Jump to content

Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Camden & Amboy)
Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company
Map
Overview
HeadquartersNew York City, U.S.
LocaleNew Jersey
Dates of operation1830 (1830)–1872 (1872)
FounderRobert L. Stevens
SuccessorUnited New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm)
Track length99.71 miles (160.47 km)

The Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company, usually shortened to the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A), was a railway company in New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1830 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America.

It was consolidated with two other railroads in 1872 to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (a forerunner of the Pennsylvania Railroad). Part of the company's original main line between Camden, New Jersey, and Bordentown, is used by the River Line.

History

[edit]
A map of the Camden and Amboy in 1869

The state of New Jersey chartered both the Camden and Amboy and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company on February 4, 1830, to develop connections between New York City and Philadelphia.[1] The two companies, though remaining independent, agreed to cooperate and became known as the "Joint Companies." The Camden and Amboy's charter gave it a monopoly for rail transportation across the entire state, which one historian called "a very foolosh action" by the legislature.[2]

The line was built with a gauge of four feet ten inches between the rails.[3] (Eventually, standard gauge would be set at four feet eight and one-half inches.) The C&A wss the first railroad to use wooden railroad ties and T-section rails.[4]. The road's first president, John K. Stevens, is credited as being the first to develop the use of T-rails in the United States, but such rails were already in use in Great Britain at the time. In fact, T-rails used by the C&A were imported from Britain. [5]

C&A service between Trenton and New Brunseick began in 1832, [6] and the company completed a line between Bordentown, on the Delaware River, and South Amboy, in December of that year.

In 1833, a train traveling from South Amboy broke an axle in Hightstown and derailed. Irish actor Tyrone Power was the only one of the 24 passengers not seriously hurt, suffering only minor injuries; he helped a surgeon treat the injured passengers. He said of the accidemt that it was "the most dreadful catastrophe that ever my eyes beheld". The injured passengers included former president and current congressman John Quincy Adams and entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt, who broke a leg. Vanderbilt swore he would never ride on a train again, an oath he was unable to keep after he began buying up railroads some decades later.[7]

The C&A purchased the British-built steam locomotive later called John Bull from Robert Stephenson and Company, named it Stevens, after the company's president and gave it the number 1. The line used the engine heavily from 1833 until 1866, when it was removed from active service and placed in storage, later to be refurbished and used for ceremonial purposes by the Pennsylvania Railroad when that line took over the Camden & Amboy's assets.

In September 1834, the C&A was extended south from Bordentown to Camden, across the Delaware from Philadelphia,[8] In the absence of a bridge over the Delaware, passengers bound for Philadelphia transferred to boats at Bordentown or Camden.[4]

The line began carrying mail in 1834, one of the earliest railroads in the US to do so.[9]

The Protection Act, passed in 1832, "prohibit[ed] any other railroad from building within three miles of the Camden & Amboy's termini."[10] This did not preclude the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company from building a line between Jersey City, New Jersey, and New Brunswick, New Jersey. The line was fully opened in 1837.[11][12] Meanwhile, the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, a Pennsylvania company, was building a line between its two namesake cities.

In 1836, the Philadelphia and Trenton agreed to cooperate with the Joint Companies.[13] The Camden and Amboy linked these projects together by building from Bordentown to Trenton (1838), and then Trenton to New Brunswick (1839).[8]

The New Brunswick Division, as originally constructed, closely paralleled the Delaware and Raritan Canal between Kingston and Trenton. In 1864, a new alignment was opened that bypassed this winding route, extending from the Belvidere Delaware's line at Trenton. To maintain access to Princeton, the Princeton Branch, serving Princeton, New Jersey, opened the year after.[14] Upon the old line's closing, the Kingston Branch, serving Kingston, New Jersey, began service on the old line in 1866.[8] A branch to Florence, New Jersey was opened in 1872.[8]

The New Jersey Rail Road, Camden and Amboy Railroad, and Delaware and Raritan Canal Company moved to a closer association in 1867 when they created a joint board of directors. This was known as the "United Companies", although all three companies continued to be independent.[15] A formal consolidation into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company followed in 1872; the Pennsylvania Railroad leased the new company from the outset.[16] The Camden and Amboy's main line became known as the Amboy Branch.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ Churella (2013), p. 215.
  2. ^ Wolmar (2012), p. 30.
  3. ^ Wolmar (2012), p. 60.
  4. ^ a b Churella (2013), p. 216.
  5. ^ Wolmar (2012), pp. 45–46.
  6. ^ Wolmar (2012), p. 23.
  7. ^ Wolmar (2012), pp. 80–81.
  8. ^ a b c d Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 67.
  9. ^ Wolmar (2012), p. 82.
  10. ^ Churella (2013), p. 217.
  11. ^ Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 75.
  12. ^ Freeman (1953), pp. 116, 123.
  13. ^ Churella (2013), p. 220.
  14. ^ McKelvey (2018).
  15. ^ Churella (2013), p. 354.
  16. ^ Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 52.

Bibliography

  • Churella, Albert J. (2013). The Pennsylvania Railroad: Volume I, Building an Empire, 1846–1917. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4348-2. OCLC 759594295.
  • Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945. Volume II: Lines East of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC 13172415.
  • Freeman, Leslie E. Jr. (May 1953). "The New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company". The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin (88): 100–159. JSTOR 43520074.
  • McKelvey, Bill (March 21, 2018). "New Jersey Transportation Chronology". Liberty Historic Railway. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  • Wolmar, Christian (2012) The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-61039-347-8
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camden and Amboy Railroad.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Camden_and_Amboy_Railroad_and_Transportation_Company&oldid=1285865309"