1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Lackawanna Cut-Off
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The Lackawanna Cut-Off is a railroad line that was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911. The line was part of a 400-mile main line between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York, the Cut-Off ran west for 28. The Cut-Off also had no railroad crossings at the time of its construction, all but one of the lines 73 structures were built of reinforced concrete, a pioneering use of the material. The construction of the roadbed required the movement of millions of tons of material using techniques similar to those used on the Panama Canal. Conrail ceased operation of the Cut-Off in January 1979 and filed for abandonment of the line in 1983 and it removed the track in 1984, then sold the right-of-way to private developers. A partial restoration to Andover, New Jersey, is expected to be completed in late 2018, the lines origin involves two men who most likely never met, John I. Blair and William Truesdale. The 39-mile route had numerous curves that trains to 50 mph. As more and more traffic moved over the line, Oxford Tunnel became the Lackawanna Railroads worst bottleneck, Truesdale became DL&W president on March 2,1899 with a mandate to upgrade the entire 900-mile railroad. Early on, the focused on increasing freight capacity by using larger locomotives and cars. But by 1905 the railroad was looking to increase capacity. The most obvious place to start would the Old Road, during 1905-6,14 routes were surveyed, including several that would have required long tunnels. On September 1,1906, a route without tunnels was chosen, at 28.5 miles, the line would be about 11 mi shorter than the 39. 6-mile Old Road. The ruling grade was cut in half from 1. 1% to 0. 55%, the new line was also built without railroad crossings to avoid collisions with automobiles and horse-drawn vehicles. Construction officially began on August 1,1908, with the route divided into seven sections, sections 3-6 were 5 miles each, sections 1-2 and 7 were of varying lengths. The amount of work per mile varied, with Section 3, which included what would become Roseville Tunnel, DL&W chief engineer George G. Ray oversaw the project, although given the size and remote location of the project, Assistant Chief Engineer, F. L. Wheaton, was assigned the task of overseeing the construction in person, to accommodate the labor gangs, deserted farmhouses were converted to barracks, with tent camps providing additional shelter. These workers, many of whom came from Italy and other countries or other parts of the U. S. were recruited. Supervisory personnel and skilled laborers stayed in hotels, boarding houses, or in local farm houses
3.
Delaware River
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The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, not including Delaware Bay, the rivers length including its two branches is 388 miles. The Delaware River is one of nineteen Great Waters recognized by the Americas Great Waters Coalition, the Delaware River rises in two main branches that descend from the western flank of the Catskill Mountains in New York. The West Branch begins near Mount Jefferson in the Town of Jefferson in Schoharie County, the rivers East Branch begins at Grand Gorge near Roxbury Delaware County. These two branches flow west and merge near Hancock in Delaware County and the waters flow as the Delaware River south. The river meets tide-water at the junction of Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, the rivers navigable, tidal section served as a conduit for shipping and transportation that aided the development of the industrial cities of Trenton, Camden, and Philadelphia. The mean freshwater discharge of the Delaware River into the estuary of Delaware Bay is 11,550 cubic feet per second, in 1609, the river was first visited by a Dutch East India Company expedition led by Henry Hudson. Hudson, an English navigator, was hired to find a route to Cathay. Early Dutch and Swedish settlements were established along the section of river. Both colonial powers called the river the South River, compared to the Hudson River, lord de la Warr waged a punitive campaign to subdue the Powhatan after they had killed the colonys council president, John Ratcliffe, and attacked the colonys fledgling settlements. Lord de la Warr arrived with 150 soldiers in time to prevent colonys original settlers at Jamestown from giving up, the name of barony is pronounced as in the current spelling form Delaware and is thought to derive from French de la Guerre. It has often reported that the river and bay received the name Delaware after English forces under Richard Nicolls expelled the Dutch. However, the river and bay were known by the name Delaware as early as 1641, the state of Delaware was originally part of the William Penns Pennsylvania colony. In 1682, the Duke of York granted Penns request for access to the sea and leased him the territory along the western shore of Delaware Bay which became known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware. The Delaware Rivers watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles and encompasses 42 counties and 838 municipalities in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. This total area constitutes approximately 0. 4% of the mass in the United States. In 2001, the watershed was 18% agricultural land, 14% developed land, there are 216 tributary streams and creeks—an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks—in the watershed. The waters of the Delaware Rivers basin are used to fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation
4.
