imported>Pencilsforall: Changing short description from "Former railroad company in New Jersey" to "Railroad company in New Jersey"

2025-04-17T01:17:55Z

Changing short description from "Former railroad company in New Jersey" to "Railroad company in New Jersey"

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{{Short description|Railroad company in New Jersey}}
{{Infobox rail
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| image = Amerikaanse stoomlocomotief, RP-F-2001-7-998-15 (cropped).jpg
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| caption = [[Baldwin Locomotive Works|Baldwin]] [[2-4-4T]] locomotive circa 1878
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| start_year = {{Start date|1852}}
| end_year = {{End date|1896}}
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| successor_line = [[West Jersey and Seashore Railroad]]
| gauge = {{Track gauge|Standard gauge}}
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| length = {{convert|67.56|mi}}
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The '''Camden and Atlantic Railroad''' was a railway company in the United States. It opened the first railway line to [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], and played an important role in the development of that city. The company was incorporated in 1852 and completed its original line in 1854. It came under [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] control in 1883 and was consolidated with several companies to form the [[West Jersey and Seashore Railroad]] in 1896. [[NJ Transit]]'s [[Atlantic City Line]] continues to use the company's former line for service between [[Philadelphia]] and Atlantic City.

== History ==
The impetus for the Camden and Atlantic Railroad came from [[Jonathan Pitney]], a physician in [[Absecon, New Jersey]], who believed that [[Absecon Island]] would be a desirable destination given good transportation.{{sfnp|Treese|2006|p=170}} Pitney was able, with other South Jersey investors, to obtain a charter from the state in 1852.{{sfnp|Towle|1948|p=16}} The new company was incorporated on March 19, 1852.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=188}} Construction began in December 1852. The western end of the line was in [[Camden, New Jersey]], at [[Cooper Point, Camden|Cooper's Point]] on the [[Delaware River]].{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=191}} Service to [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]] began on July 4, 1854, although at first passengers had to transfer to a ferry pending the completion of a drawbridge.{{sfnp|Kramer|2011|p=6}}

The new line was {{convert|59.79|mi}} long.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=191}} Its station in Camden was less than a mile north of the [[Camden and Amboy Railroad]]'s, and it crossed the C&A [[Amboy Branch|main line]] within Camden.{{sfnp|Towle|1948|p=25}} Although South Jersey was relatively unpopulated east of [[Berlin, New Jersey]], the construction of the railroad encouraged growth, particularly in Atlantic City.{{sfnp|Towle|1948|p=19}}

Although the Camden and Atlantic's charter authorized various branches, only one was built before 1881. This was the [[Atsion branch]], built under contract by the [[Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad]]. This line connected the Camden and Atlantic's main line (at [[Atco, New Jersey|Atco]]), with the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad's [[Southern Division of the Central Railroad of New Jersey|main line]] at [[Atsion, New Jersey|Atsion]]. The line was never conveyed to the Camden and Atlantic because of a legal dispute with the Camden and Amboy.{{sfnp|Towle|1948|pp=35–36}}{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=189}}

The company gained its first direct competitor in 1876, with the founding of the [[Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway]]. Among its directors were several former Camden and Atlantic directors.{{sfnp|Hilton|1990|p=447}} The new company completed a {{track gauge|3ft6in|lk=on}} [[Narrow gauge railway|narrow gauge]] line between Camden and Atlantic City in 1877.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=268}} A third emerged in 1880 with the opening of the [[West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad]]'s line via [[Newfield, New Jersey|Newfield]].{{sfnp|Towle|1948|p=24}} In 1883, the [[Philadelphia and Reading Railroad]] took control of the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway, while the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] took control of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad.{{sfnp|Hilton|1990|p=449}}{{sfnp|Treese|2006|p=172}}

Between 1881 and 1891 the company constructed a branch totaling {{convert|8.37|mi}}. This line ran primarily on Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic City, from [[Longport, New Jersey|Longport]] to [[Absecon Inlet]].{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=191}} It leased the [[Philadelphia, Marlton and Medford Railroad]] in 1885; the company owned a branch line between [[Haddonfield, New Jersey|Haddonfield]] and [[Medford, New Jersey|Medford]]. It also operated the [[Chelsea Branch Railroad (New Jersey)|Chelsea Branch Railroad]], whose small branch within Atlantic City provided another connection between the Camden and Atlantic main line and the branch on Atlantic Avenue.{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=192}} In 1890, passenger service in Camden was consolidated at the Pennsylvania Railroad's terminal on Federal Street.{{sfnp|Towle|1948|p=29}} On February 8, 1896, the Camden and Atlantic was consolidated with the Chelsea Branch Railroad, [[Alloway and Quinton Railroad]], [[West Jersey Railroad]], West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad, and Philadelphia, Marlton and Medford Railroad to form the [[West Jersey and Seashore Railroad]].{{sfnp|Coverdale & Colpitts|1946|p=189}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{Coverdale & Colpitts 4}}{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFCoverdale_&_Colpitts1946}}
* {{Hilton Narrow Gauge}}
* {{cite book| last=Kramer | first=Frederick A. | title=Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines: An Illustrated History of Southern New Jersey's Jointly-Owned Railroad | date=2011 | publisher=West Jersey Chapter, National Railway Historical Society | location=Palmyra, New Jersey}}
* {{cite journal | last=Towle | first=Charles L. |title=History of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad and Associated Railroads 1852-1897 | journal=The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin | issue=73 | date=1948 | pages=16–45 | jstor=43517493}}
* {{cite books | last=Treese | first=Lorett | title=Railroads of New Jersey: fragments of the past in the Garden State landscape | publisher=Stackpole Book | location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-8117-3260-4}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camden Atlantic Railroad}}
[[Category:Defunct New Jersey railroads]]
[[Category:Predecessors of the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1852]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1896]]
[[Category:1852 establishments in New Jersey]]
[[Category:1896 disestablishments in New Jersey]]

Camden and Atlantic Railroad - Revision history

imported>Pencilsforall: Changing short description from "Former railroad company in New Jersey" to "Railroad company in New Jersey"