National Railway

Part of it was eventually built from New York City to Philadelphia by the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad and the Delaware River Branch of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, leased by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, in 1879, and becoming its New York Branch.

[2] On March 22, 1867, the Elizabeth and New Providence Railroad was incorporated in New Jersey to be a part of the New York City to Philadelphia line.

[1] The first official proposals for the railway came in 1868 at the federal level, with bills in the U.S. House of Representatives for a line between New York and Washington via Easton, Reading and Lancaster.

Later proposals concentrated on the New York City to Philadelphia section, and were made both at the federal level and in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

On November 11, 1868, Hamilton was elected President of the Millstone and Trenton Railroad, with control going directly to the National Railway.

[4] On January 1, 1869, the Camden and Amboy Rail Road's (C&A) legislated monopoly over New York-Philadelphia railroads in New Jersey expired.

On September 28, 1869, Hamilton transferred the stock of the Millstone and Trenton Railroad to the National Railway Company.

[7] On March 30, 1871, the German Valley Railroad was chartered in New Jersey, including a Trojan Horse for the National Railway.

The PRR and National Railway agreed at that time to support a general incorporation law to break the stalemate, which had been blocked since the 1840s by the Camden and Amboy.

In Pennsylvania, the original plan was southeast of what was built, running directly to the north end of the Junction Railroad in Philadelphia.

[11] Part of this route was built as the New York Short Line, connecting the original Delaware River Branch at Oakford southwest to the Reading Company's Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad (PN&NY) at Cheltenham Township.

[12] The Philadelphia and Reading Railway leased the North Pennsylvania Railroad, including the D&BB, on May 14, 1879, obtaining control of two-thirds of the Bound Brook Route.

The line opened as a branch of the Connecting Railroad from Fox Chase to Newtown on February 2, 1878, with the operation of two excursion trains.