Interstate 80 in New Jersey
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Interstate 80 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from the New York City Metropolitan Area westward to San Francisco, California. The New Jersey Department of Transportation also identifies I-80 as the Christopher Columbus Highway, I-80 in New Jersey runs 68.54 miles from the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge over the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap to its eastern terminus at I-95 in Teaneck, Bergen County. Throughout New Jersey, I-80 runs parallel to US46, the highway heads through rural areas of Warren and Sussex counties before heading into more suburban surroundings in Morris County. As the road continues into Passaic and Bergen counties, it heads into urban areas. A freeway along the I-80 corridor had been planned in 1936, with the establishment of the Interstate Highway System, this planned freeway, which had been identified in some planning documents as the Bergen-Passaic Expressway, would be incorporated into I-80. The freeway was built across New Jersey in various stages from the 1960s to 1973, the westernmost four miles in New Jersey was originally a rerouting of US611 when built, that route was later realigned back into Pennsylvania. In the 1990s, high-occupancy vehicle lanes had existed on a part of I-80 in Morris County but were opened to traffic due to underuse. The Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge and its approach is planned to be widened from four to six lanes, I-80 enters Hardwick Township, Warren County from Pennsylvania on the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge over the Delaware River, maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. In addition to carrying I-80, this also carries the Appalachian Trail over the Delaware River. From this point, the freeway heads south along the east bank of the river through the Delaware Water Gap, immediately reaching a westbound exit. Now maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the road makes a turn to the east. The highway heads south again and enters Knowlton Township, where it comes to another set of U-turn ramps that also includes a station in the eastbound direction. After turning southeast and leaving the Delaware Water Gap, the road has a westbound right-in/right-out for Hainesburg Road before crossing under the abandoned Lackawanna Cutoff. I-80 widens to six lanes and reaches an interchange with the western terminus of US46, Route 94, and Decatur Street in Columbia. A scenic overlook of the Delaware Water Gap is located in the direction while a rest area is located in the eastbound direction. Upon crossing into Blairstown Township, the eastbound direction narrows down to three lanes, in Hope Township, I-80 reaches an interchange with CR521 that also provides access to CR519 and the Land of Make Believe amusement park. The highway widens to eight lanes briefly after this interchange before narrowing to six lanes, in Frelinghuysen Township, the freeway carries four lanes eastbound and three lanes westbound. Upon coming into Allamuchy Township, I-80 has six lanes before gaining a fourth lane as it comes to the CR517 exit
5.
Portland, Pennsylvania
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Portland is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Portland is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state and it is part of Pennsylvanias Slate Belt. It is located on the border with New Jersey, the population of Portland was 579 at the 2000 census. Portland is located at 40°55′14″N 75°5′52″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.6 square miles, of which,0.5 square miles of it is land and 0.1 square miles of it is water. Portland was settled because of the trade and what buildings were here in the early 19th century came as a result of this industry. It served to increase at least one business – that of the taverns, records show that the Hibblertown Hotel, the Dill’s Tavern and the What Cheer Inn all prospered because of loggers. The railroad was a force in the development of Portland. It changed the mode of transporting goods, and attracted new residents. As a result of increased population, the community expanded to serve the needs of the village. By the time of the incorporation there were three stores, a hardware store, a drug store, four confectionery shops, two millinery shops, and jewelry store. Portland had a newspaper, the “Portland Enterprise. ”This weekly paper. Raymond, gave the people on both sides of the all the news. Coe Finch took over the paper in the 1880s and continued until John Wildrick became editor in 1900, the financial center of Portland and vicinity was the Portland National Bank. It was organized on February 7,1903, and received its charter as a Federal bank on March 11,1903 and it served the Portland area continuously except for a period during 1932 when it closed its doors under the pressure of the Great Depression. The population of the Portland community has remained stable during most of the past one hundred years, since the business community exists essentially to serve the townspeople, it too has remained constant. However, it has kept pace with the changing times, the number of businesses has not varied, but the types have changed to keep pace with modern times. The Delaware River provided easy transport, at first only the Indians skimmed their canoes over its surface, but by the mid-18th century, rafts were in use during spring floods. As late as 1870, the river near Portland would be full of rafts as far was the eye could see, rafting started to wane in the 1880s because railroads had reached the lumbering country
6.
Reinforced concrete
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The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. Reinforcing schemes are designed to resist tensile stresses in particular regions of the concrete that might cause unacceptable cracking and/or structural failure. Modern reinforced concrete can contain varied reinforcing materials made of steel, Reinforced concrete may also be permanently stressed, so as to improve the behaviour of the final structure under working loads. In the United States, the most common methods of doing this are known as pre-tensioning and post-tensioning, durability in the concrete environment, irrespective of corrosion or sustained stress for example. François Coignet was a French industrialist of the century, a pioneer in the development of structural. Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete as a technique for constructing building structures, in 1853 Coignet built the first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four story house at 72 rue Charles Michels in the suburbs of Paris. Coignets descriptions of reinforcing concrete suggests that he did not do it for means of adding strength to the concrete, in 1854, English builder William B. Wilkinson reinforced the concrete roof and floors in the two-storey house he was constructing. His positioning of the reinforcement demonstrated that, unlike his predecessors, in 1877, Monier was granted another patent for a more advanced technique of reinforcing concrete columns and girders with iron rods placed in a grid pattern. Though Monier undoubtedly knew reinforcing concrete would improve its inner cohesion, before 1877 the use of concrete construction, though dating back to the Roman Empire and reintroduced in the mid to late 1800s, was not yet a proven scientific technology. His work played a role in the evolution of concrete construction as a proven. Without Hyatts work, more dangerous trial and error methods would have largely depended on for the advancement in the technology. G. A. Wayss was a German civil engineer and a pioneer of the iron, in 1879 Wayss bought the German rights to Moniers patents and in 1884 started the first commercial use for reinforced concrete in his firm Wayss & Freytag. Up until the 1890s Wayss and his firm greatly contributed to the advancement of Moniers system of reinforcing, ernest L. Ransome was an English-born engineer and early innovator of the reinforced concrete techniques in the end of the 19th century. With the knowledge of reinforced concrete developed during the previous 50 years, ransomes key innovation was to twist the reinforcing steel bar improving bonding with the concrete. Gaining increasing fame from his concrete constructed buildings Ransome was able to build two of the first reinforced concrete bridges in North America, one of the first concrete buildings constructed in the United States, was a private home, designed by William Ward in 1871. The home was designed to be fireproof for his wife, one of the first skyscrapers made with reinforced concrete was the 16-storey Ingalls Building in Cincinnati, constructed in 1904. Many different types of structures and components of structures can be built using reinforced concrete including slabs, walls, beams, columns, foundations, frames, Reinforced concrete can be classified as precast or cast-in-place concrete. Designing and implementing the most efficient floor system is key to creating optimal building structures, small changes in the design of a floor system can have significant impact on material costs, construction schedule, ultimate strength, operating costs, occupancy levels and end use of a building
7.
