reaching New York City and establishing a terminus therein was the best
that had been evolved up to that time. The plan provided a direct rail
entrance into New York City for all railroads reaching the west side of
the Hudson River, and also for the New York Central and Hudson River
Railroad, as well as adequate station facilities in that city. This
bridge would have had one clear span of 3,100 ft. between pier heads,
landing on the New York side at the foot of West 23d Street, and thence
the line would have passed diagonally to the terminus at Sixth Avenue
and 25th Street. The location of the terminus was subsequently changed
to the vicinity of Seventh Avenue and 36th Street. The bridge was
designed with three decks: The first or lower deck was to accommodate
eight steam railroad tracks; the second was to have six tracks, four of
which could be assigned for rapid transit trains operating with electric
power, and the other two for steam railroad trains; the third deck,
reached by elevators, was to be a promenade extending from anchorage to
anchorage. A connection with the Eleventh Avenue tracks of the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad was to bring the trains of that road
into the Union Station. The Bridge Company had a Federal
charter--granted in 1888--with broad powers. Gustav Lindenthal, M. Am.
Soc. C. E., was Chief Engineer, and he and Mr. Rea were corporators and
among its early promoters. The Pennsylvania Railroad Management looked
with favor on its construction at that time, as subaqueous tunnels, with
standard railroad equipment with steam traction, were not regarded as a
final or attractive solution of the problem, from the standpoint of the
Management, and at a subsequent period the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
agreed to use the North River Bridge provided the other roads reaching
the west bank of the Hudson River would join. These roads, however, did
not avail themselves of the opportunity which in its broadest scope was
laid before them in 1900, after the Board of Directors of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company had approved the scheme at the instance of