1917 Atlantic City & Shore RR Voucher - West Jersey Seashore Railroad Invoice
$ 6.86
Description
1917 Atlantic City & Shore RR Voucher - West Jersey Seashore Railroad Invoice. This is a complete 1917 intercompany railroad voucher jacket from the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad Company, Atlantic Avenue and Longport Division, documenting a payment to the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad Company. The item is a multi-layered financial artifact, consisting of a primary teal-colored voucher form acting as a backing sheet for an attached white invoice and a smaller pink accounting slip, all fastened together at the corner. The voucher, numbered 1791 and payable in July 1917, was officially processed in the cash book on August 15, 1917, with check number 53 issued from the Atlantic City National Bank. The document bears the critical designation C. L. COLE, Receiver, indicating the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad was under court-ordered receivership, a common state for financially strained regional lines during this period. The payee, the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad-a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary-provided two distinct services: terminal handling of U.S. Mail between the Atlantic City post office and the electric interurban station for $11.00, and a larger charge for power purchased and maintenance work at the New York Avenue Power Plant, referencing an agreement dated June 28, 1907. The attached itemized statement from the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad, dated August 1, 1917, and approved by General Superintendent A. J. Purinton, details the $287.48 total. It breaks down costs for Power Purchased ($266.93) and specific maintenance items like testing boilers and cleaning, alongside the separate mail handling fee categorized under Other Transportation Expenses. The voucher's accounting grid meticulously allocates these costs across standardized Interstate Commerce Commission expense codes for the Boat Line division, including categories for repairs to docks (101), wages for operating floating equipment (104), and insurance (113). This piece of railroadiana ephemera offers a granular view of early 20th-century intermodal logistics, corporate accounting practices, and the complex financial interdependencies between steam railroads and electric interurban lines in the Jersey Shore resort economy. The document is endorsed by multiple officials, including Auditor J. M. Campbell and Receiver C. L. Cole, providing a full audit trail from invoice receipt to final payment, and is a significant primary source for the operational and financial history of transportation in Atlantic County, New Jersey.