Abraham Burton Cohen
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Cohen was an active member of the American Concrete Institute and earned ACIs Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper in 1927. Cohen was born in Chicago and died in East Orange, New Jersey and he earned a degree in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1905 and an honorary doctorate in 1949. Cohen spent a majority of his career with the Delaware, Lackawanna, as a consulting engineer, he designed a number of concrete spans in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Binghamton, New York, and elsewhere. At least two of his works, the Tunkhannock Viaduct and Scrantons Harrison Avenue Bridge, are on the National Register of Historic Places and he died on February 11,1956. Correlated Considerations in Design and Construction of Concrete Bridges, in American Concrete Institute Proceedings, vol. Progress and Development of Concrete Work on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, in American Concrete Institute Proceedings, vol. In American Concrete Institute Proceedings, vol, repairs to Spruce Street Bridge, Scranton, Pennsylvania. In American Concrete Institute Proceedings, vol, in American Concrete Institute Proceedings, vol. Abraham Burton Cohen information at Structurae
8.
Delaware Water Gap
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The Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U. S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. A water gap is a feature where a river cuts through a mountain ridge. The Delaware Water Gap began to form 500 million years ago when quartz pebbles from mountains in the area were deposited in a shallow sea. The Martinsburg Shale on the side of what was to be Kittatinny Mountain was uplifted 450 million years ago when a chain of volcanic islands collided with proto-North America. These islands slid over the North American plate, and deposited rock on top of plate, forming the Highlands, about 400 million years ago, a small, narrow continent collided with proto-North America. The heat from the pressure melted the quartzite, which allowed it to bend the quartz pebbles and this layer was then uplifted and cracked over thousands of years. During this period, the Delaware River slowly cut its path down through the shattered and cracked quartzite, if the quartzite had not been cracked, the river would not have been able to cut its path through the mountain to form the gap. Millions of years of rain, ice, snow, and wind erosion shaped the area, the Wisconsin glaciation, which occurred between 21,000 B. C. and 13,000 B. C. covered the entire Kittatinny Ridge and ended near Belvidere. When the glaciers retreated, the gap which was already there assumed its present form, the mountain consists of Silurian Shawangunk conglomerate. This is gray quartzite, which makes the mountain highly resistant to weathering, the Silurian High Fall formation of sandstone is on the western side of the gap near the base. The eastern side of the gap has Ordovician Martinsburg shale, sedimentary rock is along the river. The Bloomsburg Red Beds, a red shale, are at the gap under Dunsfield Creek, the Delaware Water Gap is about 300 meters across at river level and 1,400 meters wide at the top. The river through the gap is 283 feet above sea level, the ridge of the Appalachians that the Delaware crosses is called the Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania and the Kittatinny Ridge in New Jersey. This is the first major ridge of the Appalachian mountains, the New Jersey mountain is Mount Tammany, named after the Native American Chief Tamanend. The Pennsylvania mountain is Mount Minsi, named after the Native American tribe of the area, the summit of Tammany is 1,540 ft above sea level. A northern deciduous forest cloaks the slopes of the Delaware Water Gap, hardwood species comprising the forest include various oaks, hickories, maples, ash, elm, cherry, walnut, birch, sycamore, and beech. Coniferous species include Eastern White Pine, Pitch Pine, Eastern Red Cedar, black bear, whitetailed deer, gray squirrels, red squirrels, raccoons, gray fox, fisher, and chipmunks are some of the forest species of the area. Shad migrate up the river through the gap in the spring, other fish include bass, trout, carp, and walleye
9.
Paulinskill Viaduct
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The Paulinskill Viaduct, also known as the Hainesburg Viaduct, is a reinforced concrete railroad bridge that crosses the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township, New Jersey. When completed in 1910, it was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world, the E-L in turn operated the Cut-Off until 1976 when the railroad was conveyed into Conrail, which ran trains until 1979, abandoned the line in 1982, and removed the tracks in 1984. NJT has proposed to restore the rest of the Cut-Off, including the Paulinskill Viaduct, the Paulinskill Viaduct is also known for its internal chambers, which are popular among those who enjoy urban exploration. The graffiti-filled chambers have been featured on Weird NJ, Taber, Thomas Townsend, Taber, Thomas Townsend III. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century, casey, Robert J. Douglas, W. A. S. The Lackawanna Story - The First Hundred Years of the Delaware, Lackawanna, the Wonders of Paulinskill Viaduct at weirdnj. com Paulinskill Viaduct at Structurae
10.
