The Central Railroad of New Jersey , also known as the Jersey Central , Jersey Central Lines or New Jersey Central ( reporting mark CNJ ), was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States .
107-525: The Newark Bay Bridge of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) was a railroad bridge in New Jersey that connected Elizabethport and Bayonne at the southern end of Newark Bay . Its third and final incarnation was a four-track vertical-lift design that opened in 1926, replacing a bascule bridge from 1904 which superseded the original swing bridge from 1887. The bridge served the main line of
214-610: A few months and the Soviet Union quickly began the process of Sovietization , the enforcing of communist-led people's assemblies (" soviets ") which would be the new governmental bodies. The new Baltic soviets voted for their countries to become republics of the Soviet Union; the Soviet Union formally accepted these additions in August 1940. On 9 April 1940, in Operation Weserubrung , Germany invaded Norway and Denmark as essentially
321-477: A key motivation of Germany's expansion in Europe in the mid-to-late 1930s. In 1934, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland, but this would not last as Poland was considered a part of the lebensraum ; Nazi mythology considered eastern Europe to be lost German land. In 1933, Germany began building concentration camps to hold their political enemies and those they considered " degenerates ", such as people on
428-555: A paramilitary that terrorized the Italian countryside in a campaign against socialism. In 1922, during a controversial general strike by a weakened trade unionist movement, Mussolini and his followers seized power in Rome and installed him as the Prime Minister of Italy to run the country alongside the pre-existing monarchy of King Victor Emmanuel III . Similar to Germany, Mussolini turned
535-484: A partial interest in the Mount Hope Mineral Railroad from Warren Foundry & Pipe Corporation. Following World War II , passenger traffic diminished, and was almost entirely commuter business, requiring great amounts of rolling stock for two short periods five days a week. Three-fourths of CNJ's freight traffic terminated on line; the railroad was essentially a terminal carrier, which meant little profit
642-529: A preventative measure to stop the U.K. and France from occupying Norway, as well as to protect German industry; Britain previously had set up naval blockades between Norway and Germany which cut off the import of iron from northern Sweden that was being shipped out of the Norwegian port of Narvik . The invasion was led by General of the Infantry Nikolaus von Falkenhorst . Germany notified the U.K. and France of
749-463: A small carfloat terminal in The Bronx . It was the site of the first successful Class 1 railroad diesel operation. Over the years CNJ maintained an extensive marine operation on New York Bay , including a steamer line to Sandy Hook. On April 30, 1967, CNJ's last marine service, the ferry line between Manhattan and CNJ's rail terminal at Jersey City , made its last run, which was also the last day for
856-655: The Uranverein ( uranium club) began a project to develop a bomb using nuclear fission that could destroy entire cities, the atomic bomb . This was supposed to be secret, but scientists fleeing Nazi Germany to avoid persecution made word of the program in other Western countries. In 1939, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was warned of the program by one of these fleeing scientists, Albert Einstein . The U.K. and France responded to Germany's aggressive expansion through appeasement , "maintain[ing] peace in Europe by making limited concessions to German demands", which
963-629: The Aldene Plan went into effect in May 1967, the only passenger service on the bridge was the Bayonne- Cranford shuttle, known as the "Scoot". The last freight train crossed the bridge in 1976, prior to the formation of Conrail ; the last passenger train left Bayonne's Eighth Street Station on August 6, 1978. Despite Bayonne's efforts to save the bridge, demolition of the central lift spans began in July 1980 after
1070-612: The Allies , a name reused from the Allies who were the main opponent of the Central Powers in World War I. Under the Nazi Party, Germany developed a hierarchy which considered the pseudoscientific " Aryan race " — white ethnic Germans or those closest genetically to them — as the most superior race, and Jews and Slavs at or near the bottom. A major part of Nazi Germany's racial policy was
1177-609: The Atlantic Ocean . On 17 September, the Soviets invaded Poland , and the Poles now fought on two fronts. The next day, Polish government officials escaped into Romania, and for the next ten days, the Polish garrison in the capitol of Warsaw held on as Germans bombed the city massively, killing many civilians. On the 28th, Poland surrendered, and the next day, Germany and Soviet Union partitioned
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#17328559732071284-711: The Axis powers . Italy and Japan needed allies, as Italy was involved in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (the Italian invasion of the Ethiopian Empire ) from 1935 to 1937, and Japan started the Second Sino-Japanese War (Japan's expanded invasion of the Republic of China ) in 1937, the latter of which was subsumed by World War II and ended in 1945. In 1936, Italy and Germany made a pact of mutual assurance,
1391-700: The Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia , and Estonia — were allocated to the Soviet sphere of influence in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On 10 October 1939, the Soviets demanded the Baltic states to allow Soviet garrisons to be stationed within them. The countries felt threatened, resentfully agreeing to sign pacts of mutual assurance allowing the soldiers in. The beginning of World War II escalated tensions between Finland and
