Atsion branch

Atsion branch
History
Opened	September 1862 (1862-09)
Closed	1910 (1910)
Technical
Line length	9.3 mi (15.0 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map mi Southern Division 95.5 0.0 Atsion Southern Division Atco 9.3 18.7 Atlantic City Line Williamstown Branch This diagram: view talk edit

The Atsion branch, also known as the Atco branch or Batsto branch, was a railway line in the state of New Jersey, in the United States. It ran from Atco, New Jersey, to Atsion, New Jersey, connecting the Williamstown Branch and the Atlantic City Line with the Southern Division of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It was built by the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad under contract in 1862 and eventually became part of the Central Railroad of New Jersey system. It was abandoned in 1910.

History

The Camden and Atlantic Railroad completed its main line between Camden, New Jersey, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, in June 1854.[1][2] Its charter authorized a branch via Atsion, New Jersey, to Batsto, New Jersey, north of its main line. Nothing was undertaken until the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad began building toward Atsion in the early 1860s. The Camden and Atlantic contracted with the Raritan and Delaware Bay to construct a connection between the two lines.[3]

The line was completed in September 1862 but was not conveyed to the Camden and Atlantic. The Camden and Amboy Railroad took legal action against the two railroads, claiming a legal monopoly on traffic between Philadelphia and New York City. A decision of the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals vindicated the Camden and Amboy on November 30, 1867, at which point operation of the line ceased.[4] The branch was conveyed to the Raritan and Delaware Bay on February 16, 1870.[5][6]

Coincident with the conveyance the Raritan and Delaware Bay was renamed the New Jersey Southern Railroad. That company was reorganized as the New Jersey Southern Railway on July 30, 1879.[7] The Central Railroad of New Jersey gained control of that company and its lines on December 15, 1888, although a formal merger did not occur until October 16, 1917.[8] The line was abandoned in 1910.[5]

Notes

1. Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 191.
2. Kramer (2011), p. 6.
3. Towle (1948), p. 35.
4. Towle (1948), pp. 35–36.
5. Towle (1948), p. 36.
6. Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 189.
7. ICC (1929), p. 760.
8. ICC (1929), p. 859.

References

• Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945, Volume IV Affiliated Lines, Miscellaneous Companies, and General Index. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC 13172415.
• Interstate Commerce Commission (1929). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports. Vol. 149. U.S. Government Printing Office.
• Kramer, Frederick A. (2011). Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines: An Illustrated History of Southern New Jersey's Jointly-Owned Railroad. Palmyra, New Jersey: West Jersey Chapter, National Railway Historical Society.
• Towle, Charles L. (1948). "History of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad and Associated Railroads 1852-1897". The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin (73): 16–45. JSTOR 43517493.