Anglesea Railroad

The principal figure behind the Anglesea Railroad was Frederick E. Swope, a real estate developer who also owned the Anglesea Land Company.^[1] The Anglesea Railroad was incorporated on November 20, 1882.^[2] Starting from Burleigh, New Jersey, on the West Jersey Railroad, the company built east across Grassy Sound to Anglesea, New Jersey.^[3] This initial line opened in July 1883.^[4]

The company was not a financial success. The poor quality of the roadbed earned it the sobriquet "Mud Hen."^[5] The company entered receivership on December 25, 1884.^[6] A 3-mile (4.8 km) extension to Holly Beach, New Jersey, opened in 1885.^[1] The West Jersey Railroad acquired the company on May 23, 1888.^[4]

Under the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad the Anglesea Railroad's line was known as the Five Mile Beach Branch.^[7] The line was abandoned following the creation of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933.^[8]

• Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945, Volume IV Affiliated Lines, Miscellaneous Companies, and General Index. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC 13172415.
• Dorwart, Jeffrey M. (1992). Cape May County, New Jersey: The Making of an American Resort Community. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1784-1.
• Kramer, Frederick A. (2011). Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines: An Illustrated History of Southern New Jersey's Jointly-Owned Railroad. Palmyra, New Jersey: West Jersey Chapter, National Railway Historical Society.
• Mazzagetti, Dominick (2018). The Jersey Shore: The Past, Present & Future of a National Treasure. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-9375-3.