1498-775: The Battle of Britain , the German Luftwaffe air branch launched air assaults on the United Kingdom in preparation to launch an amphibious invasion of Britain codenamed Operation Sea Lion . The British Royal Air Force (RAF) successfully defended Britain, and that phase of bombing ended in September 1940. On September 7, the Luftwaffe started an aerial bombing campaign on Britain known as the Blitz , which instead destroyed strategic targets to hurt
1605-661: The Battle of Taranto , the British navy destroyed almost half of the Italian fleet. In March 1941, the British sent 58,000 Commonwealth troops to help Greece, despite their intense combat in North Africa. During the Battle of Britain, the U.K. asked the U.S. for help, but the American public was divided over the need to get involved in the war. In the November 1940 U.S. presidential election ,
1712-592: The Berlin Declaration , proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany to the four victorious powers, was signed. The Allied powers then moved to finishing the Pacific War against Japan. Once World War II ended, the Allies occupied the continent, giving some countries back to their pre-war leaders or creating new governments, before funding their nations' economic recovery. German military leaders were subject to
1819-473: The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway proposed in 1965 sought to counter the impending PRR merger with New York Central Railroad merger was to have included CNJ, but the bankruptcy of Penn Central Transportation Company killed that prospect. CNJ drafted elaborate plans for reorganization; they came to naught as neighboring railroads collapsed. Conrail took over freight operations of
1926-752: The Delaware River west of Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1871. The NJS came under control of the CNJ in 1879. CNJ's influence briefly extended across the Delaware River in the form of the Baltimore & Delaware Bay Railroad, from Bombay Hook, Delaware , east of Townsend , to Chestertown, Maryland . That line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) family in 1901. CNJ's lines in Pennsylvania were built by
2033-706: The Dutch government-in-exile . The next day, the Germans crossed the Meuse river, entering France. On 14 May 1940, Dutch Commander-in-Chief Henri Winkelman surrendered his forces east of the Scheldt river, essentially all of the Netherlands. On the 15th, French general Maurice Gamelin reported to French Premier Paul Reynard that the Germans might take Paris within days. Reynard then replaced Gamelin with retired general Maxime Weygand , who
2140-562: The European theatre . Despite the operational flexibility and safeguards built into the bridge, increase in marine traffic and ship size only made the bridge a greater maritime hazard. At the same time, however, decline in rail traffic did not make it any less of a hazard to the railroad. On September 15, 1958, a commuter train plunged off the south span which had been opened for marine traffic, killing 48 people, including former New York Yankees second baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss . On May 19, 1966,
2247-565: The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company as the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S). The main line was completed between Phillipsburg, New Jersey and Wilkes-Barre in 1866. A notable feature of the line was the Ashley Planes , a steep stretch of line (maximum grade was 14.65%) operated by cables driven by stationary engines, which remained in service until after World War II (WWII). CNJ leased
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#17328559732072354-555: The Lehigh Line under Conrail. The earliest railroad ancestor of the CNJ was the Elizabethtown & Somerville Railroad, incorporated in 1831 and opened from Elizabethport to Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1836. Horses gave way to steam in 1839, and the railroad was extended west, reaching Somerville at the beginning of 1842. The Somerville and Easton Railroad was incorporated in 1847 and began building westward. In 1849, it purchased
2461-574: The Munich Agreement , which gave Germany the Sudetenland , a Czech region near its border with Germany which had long been ethnically German. Chamberlain returned back to England and proclaimed that the U.K. had achieved " Peace for our time ". At the same time, Hungary annexed a part of southern Slovakia and Poland annexed the Tešin District of Czech Silesia . On 15 March 1939, Germany occupied
2568-574: The Nuremberg criminal trials . Western Europe became a series of capitalist governments and eastern Europe became communist , beginning the Cold War among the former Allied nations. Germany was split into the capitalist West Germany and the communist East Germany . Germany was defeated in World War I , and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles placed punitive conditions on the country after finding Germany and
2675-729: The Rome-Berlin axis agreement. Also that year, Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact to counter the perceived threat of communism from the Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin ; Italy joined the pact in 1937. Italy and Germany signed the Pact of Steel in 1939, formalizing the Rome-Berlin axis. Other smaller powers joined the Axis throughout World War II. The Axis' main opponents would be
2782-657: The Third French Republic (the French government before Germany invaded) and later for the French resistance against the Nazis. Spain claimed neutrality during World War II, but collaborated with the Axis. They gave Germany raw materials to use in weapons production. 10,000 to 15,000 Spaniards that were previously refugees in France were deported to Germany, where about 60% were killed by
2889-622: The United Kingdom , the United States , and the Soviet Union ) fought the Axis powers (including Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ) on both sides of the continent in the Western and Eastern fronts. There was also conflict in the Scandinavian , Mediterranean and Balkan regions. It was an intense conflict that led to at least 39 million deaths and a dramatic change in the balance of power in
