole exit is theoretically wide enough for four people to stand abreast. This station and Ninth Street are each soon to have an additional exit.
The number of passengers at Christopher Street had been sharply rising the last few years; the closure of the downtown line after the terrorist attacks caused extreme overcrowding at this and all the other uptown stations. Plans for a second exit are being hurried through.
Two things set Christopher Street apart from the other Manhattan stations:
the ornate marqueed entry through its own building ...
... and its location in a residential neighborhood.
David Pirman's close up of the top of Christopher Street station displays the original Hudson & Manhattan name.
The Tubes were actually constructed as "tubes": a series of rounded segments, iron rings, bolted on to one another; the stations where this design can be seen most easily today are Christopher and Ninth Streets.
Ninth Street Station, just as Grove, Christopher and Erie, was a station where the tubular construction was most evident. Unfortunate refurbishment by the Port Authority not only obscured the original design but, more importantly, set up an aesthetic clash between the original curved design and the rectangular design of the refurbishment.
Ninth Street There is only one entrance / exit to the station, at the north end through this narrow serpentine tunnel .......
.... which debouches into this winding stairway before you reach street level.
Ninth Street As is the case with all the uptown stations, the entrance to the station is "discreet" and easily overlooked. In the original plan these station entrances were integrated into buildings, usually department stores or commercial structures.
This sketch shows the layout of the north end of Ninth Street Station with the beginning of the tunnel and trackage [over to teh IRT's Astor Place station] that was never completed. From Paul Carleton's Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Revisited
At 14th Street the station layout changes: side platforms with the tracks in the middle and separated from each other by a wall. The capitals here, as well as at 23rd and 19th and 28th, are generic, not displaying the name or symbol of the station.
19th Street, closed since 1955, as it looked when the Tubes went into service.
Twenty Third Street station, now a busy stop near the Flatiron tech area, exhibits the same simplified columns as at 14th Street.
Herald Square / Greeley Square: On the right is an entrance to the original 33rd Street station. At the end of the 1930s the Sixth Avenue El, on the left, was replaced by the Sixth Avenue IND whose construction led to a total rebuilding of the H&M station.
The same view 70 years later. The El is gone from 6th Avenue; the Tubes entrance has moved a few yards westwards to Sixth Avenue from its former location at Broadway which cuts across from right to left on its way uptown.
Schematic of 33rd Street in its original location. The BRT / BMT has been completed but not the IND and the H&M station does actually exit into 33rd Street. The location of the original station was that part of the current BMT concourse which has the direct exits to the shopping center that was formerly Gimbel's Department Store. [From the Terry Kennedy collection]
The "new" 33rd Street station is sandwiched between the IND and the BMT and there is a notable decline to reach the platforms from the mezzanine between the two NYC subway stations.
This image from the Wilbur Sherwood
Collection shows the Tubes' Park Place Station
in Newark. This original Tube station for Newark was replaced in
1937 by the Tube station inside Newark Pennsylvania Station as part of
the PRR's electrification program which also brought about the
demolition of
Manhattan Transfer (which most people
today know only as the novel
by John Dos Passos) and the construction of today's Harrison
station. On the right Public Service trolley 43 provides a competing
transportation service to Journal Square.
Harrison station consists of two simple open shedded platforms with the Amtrak / PRR tracks running bewteen the PATH / H&M tracks. Picture by Jon Bell
... and here a colored and retouched image of Park Place station.
Stairway from street level to the platforms of the Harrison Station.
Today the Tubes Newark station is integrated into Newark's Pennsylvania Station which is shared with Amtrak and NJTransit. Here a train coming westwards from Jersey City crosses the Passaic River and enters the station on the upper level...... [from the Kavanaugh Transit Collection]
... after discharging passengers it will run further westwards, reverse directions and pick passengers up on a lower level. Picture by Jon Bell
Hoboken is a stub end station with 2 tracks and three platforms. The two side platforms were designed to handle passengers leaving the trains, while the middle platform was designed for boarding passengers. A view of Hoboken just before the official opening of the Tubes....
... and here Hoboken 80 years later with K-Series cars.
Before the most recent refurbishment in Hoboken the original ornate capitals on the columns stood out even more clearly in this photo by Jason DeCesare.
A few years after the full refurbishment Hoboken received a change of color which it still bears in 2001
One of the entrance ways to Lackawanna Terminal in Hoboken, above the Tubes station. Note the reference to "Subway" as the designation for the Tubes upon their opening.
Opening and closing dates of the Tube stations in tabular form
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