The '''National Railway''' or '''National Air Line Railroad''' was a planned Railroad between New_York_City and Washington,_DC in the United_States around 1870. Part of it was eventually built from New York to Philadelphia by the '''Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad''' and the '''Delaware River Branch''' of the North_Pennsylvania_Railroad, leased by the Philadelphia_and_Reading_Railway in 1879. The line was intended to provide an alternate to the various Monopolies that existed along the route, specifically the United_New_Jersey_Railroad_and_Canal_Companies and their Camden_and_Amboy_Railroad, and as such had a long struggle to be built.
==History==
In Spring 1867, Henry_Martyn_Hamilton began planning for the National Railway between New York and Philadelphia by getting short lines chartered that would end-to-end form the complete route. The first two sections were chartered in New Jersey as the '''Hamilton Land Improvement Company''' and '''Millstone and Trenton Railroad''', forming half of the New Jersey route. The Millstone and Trenton Railroad was authorized to build a line from Trenton northeast to Millstone, and the Hamilton Land Improvement Company could build six miles anywhere in the state, which was enough to bridge the gap from Millstone to the Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey at Bound Brook.
The first official proposals for the railway came in 1868 at the federal level, with bills in the U.S._House_of_Representatives for a line between New York and Washington via Easton, Reading and Lancaster. Later proposals concentrated on the New York-Philadelphia section, and were made both at the federal level and in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
On September_21, 1868, the '''Attleborough Railroad''', a short branch line chartered April_15, 1856 in Bucks_County,_Pennsylvania, was taken over by Hamilton and renamed to the '''National Railway''', to be part of the through line. The project was first publicized in December of that year.
On January_1, 1869 the Camden_and_Amboy_Rail_Road's legislated Monopoly over New York-Philadelphia railroads in New Jersey expired. However, the C&A; continued to lobby legislators and fight through the courts to prevent the National Railway from being built.
In 1870 various bills in New Jersey to allow consolidation of short lines into the Millstone and Trenton Railroad failed.
In early 1871 the National Railway bill was introduced once again in the U.S._House, this time by John_W._Garrett (president of the Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad), who feared the PRR's proposed lease of the United Companies. It was again defeated.
The Pennsylvania_Railroad gained control of the United Companies on May_15, 1871.
On March_30, 1871, the '''German Valley Railroad''' was chartered in New Jersey, including a Trojan_Horse for the National Railway. The Governor refused to sign the bill, but the company organized anyway. The same strategy was used on March_19, 1872 with the passage of the '''Stanhope Railroad'''. The state clerks were bribed to keep the Trojan Horse off the debated version but include it in the signed version. This was soon discovered, and on August_12 the National Railway was sued for fraud. On February_2, 1873 the New_Jersey_Court_of_Chancery ruled that the National Railway had no rights to build in New Jersey.
On January_11, 1873 the '''Excelsior Enterprise Company''', a Holding_company incorporated on May_24, 1871, was renamed the '''National Company''', acquiring the National Railway of Pennsylvania (the original Attleborough Railroad) on January_15. The National Railway gained control of the Stanhope Railroad on January_18, but that soon proved worthless.
On March_19, 1873 the New_Jersey_House_of_Representatives killed the PRR's opposition bill to create a '''New Jersey Railway''' on the land chosen for the National Railway. The PRR and National Railway agreed at that time to support a General_incorporation_law to break the stalemate, which had been blocked since the 1840s by the Camden and Amboy. That law was passed on April_2, and on April_8 the PRR's company was chartered, running mostly within 100 yards of the planned National Railway. The '''National Railway''' of New Jersey was chartered soon after on April_17, as a supplement to the '''New York and Philadelphia Railroad''', chartered 40 minutes after the general incorporation law was passed.
Investors were initially scared off from the project, placed under contract on May_31, due to the various scandals involved.
The '''Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad''' was incorporated in New Jersey on May_12, 1874, to build a railroad from the Delaware_River to the Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey at Bound Brook, along the National Railway's surveyed path. At that time, the North_Pennsylvania_Railroad took over the National Railway project from Hamilton. On May_14 the North Pennsylvania approved the construction of the '''Delaware River Branch''', splitting from the main line at Jenkintown and running to the Delaware River at Yardley. On May_16 the property of the National Railway was Deeded to the D&BB;, including the Stanhope Railroad and the National Company.
The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad and Delaware River Branch opened on May_1, 1876, from the North Pennsylvania Railroad to the Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey. The D&BB; had Trackage_rights over the CNJ to their Jersey City terminal. The Trenton Branch of the D&BB; opened in 1877.
The original plans carried the National Railway northeast and east past Bound Brook, running north of the CNJ and crossing the New_Jersey_Rail_Road at Waverly to the CNJ terminal. In Pennsylvania, the original plan was southeast of what was built, running directly to the north end of the Junction Railroad in Philadelphia. http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/HISTORICALMAPS/RAILROADS/NJ_RR_1873.jpg Part of this route was built in the mid-1900s as the New_York_Short_Line_Railroad, connecting the original Delaware River Branch at Oakford southwest to the Reading's Philadelphia,_Newtown_and_New_York_Railroad at Cheltenham.
The Philadelphia_and_Reading_Railway leased the North_Pennsylvania_Railroad, including the D&BB;, on May_14, 1879. The National Company's charter was later used to form the Reading_Company, a Holding_company for the Reading system.
The East_Trenton_Railroad, incorporated in 1884, was taken over by the D&BB; as a branch in the Trenton area. The Trenton,_Lawrenceville_and_Princeton_Railroad, an Interurban_streetcar line, was taken over at some point as a branch of the East Trenton Railroad for freight. The Port_Reading_Railroad, opened in 1892, also served as a spur of the D&BB;, running to Port_Reading on the Arthur_Kill.
===Specific challenges===
The United Companies, Pennsylvania Railroad, received a charter for the Mercer_and_Somerset_Railway in New Jersey on March_17, 1870 solely to provide a challenge to the planned compeitor railroad known as the National Railway. Track began to be laid on January_20, 1871 at the crossing of the National Railway survey in Hopewell. A Frog_war resulted in early 1876 at the crossing point; a war that was won by the National Railway, thus rendering the Mercer and Somerset Railway redundent and useless. In 1879 or 1880 the Mercer and Somerset Railway was abandoned, having become useless.
On October_22, 1873 the PRR leased the Philadelphia,_Newtown_and_New_York_Railroad, a Pennsylvania railroad chartered on November_21, 1860, with the intention to block the National Railway. The line opened as a branch of the Connecting Railroad to Newtown on February_2, 1878, and on November_22, 1879 the North_Pennsylvania_Railroad began operating it, no longer of use to the PRR.
Another challenge was raised as to whether the company could build a bridge over the Delaware_River.
==References==
*PRR Chronology
*Railroad History Database
*New-Jersey Railroad Matters--New Roads Proposed, New_York_Times January 22, 1870 page 8
Category:Reading_Company
Category:United_New_Jersey_Railroad_and_Canal_Company
Category:Railroads_transferred_to_Conrail