Interstate 80
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Interstate 80 is a transcontinental limited-access highway in the United States that runs from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the routes of the Interstate Highway System. Its final segment was opened to traffic in 1986 and it is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following I-90. I-80 is the Interstate Highway that most closely approximates the route of the historic Lincoln Highway, from near Chicago east to near Youngstown, Ohio, I-80 is a toll road, containing the majority of both the Indiana Toll Road and the Ohio Turnpike. I-80 runs concurrently with I-90 from near Portage, Indiana, to Elyria, in Pennsylvania, I-80 is known as the Keystone Shortway, a non-tolled freeway that crosses rural north-central portions of the state on the way to New Jersey and New York City. I-80 begins at an interchange with U. S. Route 101 in San Francisco and it then heads northeast through Vallejo, Sacramento, and the Sierra Nevada mountains before crossing into Nevada. A portion of the route through Pinole involved the experimental transplantation of the rare species Santa Cruz tarweed in the right-of-way, in Nevada, I-80 traverses the northern portion of the state. The Nevada portion of I-80 follows the paths of the Truckee and Humboldt rivers, the Interstate also follows the historical routes of the California Trail, First Transcontinental Railroad, and Feather River Route throughout portions of the state. I-80 in Nevada closely follows, and at points directly overlaps, the original route of the Victory Highway, State Route 1. After crossing Utahs western border in Wendover, I-80 crosses the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats west of the Great Salt Lake, the longest stretch between exits on an Interstate Highway is located between Wendover and Knolls, with 37.4 miles between those exits. This portion of I-80, crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert, is flat and straight, dotted with large warning signs about driver fatigue. It ascends Parleys Canyon and passes within a few miles of Park City as it follows a route through the mountains towards the junction with the terminus of the western section of I-84. From the junction it continues up Echo Canyon and on towards the border with Wyoming, the route of the Utah section of I-80 is defined in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-113. In Wyoming, I-80 reaches its maximum elevation of 8,640 feet above sea level at Sherman Summit, near Buford, farther west in Wyoming, the Interstate passes through the dry Red Desert and over the Continental Divide. I-80 enters Nebraska west of Bushnell, the western portion of I-80 in Nebraska runs very close to the state of Colorado, without entering the state. The intersection of I-76 and I-80 is visible from the Colorado–Nebraska state line, from its intersection with I-76 to Grand Island, I-80 lies in the valley of the South Platte River and the Platte River. Along this length, the road does not vary from a straight line by more than a few yards. After Lincoln, I-80 turns northeast towards Omaha and it then crosses the Missouri River in Omaha to enter the state of Iowa
11.
Lackawanna Old Road
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The Lackawanna Old Road was part of the original mainline of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Opened in 1856, it was for a half-century a part of the line connecting the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1911, the DL&W cut 11 miles off the route by opening the Lackawanna Cut-Off, the 39. 6-mile stretch of existing track between these junctions was relegated to secondary status and became known as the Old Road. The Old Road involves one railroad tycoon and four railroads, the DL&W, the Jersey Central, the Morris & Essex Railroad, expensive to build, the Warren required three large bridges, two tunnels, and much excavation before it opened in 1856. In 1862, Oxford Tunnel opened, relieving trains of a slow, the new tunnel, however, did not prevent the collapse of the planned DL&W-CNJ merger. The M&E quickly emerged as the replacement for the CNJ. But this time, there would be no connecting line between the merger partners. Instead, the DL&W forged a route out of existing lines, including 20 miles of the Phillipsburg Branch,14 miles of the Warren Railroad. By the 1890s, the larger locomotives and rolling stock had trouble fitting through the tunnel. In 1901, the railroad installed gauntlet track in the tunnel, with the opening of the Cut-Off in 1911, the line became known as the Old Road, relegated to a branch line for local freight shipments. It still saw the occasional through train when Cut-Off traffic was heavy, the effects of Hurricane Diane caused record flooding along the Delaware River and forced DL&W to reroute trains over part the Old Road. The Old Road was the site of the DL&Ws most infamous train wreck, at Rockport, New Jersey, the train struck debris washed onto a road crossing by a heavy thunderstorm. The train derailed, and killed 47 passengers and three trainmen, in 1995, on the 70th anniversary of the wreck, a stone and plaque was erected at the Rockport crossing to remember the lives lost. In April 1970, the Erie Lackawanna Railway abandoned the Delaware-Washington, Conrail assumed EL operations in 1976. In 1982, NJ Transit assumed operation of the trackage between Port Morris Junction and Netcong for commuter service, Port Morris Junction ceased to exist in 1984 when Conrail abandoned the Cut-Off. Warren County removed remaining bridges and abutments over the several years. S. The steel bridge across the Delaware River near Delaware, N. J. retains the eastbound track but is no longer in use, in 2011, Port Morris Junction was re-established to serve the Lackawanna Cut-Off project
12.
