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Central Railroad of New Jersey

May 09, 2023

The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the New Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines (reporting mark CNJ), 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.

Central Railroad of New Jersey
Overview
Headquarters148 Liberty Street
New York, New York
Reporting markCNJ
LocaleNew Jersey
New York State
Pennsylvania
Dates of operation1839; 184 years ago (1839)–1976; 47 years ago (1976)
SuccessorConrail
Technical
Length693 miles (1,115 kilometres)

History

 
CNJ Liberty Street Ferry Terminal, New York City, ca. 1900

The earliest railroad ancestor of the CNJ was the Elizabethtown & Somerville Railroad, incorporated in 1831 and opened from Elizabethport to Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1836. Horses gave way to steam in 1839, and the railroad was extended west, reaching Somerville at the beginning of 1842. The Somerville & Easton Railroad was incorporated in 1847 and began building westward. In 1849 it purchased the Elizabethtown & Somerville and adopted a new name: Central Railroad Company of New Jersey. The line reached Phillipsburg, on the east bank of the Delaware River, in 1852. It was extended east across Newark Bay to Jersey City in 1864, and it gradually acquired branches to Flemington, Newark, Perth Amboy, Chester, and Wharton.[1]

The New Jersey Southern (NJS) began construction in 1860 at Port Monmouth. The railroad worked its way southwest across lower New Jersey and reached Bayside, on the Delaware River west of Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1871. The NJS came under control of the CNJ in 1879. CNJ's influence briefly extended across the Delaware River in the form of the Baltimore & Delaware Bay Railroad, from Bombay Hook, Delaware, east of Townsend, to Chestertown, Maryland. That line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) family in 1901.[1]

CNJ's lines in Pennsylvania were built by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company as the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad (L&S). The main line was completed between Phillipsburg, New Jersey and Wilkes-Barre in 1866. A notable feature of the line was the Ashley Planes, a steep stretch of line (maximum grade was 14.65%) operated by cables driven by stationary engines, which remained in service until after World War II (WWII). CNJ leased the L&S in 1871. The line was extended to Scranton in 1888 by a subsidiary of the L&S, the Wilkes-Barre & Scranton; L&S leased the line upon completion and assigned the lease to the CNJ. The bulk of the traffic on the Pennsylvania lines was anthracite coal, much of it produced by subsidiaries of the railroad, until the Commodities Clause of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1920 forbade railroads to haul freight in which they had an interest.[1]

 
1915 CNJ ad for service from New York

From 1883 to 1887 the CNJ was leased to and operated by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, with which it formed a New York-Philadelphia route. CNJ resumed its own management after reorganization in 1887. In 1901, the Reading Company (RDG), successor to the Philadelphia & Reading, acquired control of the CNJ through purchase of a majority of its stock, and at about the same time Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) acquired control of the RDG, gaining access to New York over RDG and CNJ rails.[1][2]

In 1929, CNJ inaugurated the Blue Comet, a deluxe coach train operating twice daily between Jersey City and Atlantic City. It was painted blue from the pilot of its 4-6-2 to the rear bulkhead of its observation car, and its refurbished cars offered a level of comfort much higher than the usual day coach of the era. The train was the forerunner of the coach streamliners that blossomed nationwide in the late 1930s and the 1940s. It succumbed to automobile competition in 1941. Also in 1929 CNJ purchased a 30 percent interest in the Raritan River Railroad, a 12-mile (19 km) short line from Perth Amboy to New Brunswick. In 1931 it acquired total ownership of the Wharton & Northern Railroad and a partial interest in the Mount Hope Mineral Railroad from Warren Foundry & Pipe Corporation.[1]

The lines in Pennsylvania were organized as the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania (CRP) in 1946 in an effort to escape taxation by the state of New Jersey. CNJ resumed its own operation of the Pennsylvania lines at the end of 1952. The CRP continued in existence as owner of the Easton & Western, four miles of track in Easton, Pennsylvania.[1]

Revenue freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles
Year Traffic
1925 2513
1933 1511
1944 3735
1960 1948
1970 1455
Source: ICC annual reports
Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles.
Year Traffic
1925 480
1933 337
1944 480
1960 175
1970 124
Source: ICC annual reports

