Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records 1776
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Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records 1776
Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Historical Note ...... 3 Scope and Content ...... 4 Administrative Information ...... 5 Related Materials ...... 5 Controlled Access Headings ...... 5 Collection Inventory ...... 6 Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company ...... 6 Minute Books ...... 6 Corporate Papers ...... 6 Journals ...... 7 Ledgers ...... 8 Cash Books ...... 8 Annual Reports to the ICC ...... 8 Auditor's Reports ...... 9 Maps ...... 9 East Trenton Railroad Company ...... 9 Minute Books ...... 9 Journals ...... 9 Ledgers ...... 10 Cash Book ...... 10 Stockholder Records ...... 10 Annual Reports to the ICC ...... 10 Stanhope Railroad Company ...... 10
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Summary Information
Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Creator: Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company Title: Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records ID: 1776 Date [inclusive]: 1872-1979 Physical Description: 12.6 Linear Feet Language of the English . Material: Abstract: The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1874, for the purpose of forming a second railroad route between the cities of New York and Philadelphia. Their records consist primarily of basic corporate documents such as minutes, account books, annual reports to the I.C.C., and agreements.
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Historical Note
The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in New Jersey on May 12, 1874, for the purpose of forming a second railroad route between the cities of New York and Philadelphia.
The Delaware & Bound Brook was a successor to the National Railway project of 1868-1875. In 1831, the Camden & Amboy Railroad & Transportation Company was granted the exclusive right to operate a railroad across New Jersey between New York and Philadelphia. This monopoly expired in 1869, but the Camden & Amboy and its successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad, were able to use their control of the New Jersey State Senate to block any attempt to charter a competing line.
In 1868, a group of speculators led by Henry M. Hamilton attempted to evade this blockade by using existing charters for short railroads which could be joined end-to-end to form the desired route. As the consolidation stood on very flimsy foundations, the road's backers were forced to obtain legislative sanction. In 1871, they concealed a clause granting the required powers of consolidation in an otherwise unrelated bill for the German Valley Railroad Company, but the strategem was discovered. In 1872, they tried the same trick with the charter of the Stanhope Railroad Company, but this time concocted an elaborate fraud. Two bills were drawn up, one with and one without the enabling clause. By bribing the clerks of the legislature, the speculators were able to substitute the doctored bill only at those points in
- Page 3- Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records 1776 the process where it was required to be recorded and signed. The fraud was not discovered until after the bill was passed, but the Stanhope charter was eventually voided by the courts.
Next, Hamilton obtained a charter for a holding company, the National Company, from the more pliable Pennsylvania legislature. The National Company was authorized to hold the stocks of all the separate New Jersey lines. Meanwhile, the reaction to the Stanhope fraud helped anti-PRR forces in New Jersey finally secure the passage of a general railroad law, ending the need to apply to the legislature for special charters. Hamilton and his associates promptly formed companies under the general law, while the PRR formed companies of its own to pre-empt the ground and otherwise interfere with the National Railway. The taint of scandal, followed by the Panic of 1873, prevented Hamilton from completing his task.
At this point, the more responsible backers of the National Railway project broke away from Hamilton and joined with Edward Collings Knight and the North Pennsylvania Railroad to complete the project. The portion of the line west of Delaware River was built by the North Penn under its own charter. The Delaware & Bound Brook was formed to build the middle section, while the existing line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey was substituted for a new railroad between Bound Brook and Jersey City.
Fighting to preserve its lucrative monopoly, the PRR fought the Delaware & Bound Brook in the courts. It also built a line of its own in the same territory and blockaded the point at which the two tracks would have to cross. This resulted in the so-called "Frog War," the special rail pieces for crossings being known as frogs. Delaware & Bound Brook work gangs stormed and took the PRR position and defended it long enough to install the frog and obtain the protection of the local residents and the state militia.
The Delaware and Bound Brook inherited all of the rights and charters of the National Railway project in 1875. The so-called Bound Brook Route or "New Line" was opened for business on May 1, 1876, in time to profit from the Centennial traffic. A short branch was constructed to Trenton in 1877. Both the North Penn and the Delaware & Bound Brook were leased by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company on May 14, 1879. Under Reading operation, the Bound Brook Route received deluxe equipment and after 1885 was operated at very high speeds, with short bursts as high as 100 mph. It also became the New York entrance of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
The East Trenton Railroad Company was incorporated on April 17, 1884, and constructed a branch to the factory district of Trenton. It was merged into the Delaware & Bound Brook on December 9, 1955.
The company sold its railroad property to Conrail on April 1, 1976, and was finally liquidated in 1982.
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Scope and Content
The records of the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company consist primarily of basic corporate documents such as minutes, account books, annual reports to the I.C.C., and agreements. There are also original survey and property maps and a profile of the line from the Delaware River to Bound Brook.
- Page 4- Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records 1776 Similar corporate records are available for the East Trenton Railroad Company. The records also include the minute book of the Stanhope Railroad company (1872-1975).