2996-733: The United States Coast Guard declared the structure a navigational hazard to ships. The trestle and approaches were removed in 1987–1988 when it became apparent that a replacement span was no longer feasible. Removal of the piers began in 2012. Central Railroad of New Jersey The CNJ's main line had a major presence in New Jersey. Most of the main line is now used by the Raritan Valley Line passenger service. CNJ main line trackage in Phillipsburg, New Jersey became part of
3103-521: The Wehrmacht the most powerful army in the world. Britannica writes: In accordance with the doctrines of General Heinz Guderian , the German tanks were used in massed formations in conjunction with motorized artillery to punch holes in the enemy line and to isolate segments of the enemy, which were then surrounded and captured by motorized German infantry divisions while the tanks ranged forward to repeat
3210-678: The chancellor and fuhrer of Germany in 1933. In February 1933, the German Reichstag building caught on fire in an arson attack, giving Hitler the opportunity to blame the fire on his political opponents, especially communists . In response, the government passed the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State , which "abolished freedom of speech, assembly, privacy and
3317-410: The 12th that the French battle had been lost. Meanwhile, French Major General Victor Fortune surrendered his 10,000 men of the British Expeditionary Forces' 51st Highland Division who were being exhausted at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux . On the 14th, the French military evacuated Paris and the Germans entered the city. Reynaud again moved the government, this time to Bordeaux. The next day, Verdun fell, and on
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3424-512: The 16th, Reynaud resigned, being succeeded by Philippe Petain . On the 17th, Petain asked the Germans for an armistice. The terms were dictated with Hitler on the 21st, and on the 25th, war between France and Germany/Italy was officially over. On 22 June, France was divided into two sections under the Franco-German Armistice ; one was occupied by the German military and the other, Vichy France , had some autonomy. The Chasselay massacre occurred in France in June 1940. Starting in June 1940, in
3531-419: The 24th, the Germans almost reached Dunkirk, but Hitler ordered them back, giving the British Expeditionary Forces and other Allies in Dunkirk some time to evacuate to England . They moved quickly, and the situation worsened on the 27th, when Leopold III , the king of Belgium , surrendered his army. The Allies successfully evacuated by 4 June, saving 198,000 British men and 140,000 French men. At this point,
3638-402: The Allied powers began an invasion of Italy , causing the end of Mussolini's regime , but Germans and Italians loyal to the Axis continued fighting. The Allies liberated Rome in 1944. In June 1944, the Allied powers began an invasion of German-occupied western Europe, as the Soviets launched a massive counterattack in eastern Europe in Operation Bagration . Both campaigns were successful for
3745-476: The Allies, while having about an equal number of tanks and military aircraft to the three of them combined. New types of military technology invented in the interwar years included radar , the dive bomber , and the aircraft carrier . The Allied countries, motivated by their victory in World War I, had generally not worked to produce significant amounts of newer weapons and military equipment afterwards, feeling confident in what they already had, while Germany did
3852-430: The Allies. In 1945, Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman . The Soviet Union conquered most of Eastern Europe including the German capital Berlin , as Mussolini was hanged and Hitler committed suicide . Concentration camps that were used in the Holocaust were liberated. Germany unconditionally surrendered on 8 May 1945 , although fighting continued elsewhere in Europe until 25 May . On 5 June 1945,
3959-452: The Army. They quickly destroyed vital Polish infrastructure including the railways, essentially taking out the Polish Air Force before it could be used. In 1939, they surpassed the three current Allied powers in their individual numbers of infantry and armoured divisions (the Wehrmacht 's armoured divisions are also known as panzer divisions ). Germany also had more machine guns, mortars , antitank guns , and howitzers per division than
4066-429: The Axis powers under the Tripartite Pact . In 1941, Hitler and other Nazi Party leaders including Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich agree on a program of mass extermination of Jews throughout occupied Europe, beginning the Holocaust ; this was referred to as the " Final Solution " to the " Jewish question ", or the debate over what should happen to the Jews living on the continent. On 1 March 1941, Himmler ordered
4173-404: The British war effort. On 28 October 1940, Italy began invading Greece . This surprised the Greeks, as well as Hitler, who did not want Axis troops to be taken away from the North African campaign . Mussolini was convinced that Italy would quickly win, but they were pushed back into Albania after a week. The Italians then spent the next three months in Albania defending against the Greeks. At
4280-439: The CNJ on April 1, 1976; with passenger routes transferred to the New Jersey Department of Transportation including the present New Jersey Transit North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line . In 1961, the Lehigh and New England Railroad was abandoned, and CNJ acquired a few of its branches and organized them as the Lehigh and New England Railroad . In 1963, Lehigh Coal & Navigation sold its railroad properties to
4387-457: The CNJ was leased to and operated by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad , with which it formed a New York-Philadelphia route. CNJ resumed its own management after reorganization in 1887. The primary rolling stock repair shops were located in Elizabethport, New Jersey along Trumbull Avenue. In 1901 the original shops were razed and new, concrete shops took their place, capable of servicing 430 locomotives and 20,000 freight cars annually. With