NJ Transit
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NJT also acts as a purchasing agency for many private operators in New Jersey, with numerous private operators receiving equipment from NJT for route service within the state not controlled by NJT. NJT was founded on July 17,1979, an offspring of the New Jersey Department of Transportation and it came into being with the passage of the Public Transportation Act of 1979 to acquire, operate, and contract for transportation service in the public interest. NJT originally acquired and managed a number of bus services, one of the largest being those operated by the states largest electric company. It gradually acquired most of the bus services. In northern New Jersey, many of the bus routes are arranged in a web, in southern New Jersey, most routes are arranged in a spoke-and-hub fashion, with routes emanating from Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City. Since inception, rail ridership has quadrupled, in the 1990s the rail system expanded, with new Midtown Direct service to New York City and new equipment. On October 21,2001, it opened a new station at Newark Liberty International Airport, on October 31,2005, NJT took over Clocker service from Amtrak. Four new trains were added to the schedule, but cut back to Trenton, during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the rail operations center of NJ Transit was flooded by 8 feet of water and an emergency generator submerged. Floodwater damaged at least 65 locomotive engines and 257 rail cars, the Governor of New Jersey appoints a seven-member Board of Directors, four members from the general public and three State officials. The Governor has veto power on decisions made by the board, for buses around Trenton, and NJ Transit Rail Operations, Inc. for commuter rail. NJT operates 871 bus routes using 2,477 buses and the Newark Light Rail with 20 light rail vehicles, the bus fleet includes buses purchased for other New Jersey operators above the 2,477. The fleet consists of 52 Kinki Sharyo electric light rail vehicles owned by NJT, Newark Light Rail – two segments serving Newark and the surrounding area. The Newark City Subway has 12 stops, is 4.3 miles long, connecting Newark Penn Station to North Newark, the Broad Street Extension has five stops, is 1.0 mile long, and connects Newark Penn Station to Newark Broad Street Station. The fleet consists of 21 Kinki Sharyo electric light rail vehicles owned and operated by the Central Division of NJT Bus Operations. River Line – a 21-stop 34 miles line from Trenton to Camden along the Delaware River, mostly along the Bordentown Secondary line formerly owned by Conrail, the fleet consists of 20 Stadler GTW diesel light rail vehicles owned by NJT and operated under contract by Bombardier Transportation. NJT operates over 100 diesel locomotives, of which 11 are supplied by Metro-North Railroad as part of an agreement for the Port Jervis Line. It has over 650 push-pull cars, of which 65 are supplied by Metro-North, the New Jersey Transit Police Department is the transit police force for NJT. It is a police agency with statewide jurisdiction with the primary focus on policing the numerous bus depots, rail
13.
Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project
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The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail line in northwest New Jersey. Its current Phase 1 will extend NJ Transits commuter rail service from Port Morris Junction 7.3 miles to Andover and this phase is technically in progress but on hold, with environmental issues delaying the restart of construction in 2017, with service to begin two years after that. Later phases would rebuild the tracks across the remainder of the Cut-Off and extend service into northeastern Pennsylvania, the EL initially shifted most freight traffic away from the Cut-Off, though it continued to run passenger trains over the line. In the early 1970s, freight traffic was revived on the line after the closure of a key junction with the Penn Central in Maybrook, New York. But the conveyance of EL into Conrail on April 1,1976, gave Conrail excess east–west trackage, efforts to preserve the Cut-Off began almost immediately upon the routes closing. In November 1979, Amtrak operated a train between Hoboken and Scranton to investigate intercity rail service between the two cities. Dubbed the Pocono Mountain Special, the train left Hoboken and ran west on the Morristown Line on November 13,1979, reaching Port Morris shortly after 9 a. m. With the main line severed at Port Morris Junction, the special train detoured through Port Morris Yard, ran over Port Morris Wye, the train ran to Scranton, where it was met by a group of political dignitaries. It was the last passenger train in the twentieth century —, the idea of Hoboken–Scranton service faded as Amtrak faced funding shortfalls and the need for significant track and station repairs in order to run passenger service on the line. The 133-mile inspection trip marked the end of one era, and the beginning of another, in the beginning, finding an operator for the line was less pressing than preserving the track and right-of-way itself. Several attempts were made to purchase the line from Conrail, which was concerned that a competitor that might try to restore service on the route. The Sussex County Freeholder Board in New Jersey pursued such a purchase, the Monroe County Railroad Authority in Pennsylvania also got involved, and nearly reached a deal to buy the 88-mile section of track between Port Morris and Scranton for $6.5 million. The agreement stipulated that the operator would repay the loan from operational revenue. This allowed Conrail to abandon the Cut-Off almost immediately, a New Jersey Department of Transportation priority list of rail projects at the time listed the Cut-Off as Number 26 in a list of unfunded capital projects. Conrail eventually relented and agreed not to sever the line between Slateford and Scranton, with all regulatory and political hurdles removed in New Jersey, however, Conrail began lifting track on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River Viaduct on June 8,1984. Even as this was taking place, Morris County Transportation Department director Frank Reilly made last-ditch attempts to track removal in New Jersey. In addition, the dismantling was hampered by saboteurs who replaced railroad spikes removed by the crew and these efforts proved to be in vain as the last mainline trackage was removed from the Cut-Off at Port Morris on October 5,1984. Wooden ties and rock ballast were left in place, which was unusual since Conrails standard abandonment practice involved removing all components when dismantling a railroad
14.
