Colonel John Stevens of Hoboken first proposed steam locomotive railroads in 1810, and his sons Robert L. and Edwin A. realized his vision with the incorporation of the Camden and Amboy Railroad in 1830. Completed in 1838, the railroad linked Camden, Bordentown, Trenton, and South Amboy and spurred commercial growth in towns along its route. Bordentown junction became invaluable as the site of a major passenger station and car and locomotive maintenance facilities. As one of America's first commercially successful railroads, the Camden and Amboy also played a critical role in the early advancement of rail lines throughout the world. Among its important developments was the country's first efficient passenger locomotive, the John Bull, purchased in England by Robert L. Stevens and shipped in parts to the United States for reassembly by the young mechanic Isaac Dripps, who had never seen a locomotive and had no instructions to guide his work. Assembled in Bordentown in September 1831, the engine remained in operation until 1866 and is now displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The railroad's tracks were first laid on stone blocks called sleepers made by inmates of New York's Sing Sing prison, but when shipments were delayed, Stevens temporarily used wooden crossbeams, or ties, which gave a more comfortable ride and better support; wooden ties soon replaced the stone sleepers on the line and were ultimately adopted throughout the country. During construction at this station stop, workers uncovered the foundation of an 1851 engine house built from stone sleepers salvaged from the original Camden and Amboy tracks, and some of those sleepers were preserved. The railroad also helped transform track construction when Robert L. Stevens designed a more stable T-shaped rail with a bottom flange and hooked spikes of his own design to secure it to the ties; after their use on the Camden and Amboy, these features quickly spread worldwide.
