often referred to as the big little railroad new jersey's central railroad has only 700 route miles
but totaled over 2 000 miles of track and what it lacked in length it made up for in the sheer
amount of traffic it handled daily four to six main tracks would see 300 commuter trains carrying
35 000 riders daily in addition to this it also saw many local and long distance freight lines
and passenger trains across the state much of this railroad's legacy has been tragically lost
to time its long abandoned terminal sits still near the state's largest urban park
complete with its tall romanesque walls welcoming all who come to admire the hidden remnants of this
marvel well after its days of service have long passed so join me in discovering what remains
of the forgotten central jersey railroad i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
to understand the origins of the central railroad let's look back at new jersey in the early 19th
century factories steadily replaced artistry shops as rural villages became cities and machines
running on water and steam power became more mainstream the towns provided many new jobs
for immigrants and residents of the state alike these years were incredibly transformative to the
garden state and it wasn't long until it began to see the construction of canals and railroads
the new jersey almanac states that the canals and railroads along with bridges and toll roads
became a significant source of economic growth and revenue for the government these included
the third ever covered bridge in america between phillipsburg and easton designed by the eastern
delaware bridge company then you had the first new jersey turnpike from new brunswick to phillipsburg
we can also recall the savannah the first vessel to cross the atlantic partly on her own steam
these transportation revenues paid for most of the new jersey state government's expenses you might
even say that the travel industry was the fuel for the fire of new jersey's growth allowing it
to reach new heights however with a growing economy that became increasingly industrial
there was also an ever-increasing need for more efficient ways of travel in 1830 the state of
new jersey finally approved a charter for the camden and amboy railroad its founder colonel john
stevens from hoboken had been trying to petition for his railroad for almost 20 years eventually
stevens and the state reached a compromise the railroad would have executive rights to carry
passengers between the hudson and the delaware rivers in return the state government was promised
1 000 shares of stock in the company and it guaranteed 30 000 yearly from the passenger and
freight taxes and as we have already learned in a previous video about the lost canals of new jersey
the years after receiving this charter the camden and amboy combined its efforts with the delaware
and raritan canal company founded by princeton's stockton family forming the joint companies this
granted a monopoly over water and rail allowing the railroad to charge incredibly high rates
however this railroad also operated at extremely high cost it also was not immune to incident
only two months after it began the operation of steam locomotives in 1833 it saw its first deadly
railroad accident two were killed during a trip from heights town to sportswood and many more were
injured the train had been traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour when despite having slowed
to 20 miles per hour a journal box overheated and caught fire causing an axle to break on one of
the carriages derailing and overturning the train cornelius vanderbilt who would later become one of
america's wealthiest men thanks to his ownership of many railroads was also injured in the accident
swearing that he would never travel by train again the former u.s president john quincy adams was
also present at the accident but thankfully left uninjured the late president went on to write that
this accident was the most dreadful catastrophe that my eyes beheld the central railroad of
new jersey's origins can be traced back to two small railroads in the early 1800s the elizabeth
and somerville railroad and the somerville and eastern railroad construction started in the east
and slowly but surely spread across the west in 1835 as the railroad gathered the money it needed
its first full segment reaching from elizabeth to cranford which at the time was called crane's foot
was completed in 1836 after a slow construction and operated under horsepower it wasn't until 1839
when the railroad would reach plainfield 1839 was also the year that steampower arrived before this
trains were horse-drawn a single locomotive named eagle provided power as the elizabeth and
somerville railroad stretched further east however the revenue it made from its first services
was not nearly enough to cover its construction costs despite its connection with a ferry service
on the east end there wasn't enough traffic to lift its failing financial situation
and in 1847 it declared bankruptcy and that same year the summerville and easton were incorporated
the central railroad of new jersey didn't truly come about until somerville and easton acquired
the elizabeth and somerville railroad in 1848 and changed both names to the central railroad
company on april the 23rd 1849. after this union the railroad wasted no time in expanding its reach
outward across the state completing its main line and reaching phillipsburg in 1852
by far phillipsburg was one of the most important commercial centers of its time
with five major railroads including the central railroad company pennsylvania
railroads belvedere division and the lackawanna and western
