Camden and Amboy Railroad

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The Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A) was the first railroad company in the US state of New Jersey . The company was the oldest forerunner of the later Pennsylvania Railroad and owner of the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the United States, the John Bull.

history

John Bull , C & A's first steam locomotive
Camden and Amboy Railroad stock from 1834

The company was founded on February 2, 1830 . The first president was Robert Livingston Stevens . At the same time, the New Jersey parliament approved the formation of the Delaware & Raritan Canal company so as not to favor any of the competing modes of transport. But the following year the two companies de facto merged. They had a joint board of directors and the shares were also merged. First the railway line was planned as a horse-drawn tram. In November 1831, however, the test operation of the John Bull steam locomotive imported from England began.

Society began to influence politics in its favor early on. In exchange for 1,000 shares, the state passed a law that banned the construction of a railway line within 3 miles of the C&A line for the next nine years. With the Protection Act of March 2, 1832, the transport monopoly on the New York City - Philadelphia route through New Jersey was established. On March 16, 1854, the rights were updated until January 1, 1869. This development led to New Jersey being referred to as Camden and Amboy State . The acquisition or control of a large part of the region's routes also strengthened this trend.

C&A route network

On October 20, 1832, operations began on the route between Bordentown and Hightsdown . By December 17, the route to South Amboy was also completed. This was the first time that a rail connection between two major cities (Philadelphia and New York) could be offered. Steamboats were used from Bordentown to Philadelphia and from South Amboy. Freight traffic began on January 24, 1833. Regular operation with steam locomotives began on September 9, 1833. On December 19, 1834, the line to Camden was completed. The route now comprised 98.6 km.

On November 8, 1833, the first passenger train accident in the United States occurred on the line. The cause was a broken axle.

A 50 km long branch line was opened in 1837 to Trenton and on January 1, 1839 to New Brunswick (New Jersey) . According to the concession of December 1831, construction was carried out largely along the Delaware & Raritan Canales. In between Millstone Junction and New Brunswick, a section of the New Jersey Railroad was used. This received 1/6 of the revenue for the continuous train service between Philadelphia and New York City although the route of the NJRR made up a third. With the construction of this route, the travel time between the two cities could be reduced from 6 hours and 50 minutes (via South Amboy) to 5 hours and 30 minutes.

As it turned out, however, the building site along the canal was unsuitable for a railway line. It was therefore decided to re- route the route between Trenton and Princeton . Construction began in October 1862 and was completed in November 1863. Among other things, it was necessary to build a tunnel under the D&R Canal. As early as September 1864, the line received a second track, the old line was still used until 1865 for southbound freight trains and local passenger trains. On May 29, 1865, the Princeton Branch opened, connecting Princeton to the new line. As a result, traffic on the old route was discontinued and this was dismantled by September 1865.

With the start of operations on September 1, 1862, the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad and the Camden and Atlantic Railroad , as well as the Newark and New York Railroad , which opened in July 1869 , the Camden & Amboy slowly received competition on their city connection. However, the monopoly was not ended until the National Railway was completed on May 1, 1876.

On February 1, 1867, the company merged with the New Jersey Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R) to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies . On December 1, 1871, this company was taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the form of a lease for 999 years. On May 18, 1872, the three companies were merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ). The former main line of the C&A became the Amboy Division and the branch line became part of the New York Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Subsidiaries and Controlled Companies

The competing “Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad” came under the control of C&A and D&R in late 1835 / early 1836 through a share swap. The "Burlington and Mount Holly Railroad" which established a connection between the namesake places, was controlled from the opening in 1849 by Camden & Amboy. The "Belvidere Delaware Railroad" (BDRR) between Trenton and Belvidere , built between 1851 and 1855, was also controlled, and from January 1, 1867, the line was leased by the UNJ. The route of the "Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad" (F&J), which opened in 1853, between Jamesburg and Freehold was also under the supervision of C&A.

In 1866, a connection line from Momouth Junction was opened on the C&A branch line Trenton-New Brunswick to Jamesburg, which went to the UNJ on July 29, 1874. On July 16, 1879, the F&J was leased to the UNJ. The "Rocky Hill Railroad and Transportation Company" opened a line between Kingston (New Jersey) and Rock Hill in 1864. The line was leased from C&A on November 22, 1869 and operations were taken over on June 1, 1870.

The "Camden and Burlington County Railroad" which built a route between Camden and Mount Holly was opened in 1867 and was also controlled by Camden and Amboy. The following year, the line was leased like the neighboring "Vincentown Branch of Burlington County Railroad". In the same year the "Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad" was opened between Pemberton and Hightstown, which was leased and operated by C&A. In 1869 the leased "Mount Holly, Lumberton and Medford Railroad" was opened.

The C&A is - under the leadership of Robert Field Stockton and Edwin A. Stevens - as one of the early examples of the exploitation of privileges and the expansion of a monopoly to the detriment of travelers and freight forwarders and the associated damage to the common good. Henry C. Carey in particular did outstanding work for the uncovering, but there was never an indictment, as the decisive documents were destroyed beforehand.

Stretch today

The section between Trenton and New Brunswick is part of the Acela Express high-speed line in the Northeast Corridor . Some of the routes are operated by Conrail Inc., the joint operating company of Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation . Between Trenton and Camden, NJ Transit offer passenger services under the name "River Line" with diesel multiple units.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Röll, Encyclopedia, p. 167.