The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad was a purpose-built monorail on which a matching bicycle could be ridden. It was invented by Arthur Hotchkiss, and the first example was built between Smithville and Mount Holly, New Jersey, in 1892. [1] [2] It closed in 1897. Other examples were built in Norfolk from 1895 to 1909, Great Yarmouth, [3] and Blackpool, UK from 1896. [4]
In 1892, Arthur Hotchkiss received a patent for a bicycle railroad and contracted with the H. B. Smith Machine Company to manufacture it. The initial track ran 1.8 miles (2.9 km) from Smithville, in a nearly straight line, crossing the Rancocas Creek 10 times, and arrived at Pine Street, Mount Holly. It was completed in time for the Mount Holly Fair in September, 1892, and the purpose of the railway was supposed to have been enabling employees to commute quickly from Mount Holly to the factory at Smithville. Monthly commuter tickets cost $2.00 (equivalent to $57 today). The record speed on the railway was 4.5 minutes (an average of 24 mph or 39 km/h), and the average trip took 6–7 minutes. The railway was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It only had one track so that it was impossible to pass another rider, and if riders travelling in opposite directions met, one had to pull off onto a siding. By 1897 ridership had declined, and the railway fell into disrepair. [5] [6] [7] [8]
A bicycle, also called a bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
A monorail is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. The term is also used to describe the beam of the system, or the trains traveling on such a beam or track. The term originates from joining "mono" and "rail" from 1897, possibly from German engineer Eugen Langen, who called an elevated railway system with wagons suspended the Eugen Langen One-railed Suspension Tramway.
Eastampton Township is a township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 6,069, reflecting a decline of 133 (-2.1%) from the 6,202 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 1,240 (+25.0%) from the 4,962 counted in the 1990 Census.
The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and operated by the New York City Transit Authority Department of Subways. SIR operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing local service between St. George and Tottenville, along the east side of the island. The only line on the island, there is no direct rail link between the SIR and the New York City Subway system, but SIR riders do receive a free transfer to New York City Transit bus and subway lines, and the line is included on official New York City Subway maps. Commuters on the railway typically use the Staten Island Ferry to reach Manhattan; the line is accessible from within the Ferry Terminal, and most of its trains connect with the ferry.
The River Line is a diesel tram-train light rail system in southern New Jersey, United States, that connects the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey's capital. It is operated for New Jersey Transit by the Southern New Jersey Rail Group (SNJRG), which originally included Bechtel Group and Bombardier. Now that the project is in its operational phase, Bombardier is the only member of SNJRG. The River Line is so named because the path between those two cities runs more or less parallel to the Delaware River.
A draisine is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure.
The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name, although it did have branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitland.
Bruce Price was an American architect and an innovator in the Shingle Style. The stark geometry and compact massing of his cottages in Tuxedo Park, New York, influenced Modernist architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Venturi.
Hezekiah Bradley Smith, was an American inventor and a Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1879 to 1881.
The term monorail or industrial monorail is used to describe any number of transport systems in which a chair or carrier is suspended from, or rides on, an overhead rail structure. Unlike the well-known duo-rail system, there are many rail-guided transport options which have been described as monorails, so that tracing the history presents a demarcation problem regarding what should be included and what should be omitted.
Walnut Street is a New Jersey Transit station on Walnut Street at Depot Square in Montclair, New Jersey along the Montclair-Boonton Line. It is the most used station on the Montclair–Boonton Line. Walnut Street is the second or fifth of six stops that are in Montclair along the Montclair-Boonton line. It gets its name from the street that crosses the railroad tracks next to the station. It has a farmers' market in its parking lot from the summer to the early fall.
The term "bike boom" or "bicycle craze" refers to any of several specific historic periods marked by increased bicycle enthusiasm, popularity, and sales.
The original Georgia and Alabama Railroad was based in Rome, GA, incorporated in 1853, and started initial rail construction in 1857. In August 1866, the G&A officially consolidated with the Dalton and Jacksonville Railroad and the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad Company with the intent to create a consolidated rail system from Selma, AL to Dalton, GA. The consolidated corporation was to do business under the name of the latter, but it officially took the name Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad Company in December of that same year. Still, in some cases, business continued under the name of Georgia and Alabama Railroad. For instance, in May 1868, a contract was executed to the Georgia and Alabama Railroad, leasing 100 African American convicts in the state of Georgia to work for the railroad company without pay.
The Atlantic City Railroad was a Philadelphia and Reading Railway subsidiary that became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933. At the end of 1925 it operated 161 miles (259 km) of road on 318 miles (512 km) of track; that year it reported 43 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 204 million passenger-miles.
The North Hudson Railway Company built and operated a streetcar system in Hudson County and southeast Bergen County, New Jersey before and after the start of the 20th century. It was founded by Hillric J. Bonn who became the first President in 1865 and served for 26 years until his death, and eventually taken over by the Public Service Railway. In its endeavors to overcome the formidable obstacle of ascending the lower Hudson Palisades, or Bergen Hill, it devised numerous innovative engineering solutions including funicular wagon lifts, an inclined elevated railway, an elevator and viaducts.
The Amur-class minelayers were the first purpose-built, ocean-going minelayers in the world. The class consisted of two vessels: Amur and Yenisei. Both ships were constructed for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1890s. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 they were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Yenisei struck one of her own mines two days after the war began while laying a minefield and sank. One of Amur's minefields sank the Japanese pre-dreadnought battleships Hatsuse and Yashima. Amur was sunk by Japanese howitzers in December 1904 after the Japanese had gained control of the heights around Port Arthur. She was later salvaged and scrapped by the Japanese.
The American Star Bicycle was invented in 1880 by G. W. Pressey and manufactured by the H. B. Smith Machine Company in Smithville, Burlington County, New Jersey. It was characterized by a small wheel in front to avoid the problem of tipping forward inherent in other high wheelers. A Star bicycle was photographed being ridden down the steps in front of the United States Capitol in 1885 to demonstrate its longitudinal stability, and Star bicycles were used for the sport of bicycle polo in the mid-1880s. Pressey sued Smith in 1887 for royalties. The name "Star" was attributed to the double star arrangement of the spokes.
Smithville was a village in Eastampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. It was originally established as Shreveville in 1831 by Jonathan and Samuel Shreve as a textile village on the Rancocas Creek. It was purchased by Hezekiah Bradley Smith in 1865 and renamed to Smithville. The Smithville post office was established in 1866. The H. B. Smith Machine Company, which produced the American Star Bicycle beginning in 1880, was located there. In 1962, the Smithville Post Office was closed. In 1975, Burlington County purchased the property and created the first park in the county. It is listed on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places as the Smithville Historic District.