Scranton, Pennsylvania
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Scranton is the sixth-largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania behind Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie and Reading. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County in Northeastern Pennsylvanias Wyoming Valley, with a population of 77,118, it is the largest city in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of about 570,000. Scranton was incorporated on February 14,1856, as a borough in Luzerne County and it became a major industrial city, a center of mining and railroads, and attracted thousands of new immigrants. It was the site of the Scranton General Strike in 1877, people in northern Luzerne County began to seek a new county in 1839 but the Wilkes-Barre area resisted losing its assets. Lackawanna County did not gain independent status until 1878, under legislation allowing the issue to be voted by residents of the proposed territory, voters favored the new county by a proportion of 6 to 1, with Scranton residents providing the major support. The city was designated as the county seat when Lackawanna County was established in 1878, the city took its first step toward earning its reputation as the Electric City when electric lights were introduced in 1880 at Dickson Locomotive Works. Six years later, the nations first streetcars powered exclusively by electricity began operating in the city, rev. David Spencer, a local Baptist minister, later proclaimed Scranton as the Electric City. Present-day Scranton and its area had been long inhabited by the native Lenape tribe. In 1778, Isaac Tripp, the areas first known European-American settler, built his home here, it stands in North Scranton. More settlers from Connecticut came to the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries after the American Revolutionary War and they gradually established mills and other small businesses in a village that became known as Slocum Hollow. People in the village during this time carried the traits and the accent of their New England settlers, though anthracite coal was being mined in Carbondale to the north and Wilkes-Barre to the south, the industries that precipitated the citys early rapid growth were iron and steel. It initially started producing nails, but that venture failed due to low-quality iron. The Erie Railroads construction in New York State was delayed by its having to iron rails as imports from England. The Scrantons firm decided to focus to producing T-rails for the Erie. In 1851, the Scrantons built the Lackawanna and Western Railroad northward, with recent Irish immigrants supplying most of the labor, to meet the Erie Railroad in Great Bend, thus they could transport manufactured rails from the Lackawanna Valley to New York and the Midwest. They also invested in mining operations in the city to fuel their steel operations. In 1856, they expanded the railroad eastward as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and this railroad, with its hub in Scranton, would be Scrantons largest employer for almost one hundred years. The Pennsylvania Coal Company built a gravity railroad in the 1850s through the city for the purpose of transporting coal, the gravity railroad was replaced by a steam railroad built in 1886 by the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad
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Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
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The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company was a U. S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, incorporated in 1853, the DL&W was profitable during the first two decades of the twentieth century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining traffic in coal and competition from trucks. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, the Liggetts Gap Railroad was incorporated on April 7,1832, but stayed dormant for many years. It was chartered on March 14,1849, and organized January 2,1850, on April 14,1851, its name was changed to the Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The line, running north from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Great Bend, just south of the New York state line, opened on December 20,1851. From Great Bend the L&W obtained trackage rights north and west over the New York and Erie Rail Road to Owego, New York, where it leased the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad to Ithaca on Cayuga Lake. The C&S was a re-organized and partially re-built Ithaca and Owego Railroad, which had opened on April 1,1834, and was the oldest part of the DL&W system. The whole system was built to 6 ft broad gauge, the same as the New York and Erie, although the original I&O was built to standard gauge and converted to wide gauge when re-built as the C&S. The Delaware and Cobbs Gap Railroad was chartered December 4,1850 and that section got its name from Warren County, the county through which it would primarily run. The rest of the line, now known as the Southern Division, opened on May 27,1856, a third rail was added to the standard gauge Central Railroad of New Jersey east of Hampton to allow the DL&W to run east to Elizabeth via trackage rights. On December 10,1868, the DL&W bought the Morris and this line ran east-west across northern New Jersey, crossing the Warren Railroad at Washington and providing access to Jersey City without depending on the CNJ. The M&E tunnel under Bergen Hill opened in 1876, also relieving it of its use of the New York, Lake Erie, along with the M&E lease came several branch lines in New Jersey, including the Boonton Line, which bypassed Newark for through freight. The DL&W bought the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad in 1869 and leased the Oswego and this gave it a branch from Binghamton north and northwest via Syracuse to Oswego, a port on Lake Ontario. The Greene Railroad was organized in 1869, opened in 1870, also in 1870 the DL&W leased the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railway, continuing this branch north to Utica, with a branch from Richfield Junction to Richfield Springs. The Valley Railroad was organized March 3,1869, to connect the end of the line at Great Bend, Pennsylvania to Binghamton, New York. The new line opened October 1,1871, by 1873, the DL&W controlled the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, a branch from Scranton southwest to Northumberland. On March 15,1876, the system was re-gauged to standard gauge in one day. The New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was chartered August 26,1880, the main line ran to the International Bridge to Ontario, and a branch served downtown Buffalo
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Tunkhannock Viaduct
