The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...

Formation and construction

The New Jersey Midland Railway can trace its roots back to the failed New Jersey, Hudson & Delaware Railroad (NJH&D), chartered in 1832 to connect industrial Paterson, New Jersey, east to the ports along the

Hudson Waterfront The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contigu ...

opposite

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

and west to Pennsylvania at the

Delaware Water Gap Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap ...

. Though the company did not construct any track, the charter remained active until 1870, and the company cleared a right of way from Sandyston to New York. In the mid-1860's, several companies were formed to create railroads across northern New Jersey. The earliest of these, the Hoboken, Ridgefield and Paterson Railroad was chartered in 1866 to connect Paterson with the

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

along the Hudson River waterfront; various logistical issues ensured this company would not build anything. More successful was the New Jersey Western Railroad, which had built about ten miles of trackage from Hawthorne/ Hawthorne (NYS&W station) to Bloomingdale from 1868 to 1870, including the

Wortendyke (NYS&W station) Wortendyke is a former commuter railroad train station in the borough of Midland Park, Bergen County, New Jersey. The station serviced passenger and freight trains of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway between Pavonia Terminal in Je ...

before it was consolidated into the NJ Midland. The New Jersey Midland Railway (NJM) was formed in 1870 as a consolidation of several smaller railroads, including the NJH&D and the NJW. The original plan was to cut through the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

near Englewood and run south along the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

Weehawken Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

, but the company lacked the money to do so, and instead made arrangements to run through the Pennsylvania Railroad's cut from Marion Junction through

Bergen Hill Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet. Rai ...

in Jersey City to their Exchange Place Terminal. In 1871 built west from Two Bridges/Beaver Lake through Sussex County, including construction of the

Backwards Tunnel Backwards Tunnel, also known as the ''Ogdensburg Railroad Arch'', is located in Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. The tunnel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 28, 2005. History The tunnel was ...

, to the New York state line at Hanford, New Jersey, just south of Unionville, New York. The Ogden Mine Railroad was made obsolete. This was later known as the Hanford Branch. By 1872 the NJ Midland completed the line between Hackensack and Newfoundland. It also built a line through the Ridgefields by 1872, but with no station. It joined the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...

Northern Branch The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch te ...

at Granton Junction near Babbit, and reached the community of New Durham (near the point now under

New Jersey Route 495 Route 495 is a freeway in Hudson County, New Jersey, in the United States that connects the New Jersey Turnpike ( Interstate 95, I-95) at exits 16E and 17 in Secaucus to New York State Route 495 (NY 495) inside the Lincoln Tunnel in ...

where the Susquehanna Transfer had later been located).

Hudson Connecting Railway

The charter for the NJ Midland prevented it from crossing any other railroad to reach the Hudson River, but a route along the foot of the west side of the

to reach the PRR took it across the

. So a new company with the same management, the Hudson Connecting Railway, was formed to build the final leg. With the intention to reach a terminal on the Hudson River, in 1873 the NJM built the Hudson Connecting ROW south to West End Junction The southernmost part leased from the

's as their original terminus, which had been built as the

Paterson and Hudson River Railroad The Paterson and Hudson River Railroad was a railroad that operated in New Jersey and connected the cities of Jersey City and southeast Paterson. The railroad was started in 1833. The company was the first in the United States to build moveable ...

. which accessed Erie's

Long Dock Tunnel The Long Dock Tunnel is a freight rail tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey that is part of the North Jersey Shared Assets Area and used by CSX Transportation on the National Docks Secondary. The single track (formerly dual track) tunnel runs thro ...

and

Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...

. The NJ Midland West End Junction also served as a terminus for the Montclair Railway, which later became the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway. The lease provide access south to the PRR at Marion Junction.

Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad

In 1866, public meetings were held in Middletown Westtown and Unionville, New York to discuss the viability of a railroad via these hamlets to Deckertown, Sussex County, New Jersey. A route was surveyed from there to Middletown, but, as built, the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad only extended from a connection with the NY&E in Middletown to Unionville, which was reached on December 6, 1867, after fourteen months of construction. Freight cars received from the Erie made the trip to Unionville starting January 13, 1868. The MU&WG was built to the broad gauge of the Erie. The road was leased to the Erie and commenced regular operations as the Erie's "Unionville Branch" on May 15, 1868. On January 11, 1866, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM) was incorporated with the goal of linking Oswego, New York, on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

, with the

at a point across from

. The NY&OM reached Middletown in 1871 and hoped to connect with three New Jersey companies to form a through route to the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...

. The link between the NY&OM and the NJM would be the MU&WG which was leased by the NY&OM effective April 1, 1872. The NY&OM soon entered bankruptcy and dropped the lease on the MU&WG which was then leased by the NJM in 1873. NYS&W and the

Middletown and New Jersey Railroad The Middletown and New Jersey Railroad is one of two railroads in the city of Middletown, New York; the other being its interchange partner, Norfolk Southern Railway. The MNJ consists of of track in southeastern New York serving Orange County ...

use the line with shared trackage rights.

Bankruptcy and NYS&W

The NJ Midland went bankrupt and was sold to receivers in March 1875. By December 1878, a dispute broke out between various bondholders, some of whom disputed that the Hudson Connecting Railway should be included in the proceedings. On February 21, 1880, the NJ Midland, along with the Hudson Connecting Railway, was sold to Charles Parsons, who represented the bondholders of the first and second mortgages; the two railroads were combined into one. In June 1881 the NJ Midland was consolidated with five other railroads to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway with Frederic A. Potts and

Garret Hobart Garret Augustus Hobart (June 3, 1844 – November 21, 1899) was the 24th Vice President of the United States, serving from 1897 until his death in 1899. He was the sixth American vice president to die in office. Prior to serving as vice pre ...

serving as chief officers. The company expanded west into Pennsylvania along the

Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad The Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad (WB&E) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania from 1892 to 1939. History The WB&E was a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W). It was chartered in 1892 to p ...

. The NYS&W later shifted its mainline to run along the ROW developed by the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway, designating the NJ Midland portion above Sparta Junction the Hanford Branch.

Stations and possible future use

Commuter service ended in 1966, but has been considered for restoration as the part of the Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project is a project by

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

to possibly reintroduce passenger service on a portion of the NYSW right-of-way (ROW) in Passiac,

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

and Hudson counties counties using newly built, FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars (with stations at Vreeland Avenue & Vince Lombardi Park & Ride, among others. Existing original station buildings from the NJ Midland era can be found at Bogota, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Wortendyke, Butler, and Newfoundland among other places.

References

External links

*Two Sets of Bondholders,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

December 16, 1878 page 8 *New-Jersey Midland to be Sold,

May 27, 1879 page 2 *New-Jersey Midland,

February 11, 1880 page 8 *The New-Jersey Midland Sold,

February 22, 1880 page 12 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson Connecting Railway Defunct New Jersey railroads Predecessors of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Railway companies established in 1869 Railway companies disestablished in 1880 Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey 1869 establishments in New Jersey