Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines
The Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines, abbreviated P- RSL ( German: Pennsylvania - Reading - coastal tracks ) was a railway network in the south of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was under the joint control of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company and existed from 1932 until 1976.
The Seashore Lines created in 1932 by consolidating several railway lines south of a line Camden - Atlantic City, who were mainly under the control of the two competitors Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading. Main business areas were the regional freight and excursion traffic from Philadelphia to the Atlantic coast. The latter made with 2/3 of the revenue from the bulk of the business.
The Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary West Jersey and Seashore Railroad was created in 1896 from the merger of different railway companies in the area between Camden and Cape May 1906, the Company electrified the route Newfield Camden - Atlantic City. The Reading subsidiary Atlantic City Railroad was acquired in 1883 by the Reading. The previously existing narrow gauge line was converted to standard gauge. The tracks between Camden - Atlantic City and Cape May led mostly parallel to the WJ & S track.
The two companies led over the years, a cut-throat competition. It was not until the Great Depression and the onset of mass motorization and the related financial slumps moving companies to rethink. The merger was completed on November 2, 1932 order of the competent regulatory authorities. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired 2/3 of the equity portfolio of the Atlantic City Railroad for the sum of one dollar. In return, the West Jersey and Seashore was leased to the Atlantic City Railroad. The merger became effective on 25 June 1933 and on 15 July 1933, the Atlantic City Railroad changed its name to Pennsylvania - Reading Seashore Lines.
In the aftermath redundant line was shut down. The passenger went further and further behind. As early as 1952 the ferry service between Camden and Philadelphia has been set. After the bankruptcy of its parent companies in 1970 and 1971, the route network was commissioned in 1976 to the newly created Conrail.
Most of the remaining tracks are now part of Conrail Inc. and are only operated in freight traffic. Other routes are operated by the Southern Railroad of New Jersey, the Winchester and Western Railroad and the Cape May Seashore Lines. Passengers, it is only on the Atlantic City Line of New Jersey Transit, as well as on the short piece of Camden Lindenwold, where since 1969, runs the PATCO Speedline rapid transit.