A recent thread on Secaucus, NJ leads me to ask: what is the deal with Harrison, NJ? It has no Amtrak service and only a few NJT's a day. Going from Newark into Manhattan I didn't have a window seat, and coming back it was dark, so if there is civilization there (as opposed to those marshy Meadowlands), please tell me. - a.s.
It has no Amtrak service and no NJT service, just PATH. What's your question?
timz It has no Amtrak service and no NJT service, just PATH. What's your question?
Is there much of a town there?
Harrison used to be a factory and warehouse area, a destination for blue collar commuters. After the RCA factory especially closed down there really was no need for trains into the town. The DL&W/EL closed the station there but PATH serves the local community with a way to NYC. I doubt the whole of the community is more than a half mile by a half mile.
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Harrison NJ is next to Newark, just across the river, a regular Amtrak stop. Harrison, today, is a warehouse and industrial district type city outside New York.
25 years ago, besides RCA, Harrison was the location of one of two main factories for Otis Elevator (the other Otis factory at that time was Yonkers NY). Today, Otis, the worlds largest builder of elevators and escalators, builds in Indiana, Arizona, and overseas.
Harrison's other claim to fame was the location of the PRR "Manhattan Transfer" station. All passenger trains, from 1908 to 1932 stopped there to drop there Steam Locomotives and replace it with an Electric running on 3rd rail for the final trip through the tunnels and into Penn Station Manhattan.
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Oh, yeah, there were rail yards and other industrial sites there...and is a bus stop or PATH stop from both Newarkn NJT stations...Manhattan Transfer was actually east of what we call Harrison today....and probably the biggest claim to fame by its own name was the earliest of discount retailers of the 50's TWO GUYS FROM HARRISON...later shortened to just TWO GUYS. It was started by two guys who worked for RCA and found that with return merchandise, "seconds", and other available discounts from factory direct buying, they could make a buck. Soon one store spread to many across the Garden State. For many, if you mention Harrison, it is Two Guys that comes to mind and not the RCA or Otis factories, nor Manhatten Transfer.
There is a cluster of houses...duplexes and small apartments...that sits between the old DL&W station site and the PATH station, but there is a lot of vacant industrial land, too.
The more I learn, the less I know . . . what is or was Manhattan Transfer (besides a campy singing group)? Is it or was it a place to change PRR lines? - al
Great musical group for sure. There also used to be a Manhattan Transfer somewhere on the NYC subway system but a quick glance just now at the map could not find it.
But this Manhattan Transfer which is being referred to is, or was, a point east of Harrison where people could change trains to and from both Jersey City and Manhattan. But more importantly it was the western end of the PRR electrification...600V, 3rd rail...from Pennsylvania Station, NY. Therefore it was where the electric locomotives were changed for steam westbound and vice versa eastbound. I think it was located just about where Hudson Tower is (was?).
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