New Jersey Railroading and Railfanning In "The Garden State"

While New Jersey railroading today may only consist of less than 1,000 miles of trackage it offers a dizzying variety of high-speed, local/shortline and excursion operations. The Garden State also has a very rich railroading history with numerous classic lines having once operated within its borders, partly due to its strategic location to New York City. Today, while all of the fabled railroads of the past are gone most of their key routes through the state remain, operated between commuter services, shortlines and Conrail Shared Assets for CSX and Norfolk Southern.

New Jersey railroading has its beginnings dating back to the famous little Camden & Amboy, which completed its original main line in 1833 between Bordentown and Amboy. A year later it completed its line further to Camden and by 1839 opened a line between Bordentown, Trenton and New Brunswick, which became part of today’s Northeast Corridor operated by Amtrak.

In the following years the Garden State would be home to fabled railroads like the Pennsylvania Railroad, Erie, Reading, and New Jersey’s own, the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Railroads such as the PRR and CNJ would build four-track main lines through New Jersey and, in the case of the CNJ and DL&W, construct colossal terminals across the river from downtown Manhattan such as the Hoboken Terminal (built by the Lackawanna, it is still in active use) and the Jersey City Terminal (built by the CNJ, today a state park).

One of New Jersey’s most remembered railroads is the Jersey Central, which may have been small in comparison to most railroads around it but was loved by many in New Jersey and that fondness remains to this day, over 30 years after the railroad disappeared into Conrail. The Central Railroad of New Jersey has its beginnings dating back to 1831 with the chartering of the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad to connect Elizabeth with Somerville, New Jersey. The creation of the CNJ was a result of the E&S merging with the Somerville and Easton Railroad, a railroad chartered in 1847 to connect west to Easton from the connection point at Somerville, and the railroad was born on February 11th, 1849 (the result of the E&S purchasing the S&E).

Following the turn of the century in 1901 the Reading Railroad took control of the CNJ, which lasted until 1976 and Conrail. The railroad itself was built predominantly to haul anthracite coal from western Pennsylvania coalfields although it did have a range of merchandise and commuter traffic from the New Jersey, Tri-State, and Philadelphia regions. While the railroad was successful during its early years, following the fallout of anthracite after roughly World War I the Central Railroad of New Jersey fell on hard times and emerged from bankruptcy a number of times throughout the rest of its life. Its biggest disadvantage was its location and overall size whereby larger competitors stole away potential traffic, and its size left the CNJ with short-haul freight, something that is not very profitable.

As the Northeast’s traffic base began to dry up following World War II the result of this proved critical to the region’s largest railroads. By the 1960s railroads such as the PRR, NYC, Reading, LV, EL, CNJ, and others were facing destitution; there were simply too many railroads and not enough traffic. Roads like the Reading, LV, and CNJ were hit especially hard as they all relied heavily on anthracite, which was no longer profitable as demand had almost completely disappeared.

While the Jersey Central had friendly connections with both the Reading and B&O (later the result of the B&O owning a controlling interest in the Reading) there simply was not enough traffic to keep the railroad away from the red ink. Coupled with a commuter service and state taxes that were simply bringing the railroad to its knees, it comes as no surprise that the CNJ entered its final bankruptcy in 1967.

In a last ditch attempt to cut the flow of red ink the Central Railroad of New Jersey embargoed all lines in Pennsylvania in 1972, which were picked up by the Lehigh Valley. In the end nothing worked for the CNJ and the railroad, which boasted perhaps the most patriotic of all railroad logos, the Lady Liberty and the railroad she represented quietly disappeared into Conrail on April 1, 1976.

Today, New Jersey railroading no longer features commuter trains of the PRR and CNJ, and passenger trains like the The Blue,Comet (CNJ’s premier train). but several state transit services continue to ferry commuters from suburbia to downtown Manhattan and other urban locations in the region. These include the ever-busy Northeast Corridor that sees over 300 daily trains of Amtrak and NJ Transit along with the latter’s extensive commuter operations like the Hudson-Bergen line, Newark Light Rail line, and the RiverLINE between Trenton and Camden. PATH (Port Authority of New York) trains also serve Hoboken Terminal and Newark Penn Station, connecting both with points across the river such as Lower and Midtown Manhattan.

Class I freight operations in the state are handled exclusively by Conrail Shared Assets, the neutral paper company that jointly serves Norfolk Southern and CSX freight trains (both also own the railroad). New Jersey railroading also features a number of shortline operations including the Belvidere & Delaware River Railway, New York & Greenwood Lake Railway, Raritan Central Railway, Morristown & Erie Railway, and the Southern Railroad Company of New Jersey whose logo is inspired from the Jersey Central.

In total these railroads operate less than 1,000 miles of trackage today although at one time New Jersey railroading featured twice that number. For a more in-depth look at the state’s rail mileage over the years please have a look at the chart below.

If, however, you tire of the commuter trains or are just looking for something different, New Jersey railroading also features several railroad museums and tourist railroads like the New York, Susquehanna & Western 2-8-2 #142 that operates seasonally and the New Jersey Museum of Transportation, which owns the famous sunken 1850-era 2-2-2s.

Today, while the CNJ’s Jersey City Terminal no longer serves as a commuter rail station the Lackawanna’s Hoboken Terminal is alive and well, and what’s more the historic building is being completely restored with the ferry slips the final phase yet to be opened at which point passengers heading across the river to downtown Manhattan can once again board their ferry directly from these historic slips.

While the CNJ’s famous four-track main line, Jersey City Terminal and legendary Newark Bay Bridge either no longer stand or serves in its original capacity, New Jersey railroading is rich and history and features a wide variety of operations that should appeal to whatever interests you may have from commuter and high-speed rail to freight trains and railroad museums.