however the central railroad needed a better place terminal to cross the hudson river
and deliver coal from the mines in pennsylvania the same mines that brought new jersey's canals
great success most of the places at tidewater were already taken and monopolized by other companies
due to these problems the central railroad of new jersey chartered a waterfront location in jersey
city rather than following the footsteps of its predecessors who tunneled through the bergen hill
the jersey central decided instead to opt for a far less expensive undertaking bridging over the
newark bay to bayonne it crossed south of bergen hill and followed the new york based shoreline
completed in 1864 the bridge across newark bay was massive and came out as 9714 feet long
according to historic structures it was made up of double track timber trestles on either side of the
cast and wrought iron swing bridge the terminal itself referred to as the jersey city terminal was
far more modest in scope it was constructed mainly on landfills brought in from building excavations
in new york and placed on timber pilings driven into the dirt both terminal structures were wooden
with a train shed receiving nine tracks near a head house that was both a concourse and a ferry
shed according to the new jersey department of environmental protection this terminal saw great
use as a route across the hudson and a gateway to the ocean but with the increasingly heavy demands
from the flow of traffic that both the central new jersey railroad and its terminal saw this original
terminal just wasn't enough so in 1889 peabody and steems a renowned architectural firm from boston
designed and constructed a new terminal which replaced it and became one of the major hudson
river terminals up until the post-war period this new terminal was not only the primary terminal of
the central railroad of new jersey but it also served the trains of reading baltimore and ohio
it saw an incredible rise in patronage after the opening of the ellis island immigration station in
1892 around this time central new jersey ran 266 trains every week in and out of the new
terminal these routes were incredibly busy not only by its passenger services but its massive
freight and co-operations as pennsylvania coal was carried alongside passenger ferries historical
structures reports that it was the greatest concentration of rail facilities in the new
york harbor area at the turn of the century once the railroad's jersey city connection was complete
so too was its central division from jersey city to phillipsburg by far it was the busiest part
of the entire railroad serving thousands of riders commuter trains and even local freighters referred
to as drills every day one of the most important divisions of the central new jersey is the jersey
central southern division it operated in far less populated southern regions handling not
only a wide variety of freight and cargo including agricultural goods and materials for construction
but also a wide variety of commuters to various locations such as atlantic city tuckerton and long
branch one of the most significant contributions to the southern division's track length came from
the raritan and delaware bay railroad in 1854 it was meant to connect new york with norfolk's
virginia port across the delaware bay by steamship this plan never came to fruition but this system
built a large portion of trackage across the state opening its first segment in 1860 between
port mammoth and bergen ironwoods via red bank the mostly flat terrain made construction a far
easier task allowing it to reach winslow in 1862 connecting the camden and atlantic railroad this
in turn allowed service to reach farther than ever before now through camden new jersey after
acquiring the violin railway in 1872 further extensions were made past winslow and the
completion of the line ensured that the southern division would reach throughout the lower portions
of the state another important segment of the southern division was the new york and long branch
railroad in 1868. according to american rails it connected the central new jersey railroad's
northern new jersey lines to the south opening for service between perth amboy and long branch
in 1875. by 1882 it extended to reach bayhead junction and it wasn't without competitors a rival
pennsylvania company had plans to get in on the new york and long branch success by building
a competing line however an arrangement was reached to share the line with the central new
jersey handling the freight duties meanwhile coal flowed through the lehigh and susquehanna division
later called the pen division and in 1871 the central new jersey leased the lehigh
and susquehanna adding new branches to tap mines as far out as lee nanticoke and audenreid seeing
its last significant extension in 1888 between pittston and scranton in 1901 the redding took
control of the new jersey central railroad which was a highly used and profitable system until the
great depression the classic trains magazine even remarks that it put the first automatic semaphore
signal into service in 1893 in 1926 the central new jersey also converted the newark bay bridge
into a four-track 1.4 mile long drawbridge to handle the ever increasing demand of travelers
everywhere in its heyday the central railroad of new jersey was incredible in design and operation
but as the years went by the central new jersey lost a fair amount of profit as coal lost its
demand the great depression also spelled disaster for the railway forcing it to enter bankruptcy in
1939 where it stayed for a decade after world war ii it emerged once again though it was
far from in the clear american rails reports that one of the railroads biggest struggles
