First railroad to operate in NJ?

A few coworkers and I were trying to figure out what the first railroad to operate in New Jersey was. Anyone here know an answer to that question? Someone had told me a while back that it was the Camden & Amboy Railroad, but I am not too sure about that. Thanks in advance.

The C&A was certainly the first one to use steam traction...in the whole USA also, IIRC.

That's correct, it ran thru Hightstown. It was intact when we moved here in 1983

Irish Chieftain wrote:The C&A was certainly the first one to use steam traction...in the whole USA also, IIRC.

The B&O was the first in the US.

Can't say for sure about the C&A in New Jersey (it sounds right), but the D&H's Stourbridge Lion was first used (tested) in August 1829, several months before the B&O's Peter Cooper-built Tom Thumb, and more than two years before the C&A's John Bull. Granted, the Lion was never used in revenue service (too heavy for the rails of the day), it WAS the first.

I believe Col. Stevens operated an experimental steam locomotive on rails in Hoboken prior to either the D&H, B&O or C&A commercial operations... but you could certainly argue the fact that it wasn't truly a railroad.

I'm fairly certain that the C & A was the first in NJ.

Here is the Pennsylvania RR Museum's chronology of events:

http://www.rrmuseumpa.org/education/his ... eline1.htm

was probably the first in NJ to carry people. Note that today's River Line from Bordentown south is along the C&A right of way and the track that runs east off that line at Bordentown to South Amboy is also on the alingment. There used to be a section of the origonal C&A along the right of way somewhere near Jamesburg a couple of yards west of a grade crossing on the north side of the track; don't know if its still there.

Oh well,

I thought it would of been either the Blairstown Railroad or the New Jersey Midland.

http://njmidland.railfan.net/history.htm

Thanks to all for the information.

Just for the record, here is the definitive answer, from the book "From the Hills to the Hudson" by Walter Lucas. The first railroad to be opened for public use in New Jersey was the Camden & Amboy which started operating from Bordentown to Hightstown on October 9, 1831. The second was the Paterson & Hudson River Railroad which started horse-drawn operation from Paterson to Acquackanock Landing (Passaic) on May 29, 1832.

chuchubob wrote:

Irish Chieftain wrote:The C&A was certainly the first one to use steam traction...in the whole USA also, IIRC.

The B&O was the first in the US.

I thought I read somewhere that Col. Stevens, of whom the Stevens Institute in Hoboken is named after, created the first for the PRR.

The article also mentioned that he set up a track in Hoboken to show the state of NJ what the RR could do but it was rejected. He then went to PA and they took him up on his offer.

Ken

From the Penn. Museum timeline:

1825 Col. John Stevens built and operated a prototype steam locomotive on a circular track on his estate at Castle Point, Hoboken, NJ. (A full size replica of "The John Stevens" is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.)

JLo wrote:From the Penn. Museum timeline:

1825 Col. John Stevens built and operated a prototype steam locomotive on a circular track on his estate at Castle Point, Hoboken, NJ. (A full size replica of "The John Stevens" is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.)

Yes, that's the one.

Ken