'', circa 1831 The
first railroad charter in the United States was issued on February 6, 1815, to the New Jersey Railroad Company. Its proprietors included the famous inventor
John Stevens. Based on
turnpike charters, it allowed the company to build between
New Brunswick and
Trenton, and became a model for railroad charters in the future. The Robert Stevens discussed below was the son of John Stevens. In the early 19th century, travel between New York and Philadelphia, then America's two largest cities, was difficult and expensive. In 1800, a trip between the two cities, by horse, could take as long as eleven hours on a good day and as long as twenty on a bad one. Heavy goods went by boat, around
Cape May, New Jersey. In 1829, eager to reduce the cost and difficulty of travel, New Jersey began investigating a cross-state canal and railroads. Railroads had already met with success in Britain and several American cities were planning lines of their own. The legislature, amid very aggressive lobbying, decided to build both a canal and a railroad. The canal and the railroad were to be built parallel to each other and controlled by separate companies chartered by the legislature. Each corporation was to give the state $100,000 worth of stock and pay a transit tax levied on cargo and each passenger carried. The corporation chartered to build the canal complicated this arrangement by deciding to also build a railroad. The legislature responded with a so-called "Marriage Act" to combine the two companies.
Camden and Amboy , located at the southern portion of
Lower New York Bay between the
U.S. states of
New York and
New Jersey, is part of the
New York Bight. Raritan Bay is shown as the highlighted area south of
Lower New York Bay and north of
Monmouth County. The bay is bounded on the west by
South Amboy, New Jersey, where the
Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A), the nation's first passenger railroad company, had its northern terminus; it connected New York harbor to
Philadelphia and
Camden. ) The
Camden & Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company (C&A) was chartered on February 4, 1830, the same day as the
Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, after the two competing companies had come to a compromise. The C&A and D&R had the same goals: to connect the
Delaware River, serving
Philadelphia, with the
Raritan River for access to
New York City by
tow-path canal with some new innovations to cross the hills and by the
untried railroad technology. Both ventures were considered risky, and both needed
right-of-way grants from the legislature along the river's banks, requiring negotiations and design compromises before either could lay claim to a land rights charter. Subsequently, the D&R was built to the west of the original C&A, leaving the
Delaware River at
Trenton and running roughly northeast to
New Brunswick along the
Raritan River valley. From the other direction, the original C&A ran south from New York Harbor via
South Amboy on
Raritan Bay to
Camden, thence across the breadth of
New Jersey, connecting by ferry across the
Delaware River to
Philadelphia, both indirectly and more rapidly linking New York City and Philadelphia, the two largest American cities and industrial centers at the times.
Robert L. Stevens was president of the C&A in the 1830s and 1840s. The C&A was organized on April 28, 1830. Surveys began on June 16. As railroads were a relatively new development in the U.S., rails and locomotives were imported from
Britain. Construction began December 4, 1830, at
Bordentown on the Delaware River; construction efforts were supported by horse-drawn carriages. R. Stephenson and Company built a locomotive steam engine for the Camden and Amboy that was completed in July 1831 and shipped to Philadelphia from Liverpool on the 14th of the same month. It was received by "Edwin A. Stephens for the Camden and South Amboy R. Road & Trans Co." The locomotive engine was named
John Bull in reference to its place of manufacture. As of 1986, it was the oldest operable locomotive engine. The
John Bull arrived at Bordentown on September 4, 1831, and was first tested on November 12. The first section, from Stewarts Point Wharf near Bordentown north to
Hightstown, was opened to the public on October 1, 1832, being operated by horse at first. Service between Philadelphia and Stewarts Point Wharf was provided by
steamboats, and a
stagecoach trip was used between Hightstown and South Amboy. The trip cost $3 and ran in 9.5 hours, 1–2 hours faster than other routes. The remainder of the line to South Amboy (the current
Hightstown Industrial Track) opened on December 17, allowing for the elimination of the stagecoach transfer, but the Delaware froze on December 27, requiring stagecoach operation south of Bordentown. Freight service began on January 24, 1833. Regular locomotive operation by the John Bull began on September 9 of that year. Within two months,
a derailment killed two people; this was the earliest recorded train accident involving the death of passengers. In the fall of 1833, the line was extended south to
Delanco, and the full line to Camden was completed on December 19, 1834. The C&A was profitable as soon as it started operations. In 1833, the company grossed about $500,000 but only incurred of $287,000.