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Administrative Information
Publication Statement Manuscripts and Archives
PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library
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Related Materials
Related Material North Pennsylvania Railroad Company records (Accession 1999), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library
Reading Company records (Accession 1520), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library
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Controlled Access Headings
• Railroads. • Minutes • Account books • Railroads -- Maps
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Collection Inventory
Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company, 1873-1979
Minute Books, 1874-1980 General note
Volumes 5 and 7 not received
Title/Description Instances 1874 April 2 - 1874 April 7 volume 1 General note
Includes articles of association
Vol. 1, 1874 August 11 - 1906 February 8 volume 2
Vol. 2, 1906 May 10- 1927 August 11 volume 3
Vol. 3, 1927 November 10 - 1948 February 3 volume 4
Vol. 4, 1948 May 6- 1959 August 7 volume 5
Vol. 6, 1970 May 7- 1980 October 3 volume 7
Corporate Papers, 1873-1952 Title/Description Instances Location of New Jersey Railway Company No. 1, 1873 box 44
Location of New Jersey Railway Company No. 2, 1873 box 44
Articles of Association of The Delaware River and Bound box 44 Brook Railroad Company, 1874 March 27
Articles of Association to incorporate the Yardleyville box 44 Connecting Railroad Company, 1875 February 9
Articles of Association to incorporate The Ewing and Trenton box 44 Company, 1975 February 9
Map and description of the Delaware and Bound Brook box 44 Railroad, 1874 August 11
Description of the survey and location of Branch Rail Road of box 44 the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company, 1876 March 17
Description of the survey and location of the extension of a box 44 branch railroad of The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company in the City of Trenton, 1876 October 20
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Lease and Contract between the North Pennsylvania Railroad box 44 Company and the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co., 1879 May 14
Supplemental agreement to Lease and Contract, 1952 December box 44 1
Mortgage, The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company box 44 to The Pennsylvania Compay for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities Trustee, 1905 August 1 General note
To secure $1,800,000 first-mortgage consolidated 3.5 percent gold bonds
Agency agreement in respect of Consolidated Mortgage 3.5 box 44 percent bonds and payment of interest and coupoins, 1942 July 13
Agency agreement in respect of capital stock and payment of box 44 dividends, 1942 July 13
Custodian agreement, 1942 July 14 box 44
Guaranty agreement between Reading Company and box 44 Tradesmans National Bank and Trust Company, Trustee, 1952 December 1 Scope and Contents
Guaranty of $6,000,000 of mortgage bonds of the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company
Journals, 1874-1976 General note
Volume 5 not received
Title/Description Instances Vol. 1, May 1874-April 1885 volume 8
Vol. 2, May 1885-August 1890 volume 9
Vol. 3, February 1891-December 1933 volume 10
Vol. 4, January 1934-December 1957 volume 11
Vol. 6, January 1970-December 1976 volume 13
Vol. A, Accounts with other companies, May 1876-February volume 14 1878
Vol. B, Accounts with other companies, January 1878-April volume 15 1879
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Ledgers, 1874-1979 Title/Description Instances General Ledger, Vol. 1, May 1874-January 1891 volume 16
General Ledger, Vol. 2, February 1891-December 1933 volume 17
General Ledger, Vol. 3, January 1934-December 1957 volume 18
General Ledger, Vol. 4, January 1958-December 1979 volume 19
Construction Ledger, October 1874-April 1876 volume 20
Expense Accounts Ledger, May 1876-October 187 volume 21
Expense Accounts Ledger, November 1876-April 1877 volume 22
Expense Accounts Ledger, May 1877-April 1878 volume 23
Earnings Accounts Ledger A, October 1876-October 1877 volume 24
Operations Accounts Ledger, January 1877-May 1879 volume 25
Cash Books, 1874-1979 Title/Description Instances Vol. 1, March 1874-July 1884 volume 26
Vol. 3, February 1891-June 1917 volume 28
Vol. 4, June 1917-December 1932 volume 29
Vol. 5, January 1933-December 1943 volume 30
Vol. 6, January 1944-December 1957 volume 31
Vol. 8, December 1969-December 1979 volume 33
Vol. A-26, Accounts with other carriers, June 1876-November volume 34 1878
Accounts with other carriers, January 1878-March 1879 volume 35
Annual Reports to the ICC, 1888-1975 Title/Description Instances 1888-1899 box 36
1900-1908 box 37
1909-1917 box 38
1918-1927 box 39
1928-1938 box 40
1939-1949, 1953-1954 box 41
1961-1975 - Page 8- Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company records 1776
box 42
Auditor's Reports, 1933-1968 Title/Description Instances 1933-1939 box 43
1943 box 43
1947-1959 box 43
1963 box 43
1967 box 43
1968 box 43
Maps, 1874-1875undated Title/Description Instances Profile from middle of Delaware River to Bound Brook box 44 Junction, undated
Right-of-way maps, 1874-1875 box 44
Right-of-way maps by individual properties, 1874-1875 box 44
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East Trenton Railroad Company, 1881-1955
Minute Books, 1884-1955 Title/Description Instances Vol. 1, 1884 April 17-1920 May 13 box 45
Vol. 2, 1932 May 12-1946 May 2 box 45
Vol. 3, 1947 May 1-1955 May 5 box 45
Journals, 1881-1955 Title/Description Instances Vol. 1, November 1881-January 1891 box 46
Vol. 2, April 1893-December 1955 box 46
Vol. 3, December 1923-November 1955 box 46
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General note
Mislabeled as Cash Book No. 1
Ledgers, 1893-1955 Title/Description Instances Vol. 1, 1893-1955 box 46
Trial Balance, 1923-1953 box 46
Cash Book, 1884-1885 Title/Description Instances June 1884-June 1885 box 47
Stockholder Records, 1893-1950 Title/Description Instances Vol. 1- Stock Ledger, 1901-1948 box 47
Vol. 2- Stock Transfer Register, 1893-1950 box 47
Annual Reports to the ICC, 1889-1949 Title/Description Instances 1889-1902 box 48
1903-1914 box 49
1915-1926 box 50
1927-1938 box 51
1939-1949 box 52
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Stanhope Railroad Company, 1872-1875 Title/Description Instances Minutes, March 1872-March 1875 box 47
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