Old railroad tracks archived

I read in a local history book about a rail line that ran from the Raritan Valley Line through Union up through Maplewood to what is currently Wooley's Fuel when they mainly did coal deliveries. Have been trying to figure out where it might have run. Perhaps through what is now DeHart Field. There was once a though of creating a second Maplewood passenger station there according to the book I read, but that never came to be. Has anyone seen any left over evidence of a railroad running parallel to Burnett?

It was a spur of the New Jersey Central, and there is some interest in reopening the line, which is still considered a ceded right-of-way for most of its length. This would not be for passenger service, just occasional freight, and one of the bigger issues is that it crosses Rt. 22 at grade. It would not reach Maplewood anymore, though, as it is cut by Rt. 78.

To see it, go to Google maps, earth view. Start at DeHart Park. Use the Southeast edge of the park as a guide, and follow that line southwest across Rutgers and behind the warehouses to Stanly Terr. South of 78, it runs between Halsey street and the cemetery, angling more west for a short bit, then more southwest again where it crosses Vauxhall and becomes Hendricks drive. Where it crosses Morris Ave, near Jaeger Lumber, you can see the concrete abutments of the trestle, which has been removed, that carried it across the road. It then curves due west as it hits a "Y", running parallel to Rahway Ave. Behind the school building of the Greek Church you can find the remains of the Y intersection, although the rails are long gone. From there, one branch heads south across 22. the other west as far as 78.

How they hope to connect it to if they open it back up, I don't know. The active line of the old Jersey Central is now called the Raritain Velley Line when NJT runs trains on it. I can follow this spur as far as Roselle Park, but the last 1/2 mile to the main line just does not seem to be open.

New Jersey is full of half used, unused, and abandoned rail lines. Several of them have been converted to rail trails.

Looking at historic aerial photos there looks to be something that *might* be railroad tracks in that area in the 1954 photos, it does curve up and seems to go to what appears to be Wooley, though I don't know their exact location off the top of my head so I can't guarantee that is the end point. The pictures from the 30's are too unclear to make out anything that detailed. In the newer photos there are building there, so I doubt it was a road.

I'm not sure how to link to the actual area I am zoomed in on, but the site I used is here.

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=2000&lon=-74.267974853516&lat=40.736915588379&year=2007

Do a search on MOL - there's a historian that has posted in the past about this if IIRC.

I grew up in Schaefer Road and in the 60's the train would still go down the tracks, very slowly, toward wooley's. We would put pennies on the tracks to get them squished. It was my shortcut to DeHart. There used to be a glitter factory there, occasionally they would give us free bags of glitter.

max_weisenfeld said:

It was a spur of the New Jersey Central, and there is some interest in reopening the line, which is still considered a ceded right-of-way for most of its length.

Not quite, the line connected to the New Jersey Central but it was it's own railroad named the Rahway Valley Railroad. Lots of good information on the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahway_Valley_Railroad and an informal history page: http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/rvrr.htm and http://www.trainweb.org/rahwayvalley/route_maplewood.htm

You can see the shippers it served on that page as well as on this map panel from 1928: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/1249016/Plate+020/Essex+County+1928+Vol+4/New+Jersey/

As you can see, the Hilton section of maplewood used to have a cluster of factories and supply companies that it deserved its own shortline branch.

Yup, grew up on Burnett Ave during late 40's through 60's. The steam locomotive that came up to Wooleys once a week was a big event for all us neighborhood kids! When they changed to diesel engines, it was not quite as much fun to watch. When we were older we used to walk the tracks all the way to Springfield where there was a "Swimming Hole"- have a swim and then walk back home. There were only a few trains a week and they were so slow and noisy there was no danger of getting run over. Lots of blackberries to pick and eat along the tracks too.

I remember, as a tyke, seeing steam engines across main street in Millburn. The track that ran across Morris Avenue in Summit by Overlook Hospital was active in the 50's.

toot toot

Loved those blackberries!

