Northampton Transit Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Northampton Transit Company was an interurban tram company in Northampton County in the US state of Pennsylvania . The total of 33 kilometers long network connected the places Easton , Nazareth and Bangor .

First, the Easton and Nazareth Street Railway Company , founded in 1900, built a line between its eponymous locations, which opened on May 18, 1902. The Easton, Tatamy and Bangor Street Railway Company was founded by the same entrepreneurs and built a tram line southwards from Bangor, which connected to the Easton – Nazareth line in Tatamy Junction. This railway went into operation on May 28, 1903. Before that, on October 13, 1902, the two railway companies merged to form the Northampton Traction Company (NTC). The network was built in standard gauge and operated with 550 volts direct current. The railway depot and workshop were located in Palmer Township. An amusement park was built at Easton to attract more passengers.

The railway company operated the following lines:

  • Easton – Tatamy Junction – Nazareth (15.5 km, every 30 minutes)
  • Easton – Tatamy Junction – Belfast Junction – Ackermanville – Bangor (28 km, every 60 minutes)
  • Nazareth – Tatamy Junction – Belfast Junction (9 km, every 60 minutes)

The line was connected to the Easton tram in Easton and Nazareth , the Nazareth – Bangor tram in Nazareth and Bangor , and the Nazareth – Bath tram in Nazareth and the Lehigh Valley Transit Company . On October 29, 1910, the NTC bought the 1906 opened Phillipsburg – Port Murray tram in New Jersey, which had no connection to the other NTC routes, but also had a connection to the Lehigh Valley Transit Company network in Phillipsburg. The Bangor – Portland tram also connected to Bangor , which was bought by the NTC in 1916. However, continuous operation did not materialize. In 1919 the NTC went bankrupt and was reorganized in January 1922 as the Northampton Transit Company . In order to save costs, lighter tram cars were subsequently bought, as was the case with many companies during this period. In 1923 she also sold the Phillipsburg – Port Murray tram, which was shut down in 1925. Nevertheless, the end of the railway came due to the global economic crisis . First, on February 15, 1931, the Belfast Junction – Bangor section was closed. The trams ran on the rest of the network until February 28, 1933.

literature

  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 141.
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (2007): Pennsylvania Street Railway Atlas West Chester PA: Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications. Page 71.