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4494-480: The CNJ, carrying daily interstate trains as well as commuter trains. Between 1887 and the late 1980s, the rail bridge across Newark Bay existed in three forms. As train service grew in both frequency and complexity through the early 20th century, the bridge was replaced twice to accommodate additional trackage and heavier trains. The first railway structure to span the bay was erected in 1887, and consisted of simple wooden trestle pile bridge approaches joined near
4601-530: The Elizabethtown & Somerville and adopted a new name: Central Railroad Company of New Jersey. The line reached Phillipsburg , on the east bank of the Delaware River , in 1852. It was extended east across Newark Bay to Jersey City in 1864, and it gradually acquired branches to Flemington , Newark , Perth Amboy , Chester , and Wharton . The New Jersey Southern (NJS) began construction in 1860 at Port Monmouth . The railroad worked its way southwest across lower New Jersey and reached Bayside, New Jersey, on
4708-419: The French freighter S.S. Washington collided with the northeast lift span, rendering two tracks unusable. Despite an eventual 2nd Circuit judgment in CNJ's favor, the span was never repaired, as the two affected tracks were deemed redundant by the railroad due to the sharp decline in rail traffic and the momentous change in the railroad's operations , which occurred less than a year after the accident. After
4815-419: The French front had been pushed back to the Somme and Aisne rivers. French numbers and morale weakened, and many retreated westward across France. On 9 June, the Germans crossed the Seine . On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom. They began attacking France on the 20th, but it made little effect. Reynaud had fled Paris to Tours , and he and his ministers were told by Weygand on
4922-487: The L&S in 1871. The line was extended to Scranton in 1888 by a subsidiary of the L&S, the Wilkes-Barre & Scranton; L&S leased the line upon completion and assigned the lease to the CNJ. The bulk of the traffic on the Pennsylvania lines was anthracite coal, much of it produced by subsidiaries of the railroad, until the Commodities Clause of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1920 forbade railroads to haul freight in which they had an interest. From 1883 to 1887,
5029-404: The Low Countries, the latter movement resembling the Schlieffen Plan from World War I. On the 10th, the Germans first entered the Netherlands and Belgium, and Neville Chamberlain resigned, making Winston Churchill the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Chamberlain had been criticized for the failure of the Norwegian campaign, and Churchill had become the Labour Party 's choice for leading
5136-563: The Mannerheim Line. On 6 March, Finland asked for peace terms, and on the 12th, the two countries signed the Moscow Peace Treaty , in which the Finns ceded 9% of their territory to the Soviet Union, and the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviets for 30 years. The war ended the following day. In June 1940, Joseph Stalin sent another set of ultimatums to the Baltic states, demanding the allowance of an unlimited number of Soviet troops into their countries and to form governments under Soviet terms. All three countries were occupied by within
5243-414: The Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary organization, believing them to have gotten too powerful. From 1919 to 1921, Italian fascist Benito Mussolini grew a base of supporters who wanted him to deal with Italy's political and economic crises, which involved civil conflict over the growth of socialism in the country. Many of Mussolini's supporters became known as blackshirts , who would form
5350-474: The Nazis. Portugal claimed neutrality as well, but they allowed the British to access Portuguese bases in the Azores . On 10 May 1940, Germany began an invasion of France and the Low Countries ( the Netherlands , Belgium , and Luxembourg ). Three German commanders, Willhelm von Leeb , Fedor von Bock, and Gerd von Rundstedt took control of an army each and invaded France through the northern end of its German border, and also by crossing into France through
5457-471: The Netherlands , Belgium , and Luxembourg . The six countries were taken over, and Germany began two successive aerial bombardments of the United Kingdom, in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz . British Prime Minister Winston Churchill led his country's war effort. Germany also began a widespread genocide of Jews in the Holocaust . In 1940, Italy invaded Greece , and in 1941, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece . Germany then began an invasion of
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#17328559732075564-489: The RDG, but the lease to the CNJ continued. In 1964, the state of New Jersey began subsidizing commuter service, and the tax situation changed in 1967. In 1965, CNJ and the Lehigh Valley Railroad consolidated their lines along the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and portions of each railroad's line were abandoned; the commercial anthracite traffic that had supported both railroads had largely disappeared. CNJ operations in Pennsylvania ended March 31, 1972. CNJ maintained
5671-426: The RDG. B&O also used CNJ tracks for the final approach to Jersey City. CNJ operated several named trains, most of which were interstate operations: Several non-CNJ trains operated over CNJ trackage north of Bound Brook, New Jersey to the Jersey City terminal: To celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2012, Norfolk Southern painted 20 new locomotives with predecessor schemes. NS #1071, an EMD SD70ACe locomotive,
5778-402: The Soviet Union , breaking the countries' non-aggression pact , and Germany declared war on the United States after Imperial Japan did so. The United States was led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . In 1942, the Soviets stopped further invasion of their country at the Battle of Stalingrad . Meanwhile, the Allies engaged in a mass bombing campaign of German industrial targets. In 1943,