Looking at old photos it we tracked that line down to Morris Ave by the CVS at Morris and Commerce in Union. Right next to the CVS is the base of what used to be a railroad bridge.

From my husband:

That line ties into the Morristown & Erie railroad. They were rebuilding the line that went from Cranford off the northeast corridor to Summit. The federal funding ran out and it has been indefinitely suspended. The line branching to Wooley is officially abandoned and decommissioned by the federal railroad administration.

The tracks crossed Rutgers Street where the 'hump' in the road is, right past Preferred Pets.

Very cool stuff everyone. I wanted to add what little I have, which seems minor in comparison. I have the 1949 Sanborn Map for Newark Heights, as the RVRR called it. What's interesting is that most of the industry remains, with a few name changes. All that's gone are Becker & Sons greenhouses at 120 Burnett, current site of the Community Center.

Some color Sanborns are available online from Princeton. This area only shows up as Sheet 65 in the 1912 edition. For those interested, Olympic Park is on Sht. 64, with the southern part still a horse racing track.

http://library.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/sanborn/essex/orange-township-south.html

Thread drift alert! Of all my useless knowledge, the routes of never built built freeways seems to be near the top of the list. For example, why are there ridiculously large interchanges on I-280 (Exit 13) and 78 (Exit 56) east of downtown Newark that dump onto local streets? Because DOT planned a freeway connecting the exits through the Central Ward, and another going into downtown. It was actually part of more grandiose plan to build a Turnpike alternate from I-80 to the Goethals Bridge. The cost left it unbuilt, and the riots made it politically impossible. The Newark segment wasn't taken off the books until 1997.

http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-75/

Why this tangent? If you go to the page about Union in Komarovsky's Trainweb link, you'll see a section of DOT's General Highway Map from 1967. Here's the whole map.

http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/UNION_COUNTY/UnionCoHighways1967_7.gif

If you look, you'll notice that I-278, which today ends at Rt. 1 in Linden just west of the Goethals, was supposed to end at I-78 in Union where Springfield Ave. intersects. Ever notice how the 78 west local lanes swing away from the express at that exit, and how the exit ramp for 49B starts before the bridge unlike the usual after the bridge configuration? Next time you use that ramp, notice how there's also a graded area that continues straight before you curve right. This was to allow the interchange with 278. To prove what a roodgeek I am, this renders the number for all of I-278, which continues as the SI, Gowanus, BQ, and Bruckner Expressways, incorrect as it never joins its main road.

http://www.nycroads.com/roads/I-278_NJ/
http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/ESSEX_COUNTY/Millburn.jpg

To put this back on track (sorry!), the unbuilt I-278 would have had an interchange with Rt. 22 just east of the RV's grade crossing, which was considered by many the most dangerous highway crossing in the US. Then it would have passed right through Aldene in Roselle Park, where the RV connects with the former Central Railroad of NJ (CNJ). This is also the location where a connection was built in 1967 from the CNJ the Lehigh Valley RR to allow the CNJ (current Raritan Valley Line) to get to Newark Penn Station, and closure of the terminal in Jersey City, now Liberty State Park.

(last para added, revisions)

The Raritan Valley RR ran through Kenilworth, crossing the Boulevard a quarter-mile west of the Parkway, right near the current location of the A&P. That was the Lehigh Valley Branch which ran to Roselle Park. There was a spur that ran east-west, serving the many small factories in town, which went past the street where I grew up. As Waxwings and Glover point out, many blackberries grew along the tracks and they were one of the few fond memories of my childhood.

http://trainweb.org/rahwayvalley/route_lehighvalleybranch.htm

There's an excellent website, with great pictures, devoted to the Rahway Valley Railroad at http://www.trainweb.org/rahwayvalley/.

My book on the Rahway Valley was published in 2002. The guy who set up the website published a much more detailed book on the line just recently.

