WR Draw

WR Draw
Company type	Railroad bridge
Industry	Transportation infrastructure
Founded	1897
Headquarters	Newark and Kearny, United States
Products	Rail crossing over the Passaic River

WR Draw is a decommissioned railroad bridge that spans the Passaic River between Newark and the Arlington neighborhood of Kearny. This plate girder rim-bearing swing bridge, originally constructed in 1897 and subsequently renovated in 1911 and 1950, stands as the 14th bridge upstream from the river’s mouth at Newark Bay. It ceased regular passenger operations in 2002 and has since been welded shut, as its clearance no longer presents any navigational risks.

The lower segment of the Passaic River below the Dundee Dam remains influenced by tidal movements and is navigable. Rail lines crossing this bridge primarily linked western locations across the Hackensack Meadows to Bergen Hill, providing routes to Hudson River terminals that facilitated access to New York City via tunnels and cuts.

History

During the 1860s, a proposed rail route crossing the river at Arlington and North Newark was part of plans by the New York, Oswego, and Midland Railroad to connect Jersey City with northern New Jersey and Western New York. This initiative aimed to encourage suburban growth in areas such as Belleville. Initially, it intended to incorporate the Montclair Railway (established in 1867), but this plan was abandoned in favor of a more northerly alignment linking with the New Jersey Midland Railway and Hudson Connecting Railway.

Nonetheless, expansion efforts for the Montclair Railway persisted, establishing a right-of-way (ROW) across the river around 1872-1874. The predecessor to WR Draw, known as the Midland Bridge—a name still reflected by Midland Avenue near West Arlington Station—served a line running from Sterling Forest at the New York state border to Croxton in Jersey City. Following financial difficulties, the Montclair Railway entered receivership and reorganized as the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railway in 1875, later becoming the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (NYGL) under Erie Railroad control by 1878.

In 1887, Erie established the Arlington Railroad subsidiary to create a more direct ROW through Kearny Meadows leading to WR Draw after passing through the Long Dock Tunnel and crossing the Hackensack River. The opening of the DB Draw in 1889 provided a modernized route from Erie's Pavonia Terminal, serving both NYGL and the Newark Branch, which crossed the Passaic River on the NX Bridge located at Kearny’s southern edge. Within Erie’s network, NX Bridge was designated as Bridge 8.04 miles from Jersey City; WR Draw was Bridge 7.57 miles.

Erie expanded its Greenwood Lake service during the mid-1890s by acquiring several railways: Watchung Railway (1895), Caldwell Railway, and Roseland Railway (both 1897), integrating them as branch lines. The WR Draw underwent modifications in 1911 concurrent with Erie’s opening of the Bergen Arches tunnel in Jersey City, which established the Penhorn Creek Railroad for connections on the west side. Additional alterations took place in the 1950s during construction of New Jersey Route 21 beneath its western end.

A significant reorganization in 1943 consolidated NYGL and other subsidiaries into Erie Railroad. The 1960 merger between Erie and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western unified operations at Hoboken Terminal. In response to construction of Interstate 80 in Paterson during 1963, Erie Lackawanna Railroad rerouted its Boonton Line over WR Draw.

Traffic over WR Draw steadily declined; numerous stations closed and mainline service was reduced by 1935. NYGL operations ceased entirely in 1966. Conrail assumed control of Erie-Lackawanna services in 1976, continuing Boonton Line trains across WR Draw until New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) took over commuter lines in 1983. NJT’s inauguration of the Montclair Connection in 2002 redirected Boonton Line trains along the Montclair Branch east of Montclair, bypassing WR Draw’s right-of-way and leading to closure of Rowe Street, Benson Street, and Arlington stations. The DB Draw spanning the Hackensack River was also retired.

In 2020, Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), which had acquired this line from Conrail in 1999, formally abandoned a portion between mileposts WD 2.9 and WD 11.5. The Open Space Institute (OSI) entered into a preliminary agreement with NS for acquisition of this corridor. On August 19, 2022, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection purchased this right-of-way for $65 million with plans to develop it into a new state park named the Essex–Hudson Greenway.

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History

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