When the Lehigh & New England Railroad was abandoned in 1961 CNJ acquired a few of its branches and organized them as the Lehigh & New England Railway. In 1963 Lehigh Coal & Navigation sold its railroad properties to the RDG, but the lease to the CNJ continued. In 1965 CNJ and the Lehigh Valley Railroad consolidated their lines along the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and portions of each railroad's line were abandoned; the anthracite traffic that had supported both railroads had largely disappeared. CNJ operations in Pennsylvania ended March 31, 1972.[1]

 
CNJ train at Plainfield Station, 1910

CNJ maintained a small carfloat terminal in The Bronx. It was the site of the first successful Class 1 railroad diesel operation. Over the years CNJ maintained an extensive marine operation on New York Bay, including a steamer line to Sandy Hook. CNJ's last marine service, the ferry line between Manhattan and CNJ's rail terminal at Jersey City, made its last run on April 30, 1967. It was also the last day for the terminal itself; the next day CNJ passenger trains began originating and terminating at the PRR station in Newark via the Aldene Connection, where New York passengers could transfer to either PRR or Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) trains.[1]

Decline

The years after WWII were not kind to CNJ. Passenger traffic was almost entirely commuter business, requiring great amounts of rolling stock for two short periods five days a week. Three-fourths of CNJ's freight traffic terminated on line — the railroad was essentially a terminal carrier, which meant little profit was made, if any. In addition, heavy[according to whom?] taxes levied by the state of New Jersey ate up much[specify] of CNJ's revenue. The state of New Jersey began subsidizing commuter service in 1964, and the tax situation changed[specify] in 1967.

The merger between the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railways that was proposed in 1965 to counter the impending PRR-New York Central Railroad merger was to have included CNJ, but the bankruptcy of Penn Central killed that prospect. CNJ drafted elaborate plans for reorganization; they came to naught as neighboring railroads collapsed. Conrail took over freight operations of the CNJ on April 1, 1976; with passenger routes transferred to the New Jersey Department of Transportation including the present New Jersey Transit North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line.[1]

CNJ emerged from bankruptcy in 1979 as Central Jersey Industries (later CJI Industries), a corporate shell. It merged with the packaging company Triangle Industries, owned by Nelson Peltz, in 1986.

Main initial corridors

CNJ had its northeastern terminus at Elizabethport, New Jersey. In 1864 CNJ extended its railroad across the bay into Bayonne, and north to the Jersey City terminus. It had used a succession of bridges over the years, the last being Newark Bay Bridge, demolished in the 1980s.[3]

From Elizabethport, trains went to different corridors. One headed towards Elizabeth and Plainfield and points west and southwest. The second went south towards Perth Amboy and today's North Jersey Coast Line and different southern New Jersey destinations. CNJ operated several trains into Pennsylvania and other points west or south, in association with the RDG. B&O also used CNJ tracks for the final approach to Jersey City.[3][4][5]

Portions still operated

Gallery

Further information: List of stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey

Predecessor railroads

  • Buena Vista Railroad
  • Carteret & Sewaren Railroad
  • Carteret Extension Railroad
  • Cumberland & Maurice River Railroad
  • Cumberland & Maurice River Extension Railroad
  • Elizabeth Extension Railroad
  • Freehold & Atlantic Highlands Railroad
  • Lafayette Railroad
  • Manufacturers' Extension Railroad
  • Middle Brook Railroad
  • New Jersey Terminal Railroad
  • New Jersey Southern Railroad
  • Navesink Railroad
  • Passaic River Extension Railroad
  • Raritan North Shore Railroad
  • Sound Shore Railroad
  • Toms River Railroad
  • Toms River & Barnegat Railroad
  • Vineland Railroad
  • Vineland Branch Railway
  • West Side Connecting Railroad
  • West End Railroad

Named passenger trains

CNJ operated several named trains, most of which were interstate operations:

Several non-CNJ trains operated over CNJ trackage north of Bound Brook, New Jersey to the Jersey City terminal:

Heritage Units

 
GP40PH-2 4109 enters Maplewood Station

As a part of Norfolk Southern's 30th anniversary in 2012, the company painted 20 new locomotives into predecessor schemes. NS #1071, an EMD SD70ACe locomotive, was painted into the Central Railroad of New Jersey orange and blue.

