Bordentown Secondary

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The Bordentown Secondary was originally a freight railroad line in New Jersey, running from Pavonia Yard in Camden to Trenton. Today, a large portion of the line from Bordentown to Camden is used for New Jersey Transit's River Line light rail service. Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to operate freight trains on the line, but these operations are restricted to overnight hours.

New Jersey State of the United States of America

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Northeastern United States. It is a peninsula, bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, particularly along the extent of the length of New York City on its western edge; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on the southwest by the Delaware Bay and Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 9 million residents as of 2017, and the most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states; its biggest city is Newark. New Jersey lies completely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia and was the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income as of 2017.

Pavonia Yard

Pavonia Yard is a rail yard in Camden, New Jersey. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and opened in 1888. The yard begins just north of where the Conrail tracks cross the Cooper River near the intersection of State and Federal Streets, and continues north until approximately 36th Street, ending near the 36th Street River Line station. The yard was used to interchange with the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) during 1896 to 1932, and with the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (P-RSL) during 1932 to 1976. Initially the PRR operated large locomotive and car repair shops at the yard. In later years the engine work was discontinued, but the car repair shops remained in operation through the late 1930s. The yard was rebuilt in the 1960s.

Camden, New Jersey City in New Jersey, United States

Camden is a city and the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Camden is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 77,344. Camden is the 12th most populous municipality in New Jersey. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828. Camden has been the county seat of Camden County since the county was formed on March 13, 1844. The city derives its name from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. Camden is made up of over twenty different neighborhoods.

Contents

The line that meets with the Bordentown Secondary in Bordentown, the Robbinsville Industrial Track is operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations and extends from Bordentown to nearby Yardville, New Jersey which is located within Hamilton Township.

The Robbinsville Industrial Track is a short freight line that runs between Bordentown, New Jersey to the Yardville section of Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The line is part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) and was originally part of the Camden and Amboy Railroad and later served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central Transportation and then Conrail.

Yardville, New Jersey Census-designated place in New Jersey, United States

Yardville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Hamilton Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 2,945. Before the 2010 Census, the area was part of the Yardville-Groveville CDP, which was split into two CDPs, Yardville and Groveville.

Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Township in New Jersey, United States

Hamilton Township is a township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The township is within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the United States Census Bureau, but directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 88,464, reflecting an increase of 1,355 (+1.6%) from the 87,109 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 556 (+0.6%) from the 86,553 counted in the 1990 Census. The township was the state's 9th-largest municipality, after having been ranked 10th in 2000. The township is located immediately east of the city of Trenton, the state's capital.

History

Pavonia Yard in Camden opened in 1888 Pavonia Yard hump control twr 2010.jpg
Pavonia Yard in Camden opened in 1888

The trackage that makes up much of the present-day Bordentown Secondary was originally laid by the Camden and Amboy Railroad in the 19th century. The line completed the connection between New York City and Philadelphia, via ferries between Pier 1 in New York, and South Amboy, New Jersey, and between Camden and Philadelphia. The Camden and Amboy was eventually purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), then became a Penn Central Transportation line after the PRR-New York Central Railroad merger in 1968, and was transferred to Conrail in 1976.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

South Amboy, New Jersey City in New Jersey, United States

South Amboy is a suburban city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, on the Raritan Bay. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 8,631, reflecting an increase of 718 (+9.1%) from the 7,913 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 50 (+0.6%) from the 7,863 counted in the 1990 Census.

The line was purchased by New Jersey Transit in 1999 for its River Line light rail service between Trenton and Camden. As part of the deal, Conrail retains trackage rights over the line.

Today

River Line train in Riverton, New Jersey. The line began service in 2004. 20070421 RivertonNJ D80 NearHiway73.jpg
River Line train in Riverton, New Jersey. The line began service in 2004.

At present, the line is primarily used for the River Line service, which operates on the same tracks used by freight trains for much of its route. To achieve Federal Railroad Administration approval for the operation, light rail and freight operations are time separated. Conrail's agreement with New Jersey Transit gives exclusive access to light rail operations from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM Sunday through Friday. Conrail has exclusive access for freight service during the overnight hours, but may run trains on the southern end of the alignment any other time with prior approval from New Jersey Transit or in emergencies.