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Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct is a concrete deck arch bridge that spans Tunkhannock Creek in Nicholson, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the bridge is owned today by Norfolk Southern and is used daily for regular freight service. The contractor was Flickwir & Bush, including general manager F. M. Talbot, construction on the bridge began in May 1912 by excavating all 11 bridge piers to bedrock, which was up to 138 feet below ground. In total, excavation for the viaduct removed 13,318,000 cubic yards of material, almost half of the bulk of the bridge is underground. The steel estimate proved accurate, the bridge used a bit less concrete than expected,167,000 cubic yards. The bridge was dedicated on November 6,1915, along with the opening of the Nicholson Cutoff, construction photos along with a short history of the bridge were published by the Nicholson Area Library in a brochure in 1976. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11,1977, since 1990, the local community has celebrated the building of the bridge on the second Sunday of September with Nicholson Bridge Day, a street fair, parade, and other activities. The 100th-anniversary celebration was held in September 2015, Lackawanna cutoff List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Plowden, David. Bridges, The Spans of North America, Taber, Thomas Townsend, Taber, Thomas Townsend III. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century, ASCE History and Heritage of Civil Engineering. PA-87, Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, Tunkhannock Viaduct,10 photos,2 data pages,1 photo caption page NicholsonBridge
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Cant (road/rail)
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The cant of a railway track or camber of a road is the rate of change in elevation between the two rails or edges. On railways, cant helps a train steer around a curve, keeping the wheel flanges from touching the rails, minimising friction and wear. However, it may be necessary to select a value at design time. Generally the aim is for trains to run without flange contact, allowance has to be made for the different speeds of trains. Slower trains will tend to make contact with the inner rail on curves, while faster trains will tend to ride outwards. Either contact causes wear and tear and may lead to derailment, many high-speed lines do not permit slower freight trains, particularly with heavier axle loads. In some cases, the impact is reduced by the use of flange lubrication, ideally, the track should have sleepers at a closer spacing and a greater depth of ballast to accommodate the increased forces exerted in the curve. At the ends of a curve, the amount of cant cannot change from zero to its maximum immediately and it must change gradually in a track transition curve. The length of the transition depends on the maximum allowable speed—the higher the speed, the greater length is required. For the United States standard maximum unbalanced superelevation of 75 mm, for high-speed railways in Europe, maximum cant is 180 mm. Track unbalanced superelevation in the United States is restricted to 75 mm, though 102 mm is permissible by waiver. The maximum value for European railways varies by country, some of which have curves with over 280 mm of unbalanced superelevation to permit high-speed transportation, the highest values are only for tilting trains, because it would be too uncomfortable for passengers. This follows simply from a balance weight, centrifugal force and normal force. In the approximation it is assumed that the cant is small compared to the gauge of the track. In a formula this becomes v m a x ≈ r g w = g d w with d =1 / r the curvature of the track, in the United States, maximum speed is subject to specific rules. In Australia, ARTC is increasing speed around curves sharper than an 800-metre radius by replacing wooden sleepers with concrete ones so that the cant can be increased, the rails themselves are now usually canted inwards by about 10 to 5 per cent. In 1925 about 15 of 36 major American railways had adopted this practice, in civil engineering, cant is often referred to as cross slope or camber. It helps rainwater drain from the road surface, along straight or gently curved sections, the middle of the road is normally higher than the edges. This is called normal crown and helps shed rainwater off the sides of the road, on more severe bends, the outside edge of the curve is raised, or superelevated, to help vehicles around the curve
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Conrail
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Conrail, formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. Conrail is a portmanteau of consolidated and rail from the name of the company, the Federal Government created Conrail to take over the potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway. With the benefit of regulatory requirements being reduced, Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was turned over to private investors in 1987. Following Surface Transportation Board approval, CSX and NS took control in August 1998, the old company remains a jointly-owned subsidiary, with CSX and NS owning respectively 42 percent and 58 percent of its stock, corresponding to how much of Conrails assets they acquired. Each parent, however, has a voting interest. The primary asset retained by Conrail is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Detroit, both CSX and NS have the right to serve all shippers in these areas, paying Conrail for the cost of maintaining and improving trackage. They also make use of Conrail to perform switching and terminal services within the areas, Conrail also retains various support facilities including maintenance-of-way and training, as well as a 51 percent share in the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. In the years leading to 1973, the railroad system of the United States was collapsing. Its largest Eastern railroad, the Penn Central Railroad, had declared bankruptcy in 1970, at its lowest point, PC was losing over $1 million a day and trains were becoming lost all over the railroad. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged the rundown Northeast railway network and threatened the solvency of other railroads, in mid-1973, officials with the bankrupt Penn Central threatened to liquidate and cease operations by years end if they did not receive government aid by October 1. This threat to U. S. freight and passenger traffic galvanized the Congress to quickly create a bill to nationalize the bankrupt railroads, the Association of American Railroads, which opposed nationalization, submitted an alternate proposal for a government-funded private company. Judge Fullam forced the Penn Central to operate into 1974, when, on January 2, after threatening a veto, President Richard Nixon signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The 3R Act, as it was called, provided funding to the bankrupt railroads. The USRA was incorporated February 1,1974, and Edward G. Jordan, arthur D. Lewis of Eastern Air Lines was appointed chairman April 30, and the remainder of the board was named May 30 and sworn in July 11. Under the 3R Act, the USRA was to create a Final System Plan to decide which lines should be included in the new Consolidated Rail Corporation, unlike most railroad consolidations, only the designated lines were to be taken over. Other lines would be sold to Amtrak, various governments, transportation agencies. Controlled railroads and jointly owned railroads such as Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, the EL had been formed in 1960 as a merger of the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. It too was bankrupt, but was somewhat stronger financially than the others and it was ruled reorganizable under Chapter 77 on April 30,1974, but on January 9,1975, with no end to its losses in sight, its trustees reconsidered and asked for inclusion
