Mountain railways on Orange Mountain
The mountain railways on Orange Mountain were a funicular and two tram operators in West Orange in the US state of New Jersey . The three railways existed one after the other from 1892 to 1914.
Funicular
The Orange Mountain is an elevation in the municipality West Orange, southwest of the town orange . The large summit plateau of the mountain was uninhabited until the 1880s, only the eastern slope had buildings. To change this, three local entrepreneurs founded the Orange Mountain Land Company in 1887 , which acquired the land on the summit and built a housing estate there. For the connection, the entrepreneurs decided to build a funicular that could also transport road vehicles. The straight line on the eastern slope of the mountain was marked out and leveled in 1888. It began on Valley Road in West Orange, between the intersections of Nassau Street and Union Street. Wheatland Avenue is now on the lower part of the route. The route ran to the mountain station, where the Rock Spring Club is located today. Shortly before the mountain station, the route turned in a south-westerly direction. After the company got into financial difficulties, it was split up on September 4, 1891 and the railway operations were spun off as the Orange Mountain Cable Company . The land company was also renamed the Orange Heights Land Company . George Spottiswoode became president of the railway. The company completed the construction and opened the two-kilometer route in the summer of 1892.
The line was double-tracked and had a stop in the middle of the line on Gregory Avenue. The two cars used (No. 1 and 2) acted as counterweights and were firmly attached to the rope. The rope was driven in the mountain station, where it ran over a pulley. The wagons were supplied by Bloomsburg and had a platform 18 feet (around 5.5 meters) wide and a good twelve meters long. On one side of the flat wooden floor was a car body similar to a tram car, which offered space for around 100 passengers. The other side was without a body and could accommodate two small road vehicles (cars or carriages). The road vehicles could only leave the car at the valley and mountain stations. The stop on Gregory Avenue was only available to passengers. Due to the large width of the car, the unusual track width of eight feet (2438 mm) was chosen. At the end of 1895, the company had to file for bankruptcy because the income could not meet expectations.
On December 6, 1895, Spottiswoode founded the Orange Mountain Traction Company , which took over the railway. In the meantime, the West Orange – South Orange tram had opened in 1895 and stopped at the valley station of the mountain railway, creating a connection to the rest of the transport network. At the mountain station, a park and a pond were created in 1896, the Cable Lake, the name of which is still reminiscent of the funicular. Nevertheless, operations had to be stopped in November 1896. On January 8, 1899, Spottiswoode sold the railway, which resumed operations on April 9 of that year. In the autumn of 1902, however, the railway company had to file for bankruptcy again and the funicular was finally shut down.
First tram
The company was reorganized in 1906 under the same name and now intended to convert the funicular into a standard-gauge tram with overhead lines. George Spottiswoode and Frank Brewer were the major shareholders. The trams should run over existing tracks of the West Orange – South Orange tram, of which Frank Brewer was president, to West Orange station on the Erie Railroad . The tracks of the funicular have been converted to standard gauge. In June 1906 the company purchased two used streetcars (# 101 and 102) from the United Electric Company , which operated the Newark and Jersey City trams. To secure the tracks on the steepest section above Gregory Avenue, they should latch into a cable there that should prevent them from rolling back. The trams left the valley station for a test drive one after the other, first car 102, followed by car 101, which was initially waiting on Valley Road. Car 102 continued uphill. The personnel on board decided that the train would have to do without the rope and did not latch onto the rope. However, the engine power was insufficient and the car came to a halt. However, the brakes could not hold the car on the steep road either, so that it rolled backwards with almost no brakes and hit the stopped car 101 on Valley Road. Both cars suffered a total write-off and the railway was then shut down.
Second tram
On July 16, 1906, just a few weeks after the accident, Frank Brewer founded the Orange Mountain Railway Company . She leased the previous railway, but built a completely new, now single-track, line with an artificial increase in length so that it could be used without problems in adhesion operation. The tram started at the valley station, but did not run on the old route, but initially parallel to the West Orange – South Orange tram. It turned between Orange Heights Avenue and Walker Road and went uphill. The railway's small two-track depot was here at Oxford Terrace. The railway turned into this street and shortly afterwards onto the old route of the funicular, on which it ran until just before Belgrade Terrace. The new route then turned north and made a 180-degree curve. She crossed the funicular railway line, which runs in a cut here, over a bridge. At the height of the Winding Way, the route had three switchbacks . It passed the old hill station and continued on West Road and Northfield Road. The terminus was on St Cloud Avenue. In 1908 the new tram went into operation. It was driven every 30 minutes with a driving time of 18 minutes. Two cars were required for this, which were given the numbers 1 and 2 as with the funicular railway. The route length was 2.5 kilometers. It was driven with an operating voltage of 550 volts direct current.
Just a few years after opening, the unprofitable Cable Lake Park was closed. Today the Rock Spring Club golf course is located here. Dividends could not be paid and ultimately also the electricity bill, so that on June 14, 1914, the electricity supply by the Public Service Electric and Gas Company was interrupted. The operation had to be stopped and was not resumed. During the First World War the facilities were dismantled and scrapped. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the two railcars. The depot was later demolished.
literature
- Joseph F. Eid Jr. and Barker Gummere: Streetcars of New Jersey. Self-published, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9801026-3-5 (pages 351–356)