Jersey City–Trenton: 1832–1839 terminals, circa 1900 On March 7, 1832, the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company (NJRR) was chartered as a parallel line to the C&A, beginning at
Jersey City, closer to New York City, but was limited to building south to New Brunswick due to the C&A's influence; the C&A would build the part from New Brunswick south to
Spotswood (changed to Trenton in 1836 due to the alliance with the
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad). In November 1832, the NJRR acquired control of the
Essex and Middlesex Turnpike, which paralleled the planned alignment east of
Newark, to avoid problems caused by competition. The stock of the turnpike, running south from Newark to New Brunswick, was bought April 6, 1833; the majority of the line was built directly along the
turnpike. The alignment as originally planned crossed the
Passaic River on the
Centre Street Bridge, then curved south along
Park Place and
Broad Street directly into the turnpike. A branch would have run from the west end of the bridge south along the river and then southwest to the main line at the south end of Broad Street, but this became the main line and the original plan along Broad Street was never built. On November 24, 1833, the NJRR bought out the
Proprietors of the Bridges over the Rivers Passaic and Hackensack, who had monopolies on their bridges over the
Passaic and
Hackensack Rivers (on the Newark Turnpike), in order to eliminate their threat. Around 1852, the NJRR acquired the
Newark Plank Road and Ferry Company (incorporated 1849) to keep the Passaic and Hackensack monopoly. Regular NJRR service began September 15, 1834, between Newark and
Jersey City, using a temporary track over
Bergen Hill. An extension to
Elizabeth opened December 21, 1835, using the turnpike from the south end of Broad Street. Service to
Rahway began January 1, 1836, again along the turnpike from a point south of Elizabeth. Locomotives were only used south of Newark until January 11, though some horse power operations continued east of Newark. The line opened to east of New Brunswick July 11, with an
omnibus transfer the rest of the way; the turnpike was used north of
Iselin. On September 8, 1836, the NJRR acquired a majority of stock of the
New Brunswick Bridge Company to avoid its local monopoly over crossings of the
Raritan River. The double-deck bridge over the Raritan opened October 31, 1837, with a road beneath the railroad, taking the NJRR to
New Brunswick. The New Brunswick Bridge Company was authorized to charge a toll on the lower level on May 7, 1838. The old 1795
Albany Street Bridge was removed in 1849 and later rebuilt. The
Bergen Hill Cut, the last part of the Jersey City–New Brunswick line to be finished, opened on January 22, 1838, replacing the old temporary alignment over the hill and ending the use of horse power. On March 15, 1837, a supplement to the C&A's charter was passed, allowing the branch to New Brunswick connecting with the New Jersey Rail Road to branch off of the C&A at Bordentown rather than Spotswood, to pass through Trenton for a connection with the
Trenton Delaware Bridge and the Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad. Portions could be built next to the
Delaware and Raritan Canal or along the
New Brunswick and Trenton Turnpike. Construction on the branch began in September 1837 between Bordentown and Trenton, where it was built on the east bank of the D&R Canal. The initial branch opened April 4, 1838. Construction on the extension to New Brunswick began June of that year, opening January 1, 1839. The branch continued northeast from Trenton on the east bank of the canal, splitting at
Kingston and running cross-country to
Millstone Junction, southwest of New Brunswick. That same day, the NJRR was completed from New Brunswick to Millstone Junction. Despite forming one third of the route, the NJRR only got one sixth of the earnings from the joint operation, which ran between Philadelphia and New York City in 5.5 hours.
Further connections and realignments: 1839–1867 departing
Jersey City to defend the national capital of Washington, D.C. on April 18, 1861 By 1839, a connection opened between the Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad and the C&A's Trenton Branch, including a bridge over the Delaware and Raritan (D&R) Canal in Trenton. This allowed for through Philadelphia–Jersey City operation, but most traffic continued to run via Camden due to the distance between the P&T's
Kensington terminal and central Philadelphia. On May 31, 1854, the C&A decided to realign and straighten the Trenton Branch between Trenton and
Deans Pond near
Monmouth Junction due to bad soil conditions on the bank of the D&R Canal. A
plank road, later upgraded to a railroad branch, would be built to connect to
Princeton, which the new alignment would bypass. A tunnel under the canal in Trenton was completed in March 1860, for the connection between the P&T Railroad and the new alignment. Construction on the new line began October 1862; the
Clinton Street Station on the new line at Trenton opened April 20, 1863, replacing the old
State Street Station. The first train ran through the new tunnel on October 5, 1863, and the new line (along what is now the
Northeast Corridor) opened November 23, cutting New York City–Trenton time to 2.5 hours. The second track on the new line opened September 1864, but the old line remained for southbound freight. The
Princeton Branch opened May 29, 1865, on which date passenger trains stopped running over the old line. The old line was removed between Trenton and Princeton in July; a portion in Trenton was kept to serve businesses. The Princeton–Kingston section was removed in September when freight operations began on the Princeton Branch; track north of Kingston (which was not next to the canal) was retained to serve the
Rocky Hill Railroad.
