Railroad Operated Pier Stations of Manhattan

INDUSTRIAL & OFFLINE TERMINAL RAILROADS
OF BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND, BRONX & MANHATTAN:

RAILROAD OPERATED
PIER STATIONS & INLAND FREIGHT STATIONS
OF MANHATTAN

updated: SATURDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2009 - 13:25

update summary:	date:
BO Pier 23 Harrison Street image added	09/26/2009

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The collection of images on this website, which continues to grow; is due to the unprecedented and selfless contributions of the current owners of photo archives.
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Pier Stations

Freight handling via pier stations was a very simple but laborsome affair. Use of pier stations were expeditious and very direct. There were two methods used for the transfer of freight to and from pier stations, and both utilized station / platform carfloats brought to the pier via the railroad's tugboat.

In diagram 1, the carfloats are first accessed by doors on the sides of the pier shed. The pier sheds had doors placed at intervals for this purpose. Bridge plates (in yellow) usually made of steel plate or wood planks, are used to "bridge the gap" between the pier shed and the doorway of a boxcar.

Note in the photo below how several bridge plates are used in succession to access the boxcars behind the worker.

Referencing the diagram below, once the bridge plate was placed in position, the boxcar in red would be unloaded first. Once that was accomplished, the door on the other side of that boxcar would be opened and another bridge plate would be used to bridge the gap between the boxcar and the steel platform of the carfloat.

Diagram 2 shows a combination piershed and bulkhead shed. In some cases, there would be no piershed and only a bulkhead shed. The inner carfloat (or the right carfloat) would be unloaded in the same manner as in diagram 1. However, the left or outer carfloat was accessed with a small wood bridge from the bulkhead shed door to the front ramp of the carfloat. Then the freight car that needed to be unloaded first (green in this case) was unloaded. This front bridging method could also be used in cases where there was no bulkhead shed, and where freight could be unloaded directly onto the bulkhead.

According to the Joint Plan with Comprehensive Report, in most cases, the bulkhead shed was used for the loading of outbound freight, while the piershed, (being larger) was used for inbound freight that was unloaded. Consignors were usually given 48 hours "free time" (starting at 7 am the day following the freight's arrival), to come and get their freight. This 48 hour hold time requires a great deal of space, while consignors freight awaits pick up. Therefore the larger piershed was in most cases used for inbound freight.

In either diagram; once these bridge plates (in yellow) were in place, and the center platform of the carfloat is accessed, men with hand trucks, dollies or even forklifts could be used to unload / load freight from any of the boxcars on that given carfloat via that center platform (dotted yellow lines) . Unloading priority was given to perishables or expedited freight.

In some cases, a piershed would be shared between a railroad and steamship line.

To make those interested readers lives a tad easier, I have taken the time to create a comprehensive list of Pier Stations, Freight Houses and Freight Stations on both the Hudson and East Rivers, as shown on the 1943 Map of Railroad & Terminal Facilities of the Port of New York, as issued by the New York Central Railroad. It is by no means complete, as railroads would give up obsolete properties and acquire others in a different location, when needed.

Dimensions given are taken from the 1920 Joint Report with Comprehensive Plan & Recommendations issued by the New York Port & Harbor Development Commission..

Inland Freight Stations

An inland freight station is nothing more than a railroad owned warehouse type structure set away from the piers or offline terminals for storage of freight.

The inland freight houses were in all likelihood used for the long term storage of freight before a consignee could come an pick up his items. Also, inland freight stations could have served to store "overflow" from pier stations when freight traffic was at it's peak.

Please Note:

This page consists solely of pier stations that were simply that: a pier station or inland freight stations
with no other railroad facility, float bridge, trackage or other operation.

Pier Stations with adjoining railroad operations are shown on their respective offline freight terminal pages.

INDEX

Hudson River
.
railroad	location	services	dimensions	remarks
NYC	Pier 83 - W 43rd St		699' x 80'	only one side has openings some WS business
CNJ	Pier 81 - W 41st St		808' x 60'	part of pier used for rr purposes
CNJ	Pier 80 - W 37th St	CL & LCL
PRR / PC	Pier 78 - W 37th St Pier 77 - W 37th St	FB, CL & LCL	500' x 60' 524' x 60'	fb on south side fb on north side
PRR / PC	Pier 78 - W 37th St Pier 77 - W 37th St	FB, CL & LCL	500' x 60' 524' x 60'	fb on south side fb on north side
NYC	Pier 73 - W 33rd St Pier 72 - W 32nd St	FB, CL & LCL	499' x 100' 500' x 60'	fb on north side fb on south side
DL&W	Pier 68 - W 28th St	CL & LCL	621' x 50'	fb below south bulkhead track down middle of pier
Erie / EL	Pier 67 - W 28th St	FB, CL & LCL
LV / B&O	Pier 66 - W 27th St	FB, CL & LCL	512' x 80'	hay storage outer half only one side has openings
PRR	Pier 52 - W 12th St Pier 50 - W 12th St Pier 49 - W 12th St	CL CL & LCL CL


