Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | New York City, U.S. |
Locale | New Jersey |
Dates of operation | 1830–1872 |
Founder | Robert L. Stevens |
Successor | United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm) |
Track length | 99.71 miles (160.47 km) |
The Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company, usually shortened to the Camden and Amboy Railroad, was a railway company in New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1830 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America.
It was consolidated with two other railroads in 1872 to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (a forerunner of the Pennsylvania Railroad). Part of the company's original main line between Camden, New Jersey, and Bordentown, is used by the River Line.
The state of New Jersey chartered both the Camden and Amboy and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company on February 4, 1830, to develop connections between New York City and Philadelphia. [1] The two companies, though remaining independent, agreed to cooperate and became known as the "Joint Companies." The Camden and Amboy was the first railroad to use wooden railroad ties and T-section rails. [2] The company completed a line between Bordentown, on the Delaware River, and South Amboy, in December 1832.
The line was further extended south from Bordentown to Camden, across the Delaware from Philadelphia, in September 1834. [3] In the absence of a bridge over the Delaware, passengers bound for Philadelphia transferred to boats at Bordentown or Camden. [2]
The Protection Act, passed in 1832, "prohibit[ed] any other railroad from building within three miles of the Camden & Amboy's termini." [4] This did not preclude the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company from building a line between Jersey City, New Jersey, and New Brunswick, New Jersey. The line was fully opened in 1837. [5] [6] Meanwhile, the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, a Pennsylvania company, was building a line between its two namesake cities.
In 1836, the Philadelphia and Trenton agreed to cooperate with the Joint Companies. [7] The Camden and Amboy linked these projects together by building from Bordentown to Trenton (1838), and then Trenton to New Brunswick (1839). [3]
The New Brunswick Division, as originally constructed, closely paralleled the Delaware and Raritan Canal between Kingston and Trenton. In 1864, a new alignment was opened that bypassed this winding route, extending from the Belvidere Delaware's line at Trenton. To maintain access to Princeton, the Princeton Branch, serving Princeton, New Jersey, opened the year after. [8] Upon the old line's closing, the Kingston Branch, serving Kingston, New Jersey, began service on the old line in 1866. [3] A branch to Florence, New Jersey was opened in 1872. [3]
The New Jersey Rail Road, Camden and Amboy Railroad, and Delaware and Raritan Canal Company moved to a closer association in 1867 when they created a joint board of directors. This was known as the "United Companies", although all three companies continued to be independent. [9] A formal consolidation into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company followed in 1872; the Pennsylvania Railroad leased the new company from the outset. [10]
Route 26 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States, running 2.54 miles (4.09 km) along Livingston Avenue from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in North Brunswick Township northeast to Nassau Street at the border of New Brunswick. Prior to the 1953 renumbering, the route continued southwest along US 1 to Trenton. Livingston Avenue inside New Brunswick, southwest of Suydam Street, is the 1.08-mile (1.74 km) County Route 691 (CR 691). The 0.39 miles (0.63 km) from Suydam Street to its end at George Street is part of Route 171, also maintained by Middlesex County.
U.S. Route 130 is a U.S. Highway that is a spur route of U.S. Route 30, located completely within the state of New Jersey. It is signed with north and south cardinal directions, following a general northeast–southwest diagonal path, with north corresponding to the general eastward direction and vice versa. The route runs 83.4 mi (134.22 km) from I-295 and US 40 at Deepwater in Pennsville Township, Salem County, where the road continues south as Route 49, north to US 1 in North Brunswick, Middlesex County, where Route 171 continues north into New Brunswick. The route briefly runs concurrent with U.S. Route 30 near Camden, about one-third of the way to New Brunswick. The road runs within a close distance of I-295 south of Bordentown and a few miles from the New Jersey Turnpike for its entire length, serving as a major four- to six-lane divided local road for most of its length. US 130 passes through many towns including Penns Grove, Bridgeport, Westville, Camden, Pennsauken, Burlington, Bordentown, Hightstown, and North Brunswick.
