Atlantic City & Shore Railroad 1911 Accounts Payable Voucher Packet West Jersey
$ 6.86
Description
Atlantic City & Shore Railroad 1911 Accounts Payable Voucher Packet West Jersey. This is a complete 1911 railroad accounts payable voucher packet from the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad Company, issued to the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad Company for the month of May. The document represents a detailed financial transaction totaling $553.57, paid by check number 7181 on June 22, 1911, drawn on H. F. Bachman & Co., Bankers of Philadelphia. The multi-part voucher system includes the primary accounting distribution form, the attached check, and the original itemized invoices from the payee, providing a comprehensive snapshot of inter-company railway operations in pre-World War I South Jersey. The primary voucher allocates the total sum across specific operating accounts, including track maintenance for the Newfield and Somers Point branches, track and equipment rentals, and a substantial charge for the operation of signals and interlocking systems. The supporting invoices, dated May 10 and May 17, 1911, from the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad's Camden office, detail the precise services rendered. These include third-rail maintenance between Pleasantville and Meadows Tower, wages for tower operators and signalmen at Pleasantville and Meadows Towers, and costs for utilities like electric current and anthracite coal. The documents are heavily annotated with handwritten accounting codes, such as charges directed to Maint. of Way and Operation Signal & Interlocking System, and bear multiple official approval stamps from the General Superintendent dated between May and June 1911. A red circular endorsement stamp from the First National Bank of Philadelphia, dated June 23, 1911, confirms the check's processing. This grouping offers exceptional insight into the granular infrastructure-sharing agreements, cost-allocation practices, and daily operational dependencies between an electric interurban line (the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad, known as the Shore Fast Line) and a major Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary. The paperwork exhibits typical age toning, clear fold lines, and minor edge wear from historical filing, with all manuscript entries, rubber stamps, and printed text remaining fully legible, capturing a moment in the complex financial and physical integration of early 20th-century regional rail networks.
