|
|
|
New Jersey Railroad Biblographys
These are shorten histories of the railroads. After the Bio's are links
to related web pages.
 Pennsylvania RR
The PRR was originally a line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. It grew by leasing other roads.
In 1863 the Pennsy contracted with the Philadelphia & Trenton, The Camden & Amboy, and the
Delaware & Raritan Canal Company. In 1904 the Pennsy started construction of two tunnels under
the Hudson and Four tunnels under the East River. The biggest single improvement by the Pennsy
in the 20's and 30's was the electrification of its lines between New York and Washington and from
Philadelphia to Harrisburg. During World War two Pennsy's freight traffic double and the
passenger traffic quadrupled. In 1957 the Pennsylvania and New York Central announced plans to
merge the two roads.
 New York Central (West Shore)
I am only doing the West Shore RR since this was the only part to run in New Jersey.
The New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad was formed in 1880 to build a line to compete with the
New York Central along the west shore of the Hudson River. It was suspected that the Pennsylvania RR was
behind the project. The RR reached Buffalo in 1884, when a rate war ensued. The Road entered bankruptcy
with the NYC only lightly bruised. The NYC then started to build a line in Pennsylvania. J.P. Morgan worked
a compromise between the New York Central and the Pennsylvania RR. The NYC would lease the West Shore,
and the PRR would get the partially built South Penn. In 1885 the West Shore was reorganized as the West
Shore Railroad, wholly owned by the NYC. In 1952 the West Shore was merged into the NYC. Most of the West
Shore west of Albany has been abandoned, but the section between Albany an Jersey City was/is valuable to
the NYC and its successor Conrail.
 Penn Central
The Penn Central Company came into existence on February 1, 1968 when the New York Central
and the Pennsylvania Railroad merged. The merger was not a success after the first year of
operation yielded a deficit of $2.8 million. On June 21, 1970 the company entered bankruptcy
proceedings. This ended in the creation of Conrail.
 New Jersey Central
Central Railroad of New Jersey was opened in 1852 between Elizabeth
and Phillipsburg, NJ. In 1864 the line was extended a few miles east to
Jersey City, and in 1871 the railroad extended in to Pennsylvania by leasing
the Lehigh & Susquehanna RR. In 1946 CNJs lines in PA were reorganized
as the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania in an attempt to avoid taxation
by New Jersey. Separate operation of CRP ended in 1952. In 1964 the CNJ
purchased about 40 miles of the defunct Lehigh & New England. CNJ came
under control of the Reading Company in 1901, at about the same time Reading
came under the control of the Baltimore & Ohio. The Three Railroads
Formed a Jersey City-Philadelphia-Wasington passenger Route to Compete
with the Pennsylvania.
 Reading
The Reading company began as the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad,
chartered in 1883 and opened from Philadelphia though Reading, to Pottsville,
PA., in 1842. An Affiliated company, the Philadelphia & Reading coal
& Iron Co., Began to buy much of the anthracite land in the area. In
a reorganization of the Reading company, a holding company, acquired the
railroad and the coal and iron company, and in 1901 got control of the
Central Railroad of New Jersey. In 1923 the Reading Company merged a large
number of wholly owned subsidiaries and became an operating company. Readings
passenger business was almost all suburban and its freight business was
also largely short haul. Reading Had a considerable amount of anthracite
traffic, and its route west from Allentown through Reading and Harrisburg
carried much of the freight that bypassed Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington.
 Erie
The Erie Railroad, built with a track gauge of 6 feet, was completed
from Piermont, NY to Dunkirk, NY in 1851. It was later extended to Jersey
City, Chicago, and Buffalo. It was converted to standard gauge in 1880.
The Erie always seemed subject of one financial manipulation or another.
Eventually it achieved some stability as a New York-Chicago route, primarily
for freight.
 Erie-Lackawanna
Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Was formed in 1960 with the merging of the
Erie railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
 Lehigh
Valley
Lehigh Valley Railroads earliest ancestor was the Delaware, Lehigh,
Schuylkill, & Susquehanna Railroad. It was incorporated in 1846 to haul
Anthracite from Mauch Chunk, PA., to Easton. In 1853 it changed its name to
Lehigh Valley Railroad, and it opened it's rail line in 1855. By
construction and by acquisition of other railroads LV made a connection with
the Erie at Waverly, PA., in 1869. In 1879 the road reached Buffalo by
financing the addition to Eries broad gauge track of a third rail for
standard gauge trains, and in 1892 extending its own line to Buffalo. The
eastern end of the railroad was pushed to Perth Amboy in 1875 and to Newark
and a terminal on New York Harbor in 1891. LV discontinued its passenger
trains in 1961, one of the first major roads to do so. In 1962 the ICC
authorized the Pennsylvania Railroad, which through subsidiaries had held a
substantial interest in LV since the late 1920s, to acquire control of
Lehigh Valley. By 1965 PRR had acquired 97 percent of LVs stock.
 Conrail
Conrail was formed on April 1, 1976 by the US Government to take over the
ownership and operation of six bankrupt eastern roads. These included The
Central Railroad of New Jersey, Eire-Lackawanna, Lehigh & Hudson River,
Lehigh Valley, Penn Central, and Reading. It also took over the
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore lines which was not bankrupt, but not doing so
well. It started with a $2.1 billion from the US Government. It trimmed its
excess plant and started an extensive program to improve what was left. By
1981 Conrail posted a profit and kept doing better. Conrail owns 2,100
locomotives and 74,277 freight cars.
 New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit Rail Division of the New Jersey Transit Corporation was formed April
1982 to take over Conrail's operation of commuter service. The first day of operation was January
1, 1983. NJT owns 106 locomotives, 715 passenger cars, and 300 self-propelled passenger
cars.
 Amtrak
After World War Two railroads invested heavily into passenger trains, But
traffic kept declining. With interstate highways being built, and new
airline technology, Americans turned away from railroads. By the
1960's it was evident that something would have to be done. Most railroads
joined Amtrak but some didn't (like Rio Grande). Amtrak took over most
intercity passenger operation on May 1, 1971. Most railroads ran the trains
for Amtrak, but Amtrak brought its on people in gradually. Most of the first
passenger equipment was bought second hand from the railroads. Amtrak
started to buy new equipment in the following years. Today Amtrak owns 399
engines, 863 Mow cars, and 1,919 passenger cars.
|