5885-406: The Soviet Union during an invasion, the two countries signed an agreement to neutrality named the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after secret negotiations from 23 to 24 August. Hitler gave the orders to invade on 26 August, certain that the U.K. and the Soviet Union would not retaliate. However, on the 25th, the U.K. and Poland publicly signed a formal treaty of military assurance, causing Hitler to delay
5992-484: The Soviet Union invaded Finland, justifying it with a staged incident at the countries' border. Thus began the Winter War , with the Soviet objective being the conquest of Finland and the installation of a communist puppet government in Helsinki . At the start of the war, the Soviets suffered severe losses and made little progress. The Finns made use of the Molotov cocktail , a type of makeshift grenade, naming it after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov who
6099-551: The Soviet Union. The Soviets thought the Axis would use Finland as a base to attack them, and the Finns thought the Soviets were trying to expand into Finnish territory. The Soviets then forwarded demands to Finland that were similar to the demands sent to the Baltic states; the Finns also had to destroy their defensive Mannerheim Line along the Karelian Isthmus near the border with the Soviet Union. Finland rejected these demands, instead mobilising their army and unsuccessfully attempting to gain Allied support. On 30 November 1939,
6206-502: The Soviets' Leningrad commissar Andrei Zhdanov had started making observations of their border with Finland . Based on these observations, the Soviets began building railway spur tracks leading west toward Finnish wilderness, in particular toward Kuusamo , Suomussalmi , Kuhmo , and Lieksa . The tracks were meant for a future invasion of Finland; they could have served no other purpose than to transport troops and material, since little trade passed through these regions. Finland and
6313-535: The bay into Bayonne, and north to the Jersey City terminus. It had used a succession of bridges over the years, the last being Newark Bay Bridge , demolished in the 1980s. From Elizabethport, trains went to different corridors. One headed towards Elizabeth and Plainfield and points west and southwest. The second went south towards Perth Amboy and today's North Jersey Coast Line and different southern New Jersey destinations. CNJ operated several trains into Pennsylvania and other points west or south, in association with
6420-480: The bridge on either end of its approaches. Construction of the bridge was unique in that it was completed in phases along the existing active right-of-way , all while ensuring uninterrupted rail service. The first phase involved reconstruction of the fixed trestle approaches; train operations were restricted to a single track while the other half of the trestle was demolished and replaced with "concrete on timber platforms supported by piles." The bascule's western leaf
6527-473: The camps' prisoners, which started as soon as they were built, expanded in 1941, which is usually when the start date of the Holocaust is given. In 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogroms , 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. In 1938, German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman , discovered nuclear fission , or the release of large amounts energy after the " nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei ". German scientists of
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#17328559732076634-510: The concept of lebensraum , or "living space": increasing the amount of land in Europe where members of the Aryan race could live. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum writes: The Nazis also adopted the social Darwinist take on Darwinian evolutionary theory regarding the “ survival of the fittest .” For the Nazis, survival of a race depended upon its ability to reproduce and multiply, its accumulation of land to support and feed that expanding population, and its vigilance in maintaining
6741-486: The construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. At the same time, Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact, and two days later, Germany began sealing off a Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Poland . Aside from concentration camps, the Final Solution was also enacted with Einsatzgruppen , mobile killing units. Croatia joined the Tripartite Pact on 15 June. On 6 April 1941, Germany, aided by Bulgarian and Hungarian forces, started invading Yugoslavia and Greece . This
6848-432: The continent. Throughout the mid-to-late 1930s, Adolf Hitler , the leader of fascist Nazi Germany, expanded German territory by annexing all of Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia in 1938. This was motivated in part by Germany's racial policy that believed the country needed to expand in order for the pseudoscientific " Aryan race " to survive. They were aided by Italy, another fascist state which
6955-438: The country into a one-party fascist state which outlawed free speech, the free press, trade unions, and targeted socialists, Catholics, and liberals with a network of secret police and spies. Italy became sympathetic to Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Italy, Germany, and Imperial Japan — led by Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo — increasingly allied with each other, and during World War II they would be known as
7062-401: The county between them in accordance with a secret provision of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The provision originally stated the western third of Poland would be given to the Germans, and the eastern two thirds to the Soviets, while Lithuania would be put in the German sphere of influence; now, the two countries agreed to let Lithuania fall under the Soviet sphere of influence if more of Poland
7169-468: The democratically elected Spanish government in the Spanish Civil War . Hitler sided with Franco, giving aid to the insurgents. In 1939, Franco won the war, becoming the dictator of Spain. Before that, though, in early 1939, many Spaniards crossed the border into France, where they were given a choice by the French government whether to return to Spain (and be punished by Franco), or join the French military; during World War II, many Spanish soldiers fought for