Federal Railroad Administration Agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail safety regulations, administer railroad assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy, provide for the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor rail passenger service, and consolidate government support of rail transportation activities.

Much of the line between Bordentown and South Amboy is out of service; the track has been pulled up or paved over in several places. In February 2006, the New Jersey Department of Transportation proposed removing two road crossings on the northern portion of the line. Whats left of the remaining line that ran between Bordentown and South Amboy which is cuurently called the Robbinsville Industrial Track now stops in the Yardville section of Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

New Jersey Department of Transportation New Jersey Department of Transportation

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, such as maintaining and operating the State's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportation policy and assisting with rail, freight and intermodal transportation issues. It is headed by the Commissioner of Transportation. The present Commissioner is Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.

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Central Railroad of New Jersey former Class I railroad

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The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A) whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North American railroads, and among the first common carrier transportation companies whose prospectus marketed an enterprise aimed at carrying passengers fast and competing with stagecoaches between New York Harbor and Philadelphia-Trenton. Among the other earliest chartered or incorporated railroads, only the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were chartered with passenger services in mind. Later after mergers as the UNJ&CC became a subsidiary part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system in New Jersey by the later merger and acquisition of several predecessor companies in 1872; which purchases also included the PRR's main line to New York City. Prior to 1872, its main lines were the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company, the first railroad in New Jersey and one of the first railroad in the United States.

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Trenton Transit Center train station in Trenton, New Jersey

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The Belvidere Delaware Railroad was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became an important feeder line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad's join to the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which was constructed into Phillipsburg, NJ at about the same time. This connected Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ at one end of the shortline railroad to the rapidly growing lower Wyoming Valley region, and via the Morris Canal or the CNJ, a slow or fast connection to New York City ferries crossing New York Harbor from Jersey City, NJ. In 1871 the CNJ leased various railroads in Pennsylvania, most from the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company allowing the CNJ to penetrate to the upper Wyoming Valley, over some stretches, competing directly with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and with the Lehigh Canal and the trunk road connection of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad to New York became less profitable since Philadelphia connected more easily to Northeastern Pennsylvania thereafter without needing a double-crossing of the Delaware River; a general revenue decline ensued, leading to the Pennsylvania Railroad acquiring the rights, where it served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system, carrying mainly anthracite coal and iron ore from northeastern Pennsylvania to population centers along the coast.

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Roebling station train station in Roebling, New Jersey

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Lackawanna Old Road

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Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad

The Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad was a railroad operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The main line began along the PRR main at Rahway, New Jersey. The line was only 6 miles (9.7 km) long and was electrified in the year 1935. The line ended at the now closed Essay Tower in South Amboy, New Jersey. The rail line was double tracked and was used for both freight and passenger service. At Essay it would become the New York and Long Branch Railroad which would run to Bay Head Junction. At Essay traffic from the main or the South Amboy engine facility to the holding track outside the station. Essay also controlled traffic on the Camden and Amboy Railroad today known as the Amboy Secondary Track.

West Jersey and Seashore Railroad

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Salem Branch

The Salem Branch is a rail freight line in the southwestern part of New Jersey in the United States between the Port of Salem and Woodbury Junction where it and the Penns Grove Secondary converge with the Vineland Secondary approximately 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south of Pavonia Yard in Camden.

Lehigh Line (Norfolk Southern)

The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in central New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey (via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the Susquehanna River valley at the south end of the Wyoming Valley Coal Region. Administratively it is part of Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Division and is also part of the Crescent Corridor. As of 2016 the line is freight-only, although there are perennial proposals to restore passenger service over all or part of the line.

Freehold Secondary

The Freehold Secondary is a partially active rail line in New Jersey, the active portion of which is owned and operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO). The portion which is in use runs from Jamesburg, NJ, to the current end of service at Freehold, NJ. Technically, the line continues to a junction with the Southern Secondary in Farmingdale, NJ, but this portion has been out of service since the early 2000s.

The Hightstown Industrial Track is a rail line in New Jersey, owned and operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO). The line runs from Jamesburg, New Jersey to the current end of track at Cranbury, New Jersey. The line was built by the Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A) one of the first railroads in the country. It has been operated by C&A, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, and finally, Conrail.

References

  1. ^ The Trentonian, Feb. 17, 2006.