Pennsylvania – New Jersey Railway

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The Pennsylvania – New Jersey Railway was an interurban tram service in the US states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey . The total of 64 kilometers long network connected Princeton , Trenton and Lambertville in New Jersey and Morrisville , Bristol , Newtown and Doylestown in Pennsylvania. The headquarters of the railway company was in Newtown.

history

First, on March 28, 1895, the Newtown, Langhorne and Bristol Street Railway Company (NL&B) was founded, which opened a 13-kilometer tramway with a gauge of 1,581 millimeters from Bristol to Langhorne on December 2, 1896. The section from Langhorne to Newtown started on December 21, 1897, the Newtown Electric Street Railway Company, founded in late 1896 . Newtown Electric leased NL&B on September 1, 1898 and the line was operated as a continuous line from October 21, 1899. In the meantime, on May 20, 1899, the line had been extended beyond Newtown to Wycombe, and on February 25, 1900, Doylestown was the end point. On September 26, 1907, the two railway companies merged to form the Bucks County Electric Railway Company after entrepreneurs from Philadelphia bought the railway.

On June 7, 1899, Trenton entrepreneurs founded the Yardley, Morrisville and Trenton Street Railway Company . This company opened a tram route from Trenton to Yardley also in the gauge of 1581 millimeters on December 28, 1900. The connection of this route with the Bristol-Doylestown line took place in 1902 with the opening of the route from Yardley to Newtown by Newtown and founded the year before Yardley Street Railway Company . Eventually, the Trenton, New Hope and Lambertville Street Railway Company , founded in late 1903, built a line from Yardley to Lambertville that opened in 1904.

Founded in 1901 , New Jersey and Pennsylvania Traction Company opened a in the same year Interurban -distance in standard gauge between Trenton and Princeton in New Jersey, the subsidiary of Trenton, Lawrenceville and Princeton Railroad belonged. She leased the Yardley, Morrisville & Trenton, Newtown & Yardley and Trenton, New Hope & Lambertville and ran operations on these lines. On January 5, 1912, however, the Bucks County Electric Railway took over New Jersey & Pennsylvania and was now operating. It went bankrupt on February 29, 1912 and on May 13, 1913 Bucks County Electric formally bought the lines in Pennsylvania and merged with the corresponding railway companies to form the Bucks County Interurban Railway Company , which operated on May 15, 1917 in Pennsylvania – New Jersey Railway Company was renamed. The route sections in New Jersey initially remained with their respective railway companies, namely Trenton, New Hope & Lambertville, Trenton, Lawrenceville & Princeton and Yardley, Morrisville & Trenton. These three companies merged in 1922 to form the Trenton – Princeton Traction Company .

In 1919, as with many companies, new, lighter vehicles were purchased in order to save operating costs. Nevertheless, on November 1, 1923, the Bristol – Doylestown line was closed. On September 21, 1924, the same fate struck the lines from Yardley to Lambertville and Newtown. On December 8, 1924, the Trenton, Bristol and Philadelphia Street Railway bought the railway that had track connections to the Pennsylvania – New Jersey Railway in Morrisville and Bristol. On September 2, 1934, operations between Trenton and Yardley also ended. The Interurban line to Princeton was able to hold its own against road traffic until 1941, before passenger traffic was also discontinued on it. The line was then sold to the Reading Company , which continued the freight service, but closed the Lawrenceville – Princeton section soon afterwards. The rest of this route has now also been closed.

Line network

The railway company operated the following lines:

  • Trenton-Lawrenceville-Princeton (17.75 km)
  • Trenton – Yardley – Newtown (10 miles, every 60 minutes)
  • Trenton – Yardley – New Hope – Lambertville (16 miles, every 30 minutes)
  • Bristol – Langhorne – Newtown – Wrightstown – Wycombe – Doylestown (43.5 km, every 65 minutes)

literature

  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 117.
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (2007): Pennsylvania Street Railway Atlas West Chester PA: Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications. Page 71.
  • George W. Hilton and John F. Due (1960): The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press. Page 297f. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3