Can anyone tell me if the Central New Jersey RR or New Jersey Central, as was sometimes called, was traded on stock market publicly? I cannot find a stock certificate on-line. Need one for my collection. Thanks , Tim tlars817@gmail.com
Just as a little fun, I went looking for information. What is on line does not say much about CNJ finances. The most I could find was mention on one site that the Reading was a major stockholder.
Yes, I did that as well...and on several sites dealing with CNJ history Reading either bought the CNJ or CNJ was part of a merger? Well, ok...I even tried my internationally known ephemera, bank notes, stock papers, etc dealer and he had no certs either. Thanks for the reply, Boxcab
Yes, from the 1930s forward I think. I think the B&O also had some sort of equity interest in the Reading and CNJ. The CNJ went through bankruptcy at least four times -- in 1883, 1939, 1947 and again in 1967. I'd guess that with each recapitalization, new certificates were printed, but that's only a guess. I have a Reading preferred stock certificate and a Western Maryland common stock certificate. The illustrations are neat, with the WM showing an Alco FA and the Reading an FM Trainmaster. Both are cancelled certificates of course.
Here's a 10 Share certificate from the Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad from 1892. The document isn't mine. Being an anthracite roads fan, the road's legacy holds fascination. The WB&E was created as a (roughly) 60 Mile extension of the New York, Susquehanna & Western to penetrate the anthracite coal fields of eastern PA and finally provide the NYS&W its own route from the mines to an NYS&W connection near the Delaware River without having to share revenue with the DL&W. The WB&E was the last railroad to build into the anthracite fields and was completed in the same year as this certificate. The road was expensive to build and the project's timing was poor, as the Erie took control of the NYS&W just a few years after the WB&E's completion and diverted the tonnage over heavier, more highly engineered Erie lines. The WB&E withered, filed for bankruptcy in 1937 and was abandoned in 1939. Nothing of it remains today.
