It appears the proposed route of the Delaware & Raritan RR is significantly north of where it was actually built, North of Apple Pie Hill and running through Hampton Furnace. BTW the MrSid viewer is really nice.
Does anyone know when the RR was built?
Ed
Ed:
Despite the best efforts of the monopolistic Camden & Amboy Railroad to "derail" passage of the act to incorporate the Raritan & Delaware Bay Railroad, the bill gained approval in 1854. Flying in the face of the monopoly's gerrymandering and politicking, a rising anti-monopoly sentiment softened the hearts of some lawmakers and the bill passed. This bill and several amendments established the general routing of the railroad, hence its appearance on the 1858 Burlington County map. William Torrey, owner of the Manchester Tract, packaged the proposed railroad as part of a grand "Norfolk Air Line" between New York and the south. As stated in the act, the original routing would take it east of the right-of-way actually constructed and travel all the way down to Cape May, passing through Egg Harbor City and Mays Landing on a tangential line. Under the proposed "Air Line," train ferry service would operate between Cape May and Lewes, Delaware and another section of the "Air Line" would go on down the Delmarva Peninusla to Cape Charles, where train ferry service would operate to Norfolk, providing connections to points south and west.
Torrey held a grand groundbreaking for the line in Port Monmouth during May 1856, but land acquisition problems and chronic under capitalization caused the construction crews to start and stop their work. Rails finally arrived in April 1859 from England. With seccession fears looming in the south, dooming the "Air Line" concept, and a lack of funding, a desperate Torrey attempted to offer the new railroad to the Camden & Amboy, but they shunned any overtures. So in 1861, the R&DB made a fateful decision to change its route and move it westward towards Philadelphia. The construction crews, building south from Manchester (Lakehurst), veered westward towards Atsion. Under an agreement signed during October 1861, the R&DB agreed to build the Camden & Atlantic's proposed Batsto Branch, linking the two railroads between Jackson Junction, near Atco, and Atsion. The other section of the Batsto Branch east of Atsion, though surveyed, never became a reality. By August, the track gangs had reached Hampton, four miles above Atsion and trains operated as far as Jones Mill (Chatsworth). By the middle of August 1862, the portion of the Batsto Branch between Jackson and Atsion became operational and service into Camden began on 20 August 1862.
Ultimately, the change of route and the service to Camden would be the undoing of the R&DB as the monopoly brought suit against the railroad following the Civil War. The Camden & Amboy won, bankrupting the R&DB, which company reorganized with the infamous Jay Gould at the helm. In 1878, the R&DB, now known as the New Jersey Southern, became part of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The section of track from Atsion south to Bayside began life as the Vineland Railway, constructed as part of the Charles K. Landis growing empire. Landis also relinquished control to Gould and his syndicate subsequent to the line reaching Atsion in October 1870.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
