Phillipsburg – Port Murray tram

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tram Phillipsburg port Murray was a Regional tramway operation in Warren County in the US -Bundesstaat New Jersey . It existed from 1906 to 1925. The standard-gauge line was 27.55 kilometers long and connected the places Phillipsburg , Washington and Port Murray . The railway was operated with 585 volts direct current.

history

On May 31, 1902, the Easton and Washington Traction Company was founded, which wanted to build a standard-gauge, electric overland railway from Easton (Pennsylvania) via Washington and Hackettstown to Morris County . Construction began in January 1906 and on September 16, 1906, the line from Phillipsburg to Port Murray was completed after driving to Washington and then to Port Colden in the weeks before. The terminus in Phillipsburg was initially at the intersection of Center Street / Thomas Street, but was moved shortly thereafter to the intersection of South Main Street / Sitgreaves Street.

So the route leading from the South Main Street by the Sitgreaves Street, Center Street, Thomas Street and from the east end on its own track body, the Walnut Street is on today roughly parallel to the railway line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad over Stewartsville to Morris Avenue (Route 57). Along this highway, the route continued on its own railroad through New Village and Broadway to Washington, and on via Port Colden and again parallel to the railroad to Port Murray. The depot with a four-track wagon shed was in Port Colden, the railway power station was in Washington. In rush hour traffic every 30 minutes, otherwise every hour. The travel time for the entire route was 55 minutes.

The further plans to extend to Easton and Morris County were not carried out. A shared use of the tracks of the Phillipsburg tram , which led past the terminus of the train on South Main Street, was out of the question, as these had a different gauge. However, even after this operation was changed to standard gauge in 1913, no track connection was installed. From 1907, there was also a possibility to change to the Phillipsburg tram on Center Street (now Roseberry Street), as the northern line ended here on the opposite side of the railway from that year.

On October 29, 1910, the Northampton Traction Company bought the railway company, which was renamed Northampton-Easton and Washington Traction Company at the same time . Northampton managed several tram operations in Pennsylvania . They now planned to build new routes from Washington to the district capital Belvidere and Clinton , as well as to extend the main route beyond Port Murray to Port Morris. However, none of these plans were implemented. Instead, the route was moved from the side to the center position on part of Morris Avenue in 1921.

On April 26, 1923, the Northampton Traction Company auctioned the train and sold it to the New Jersey Interurban Company set up on May 16, 1923 . This tried to modernize the economically ailing operation. She sold the railroad depot and built a new, two-track storage hall in Broadway. Nevertheless, they could not operate the railway economically and therefore ceased operations on January 27, 1925.

vehicles

In 1906, when it opened, the railway owned five closed, four-axle railcars 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, which were built by the Wason wagon factory. A sixth car was bought second-hand from the Northampton Traction Company around 1910. There was also a snow plow, a work car and a flat goods car. The vehicles were painted dark green.

Sources and further reading

  • Joseph F. Eid, Jr., Barker Gummere: Streetcars of New Jersey . Self-published by J. Eid, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9801026-2-8 .