Trenton Subdivision (CSX Transportation)

Trenton Subdivision
CSX Transportation freight train on the Trenton Subdivision at Woodbourne station
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerCSX Transportation
LocaleNew Jersey and Pennsylvania
Termini
Service
TypeFreight rail and commuter rail
SystemCSX Transportation
Operator(s)CSX Transportation
Technical
Number of tracks1-2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

Legend
mi
CR Lehigh Line
57.3
Port Reading Junction
NS Lehigh Line
Port Reading Branch
56.3
Manville Yard
50.0
 Belle Mead
48.4
 Harlingen
45.8
 Skillman
42.6
 Hopewell
38.5
 Glenmore
37.9
 Pennington
Trenton Industrial Track
32.5
 West Trenton
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware Canal
30.7
 Yardley
26.6
Wood Connecting Track
26.5
 Woodbourne
26.4
Woodbourne Yard
24.0
 Langhorne
Neshaminy Creek
21.9
 
Neshaminy Falls
Neshaminy Line
13.3
 Bustleton
Fox Chase Branch
9.7
 Cheltenham
9.6
Cheltenham Junction
9.0
 Lawndale
Frankford Branch
Tacony Creek
7.3
 Olney
SEPTA Main Line
Bethlehem Branch
6.2
Newtown Junction
Chestnut Hill East Branch
 Wayne Junction
Roberts Yard
Richmond Industrial Track
SEPTA Main Line
Blue Line Branch
4.4
Nice
Chestnut Hill West Branch
Norristown Branch
Norristown Branch
2.9
CP River
Schuylkill River
2.5
Harrisburg Line
1.2
CP Belmont
Columbia Railroad Bridge
Harrisburg Subdivision
Northeast Corridor
CR Delair Branch
 
0.3
CP Park
0.0
Philadelphia Subdivision
[1]
This diagram:

The Trenton Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The line runs from CP NICE in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, northeast to Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey.[2] The line was formerly part of the Reading Company system.[3][4]

At its south end, CP NICE, in Nicetown-Tioga, Philadelphia, the Trenton Subdivision becomes the Philadelphia Subdivision, Conrail and 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 Lehigh Line heads west.

SEPTA Regional Rail's West Trenton Line parallels the line from Neshaminy Falls, Pennsylvania to Ewing, New Jersey, 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 Township, 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, opened in 1834 as part of the Main Line of Public Works.[5] The Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road opened in 1839, including from Belmont north to the junction with the Norfolk Southern Railway's Harrisburg Line near the Falls of the Schuylkill.[6] 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.[7] The line south of Belmont was sold to the Reading in 1851.[8]

The portion of the Trenton Subdivision from Olney (near Tabor Road) northeast to Cheltenham Township near Martins Mill Road opened in 1876 as part of the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad. 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 to Bridgewater, New Jersey, including the entire Trenton Subdivision north of Oakford, Pennsylvania.[9] A cutoff from Cheltenham northeast to Oakford opened in 1906 as the New York Short Line Railroad.[10]

All the above pieces became part of the Reading Company through leases and mergers, and part of Conrail in 1976. In the 1999 breakup of Conrail, the Trenton Subdivision was assigned to CSX Transportation.

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.

See also

References

  1. ^ "NORTHERN REGION: BALTIMORE DIVISION: TIMETABLE NO. 4" (PDF). CSX Transportation. 1 January 2005. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Baltimore Division – Trenton Subdivision". 20 January 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-01-20.
  3. ^ "TN–Trenton Sub – The RadioReference Wiki". wiki.radioreference.com.
  4. ^ "Microsoft Word - Document in Albany Draft 10-08.obd" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  5. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1834" (PDF). (79.7 KiB), June 2004 Edition
  6. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1839" (PDF). (82.7 KiB), June 2004 Edition
  7. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1842" (PDF). (70.6 KiB), May 2004 Edition
  8. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1851" (PDF). (67.7 KiB), March 2005 Edition
  9. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1876" (PDF). (116 KiB), April 2006 Edition
  10. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1906" (PDF). (85.6 KiB), March 2005 Edition