[11][17] Brigadier General Abraham Godwin, a member of the town of Paterson group that was instrumental in obtaining the company a charter,[19] signaled the start with a pickaxe, followed by Dickerson doing the first shoveling.

At a meeting at the Eutaw House on modern-day River Drive on February 15, 1854, Speer brought up his complaints to the town officials, the locals wanted to stand with the name Acquackanonk over changing it to Passaic.

[56] This railroad, which passed the main Erie station on the north side of the tracks, came off Madison Street at the Lexington Avenue junction, providing service to Paterson, Rutherford and Carlstadt.

[69] On June 15, the Council gave the railroad permission to change the location of the eastbound platform's shelter, though questions were asked if whether or not it would affect the opening of the Madison Street crossing.

[71] At the July 2 hearing, Harry Meyers, a property owner with significant amounts of land, felt that the approaches to the Monroe Street crossing were dangerous with the heavy traffic usage.

Maybury managed to get them to insert bells with the flagman in their working shanty, but the inspector felt that the crossing needed gates anyway due to the poor angles and the heavy usage.

[109] However, on November 8, the application for re-opening the case was denied by Chief Justice William Stryker Gummere, stating that Pierce's petition lacked any new evidence that had not been considered in the previous hearings.

Corbin noted also that would likely be necessary to appoint a bunch of subcommittees to handle the various issues involved in getting the track depression done, including railroad cooperation, finances, and working with Clifton on their interests.

However, George Record objected to that stating that the conditions at the crossings constituted a "death trap", the community in general (including the city and the railroad) would be required to take care of them.

[134] On May 13, Frederick Douglas Underwood, the President of the railroad, reached out General Bird Wilson Spencer, a prominent local banker, about having personal discussions about the track depression in Passaic.

[171] Ackerman announced a couple days later that the new station would be brought into fire code complaint to modern laws, and this rebuild would involve everything but the foundation, meeting his earlier requests.

[174] The representative from the Erie Railroad, George Fanning, noted that depression through the city of Passaic would not be attempted or considered due to the depth of the cut required, causing stores and residents to be affected by smoke and gasses.

With residents concerned how the elevation would work, Fanning noted they could do similar to the nearby Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad at Van Houten and Passaic Avenues and make artistic walls.

If the Erie disregarded the warrants, Weinberger stated that the city would then give Ackerman and his workers permission to demolish the building at once unless the railroad attained an injunction to prevent the work.

[181] State Attorney General Edward L. Katzenbach's office noted to Weinberger that there was no requirement to run to him for the demolition of the depot but to work with J. Vincent Barnett, one of the prosecutors, to see if there were any objections from a criminal standpoint.

[192] Local merchants represented at the meeting noted to the Chamber that they were not ready for such a project and that they should consider multiple options, including a tunnel through Passaic that eliminated much of the curves and/or the track depression proposal.

The bill had not been approved by the United States Senate yet and the Erie did not respond to the city's request for a conference between the railroad, Passaic and the Public Utility Commission to come up with plans.

Martini stated that there were plans to meet with Public Works Administration officials and Governor Harold G. Hoffman, noting that the Erie needed to send a representative and King agreed to that.

Speakers at this event included Weinberger, Martini, Levy, Talbott, Turner, along with his secretary William Okulski, Roger Brett (the president of the Chamber of Commerce), and Arthur Corbin, a former Passaic city lawyer.

Martini put together new witnesses for the city, including Reverend William Dunn of the St. Nicholas Catholic Church, who would testify about the dangers of his parochial school students crossing the tracks.

Weinberger stated that the railroad was asking for alternatives to the depression plan the city wished to proceed with, noting that Martini's option was a suggestion due to its cheaper finances.

[226] On the morning of March 5, prior to the hearing, Commissioners George Hanson and Harry Bacharach, along with their assistant counsel, John Berhardt, agreed to let Martini filed for Public Works Administration funding for the tracks.

[227] Rosenstein, still representing the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, filed an official objection to the Martini alternate, finding issues with the requirement that 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of track would have to be relocated.

Property owners of Hoover and Lexington Avenues, Park Place, McLean, Quincy, Jackson, Harrison, Autumn and Sherman Streets all felt that they would be affected and planned to protest at the Utilities Commission offices.

Turner stated that he did not feel like he killed the campaign to eliminate the 13 grade crossings, but noted that he did not think the federal government was to help fund the project, questioning Schenider's estimates of being the real cost.

[252] At the October 4 meeting, attended by at least 800 residents of Passaic at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, Martini offered a resolution to withdraw the elevation alternative from the project.

[258] On January 23, the city's Police Chief, Charles Monks, informed the Commissioners that the railroad agreed to help pay for new traffic lights along Main Avenue, that would be synchronized with the 13 grade crossings.

[262] Martini's pressure on Wilensky and Marsh intensified on April 6, when Foster Babcock, a resident of Clifton, died when struck in his car was hit by an Erie train at the Lafayette Avenue crossing.

With this information, Martini again pressured Wilensky to step up on creating similar legislation in New Jersey to help Passaic out, reiterating that he feared it would take a deadly disaster to get stuff done.

An ongoing negotiation with the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (a former Erie subsidiary) over a year, resulted in success for the elimination of the local rail yard and most of the tracks in Passaic.