Over the years, there were quite a number of customers in Maplewood along Burnett Ave. and Newark Way, including Wooley, Menner Packing, Maplewood Building Specialties, and Boker (later Wiss).

I used to work on Liberty Ave in Union....the same rail line ran between my building and the Bed Bath & Beyond building....there was talk of reactivating it.

Wow, poke any community and the railfans just pour out! Wonderful, and thank you all for improving my paltry information!

max_weisenfeld said:

New Jersey is full of half used, unused, and abandoned rail lines. Several of them have been converted to rail trails.

Rail trails is such an interesting reuse of the rail lines. I remember reading an article about it many years ago and I was fascinated by them. If I can find it, I will post it here.

Eta: here is a link to NJ's rail trails. http://www.traillink.com/state/nj-trails.aspx

There was one town where they converted old rail lines into a park BUT FORGOT TO GET PERMISSION FROM THE RAILROAD. The railroad stepped in and shut it down, and now all the people are pissed at them. I don't remember all the details, like which tow or which railroad, but I'm sure my husband remember.

Here's a short, but interesting clip from the Rahway Valley website, filmed by a railfan long ago. It shows a Rahway Valley train crossing Liberty Ave. in Union. The area must have been mostly farmland then. You can just see a couple of houses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MQnVxZ2KJQ

The tracks were replaced between Liberty Avenue and Meisel Avenue, but then the money ran out.

If anyone has still pictures or home movies of the Rahway Valley operating in Maplewood, I would be very interested.

Wow, that is amazing! The RVRR replaced #13 in 1952, which means someone filmed this in color and full sound in 1952 or before. That is pretty impressive.

spontaneous said:

There was one town where they converted old rail lines into a park BUT FORGOT TO GET PERMISSION FROM THE RAILROAD. The railroad stepped in and shut it down, and now all the people are pissed at them. I don't remember all the details, like which tow or which railroad, but I'm sure my husband remember.

IIRC, one of the issues with creating these long, narrow parks was that the railroads didn't want to cede their rights-of-way, just in case.

marylago said:

spontaneous said:

There was one town where they converted old rail lines into a park BUT FORGOT TO GET PERMISSION FROM THE RAILROAD. The railroad stepped in and shut it down, and now all the people are pissed at them. I don't remember all the details, like which tow or which railroad, but I'm sure my husband remember.

IIRC, one of the issues with creating these long, narrow parks was that the railroads didn't want to cede their rights-of-way, just in case.

I don't recall the details, but I heard this particular one it was a case of the towns being in negotiations to legally acquire the property, but the people who decided to turn it into a park did so before they had permission, the equivalent of someone selling their house and the buyer coming in and tearing up all the carpets BEFORE the closing. I understand that the people were just trying to clean up the property, but it wasn't a done deal and they didn't have permission. I think there was also an issue of the tracks being removed, again without permission.

I finally found it.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/east-rutherford-and-rutherford-communities-dismayed-after-norfolk-southern-blocks-off-rutherford-highline-1.573020?page=all

I believe the sound for the film clip was added on. It's still great.

Regarding the line that crossed both Liberty Ave in Union and Meisel Ave in Springfield was a steel trestle bridge that crossed over the Rahway River. Don't know if it was eventually dismantled but think it must have been.This would have been located on the left hand side of Meisel where they put the flood control bowl in.You will sometime see a cop set up ,backed in for radar trap.

The bridge is most definitely still there, you can clearly see it on the most recent imagery from Google. In fact its the only section of that line that isn't totally overgrown.

That part of Springfield is home to the two most visible RV structures remaining. At 201 Mountain Ave. is the former Springfield Station. Built in 1905, it's the last RV station standing.

http://www.trainweb.org/rahwayvalley/route_springfieldstation.htm

Once home to passenger service to Summit, which ended in 1921, it continued as a freight station serving two large coal and building supply companies. Today it's the office of Hecht Family Chiropractic, who lovingly restored the station in 2009.

http://hechtchiropractic.com/our-unique-office.html

Way cool!