The New York Short Line was a railway line in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It was operated by the

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railro ...

and built by the New York Short Line Railroad, a subsidiary. It was opened in 1906 to provide a more direct route between

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, bypassing the existing route via

Jenkintown Jenkintown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is approximately north of Center City Philadelphia. History The community was named for William Jenkins, a Welsh pioneer settler. The borough was settled in about ...

. The line was conveyed to

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

in 1976 and is now part of the Trenton Subdivision of

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

History

The

Philadelphia and Reading Railway The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered rail transport, railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called th ...

, together with the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, maintained its own route between

and

independent of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...

. Trains came north up the Ninth Street Branch from

Reading Terminal The Reading Terminal ( ) is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main railroad station, station located in the Market East, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Market East section of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City in ...

via to the

Bethlehem Branch North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852, and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, pre ...

, then east at

on to the

New York Branch The New York Branch or the Bound Brook Route was a railway line in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was operated by the Reading Company and owned by two of its subsidiaries, the North Pennsylvania Railroad and the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad. ...

. The New York-bound trains of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

(B&O) also used this route. The New York Short Line Railroad was incorporated on May 6, 1903, to build a new cutoff extending from the

Newtown Branch The Fox Chase Branch, formerly the Newtown Branch, is a railway line in the state of Pennsylvania. It runs from a junction with the SEPTA Main Line near to . At its fullest extent, it continued another fifteen miles north to . The oldest part ...

at to the New York Branch at . This line, some long, was shorter than the existing route and avoided the congested junction at Jenkintown. To reach Cheltenham, trains would move on the Newtown Branch at Newtown Junction, north of Wayne Junction. The new line opened on May 27, 1906. To support the additional traffic, the Newtown Branch was double-tracked between Cheltenham and Newtown Junction. Administratively, the Newtown Branch's southern terminus was cut back to Cheltenham Junction once the New York Short Line opened, with the new branch extending from Neshaminy Falls to Newtown Junction. The New York Short Line Railroad was one of twelve Reading properties merged at the end of 1923 to create the new

. The section of the line from Newtown Junction to Cheltenham Junction was electrified on September 29, 1966, along with the Newtown Branch to . With the Reading Company's final bankruptcy in 1976, the New York Short Line was conveyed to

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

regional rail trains, now the

Fox Chase Line The Fox Chase Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service connecting Center City Philadelphia with Fox Chase. It uses the Fox Chase Branch, which branches off from the SEPTA Main Line at Newtown Junction north of the Wayne Junction station. It runs ...

, continued to share the branch with freight trains between Newtown Junction and Cheltenham Junction. In the mid-1980s, SEPTA studied the possibility of electrifying the branch between Cheltenham Junction and Neshaminy Falls. The New York Short Line was eventually combined with several other lines to become part of the

Trenton Line The Trenton Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with service in Bucks County along the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey. Route Trenton ...

, later the Trenton Subdivision. Beginning in 1989 the shared double-tracked portion was functionally split, with Conrail and SEPTA each using one track. The two lines were physically separated in 2004–2005.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Cite web , author=

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

, date=1931 , title=Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsMFAAAAIAAJ , publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office , language=en , ref={{harvid, ICC, 1931 Railway lines opened in 1906 Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Reading Company lines