CRRNJ	Pier 46 - Charles St		721' x 60'
DL&W	Pier 41 - Leroy St	CL & LCL	923' x 80'	awning shed
Erie	Leroy Street	FtHs, CL & LCL	not a pier	inland freight station
PRR	Pier 40 - Clarkson St	CL
CNJ / Erie	Pier 39 - W. Houston St	CL & LCL	899' x 75'	Erie leases space from CRRNJ
LV	Pier 38 - King St	CL		part of pier used by CRRNJ
LV	Pier 34 - Canal St		842' x 90'
Erie	Watts St	FtHs, CL & LCL	not a pier	inland freight station
NYC	Pier 31 - Debrosses St		844' x 80'	only one side has openings some WS business
PRR / LIRR	Pier 30 - Debrosses St	LCL
PRR (Produce Term'l)	Pier 29 - Vestry St Pier 28 - Laight St Pier 27 - Hubert St	Fruit / Perishables CL & LCL CL & LCL	1007' x 80' 1004' x 75' 1001' x 75'	heated pier shed general freight busy terminal


Erie	Greenwich St	FtHs, CL & LCL	not a pier	inland freight station
Erie	Hubert St	FtHs, CL & LCL	not a pier
NYC / WS	Pier 23 - Harrison St	CL & LCL	859' x 70'	mostly WS business
B&O	Pier 23 - Harrison St Pier 22 - Jay St	CL & LCL	859' x 70' 980' x 75'	(former NYC)
Erie .	Pier 21 - Duane St Pier 20 - Chambers St .	CL & LCL Fruit / Perishables .	968' x 100' 957' x 90' .	heated, only one side has openings, awning shed
NYC	Pier 17 - Park Pl	CL & LCL, Produce	926' x 70'	some WS business, inbound produce outbound gen'l merchandise
NYC / NYO&W	Pier 16 - Barclay St	CL & LCL	711' x 50'	some WS business only one side has openings
DL&W	Pier 13 - Fulton St	CL & LCL	882' x 100'	shared w/ Starin steamship co.
CNJ	Pier 11 - Cedar St		754' x 50'	only one side has openings,
CNJ	Pier 10 - Albany St	CL & LCL	732' x 80'
LV	Pier 8 - Rector St	CL & LCL	754' x 75'	operated by CRRNJ in 1914
PRR	Pier 5 - Morris St Pier 4 - Morris St Pier 3 - Morris St		438' x 80' 418' x 80' 480' x 43'
.
East River
railroad	location	services	dimensions	remarks
LV	Pier 57 - E 48th St	FtHs, CL & LCL, Stock Yards
NYNH&H	Pier 70 - E 22nd St			no bulkhead platform
LV	Pier 44 - Jackson St	CL & LCL	194' x 69'
NYNH&H	Pier 42 - Gouvenours Slip Pier 41 - Gouvenours Slip Pier 40 - Gouvenours Slip Pier 39 - Montgomery St Pier 38 - Montgomery St Pier 37 - Clinton St	LCL, Lighterage
NYC	Pier 35 - Jefferrson St	CL & LCL		open bulkhead
NYO&W / NYC	Pier 34 - Rutgers Slip	CL & LCL
NYNH&H	Pier 31 - Pike Slip			no bulkhead platforms
CV	Pier 29 - Market Slip
DL&W	Pier 26 - Catherine St	CL & LCL	370' x 40'	shared w/ Atlantic Fruit
PRR	Pier 25 - Oliver St		300' x 40'	joint station of LIRR/ PRR
LIRR	Pier 22 - James Slip		236' x 50'	joint station of LIRR/ PRR
B&O & PRR	Pier 21 - Dover St	CL & LCL		double deck pier
B&O	Pier 7 - Coenties Slip	CL & LCL	571' x 80'
NYC	Pier 4 - Broad St

Legend

FB	=	float bridge
CL	=	car load delivery only
LCL	=	less than car load delivery only
CL & LCL	=	car load & less than car load delivery
FtHs	=	no pier - inland freighthouse only

HUDSON RIVER A/K/A NORTH RIVER

PIER 8 - RECTOR STREET PIER STATION
Hudson River, Manhattan

(LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD)

Lehigh Valley Railroad - Rector Street Freight Station / Pier 8 - September 20, 1929
P. L. Sperr photo
NYPL Digital Archives
added 02 July 2009

Main Page
American Dock & Trust	G & R Packing	South Brooklyn
Astoria Light, Heat & Power	Harlem Station (Erie / EL)	South Brooklyn Terminal / Brooklyn Marginal
Atlas Terminal	Harlem Transfer (DL&W)	25th St / South Brooklyn Terminal (DLW)
Bronx Terminal (CRRNJ)	Jay Street Terminal / Connecting	Wallabout Terminal (DLW)
Bronx Terminal (LV)	New York Dock	Wallabout Station (Erie)
Brooklyn Ash Removal	North 1st Street Freight Sta (NYNHH)	Wallabout Union (PRR, NYC, LV, B&O)
Brooklyn Dock & Terminal	North 4th St Freight Sta (PRR)	West 23rd St Stores & Freight Yard (B&O)
Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal	Pouch Terminal	West 23rd St Freight Sta (NYLE&W / Erie)
Brooklyn Wharf & Warehouse	Procter & Gamble	West 26th St Freight Sta (B&O)
Bush Terminal	Queens Subway Apartment & Loft Building	West 27th St Freight Yard (LV)
Degnon Contracting / Degnon Terminal	Seatrain Shipbuilding	West 28th St Freight Sta (Erie / EL)
Goodwin - Gallagher Sand & Gravel		West 37th St Freight Sta (PRR)
Railroad Operated Pier Stations of Manhattan
Miscellaneous Freight Railroad Images of New York City
Glossary of Definitions Indicative to Rail / Marine Terminal Operations in the New York Harbor Area
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