7276-473: The eastern part of Slovakia, the Subcarpathian Rus , was annexed by Hungary. The latter two annexations formally ended the country of Czechoslovakia, which had existed since 1918. By early 1939, Hitler had plans of invading Poland , despite Poland having assurances from the U.K. and France that those countries would intervene if Poland was attacked. Germany revoked its non-aggression pact with Poland on 28 April. To ensure Germany would not face resistance from
7383-446: The eastern side of the waterway by a steel center-pier swing bridge . Built within a navigable channel, the moveable bridge allowed marine traffic from Kill Van Kull to access the Port of Newark . At the turn of the twentieth century, the bridge was a main artery of both the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Philadelphia & Reading Railroad , but its light and outmoded construction had reportedly become inadequate to handle
7490-442: The evening of 9 April 1940, and he became the Prime Minister of Norway under Germany's administration during the war. Norway's army agreed to cooperate with Germany, and began attacking the Allies. The U.K. tried to defend Norway with ground, air, and sea presence, but it was difficult. On 27 April, the British ground soldiers began to retreat. On 28 May, the British recaptured Narvik, but the Axis took it again on 9 June. The invasion
7597-431: The existing swing-bridge section was replaced with a temporary trestle and the eastern leaf completed in a similar manner to its twin. The lift spans were a pair of two-track spans over two separate shipping channels; the longer span being 299 feet (91 m) long, while the shorter span was 210.75 feet (64.24 m), giving a navigable width of 216 feet (66 m) and 134 feet (41 m) respectively. Vertical clearance
7704-513: The heavier and more-frequent trains of the day. Plans to replace the span were considered as early as 1901 and solidified by August 1902, with engineers settling on a Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge as the preferred design and a budget of at least $ 1,000,000. The new movable bridge, configured as twin dual-track mirrored bascule leaves, promised many benefits in comparison to the outdated swing-bridge. Its twin 75 horsepower (56 kW) gasoline engines could quickly raise its superstructures to
7811-507: The incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to his third term in office. America was becoming more certain of the need to send aid to the U.K.; for example, Roosevelt's main opponent in the election, Wendell Wilkie of the Republican Party , differed from his party's previous sentiment by agreeing to give aid. In December 1940, president-elect Roosevelt gave a speech in which he explained his " Arsenal of democracy " approach to
7918-458: The invasion in a memorandum claiming that the Allies were trying to use Scandinavia as a base from which to attack Germany from the north, and that Scandinavia needed to be protected from Allied "aggression". Norwegian resistance quickly faltered, and Norwegian government heads fled for the countryside. Vidkun Quisling , of the Nasjonal Samling fascist party, proclaimed a new government on
8025-440: The invasion, and had overwhelming military superiority to Poland's 1 million soldiers. The invasion was led by generals Fedor von Bock , Franz Halder , Georg von Küchler , Gerd von Rundstedt , Günther von Kluge , Johannes Blaskowitz , Walther von Brauchitsch , Walther von Reichenau , and Wilhelm List . Poland fought on a large front, both on the German border and with their flanks in the German territory of East Prussia in
8132-617: The island of Crete . On 20 May, 1941, Germany began an invasion of Crete . They launched paratrooper assaults on multiple Cretan cities, overwhelming the Allies, who evacuated the island. Germany fought off guerilla resistance in Yugoslavia and Greece for the rest of the war. In late 1941, the Brits started aiding the Chetnik guerillas, led by Dragoljub Mihailovic . Eventually, the Chetniks fought in
8239-403: The lower end of their racial hierarchy, the Nazi Party's political enemies (like socialists , social democrats , and communists), Poles, Romani people , Jehovah's Witnesses , Freemasons , disabled people, and LGBTQ people. They were brought from many places across lower continental Europe to the camps using the extensive railway network which crossed the continent. The mass killing of
8346-427: The minimum required distance to accommodate low-height vessels like barges (which made up roughly 80% of the channel's traffic), and the rails could be more thoroughly secured to the bridge deck at its leaf joints (thus permitting higher train speeds). Additionally, another parallel span could be added if it became necessary to double the crossing's trackage– especially considering that four land-side tracks already met
8453-600: The nation — even if they disliked his anti-socialist beliefs — because of his willingness to fight Germany. A coalition government was formed, led by a war cabinet of Churchill, Chamberlain, the conservative Lord Halifax , and the Labour members Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood . Churchill also became the Minister of Defence . On 12 May, the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina fled with her ministers to England, where she established
8560-538: The newer Hurricane fighter and was producing the Spitfire , which began combat in 1940. France's military aircraft, however, were outdated, and they were trying to buy newer models from the United States . The U.K. did not have any armoured divisions, and France's tanks were spread thin across its infantry divisions. The Allies in 1939 were "together superior in industrial resources, population, and military manpower", but German weapons, equipment, training and logistics made
