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26 Miles to Jersey City by Peter Komelski Soft Cover 1983 62 pages Photos
26 Miles to Jersey City by Peter Komelski
Soft Cover
Copyright 1983
62 pages. Lots of photos.
Introduction
The Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Jersey City Terminal
The Main Line
North and South of Elizabethport
The South Branch
Branches North of High Bridge
Branching in to Matawan
The New Jersey Southern Division
26 Miles to Jersey City by Peter Komelski Soft Cover 1983 62 Pages
The depression of the 1930s brought many railroads into bankruptcy. They were able to recover only because of the vast increase in traffic during the Second World War. After the war old "King Coal" was deposed by oil and gas; the passenger train took a back seat to the airplane and private automobile. Much of the freight and express business was lost to the rising trucking industry. The situation grew worse as governments poured billions of dollars into highway programs and airline subsidies. This sealed the fate of the railroad industry in New Jersey. During the 1950s the urban areas of the state began to decline and the concurrent move of industry away from the Northeast worsened an already bad situation. At the same time the suburban boom did nothing but add to the debt of the railroads' commuter operations. All this was aggravated by the staggering real estate taxes imposed by local governments.
One by one lines were abandoned, multitrack lines were reduced to single tracks and maintenance was almost forgotten. Many companies had to sell their own trackage for scrap to pay day-to-day operating expenses. The decline of the railroads in the state was climaxed by the bankruptcy of the Erie-Lackawanna and the collapse of the Penn-Central's empire. By the end of June 1972 every major railroad serving New Jersey was in bankruptcy. Faced with a rash of railroad insolvencies, the state and federal governments did nothing. On February 8, 1973 a strike briefly shut down the Penn-Central. Confronted with the possible economic downfall of the entire Northeast the federal government finally woke up. In April 1976 the government-backed Consolidated Rail Corporation took over operations of the various bankrupt railroads; in the process even more miles of railroad lines were abandoned and service was cut back on others.
In a time of declining revenues, the obvious tactic is to eliminate the losers. The railroads' greatest loser was the passenger operation. Depots, both passenger and freight, on which taxes had to be paid and maintenance money, however slight, expended, were the first to go. They were torn down, sold, abandoned, or in a few cases replaced with more efficient structures. Even some of the newer buildings and those in use as stops were not spared. Today, throughout New Jersey there are streets named "Depot Place" with no depot, "Station Street" with no station, and "Railroad Avenue" with no railroad. Each year the number of stations decreases. Unless this trend is reversed, either through historic preservation and restoration or the development of alternate uses, the station will, except perhaps in the larger cities, become extinct.
The largely photographic work which follows is meant to document the condition of stations existing in New Jersey during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Many stations pictured have been destroyed or put to different uses since the photographs were taken. These are included since they show most graphically what we have lost in just a few short years. Let us hope that in the future we will have more than just photographs to remind us of the historic importance of the passenger train and the station.
This volume is confined to the stations of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and is not a sample of the stations of different railroads throughout the state. Such a sample would only have touched the more important buildings or would have imposed limitations on what could have been presented within available resources. By limiting the scope to one railroad a broad cross section of stations can be pictured with minimal subjective judgement as to content.
Brief histories of the various lines along which the stations are located are included as they were, afterall, the reason for the structures' existence. The history of railroad building in New Jersey is often exceedingly complicated. The simplified histories included in this book are meant to provide an historic perspective and a frame of reference without which the stations may not be fully appreciated. They are by no means definitive.
We hope the readers will have their interest aroused and will move toward a more in-depth study of our railroad heritage. Even better, we look for motivation to help conserve the remaining stations in the state and ultimately throughout the nation.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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