Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines

The Atlantic City Railroad Company was incorporated in March 1899 and was renamed Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines on July 15, 1933.

Prior to 1933, both the Reading Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad maintained parallel and competing lines between Philadelphia/Camden and the New Jersey shore resorts between Atlantic City and Cape May. This had originally been a large and lucrative business, but with the coming of auto and bus competition and the opening of the Delaware River Bridge in 1926, the large number of duplicate routes became uneconomical. The Reading, through its subsidiary Atlantic City Railroad, had the most direct route to Cape May, while the Pennsylvania, through its subsidiary, the West Jersey and Seashore, had the best routes to Atlantic City.

A consolidation plan was devised in 1932 and implemented in 1933-34. The Atlantic City Railroad Company became the operator of all the lines in South Jersey, but two-thirds of its stock was transferred to the Pennsylvania to reflect the proportion of investment. The West Jersey and Seashore leased the retained portions of its property to the P-RSL but remained as a shell company. Most of the duplicated mileage was abandoned in 1933-34.

The company continued to abandon its branch lines in the 1940s and 1950s. The few viable lines that survived were sold to Conrail in 1976, but most were later resold to independent short lines or to New Jersey Transit. P-RSL survives as the owner of certain surplus real estate.

From the description of Records, 1859-1976. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86123691