In 2019, NJ Transit unveiled locomotive 4109 painted in a heritage scheme based on that of the CNJ GP40P.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Drury, George H. (1994). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads: Histories, Figures, and Features of more than 160 Railroads Abandoned or Merged since 1930. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 56–59. ISBN 0-89024-072-8.
  2. ^ Alecknavage II, Albert (July 6, 2003). "Philly NRHS - Reading Company History". Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  3. ^ a b "Jersey Central: Coal, Commuters, and a Comet" Classic Trains, Winter 2011, October 6, 2013, from the original.
  4. ^ Joseph Corso, The Central Railroad of New Jersey http://www.jcrhs.org/cnj.html
  5. ^ "The Central Railroad of New Jersey, The Big Little Railroad" AmericanRails.com http://www.american-rails.com/central-railroad-of-new-jersey.html

Further reading

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Central Railroad of New Jersey.
  • "Railway Consolidation". The New York Times. March 19, 1872. p. 5.
  • "New-York and Suburban News". The New York Times. June 1, 1872. p. 8.
  • . Archived from the original on 2006-09-07. Retrieved 2005-09-12.

May 09, 2023
central, railroad, jersey, also, known, jersey, central, jersey, central, lines, reporting, mark, class, railroad, with, origins, 1830s, absorbed, into, conrail, april, 1976, along, with, several, other, prominent, bankrupt, railroads, northeastern, united, st. The Central Railroad of New Jersey also known as the New Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines reporting mark CNJ 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 Central Railroad of New JerseyCentral Railroad of New Jersey Terminal Liberty State ParkJersey City New JerseyOverviewHeadquarters148 Liberty StreetNew York New YorkReporting markCNJLocaleNew JerseyNew York StatePennsylvaniaDates of operation1839 184 years ago 1839 1976 47 years ago 1976 SuccessorConrailTechnicalLength693 miles 1 115 kilometres Contents 1 History 1 1 Decline 2 Main initial corridors 3 Portions still operated 4 Gallery 5 Predecessor railroads 6 Named passenger trains 7 Heritage Units 8 See also 9 References 10 Further readingHistory Edit CNJ Liberty Street Ferry Terminal New York City ca 1900 The earliest railroad ancestor of the CNJ was the Elizabethtown amp Somerville Railroad incorporated in 1831 and opened from Elizabethport to Elizabeth New Jersey in 1836 Horses gave way to steam in 1839 and the railroad was extended west reaching Somerville at the beginning of 1842 The Somerville amp Easton Railroad was incorporated in 1847 and began building westward In 1849 it purchased the Elizabethtown amp Somerville and adopted a new name Central Railroad Company of New Jersey The line reached Phillipsburg on the east bank of the Delaware River in 1852 It was extended east across Newark Bay to Jersey City in 1864 and it gradually acquired branches to Flemington Newark Perth Amboy Chester and Wharton 1 The New Jersey Southern NJS began construction in 1860 at Port Monmouth The railroad worked its way southwest across lower New Jersey and reached Bayside on the Delaware River west of Bridgeton New Jersey in 1871 The NJS came under control of the CNJ in 1879 CNJ s influence briefly extended across the Delaware River in the form of the Baltimore amp Delaware Bay Railroad from Bombay Hook Delaware east of Townsend to Chestertown Maryland That line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad PRR family in 1901 1 CNJ s lines in Pennsylvania were built by the Lehigh Coal amp Navigation Company as the Lehigh amp Susquehanna Railroad L amp S The main line was completed between Phillipsburg New Jersey and Wilkes Barre in 1866 A notable feature of the line was the Ashley Planes a steep stretch of line maximum grade was 14 65 operated by cables driven by stationary engines which remained in service until after World War II WWII CNJ leased the L amp S in 1871 The line was extended to Scranton in 1888 by a subsidiary of the L amp S the Wilkes Barre amp Scranton L amp S leased the line upon completion and assigned the lease to the CNJ The bulk of the traffic on the Pennsylvania lines was anthracite coal much of it produced by subsidiaries of the railroad until the Commodities Clause of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1920 forbade railroads to haul freight in which they had an interest 1 1915 CNJ ad for service from New YorkFrom 1883 to 1887 the CNJ was leased to and operated by the Philadelphia amp Reading Railroad with which it formed a New York Philadelphia route CNJ resumed its own management after reorganization in 1887 In 1901 the