Page 29 - September1951

September, 1951 NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN 299

NEW fERSEY RATLROAD SYSTEMS
By DONALD VAN COURT,
Member, Railroadians of America
(Note, Part 1 of this article appeared March,1951, p. 90)
PART II
The Perumylvania, Rsilroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad, now considered by many to be the "World's
S,tandard Railroad," had its humble beginnings over 100 years, ago in
April, 1846. This railroad soon took over the State-owned "Pennsylvania
Main Line of Public Works," an ungainly combination of canals and rail-
roads, thus giviDg the PRR a through route from Pittsburgh to Philadel-
phia before 185?. The Pennsylvania RR soon began an aggressive policy
of expansion by purchase, lease, construction, or financial control which
expanded the PRR from a local road within Pennsylvania to a company
which extends from New York and Norfolk to Upper Michigan, ChicaCo,
and Saint Louis, pretty well blanketing all of that vast territory with
major and minor appendages to the main routes.
For many years, the Pennsylvania RR system was made up of a large
number of different operating companies which had their own buttons as
n'ell as engines, cars, and full sets of officials. These cooperated very
closely, but still retained their own individuality in many matters.
To begin with, ]et, us look at page 321 in the September 1949 BUI-
LETIN for the descriptiong of Figs. 7L-74, aad. see how these Iines fit into
the broad picture of the Pennsylvania System.
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (Fig.7Z) was
formed originally as an operating company for the old Delaware and
Raritan Canal and the original railroad in New Jersey, the Camden &
Amboy Railroad. The addition of the New Jersey Railroad and Trans-
portation Co. in 1867 gave this company two all-rail routes across the
state (Jersey City to Trenton via Princeton and South Amboy to Camden
via Hightstown and Burlington) and one canal route (New Brunswick to
Trenton). It was a potent factor in Jersey politics, practically owning
the state legislature for over thirty years. The UNJ .was always backing
railroads which were to its benefit and killing projects which might have
diverted any freight from its lines, in short, well earning the common
name it had as "The Monopoly." The Pennsylvania RR was forced to
Iease this road in 1871 in order to protect its entry into New york Har-
bor.
One of the UNJ's earliest projects was the Wes,t Jersey Railroad (FiC.
74). 'This company built lines south and east from Camden toward Cape
May. After several companies had been formed and done a litile work.
Cape May was reached in 1863, although the West Jersey had been
chartered ten years before. In 1E52, the Camden & Ailantic Railroad
(X'ig. 761 was incorporated and reached what is now known as Atlantic
City in 1854, thus completing its line from Camden. The C&A was also
under the control of the UNJ forces throughout its life.
These two lines, along with many other UNJ dependencies, passed to
the PRR under the lease of 1871. There were so many companies involved
that a series of consolidations took place in which the West Jersey RR
acted the ogre and ate the smaller roads up. In 1896 most of the roads
in southern New Jersey under the PRR control were consolidated as the
West Jersey & Seashore Railroad (Fig. 73;. Since the Reading Com-
pany, through its puppet, the Atlantic City Railroad (F.iC. ?2) was com-
peting actively with the Penn in a territory which would barely support
one railroad, much less two, they decided to set up a joint company, the
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (Fig. ?1), in 1938 to operate both.
With the Pennsylvania RR in New Jersey taken care of, let us look at
the rest of the sysrem. Throughout its history, the pennsylvania RR has
been a relatively large road for the times so there always seemed to be a
problem of managing the company effectively. In 18?1, the pennsylvania