8667-484: The north and German-occupied Slovakia in the south. Poland did not move their troops eastward to more defensive positions because their western half had their most vital industrial regions. The Wehrmacht used " Blitzkrieg attacks", surprise attacks with "massive, concentrated forces of fast-moving [armoured] units supported by overwhelming air power". Their air force, the Luftwaffe , specifically operated as support for
8774-456: The opposite since remilitarizing in 1935. Poland did not have "tanks, armoured personnel carriers , and antitank and antiaircraft guns ", and believed horsed cavalry could take on German mechanized forces . The U.K. and France did make up for Poland's lack of air strength; Poland only had fighters and bombers , and the other Allies had those plus aircraft meant for either reconnaissance , coastal defense, or naval aviation. The U.K. had ready
8881-593: The other Central Powers guilty for starting the war . These punishments included the loss of Alsace-Lorraine , the temporary loss of the Saarland , military limitations, and reparation payments to the Allied powers . The Rhineland region of Germany was also made a demilitarized zone . Germany would also join the League of Nations , an international governmental body devoted to peacekeeping. Historians are divided on whether or not
8988-559: The press; legalized phone tapping and interception of correspondence; and suspended the autonomy of federated states, like Bavaria ". Communist politicians were arrested, leaving the Nazi Party free to do what they wanted. Hitler made Germany an absolute dictatorship, and he withdrew from the League of Nations. In 1934, during the Night of the Long Knives , Hitler ordered the purge of leaders within
9095-589: The primary freight and passenger yards at Jersey City, New Jersey opposite Manhattan, a terminal and shop site was also needed in the Communipaw neighborhood. This facility was modernized in 1914 and included two roundhouses and light repair shops. In 1901, the Reading Company (RDG), successor to the Philadelphia & Reading, acquired control of the CNJ through purchase of a majority of its stock, and at about
9202-407: The process: deep drives into enemy territory by panzer divisions were thus followed by mechanized infantry and foot soldiers. These tactics were supported by dive bombers that attacked and disrupted the enemy’s supply and communications lines and spread panic and confusion in its rear, thus further paralyzing its defensive capabilities. The only form of combat in which Germany had inferior capability
9309-433: The purity of its gene pool , thus preserving the unique “racial” characteristics with which “nature” had equipped it for success in the struggle to survive. Since each “race” sought to expand, and since the space on the earth was finite, the struggle for survival resulted “naturally” in violent conquest and military confrontation. Hence, war—even constant war —was a part of nature, a part of the human condition . This formed
9416-573: The remaining western half of Czechoslovakia, the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia . Later that month, part of Slovakia became the independent fascist and Catholic state of the Slovak Republic under dictator and Catholic priest Jozef Tiso . The republic was controlled by the Slovak People's Party , who made the country a client state of Germany and allowed Germany to occupy it. At the same time,
9523-527: The same time Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) acquired control of the RDG, gaining access to New York over RDG and CNJ rails. In 1929, CNJ inaugurated the Blue Comet , a deluxe coach train operating twice daily between Jersey City and Atlantic City . It was painted blue from the pilot of its 4-6-2 to the rear bulkhead of its observation car, and its refurbished cars offered a level of comfort much higher than
9630-708: The terminal itself; the next day CNJ passenger trains began originating and terminating at the PRR station in Newark via the Aldene Connection , where New York City passengers could transfer to either PRR or Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) trains. In 1979, CNJ emerged from bankruptcy as Central Jersey Industries, later renamed CJI Industries. In 1986, it merged with the packaging company Triangle Industries, owned by Nelson Peltz . CNJ had its northeastern terminus at Elizabethport, New Jersey. In 1864 CNJ extended its railroad across
9737-437: The treaty was harsh or actually "very restrained" compared to other peace treaties at the time. Many Germans back then blamed their country's post-war economic collapse on the treaty's conditions and these resentments contributed to the political instability, which made it possible for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party to come to power. This was worsened by the worldwide Great Depression , which began in 1929. Hitler became
9844-537: The usual day coach of the era. The train was the forerunner of the coach streamliners that blossomed nationwide in the late 1930s and the 1940s. It succumbed to automobile competition in 1941. Also in 1929 CNJ purchased a 30 percent interest in the Raritan River Railroad , a 12-mile (19 km) short line from South Amboy to New Brunswick. In 1931 it acquired total ownership of the Wharton & Northern Railroad and
9951-684: The violation of their sovereignty, but capitulated to the U.K., who occupied the country . The U.K. promised to compensate the Icelandic population and leave at the end of the war. Canadian troops arrived in Iceland in June 1940 and the Americans arrived a year later; foreign troops continued staying in Iceland after the war, as the country became a NATO member. Sweden was able to remain neutral . In 1936, insurgents led by fascist Francisco Franco went to war with
10058-491: The war and justifying providing the U.K. with aid. In March 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act , which allowed the U.S. to send large amounts of aid: it ranged from "tanks, aircraft, ships, weapons and road building supplies to clothing, chemicals and food." The program soon expanding to giving aid to the Soviet Union, China, and allied France. From 20 to 24 November 1940, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia joined
