Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines
The Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines , abbreviated to P-RSL (German: Pennsylvania Reading Coast Railways) were a railroad network in the south of the US state of New Jersey . It was jointly controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company and existed from 1932 to 1976.
The Seashore Lines were created in 1932 through the consolidation of various railway lines south of a line Camden - Atlantic City , most of which were under the control of the two competitors Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading. The main business areas were regional freight traffic and excursion traffic from Philadelphia to the Atlantic coast. The latter made up the majority of the business with 2/3 of the income.
The Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary West Jersey and Seashore Railroad was created in 1896 from the merger of various railway companies in the area between Camden and Cape May . The company electrified the Camden – Newfield – Atlantic City route in 1906. The Reading subsidiary, Atlantic City Railroad , was acquired by Reading in 1883. The previously existing narrow-gauge line was converted to standard gauge. The tracks between Camden-Atlantic City and Cape May mostly ran parallel to the WJ&S line.
The two companies fought ruinous competition over the years. It was not until the Great Depression and the onset of mass motorization and the associated financial collapse that societies rethought. The merger took place on November 2, 1932 by order of the responsible regulatory authorities. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired 2/3 of the stock of Atlantic City Railroad for the amount of one dollar. In return, the West Jersey and Seashore was leased to the Atlantic City Railroad. The merger took effect on June 25, 1933 and on July 15, 1933, the Atlantic City Railroad changed its name to Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines.
In the following years, redundant lines were shut down. Passenger traffic continued to decline. The ferry service between Camden and Philadelphia was discontinued as early as 1952. After the bankruptcy of the two parent companies in 1970 and 1971, the route network was transferred to the newly created Conrail in 1976 .
Most of the remaining routes today belong to Conrail Inc. and are only operated in freight traffic. Other routes are operated by the Southern Railroad of New Jersey , the Winchester and Western Railroad and the Cape May Seashore Lines . Passenger traffic is only available on the Atlantic City Line of the New Jersey Transit and on the short stretch of Camden- Lindenwold , where the PATCO Speedline has been running since 1969 .
literature
- George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads . 2nd Edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5 .
- Joseph P. Schwieterman: When the Railroad Leaves Town . American Communities in the Age of Rail Line Abandonment, Eastern United States. Truman State University Press, Kirksville, MO 2001, ISBN 978-0-943549-98-9 , OCEAN CITY, NEW JERSEY (15,378), pp. 193 ff . (English).
- Lorett Treese: Railroads of New Jersey . Fragments of the Past in the Garden State Landscape. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 2006, ISBN 978-0-8117-3260-4 , Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, pp. 194 ff . (English).