The line is a remnant of the extensive freight rail infrastructure that once dominated much of the Hudson County, its right of way a combination of routes originally developed by different companies. The name is taken from the National Docks Railway which maintained yards and a storage depot at Black Tom, an island in the Upper New York Bay that was greatly expanded by land reclamation and connected to the north of Caven Point by a long causeway. The line was built during an era of tremendous growth along the west shores of the bay and the North River (Hudson River), fueled by competing railroads wishing to gain access to the harbor to develop shipping and carfloat operations as well as intermodal passenger transport terminals. Standard Oil era The complex history of the line reflects the shifting alliances between competing railroads in the region. The National Storage Company was an arm of Standard Oil, which constructed storage and lighterage facilities on Black Tom Island and the Communipaw shoreline in 1876. Standard Oil had a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) for transporting oil, but the railroad's charter prevented it from extending a line from its cut through Bergen Hill to the National Storage facility. The National Storage Company was thus compelled to use the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which had tracks adjacent to the Black Tom facility. To circumvent the restrictions on the Pennsylvania Railroad's charter, Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania colluded in 1879 to create the National Docks Railway Company, connecting the National Storage facilities directly to the Pennsylvania line. The line would of necessity run through the property of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the Central strongly objected to the condemnation of its land for the benefit of its competitor. After an extended legal battle, the National Docks won a surprise concession in 1882 from the Jersey City aldermen to build an elevated track between the junction with the PRR and the oil docks, and the line was quickly constructed and opened in 1883, operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The line was subsequently extended as the Bergen Neck Railroad to Constable Hook in Bayonne where Standard Oil had additional facilities. In 1891, the Bergen Neck Railroad and the National Docks Railway were consolidated. Six years after its initial construction, Standard Oil reached an agreement in 1889 with the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to connect