The Raritan River is a river of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the central region of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay near Staten Island on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that connects the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, transporting anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania Coal Region down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up the occasionally treacherous Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central, Jersey Central Lines or New Jersey Central, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States.
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail, an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Areas, where it serves as a contract local carrier and switching company for its owners, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. When most of the former Conrail's track was split between these two railroads, the three shared assets areas were kept separate to avoid giving one railroad an advantage in those areas. The company operates using its own employees and infrastructure but owns no equipment outside MOW equipment.
The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was a railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey. Opened in 1832, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in 1871. The majority of it is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
The New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company was an early railroad company in the state of New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1832 and opened its first line in 1834, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America. It was consolidated with the Camden and Amboy Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company in 1872 to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, which was later leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Today, its former main line between Newark, New Jersey, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, is part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a United States–based railroad company established in 1872. It was formed by the consolidation of three existing companies: the Camden and Amboy Railroad, Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, and New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company. The Camden and Amboy and New Jersey Rail Road were among the earliest North American railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad leased the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in 1872.
Philadelphia was an early railroad hub, with lines from all over meeting in Philadelphia. The first railroad in Philadelphia was the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, opened in 1832 north to Germantown. At the end of 1833, the state-built Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, part of the Main Line of Public Works, opened for travel to the west, built to avoid loss of travel through Pennsylvania due to projects such as the Erie Canal. At the same time, the north-south leg of the Philadelphia City Railroad opened, running south along Broad Street from the Philadelphia and Columbia.
The Bordentown Secondary was originally a freight railroad line in New Jersey, running from Pavonia Yard in Camden to Trenton. Today, a large portion of the line from Bordentown to Camden is used for New Jersey Transit's River Line light rail service. Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to operate freight trains on the line, but these operations are restricted to overnight hours.
The Schuylkill Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in Pennsylvania. The line ran from the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line at 52nd Street in Philadelphia north via Norristown, Reading, and Pottsville to Delano Junction, about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) northeast of Delano. From Delano Junction, the PRR had trackage rights over the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch and Tomhicken Branch to Tomhicken, where the PRR's Catawissa Branch began.
The Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad was a railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania that is now a part of the SEPTA commuter rail system as the Fox Chase Branch. Despite the name, it only ever extended between Philadelphia and Newtown, Pennsylvania.
The New Jersey Southern Railroad was a railroad that started in 1854. It would continue under this name until the 1870s as a separate company and the lines that it had constructed or run continued to be run in the New Jersey Southern name until the early 2000s.
The Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad was a railroad company in the state of New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1855, and completed its line between Rahway and Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 1864. The company became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system and was merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in 1958. Its line is part of the New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line.
The Hightstown Industrial Track is a rail line in New Jersey, owned and operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO). The line runs from Jamesburg, New Jersey to the current end of track at Cranbury, New Jersey. The line was built by the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A) one of the first railroads in the country. It has been operated by C&A, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, and finally, Conrail.
Ashbel Welch (1809–1882) was an American civil engineer and a president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1882.
Old Bridge, also known as the Historic Village of Old Bridge, is an unincorporated community located within East Brunswick in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is on the South River, a tributary of the Raritan River. The community is named after the first bridge built here to cross the river, the South River Bridge. After other bridges were built crossing the river, it became known as the Old Bridge. The Old Bridge Historic District, encompassing much of the village, is listed on the state and national registers of historic places.
The Center Street Branch, formerly known as the Centre Street Branch, is a short railway line in Harrison and Kearny, New Jersey. It was formerly the main line of the New Jersey Railroad between Jersey City and Newark, before the building of a new crossing of the Passaic River reduced its importance. Today, it is an industrial freight line and owned by Conrail Shared Assets Operations with connections to the Passaic and Harsimus Line and the Morristown Line.