was the increasing tax burden in new jersey coupled with the fact that operating and labor
costs only climbed higher and higher the number of passengers waned severely to the point that
running commuter and passenger trains was no longer profitable and the central new
jersey was losing money fast then the rise of the automobiles sealed the railroad's fate sending it
into an early grave despite its innovative design that handled both commuters and valuable cargo
those behind it made a mistake in assuming the permanence of profitability in the end
railroad companies went bankrupt thanks to the construction of highways which were also able
to carry freight by the 1960s there were now too many railroads and not enough passengers reading
lehigh valley and the central new jersey were all heavily affected by these new developments they
almost entirely relied on demand for coal which was now completely obsolete in one last effort to
stay in business the central new jersey purchased 41 miles of trackage segment from lehigh to new
england in pennsylvania for 10 million dollars on october the 31st 1961 these lines included
but were not limited to tadmor yard the bethlehem branch and the martins creek branch the venture
proved fruitless and hence in 1967 the central new jersey railway would declare its final bankruptcy
in that same year new jersey put in effect a plan to help save the railroads as a result the
central new jersey trains were connected to the prrs pennsylvania station in newark terminating
service at the jersey city terminal however the central new jersey still struggled heavily
eventually embargoing all lines in pennsylvania in 1972 which the lehigh valley later took control of
on april the 1st 1976 just a few years before the newark bay drawbridge was demolished by the u.s
coast guard the central new jersey was one of many bankrupt railroads to be absorbed into conrail
which was the federal government's solution to the losses conrail was incredibly successful
and it wasn't long before two rivaling companies were competing for private ownership of conrail
in 1997. finally the two reached a truce with norfolk southern corp taking control of 58
of the railroad lines and csx corp taking 42 percent the conrail was bought for 10.2 billion
with hopes of offering lower shipping rates and faster more efficient methods of hauling
freight in 1998 the conrail was reconstructed into a switching and terminal railroad with 1
200 miles of track in three regional areas opening again for operation in 1999 and expanding
operations from northern new jersey to new york's staten island much of the central railway was lost
but some of the network was assimilated into the conrail so let's take a look at what remains
hidden along the coast of the hudson river the old terminal sits abandoned and overgrown by nature
perhaps the terminal is one of the most incredible examples of urban decay in this area its old train
shed has been reclaimed by nature ever since it was shut down in 1967 once filled with millions
of passengers that visited here every year the terminal itself remains derelict and forgotten
by most new yorkers just frozen in time old departure boards and even old train cars remain
on site though the old tracks have long since been fenced off due to the structural collapse
of columns and roofs the terminal building's clock tower is sculpted with science commerce industry
and agriculture on its four corners a reminder of the incredible economic contributions it made
throughout its time however the area surrounding the terminal was brought back to life as liberty
park today the terminal even holds a ticket office and loading dock for the ferry to ellis
island and liberty island tourist along with memorials and tributes to the railroad's history
the abandoned central station isn't the only thing that remains of this incredible railroad
the blue comet designed by the central new jersey's very own president was often called
the seashore's finest train from 1929 to 1941 it ran to atlantic city as a passenger train
under the central new jersey's operations its opulence was recreated by the whippany rail museum
in the way of a club car named jersey coast and while it never ran on the blue comet
it was built with an identical blueprint by the same builder in the same year as the
blue comet's car and of course complete with the same mahogany interior the only real difference
are the carpeting and the seating styles it was an enormous task that took several years to complete
the roof had to be restored the cars had to be repainted to look like the blue comet car and
the damaged woodwork replaced amongst countless other tasks on september the 12th of 2010 the
restoration was officially opened and marked as complete now part of the whippany trains as
a first class extra fare car visiting the jersey coast gives visitors a real taste of the luxury of
the 20th century high life thanks to the fantastic restoration keeping the memories of the blue comet
alive for decades now if you're wondering about the fate of the real blue comet five rail cars
still exist one of which is parked in tuckahoe new jersey awaiting restoration before returning
to passenger service in the cape may shorelines which i presume would be a majestic experience
without a doubt the central railroad of new jersey is a marvelous piece of history with scattered
rails hidden throughout the state reminding us of a time when the garden state thrived if you
want more videos about new jersey history let me know by subscribing or commenting don't forget
to share my new jersey history playlist with your friends this is ryan socash signing off