Reading Company RDG successor to the Philadelphia amp Reading acquired control of the CNJ through purchase of a majority of its stock and at about the same time Baltimore amp Ohio Railroad B amp O acquired control of the RDG gaining access to New York over RDG and CNJ rails 1 2 In 1929 CNJ inaugurated the Blue Comet a deluxe coach train operating twice daily between Jersey City and Atlantic City It was painted blue from the pilot of its 4 6 2 to the rear bulkhead of its observation car and its refurbished cars offered a level of comfort much higher than the usual day coach of the era The train was the forerunner of the coach streamliners that blossomed nationwide in the late 1930s and the 1940s It succumbed to automobile competition in 1941 Also in 1929 CNJ purchased a 30 percent interest in the Raritan River Railroad a 12 mile 19 km short line from Perth Amboy to New Brunswick In 1931 it acquired total ownership of the Wharton amp Northern Railroad and a partial interest in the Mount Hope Mineral Railroad from Warren Foundry amp Pipe Corporation 1 The lines in Pennsylvania were organized as the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania CRP in 1946 in an effort to escape taxation by the state of New Jersey CNJ resumed its own operation of the Pennsylvania lines at the end of 1952 The CRP continued in existence as owner of the Easton amp Western four miles of track in Easton Pennsylvania 1 Revenue freight traffic in millions of net ton miles Year Traffic1925 25131933 15111944 37351960 19481970 1455Source ICC annual reports Revenue passenger traffic in millions of passenger miles Year Traffic1925 4801933 3371944 4801960 1751970 124Source ICC annual reports When the Lehigh amp New England Railroad was abandoned in 1961 CNJ acquired a few of its branches and organized them as the Lehigh amp New England Railway In 1963 Lehigh Coal amp Navigation sold its railroad properties to the RDG but the lease to the CNJ continued In 1965 CNJ and the Lehigh Valley Railroad consolidated their lines along the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and portions of each railroad s line were abandoned the anthracite traffic that had supported both railroads had largely disappeared CNJ operations in Pennsylvania ended March 31 1972 1 CNJ train at Plainfield Station 1910 CNJ maintained a small carfloat terminal in The Bronx It was the site of the first successful Class 1 railroad diesel operation Over the years CNJ maintained an extensive marine operation on New York Bay including a steamer line to Sandy Hook CNJ s last marine service the ferry line between Manhattan and CNJ s rail terminal at Jersey City made its last run on April 30 1967 It was also the last day for the terminal itself the next day CNJ passenger trains began originating and terminating at the PRR station in Newark via the Aldene Connection where New York passengers could transfer to either PRR or Port Authority Trans Hudson PATH trains 1 Decline Edit The years after WWII were not kind to CNJ Passenger traffic was almost entirely commuter business requiring great amounts of rolling stock for two short periods five days a week Three fourths of CNJ s freight traffic terminated on line the railroad was essentially a terminal carrier which meant little profit was made if any In addition heavy according to whom taxes levied by the state of New Jersey ate up much specify of CNJ s revenue The state of New Jersey began subsidizing commuter service in 1964 and the tax situation changed specify in 1967 The merger between the Chesapeake amp Ohio and Norfolk amp Western railways that was proposed in 1965 to counter the impending PRR New York Central Railroad merger was to have included CNJ but the bankruptcy of Penn Central killed that prospect CNJ drafted elaborate plans for reorganization they came to naught as neighboring railroads collapsed Conrail took over freight operations of the CNJ on April 1 1976 with passenger routes transferred to the New Jersey Department of Transportation including the present New Jersey Transit North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line 1 CNJ emerged from bankruptcy in 1979 as Central Jersey Industries later CJI Industries a corporate shell It merged with the packaging company Triangle Industries owned by Nelson Peltz in 1986 Main initial corridors EditCNJ had its northeastern terminus at Elizabethport New Jersey In 1864 CNJ extended its railroad across the bay into Bayonne and north to the Jersey City terminus It had used a succession of bridges over the years the last being Newark Bay Bridge demolished in the 1980s 3 From Elizabethport trains went to different corridors One headed towards Elizabeth and