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Andover, New Jersey
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Andover is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. Andover was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 25,1904, the borough was named for Andover, Hampshire, England. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had an area of 1.471 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 606 people,241 households, the population density was 417.3 per square mile. There were 263 housing units at a density of 181.1 per square mile. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 59% of the population,22. 8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the family size was 2.91. In the borough, the population was out with 21. 1% under the age of 18,7. 6% from 18 to 24,28. 7% from 25 to 44,30. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40.4 years, for every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 100.8 males, the Census Bureaus 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that median household income was $67,000 and the median family income was $78,889. Males had an income of $54,583 versus $41,667 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $34,262, about 6. 7% of families and 12. 7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21. 3% of those under age 18 and 0. 0% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2000 United States Census there were 658 people,261 households, the population density was 451.9 people per square mile. There were 273 housing units at a density of 187.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 92. 71% White,2. 28% African American,0. 76% Native American,2. 28% Asian,0. 15% Pacific Islander,1. 22% from other races, and 0. 61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 58% of the population,24. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the family size was 2.98. In the borough the population was out with 21. 7% under the age of 18,7. 6% from 18 to 24,35. 3% from 25 to 44,25. 5% from 45 to 64
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Heritage Documentation Programs
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These programs were established to document historic places in the United States. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports, in 1933, NPS established the Historic American Buildings Survey following a proposal by Charles E. Peterson, a young landscape architect in the agency. It was founded as a constructive program for architects, draftsmen. Guided by field instructions from Washington, D. C. the first HABS recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of Americas architectural heritage, by creating an archive of historic architecture, HABS provided a database of primary source material and documentation for the then-fledgling historic preservation movement. Earlier private projects included the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs, notable HABS photographers include Jack Boucher, who worked for the project for over 40 years. The Historic American Engineering Record program was founded on January 10,1969, by NPS, HAER documents historic mechanical and engineering artifacts. Since the advent of HAER, the program is typically called HABS/HAER. Today much of the work of HABS/HAER is done by student teams during the summer, eric DeLony headed HAER from 1971 to 2003. In October 2000, NPS and the American Society of Landscape Architects established a sister program, a predecessor, the Historic American Landscape and Garden Project, recorded historic Massachusetts gardens between 1935 and 1940. That project was funded by the Works Progress Administration, but was administered by HABS, the permanent collection of HABS/HAER/HALS are housed at the Library of Congress, which was established in 1790 as the replacement reference library of the United States Congress. It has since expanded to serve as the National Library of the United States, U. S. publishers are required to deposit a copy of every copyrighted and published work, book monograph. As a branch of the United States Government, its works are in the public domain in the US. Many images, drawings, and documents are available through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, including proposed, demolished, and existing structures, locales, projects, and designs. Jack Boucher, former HABS/HAER photographer Jet Lowe, former HAER photographer National Register of Historic Places HAER,30 Years of Recording Our Technological Heritage, IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. Documenting Complexity, The Historic American Engineering Record and Americas Technological History, IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. National Park Service−NPS, official Heritage Documentation Programs website
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Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge
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The bridge was built by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The 2, 465-foot -long bridge is a multiple span dual roadway with a plate structure. The roadways are 28 feet wide each and separated from each other by a concrete Jersey barrier, the facility opened to the public on December 16,1953, at ceremonies attended by Governor of Pennsylvania John S. Fine and Governor of New Jersey Alfred E. Driscoll. The bridge carried US611 for four miles in New Jersey to a connection with Route 94, i-80 was routed onto the bridge in 1959. There is a sidewalk on the south side of the New Jersey-bound section of the bridge. The pedestrian walkway on the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge connects Pennsylvanias northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail with New Jerseys southern end. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area straddles both sides of the river near the bridge, Worthington State Forest is located along the bridges New Jersey side. A six-lane toll plaza, one of which is E-ZPass only, is located on the Pennsylvania side of the bridge, the toll for automobiles is $1.00. An E-ZPass Commuter 40% discount is available to those making 20 or more trips in 35 days, list of crossings of the Delaware River Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge at the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission website Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge at Structurae