Competition crossing the
Passaic River on the
Centre Street Bridge to
Harrison Closely tied to the early NJRR was the
Paterson and Hudson River Railroad (P&HR), later the main line of the
Erie Railroad. The P&HR agreed in June 1833 to build to the west side of the
New Jersey Palisades at
Marion Junction, where it would use the NJRR's Bergen Hill Cut the rest of the way to the
Hudson River. The P&HR opened November 29, 1833, prior to the opening of any part of the NJRR, in the meantime using a stagecoach along the Newark Turnpike to reach the river. A trackage rights agreement was made October 10, 1834, and P&HR operation to Jersey City began October 20. The
Long Dock Tunnel opened April 15, 1861, giving the P&HR (by then part of the Erie) its own route to the
Hudson River. Also involved with the NJRR was the
Morris and Essex Railroad (M&E), later the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's (DL&W) main line. On October 21, 1836, the NJRR agreed to carry M&E traffic between Newark and Jersey City, beginning on November 19. A new alignment meeting the NJRR in
Harrison opened August 5, 1854. On October 14, 1863, the M&E began using the Long Dock Tunnel. The
Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) also used the NJRR to reach Jersey City from
Elizabeth until its own line opened on August 1, 1864. The C&A often used legislative and legal means to protect its monopoly on New York City to Philadelphia travel. The monopoly was finally broken on May 1, 1876, with the completion of the
National Railway, over seven years after the legal monopoly expired. On January 19, 1831, New Jersey passed a supplement to the D&R Canal's charter, allowing them to build a railroad alongside their canal. However, this was soon mooted by the union between the C&A and D&R. On February 15, 1831, the C&A and D&R were combined as the Joint Companies, with all important decisions made by a Joint Board, and all stock was consolidated. An act passed February 4, 1831, gave the C&A monopoly powers for nine years against railroads built within three miles of the C&A, in exchange for the state receiving 1000 shares of stock. The Protection Act, passed March 2, 1832, expanded this to give the Joint Companies a monopoly on New York City-Philadelphia traffic across New Jersey. On March 16, 1854, this exclusive right was extended to January 1, 1869, as long as the C&A helped other railroads including the
West Jersey Railroad and double-tracked its main line. In Summer 1835,
Robert F. Stockton bought control of the
Trenton Delaware Bridge and Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad to end its competition with the C&A and the legal battle to connect at New Brunswick with the NJRR. On October 12 the C&A/D&R Joint Board authorized a purchase of the P&T, and an agreement was signed November 11, by which the P&T would send all traffic beyond Trenton to New York City via the C&A. A pro-C&A board was elected by the P&T on January 12, 1836, and on June 1 the stock of all three companies was divided
pro rata. On September 1, 1862, a competing line began operating via the
Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad and
Camden and Atlantic Railroad, running steamboats between New York City and
Port Monmouth at the north end of the R&DB. This common threat caused the C&A and NJRR to work more closely, signing an agreement October 1. The
Newark and New York Railroad, later part of the
Central Railroad of New Jersey, opened in July 1869, giving major competition to the NJRR from Newark east.
PRR lease until May 29, 1865 On February 1, 1867, the C&A and NJRR were informally joined as the
United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies (UNJ). The
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) approved a lease of the UNJ on May 15, 1871, and the UNJ approved May 19. On May 18, 1872, the C&A, D&R Canal and NJRR were consolidated, forming the
United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company. The new company was split into two divisions: the New York Division consisted of the NJRR and the C&A Trenton Branch towards Philadelphia, while the Amboy Division was the original C&A main line. In 1968, the PRR merged with the
New York Central Railroad, to form the
Penn Central. A series of events including inflation, poor management, abnormally harsh weather conditions and the withdrawal of a government-guaranteed 200-million-dollar operating loan forced the Penn Central to file for bankruptcy protection in 1970. Initially Conrail operated
commuter rail service on its lines under contract to the
New Jersey Department of Transportation. In 1979, the commuter lines were acquired by
New Jersey Transit. ==Other branches==