LEHIGH Valley Barge Number 79, a 30’x90’ railroad barge built in 1914 with a wood exterior, is the last of its kind still in existence. During New York’s era as a world class port it transported goods across the harbor. It lay idle for three decades off the coast of New Jersey, but since 1994 it has served as the Waterfront Barge Museum, a floating classroom, art exhibition and concert space, and center for parties and weddings. It can tour the harbor with aid from a tugboat.
David Sharps, a Maryland native who has worked as an entertainer and cruise director aboard Carnival and Sun Line Cruises, rescued Barge #79 in 1985 after it had sunk in 8 feet of mud after abandonment near Edgewater, NJ in the mid-60s ; it took eight years of toil to repair it and make it seaworthy once more. Marine pests such as the shipworm (really a mollusk) and gribble worm (really a crustacean) had taken a severe toll. After having it towed from Edgewater up the Hudson to a dry dock near Albany, Sharps and crew had to practically rebuild the barge, pulling out wood practically eaten away by the parasites, install new wood planking across the entire bottom.
New York City is not connected by freight rail to points west of the Hudson River. Tugs and barges moved cargo between tracks in New Jersey and waterfront rail systems in New York City; these waterfront rail systems have declined over the years as trucking and containerization has taken over. The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which operated this barge, incorporated in 1846 and at its peak in the 1920s operated 1300 miles of passenger and freight trackage in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was acquired gradually by other railroads and finally Conrail took it over in 1976.
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1/6/23