operating, electrical, and engineering officers, consisting of Mr. F. L. Sheppard, General Superintendent, New Jersey Division, Pennsylvania Railroad Company; George Gibbs, M. Am.  Soc.  C. E., Chief Engineer, Electric Traction and Terminal Station Construction, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company; Mr. J. A. McCrea, General Superintendent, Long Island Railroad Company; Mr. C. S. Krick, Superintendent, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company; Mr. A. M. Parker, then Principal Assistant Engineer, New Jersey Division, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, now Superintendent, Hudson Division; and approved by Mr. A. C. Shand, Chief Engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Chief Engineer, Meadows Division, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company.

[Illustration:  Plate XVII.—­Plan of Harrison Yard]

Meadows Division, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad.—­The two main tracks ascending through the Harrison Yard continue on an embankment to a point 500 ft. west of the west abutment of the bridge over the New York Division tracks, which is the point of beginning of the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad.  From this point the line extends in a general northeasterly direction, crossing the Hackensack River, skirting the base of Snake Hill, and thence to the approach cut to Bergen Hill Tunnels.  The embankment varies in height from 25 to 30 ft. above the surface of the meadows.

In this Division the following bridges were necessary: 

     Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Division, Passenger and Newark
     Freight Tracks;

     Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Morris and Essex
     Division;

     Newark and Jersey City Turnpike;

     Public Service Corporation Right of Way;

     Erie Railroad, Newark and Paterson Branch;

     Belleville Road, and Jersey City Water Company’s Pipe Line;

     Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie Railroad), Arlington Branch;

     Hackensack River;

     Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie Railroad), Reconstructed Line;

     Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Boonton Branch;

     Erie Railroad, Passenger Tracks;

     Bridge of 11 spans over proposed yard tracks, Erie Railroad;

     County Road;

     Secaucus Road;

     New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad;

     Northern Railroad of New Jersey.

The alignment for this distance consists of 3.57 miles of tangent and three curves, two of which are 0 deg. 30’ each, one of the latter being at the western end of the Division, and the other adjoining Snake Hill; the third is a regular curve of 1 deg. 54’ on the east-bound track, and a compound curve with a maximum of 2 deg. on the west-bound track, the variation being due to the track spacing of 37 ft. from center to center in the Bergen Hill Tunnels, while on the Meadows Division it is 13 ft. from center to center.