The Central Railroad of Pennsylvania was an attempt by the Central Railroad of New Jersey

Central Railroad of New Jersey

The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...

 to avoid certain New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...

es on their Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 lines. The tax dodge failed, and CRP operations were merged back into those of the CNJ.

History

Most of the Pennsylvania extension of the CNJ was built by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, leased to the CNJ in 1871 as their Lehigh and Susquehanna Division. By the 1940s the CNJ wished to avoid certain New Jersey taxes on its Pennsylvania lines. The Easton and Western Railroad, a short branch west of Easton, was renamed to the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania in 1944 and all Pennsylvania leases, primarily the L&S, were transferred to it in 1946. The new company began operations August 5, 1946. http://www.lowerluzernecounty.com/articles/almanacs/wilkes-barre-almanac-1946.htm Around the same time, the CNJ logo was changed from "Central Railroad Company of New Jersey" to "Jersey Central Lines". The arrangement was struck down by the courts and, in 1952, CRP operations were merged back into the CNJ. In 1972, the CNJ's Lehigh and Susquehanna lease expired, and the CNJ's Pennsylvania lines were then operated by the Lehigh Valley Railroad

Lehigh Valley Railroad

The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...

.

External links

• Black Diamonds to Tidewater - Central Railroad of New Jersey (details of the Pennsylvania lines)