Plainfield and points west and southwest The second went south towards Perth Amboy and today s North Jersey Coast Line and different southern New Jersey destinations CNJ operated several trains into Pennsylvania and other points west or south in association with the RDG B amp O also used CNJ tracks for the final approach to Jersey City 3 4 5 Portions still operated EditAldene High Bridge Main Line New Jersey Transit NJT Raritan Valley Line Perth Amboy Bay Head NJT North Jersey Coast Line Elizabethport Aldene Elizabethport Perth Amboy Jersey City Bayonne Red Bank Lakehurst Conrail Shared Assets Operations Lakehurst Woodmansie Cape May Seashore Lines Winslow Junction Vineland Southern Railroad of New Jersey Dover amp Rockaway Branch Wharton Rockaway High Bridge Branch Kenvil Flanders Morristown amp Erie RailwayGallery EditFurther information List of stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey Communipaw Terminal Jersey City Communipaw Terminal rear Map of CNJ and other terminals in New York region circa 1900 Reproduction of a tablet designator for the Blue Comet CNJ camelback locomotive built by Baldwin in 1912 Elizabeth Station Lafayette Street Terminal NewarkPredecessor railroads EditBuena Vista Railroad Carteret amp Sewaren Railroad Carteret Extension Railroad Cumberland amp Maurice River Railroad Cumberland amp Maurice River Extension Railroad Elizabeth Extension Railroad Freehold amp Atlantic Highlands Railroad Lafayette Railroad Manufacturers Extension Railroad Middle Brook Railroad New Jersey Terminal Railroad New Jersey Southern Railroad Navesink Railroad Passaic River Extension Railroad Raritan North Shore Railroad Sound Shore Railroad Toms River Railroad Toms River amp Barnegat Railroad Vineland Railroad Vineland Branch Railway West Side Connecting Railroad West End RailroadNamed passenger trains EditCNJ operated several named trains most of which were interstate operations Blue Comet Jersey City New Jersey Atlantic City New Jersey Bullet Jersey City Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania via Allentown Pennsylvania Crusader Jersey City Philadelphia Pennsylvania with RDG Interstate Express Syracuse New York Philadelphia Pennsylvania with the Delaware Lackawanna amp Western Railroad and RDG Mermaid Sandy Hook New Jersey Scranton Pennsylvania Queen of the Valley Jersey City Harrisburg Pennsylvania with RDG Wall Street Jersey City Philadelphia Pennsylvania with RDG Williamsporter Jersey City New Jersey Williamsport PennsylvaniaSeveral non CNJ trains operated over CNJ trackage north of Bound Brook New Jersey to the Jersey City terminal Capitol Limited Jersey City New Jersey Chicago Illinois B amp O National Limited Jersey City New Jersey St Louis Missouri B amp O Royal Blue Jersey City New Jersey Washington D C B amp O Heritage Units Edit GP40PH 2 4109 enters Maplewood Station As a part of Norfolk Southern s 30th anniversary in 2012 the company painted 20 new locomotives into predecessor schemes NS 1071 an EMD SD70ACe locomotive was painted into the Central Railroad of New Jersey orange and blue In 2019 NJ Transit unveiled locomotive 4109 painted in a heritage scheme based on that of the CNJ GP40P See also Edit Railways portalCentral Railroad of Pennsylvania SS Asbury Park a crack coastal steamer built for the CNJ in 1903 and subsequently rebuilt and operated as a car ferry in San Francisco Bay 1919 to 1940 Puget Sound 1943 to 1951 and the Strait of Georgia 1952 to 1976 1885 Gorge Bridge train crashReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i Drury George H 1994 The Historical Guide to North American Railroads Histories Figures and Features of more than 160 Railroads Abandoned or Merged since 1930 Waukesha Wisconsin Kalmbach Publishing pp 56 59 ISBN 0 89024 072 8 Alecknavage II Albert July 6 2003 Philly NRHS Reading Company History Retrieved 2009 12 06 a b Jersey Central Coal Commuters and a Comet Classic Trains Winter 2011 archived October 6 2013 from the original Joseph Corso The Central Railroad of New Jersey http www jcrhs org cnj html The Central Railroad of New Jersey The Big Little Railroad AmericanRails com http www american rails com central railroad of new jersey htmlFurther reading Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Central Railroad of New Jersey Railway Consolidation The New York Times March 19 1872 p 5 New York and Suburban News The New York Times June 1 1872 p 8 PRR Chronology Archived from the original on 2006 09 07 Retrieved 2005 09 12 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Central Railroad of New Jersey amp oldid 1152205084, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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