The Trenton Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line owned by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

in the U.S. states of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. The line runs from CP PARK in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, northeast to Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey, along a former

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

line. At its south end, CP Park (Park Junction), in Brewerytown, Philadelphia, the Trenton Subdivision becomes the Philadelphia Subdivision, Norfolk Southern has trackage rights to go through CP Park to access the Delair Branch. The north end of the Trenton Subdivision at Port Reading Junction is where the Conrail Lehigh Line (in the North Jersey Shared Assets Area) heads northeast and the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (3 ...

Lehigh Line heads west.

SEPTA Regional Rail The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philade ...

's West Trenton Line parallels the line from Neshaminy Falls, Pennsylvania to

Ewing, New Jersey Ewing Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township falls within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. It borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the F ...

, they shared the tracks until 2015 when CSX built a bypass at West Trenton station. SEPTA's Fox Chase Line parallels the line from Newtown Junction to Cheltenham, having used it until 2005 when single-track service on the SEPTA line eliminated the need for usage of the freight track.

History

The former southernmost piece of the Trenton Subdivision, from its south end across the Columbia Railroad Bridge to

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

, opened in 1834 as part of the Main Line of Public Works. The Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road opened in 1839, including from Belmont north to the junction with the

Harrisburg Line The Harrisburg Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Philadelphia west to Harrisburg. The Harrisburg Line was formed the day Conrail began operation ...

near the Falls of the Schuylkill. A branch of the Reading from the Falls east to Nicetown and southeast to Port Richmond opened in 1842, now the Trenton Subdivision from the Falls to Nicetown. The line south of Belmont was sold to the Reading in 1851. The portion of the Trenton Subdivision from

Olney Olney may refer to: Places Australia * Olney Parish, New South Wales England * Olney, Buckinghamshire, a town near Milton Keynes, England United States * Olney, Alabama * Olney, Georgia - see List of places in Georgia (U.S. state) (I–R) * Ol ...

(near Tabor Road) northeast to Cheltenham (near Martins Mill Road) opened in 1876 as part of the

Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad The Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad was a railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania that is now a part of the SEPTA commuter rail system as the Fox Chase Branch. Despite the name, it only ever extended between Philadelphia and Newtown, P ...

. That same year, the North Pennsylvania Railroad and Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad opened the New York Branch from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania (on the NPRR main line) northeast to the

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

to Bridgewater, New Jersey, including the entire Trenton Subdivision north of Oakford, Pennsylvania. A cutoff from Cheltenham northeast to Oakford opened in 1906 as the New York Short Line Railroad. , March 2005 Edition The line between Nicetown and Olney was built as a connection between the various lines. All the above pieces became part of the

through leases and mergers, and part of Conrail in 1976. In the 1999 breakup of Conrail, the Trenton Subdivision was assigned to

. Though trackage is owned by CSX, Norfolk Southern has Trackage Rights over the Trenton Subdivision, between CP Laurel Hill to CP Nice to go to Port Richmond, and CP River to Eastwick.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Trenton Subdivision CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Rail infrastructure in New Jersey Reading Company lines

History

See also

References

External links