10165-479: The war for a few days. On 31 August, he gave the order to invade the next day. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland , falsely claiming that Poland was trying to encircle and partition Germany and that ethnic Germans were being persecuted there. Germany also staged an attack on one of their own radio stations and blamed it on the Poles. 1.5 million soldiers of the German military, the Wehrmacht , took part in
10272-589: Was 135 feet (41 m) open and 35 feet (11 m) closed. Each span was capable of independent movement, as well as any combination of tandem movements. Bridge movement, interlocking, and signals were controlled from a large manned structure on the operational midpoint between the east and west draw spans and above the tracks. During World War II , the bridge was a critical piece of the Port of New York and New Jersey 's logistic network , allowing 300 or more trains per day to supply troops and materials for American efforts in
10379-455: Was at sea, so they did not attack the Allies' navies with massed fleets, but instead through "the individual operation of German pocket battleships and commerce raiders ". France and the U.K. declared war on Germany on 3 September, but they did not actually engage in warfare with Germany during the invasion of Poland. Meanwhile, the Battle of the Atlantic began over control of sea routes in
10486-488: Was blamed for the war. The Finns, who had little outside help, became worn down in a war of attrition . The Soviets reduced their strategic objectives in late January 1940 and put an end to the puppet Finnish communist government, informing the opposing Finnish government that they were willing to negotiate peace. After the Soviets reorganized and adopted different tactics, they renewed their offensive in February and breached
10593-578: Was given to Germany. The last Polish unit surrendered on 6 October. The invasion ended with 14,000 Germans dead or missing and 66,000 to 70,000 Poles dead. 700,000 Poles were taken prisoner and 80,000 escaped into neutral countries. From October 1939 to March 1940, the European theatre was in a phase known as the Phoney War , when no major land operations were made by the Allied powers. As early as August 1935,
10700-658: Was in Syria. Reynard arrived from Syria on the 19th, leaving the French high command without a top general for days while the Germans pushed towards Paris. Weygand arrived and replaced 12 generals, notably employing general Charles de Gaulle . The Germans broke through the French line on the 15th and marched swiftly into undefended land. They reached the English Channel by the 20th, and days later, moved north towards Calais and Dunkirk . The Belgians became encircled in Flanders . On
10807-498: Was led by Benito Mussolini . World War II started with Germany 's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, and the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin , joined the invasion later that month. They partitioned Poland so the country was split up among the two nations. Poland's allies, France and the United Kingdom, declared war on Germany days after the invasion of Poland but did not want to actually engage in conflict. This changed after Germany invaded Norway , Denmark , France ,
10914-637: Was made, if any. In addition, heavy taxes levied by the state of New Jersey ate up much of CNJ's revenue. In 1946, the lines in Pennsylvania were organized as the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania (CRP) in an effort to escape taxation by the state of New Jersey. CNJ resumed its own operation of the Pennsylvania lines at the end of 1952. The CRP continued in existence as owner of the Easton & Western, four miles of track in Easton, Pennsylvania . The merger between
11021-512: Was over by 10 June 1940. The British occupied the Faroe Islands in response to Germany's gains. Winston Churchill, meanwhile, tried to convince Iceland to join the Allies, but they wanted to stay neutral. Ultimately, the U.K. decided to invade, as the country was strategically important as a base to control the North Atlantic. The invasion began on 10 May 1940. The government disliked
11128-509: Was painted with the CNJ orange and blue. In 2019, NJ Transit painted locomotive 4109 in a heritage scheme based on that of the CNJ GP40P. European theatre of World War II Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II , taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allied powers (including
11235-731: Was seen as reasonable by the British and French populaces because the Treaty of Versailles was thought of as indeed too restrictive, and they did not want to go to war with Germany. In 1935, Germany revoked the Treaty of Versailles' limitations on its military, and remilitizared the Rhineland in 1936. On 13 March 1938, Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss . Hitler then threatened to go to war with Czechoslovakia , and in response, on 30 September 1938, Hitler, Mussolini, U.K. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , and French premiere Edouard Daladier signed
11342-411: Was then built (in the upright position) directly on-top-of the existing trestle, allowing trains to pass through its unfinished superstructure. On February 14, 1904, that section of trestle was demolished and the leaf was lowered for the first time. Following rapid installation of the railbed, the new bascule immediately entered service with a total downtime of less than 12 hours. In the following weeks,
11449-655: Was to help the Italian invasion of Greece, overthrow the pro-Allied Yugoslavia government, secure the German flank during the planned invasion of Russia, protect German oil in Romania from Allied air attacks, and create a base to attack British communication lines with the east. Major Yugoslavian cities, including Belgrade , were bombed. On 17 April, Yugoslavia capitulated, as Germany moved into northern Greece. Greek cities were subject to Blitzkrieg attacks; despite intense resistance, Athens fell on 27 April. 2,500 Germans were killed. 11,000 Allied men were captured, and 45,000 evacuated to
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