The Niagara Junction Railway (

reporting mark A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...

s NJ, NIAJ) was a switching railroad serving Niagara Falls, New York.

History

The company was created in 1898 as a subsidiary of the

Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company was an American company, based in Niagara Falls, New York that was the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls in 1882. The company built upon several predecessor com ...

. In 1913 the line was electrified. In 1948 the Niagara Falls Power Company sold the railroad to its connecting companies: the New York Central, the

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

, and the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

. After a series of mergers in the 1960s, the Niagara Junction was finally dissolved as an independent company in 1976 when the

Consolidated Rail Corporation 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 busin ...

was formed to take over operations of bankrupt railroads in the Northeast. The line was dieselized in 1979. After over a year of storage, three

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

s were overhauled in December 1980 and transferred to Grand Central Terminal in

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 ...

Incidents

Just after 9:30 am on Wednesday 22 January 1958, a

tank car A tank car ( International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities. History Timeline The following major events occurred in ...

exploded while being switched at the Niagara Junction's yard on Porter Road. The blast injured at least 60 people, and left a crater in diameter and deep. The cause was never determined.

Locomotives

References

{{NewYork-transport-stub New York (state) railroads Switching and terminal railroads Conrail