Histories:
History of the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad

Line Guide:
Sunnyside Yard-New York Penn Station (inactive link)
New York Penn Station to Philadelphia 30th Street Station
Philadelphia 30th Street Station to Potomac Yard
Enola Yard to Perryville (inactive link)
Philadelphia 30th Street Station to Harrisburg

More lines to come soon!

Departments:
Discussion List
Links

Line Guide:
New York Penn Station to Philadelphia 30th Street Station

Railfan guide to this line.
Towers and interlockings along this line.
Branches that connect to this line.
Timetable

More to be added soon!

Special thanks to Chris Ruhl.

Towers and interlockings along this line:

*Means Tower is still standing but is in-active. 
**Means tower is still standing and active.
+Means tower is in-active and has been demolished.

*A-Tower (New York Penn Station)-Description coming soon.

*PORTAL-Swing bridge over Hackensack river. More info coming soon.

**HUDSON-Description coming soon.

**DOCK-Controls lift bridge that spans the Passaic river and controls movements
coming into Newark (NJ) Penn Station from the north and south.

+HUNTER-Junction with NJT Raritan Line (ex-CNJ).

+LANE-Connection with Greenville Branch. More info coming soon.

+ELMORA-Located in (south) Elizabeth NJ, at this location the four main tracks expand to six to allow for the divergence of the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge branch at Rahway, NJ (UNION tower).

**UNION-Six tracks go back to four, Perth Amboy and Woodbridge branch connection.

*LINCOLN-Description coming soon.

*COUNTY-Located in New Brunswick, NJ. This is where the NJT branch from Jersey Avenue connects with the NEC main. Also is a connection with an MOW yard.

*MIDWAY-Connection with Jamesburg branch.

*NASSAU-At Princeton Jct NJ. Connection with the "PJ&B" (Princeton Junction & Back) branch.

*MILLHAM-Description coming soon.

*FAIR-Description coming soon.

*MORRIS-Connection with the Morrisville Cut-Off.

(?)GRUNDY-Description coming soon.

*HOLMES-Connection with Bustleton branch.

+FORD-Description coming soon.

(?)SHORE-Connection with Del-Air line, which takes CR freights to Camden, NJ and NJT commuter trains to Atlantic City, NJ.

**NORTH PHILADELPHIA- which is where the C-Hill branch goes off, will be the last in that area to fall.  The last ones in that area, SHORE and HOLMES, closed in November, 1992.  ZOO was just recently broken up again, with the Philadelphia-NYC Amtrak portion placed under CETC. There is virtually nothing left of ZOO.

MANTUA-Formerly part of ZOO interlocking, now controlled by CETC (Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control).

GIRARD-Formerly part of ZOO interlocking, now controlled by CETC.

**ZOO- which was created out of about 14 individual towers, is being broken up...you guessed it...back to a number of individual control points (not towers, but the idea is the same).  Ironically, there was a tower at what is now MANTUA back in the early 1900's that was absorbed into ZOO, and is now back to MANTUA again!  LOL!  Just no "tower".

(?)PENN-Description coming soon.

BROAD-Controls all movements out of SEPTA's Suburban Station (the original terminus of all PRR commuter trains running out of Philadelphia). Territory extends from Suburban Station to the 30th Street Station upper level trackage.

Branches that connect to this line:

Greenville Branch: Diverges from NEC at LANE , goes to Greenville yard and Waverly yard. Branch was freight only except for the occasional chartered special move.

Perth Amboy and Woodbridge branch: Diverges from NEC at UNION, proceeds to South Amboy, NJ, where it connects with the New York and Long Branch RR. The NY&LB was a railroad jointly operated by the CNJ and PRR and ran 40 miles south to Bay Head, NJ. There was no electrification beyond South Amboy, so the GG1 was cut off and a PRR diesel or steamer was cut on for the trip to Bay Head. In 1976 the line's ownership was passed to the NJ Department of Transportation, now known as New Jersey Transit. NJT continues to run commuter trains on the line to this day.

Jamesburg Branch: Diverges from NEC at MIDWAY. Branch proceeded to South Amboy. In the 70's a derailment occurred between UNION and MIDWAY, train where routed from UNION to South Amboy via the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge branch, and South Amboy to MIDWAY via the Jamesburg branch. More info about this branch coming soon.

Princeton Branch: Diverges from NEC at NASSUA. Line is also known as the "PJ&B (Princeton Junction & Back) and the "Dinky". It's a commuter shuttle that runs the two miles from the NEC at the Princeton Junction station to the to the town of Princeton. The shuttle is run with a single NJT MU car and has timely connections with mainline NJT trains.

Morrisville Cut-Off: Diverges from NEC at MORRIS and proceeds to GLEN interlocking on the Philly-Harrisburg main. Main use was to route freight trains from Newark to Philadelphia by bypassing the congested Philadelphia Terminal area.

Bustleton Branch: Diverges from NEC at HOLMES. More info coming soon.

Del-Air Line: Diverges from NEC at SHORE. Line is used by NJT commuter trains to Atlantic City and CR freights to Camden. More info coming soon.

Chestnut Hill Branch: PRR commuter branch (now operated by SEPTA). Diverges from NEC at NORTH PHILADELPHIA. CHESTNUT HILL tower, at the end of the line, was recently closed.

All comments and/or questions should be directed to the owner.


Copyright © 2002, Josh Trower.  All right reserved.