User:JimIrwin/NationalDocks

The National Storage Company was an arm of Standard Oil which constructed storage and lighterage facilities on Black Tom Island and the Communipaw shoreline in 1876. Standard Oil had a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad for transport of oil, but the Pennsylvania's charter prevented it from extending a line from its Jersey City terminal to the National Storage facility. The National Storage Company was thus compelled to use the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which had tracks adjacent to the Black Tom facility.

To circumvent the restrictions on the Pennsylvania Railroad's charter, Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania colluded in 1879 to create the National Docks Railway Company to connect the National Storage facilities directly to the Pennsylvania line. The line would of necessity run through the property of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the Central strongly objected to the condemnation of its land for the benefit of its competitor. After an extended legal battle, in 1882 the National Docks won a surprise concession from the Jersey City aldermen for an elevated track between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the oil docks , and the line was quickly constructed and opened in 1883, operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The line was subsequently extended as the Bergen Neck Railroad to Constable Hook in Bayonne where Standard Oil had additional facilities. In 1891, the Bergen Neck and the National Docks were consolidated.

Six years after its initial construction, in 1889 Standard Oil reached agreement with the New York Central Railroad to connect the National Docks Railway with the NYC's West Shore Railroad. The line consisted of the New Jersey Junction Railroad and the National Docks and New-Jersey Junction Connecting Railroad, with the National Docks Railway coming under the control of the NYC. It was now the Pennsylvania's turn to protest against the crossing of its property, and a costly "frog war" ensued. The work was delayed until 1897 when a tunnel under the Pennsylvania's Waldo Avenue yards was completed.

When the Lehigh Valley Railroad had opened its terminal at the canal basin in 1888, it initially reached it over the Central Railroad's line. After the Lehigh Valley constructed its bridge over Newark Bay in 1889, it obtained trackage rights on the National Docks Railway for the connection between the LVRR's bridge and terminal. To protect its access to its terminal, the LVRR acquired a half-interest in the National Docks in 1894.

In 1897, another consolidation took place with the merger of the National Docks Railway Company, New Jersey Junction Connecting Railway Company, Kill von Kull Railway, and Bay Creek Railway, the latter two lines being short lines in Bayonne. The merged company was known as the National Docks Railway. In 1900, the Lehigh Valley obtained full control of the railroad, which was merged into the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company of New Jersey in 1905.