Is the Middlebrook Industrial Track quarry history?

I see that there are now jersey barriers across the track on Route 22 leading into the quarry - is it now gone? What about the rest of the branch?

they are re-doing the Chimmy Rock interchange. The plans show the track back after the work is done. This is only one customer left on the Middlebrook now (beside the quarry)

No. The track is being rebuilt as part of the Chimney Rock interchange project. Quick summary: 22-East is getting split into 2 local and 2 thru lanes. 22-E coming up to this point is 3 lanes, the right-most will be one of the thru lanes, and the on-ramp from 287 will be what feeds the other. The 2 local lanes will continue to have a grade crossing with it. The 2 thru lanes and the 22-West lanes will both be lowered below grade and the railroad track + new Chimney Rock interchange will go over the lanes at grade.

Until the bridge/track is reopened, the contractor is responsible for maintaining a ballast stockpile at a site that backs up to the tracks off Polhemus Lane in Bridgewater for NJ Transit. (expect to see lots of dump trucks around).

The quarry is still a major shipper if you look at NJT being the only customer. NJT gets a LOT of stone from there, and the current temporary set up is far far from ideal. The track is supposed to be rebuilt into the quarry when the new interchange is done at 22 and Chimney Rock Road.

There are also a lot of industries up that way, and a lot of potential customers up there, and while Somerville Lumber is the only other active customer on the line, maybe some more will start eventually

When Turtle & Hughes (at the corner of Rt.28) expanded their warehouse closer to the tracks a year or two ago, they opted to include properly spaced overhead doors at the proper height for more than one boxcar. To my knowledge, the siding has not been built, but there is an option for them to receive service in the future.

I walked the branch 2 years ago and track was in DEPLORABLE condition. I was wondering how anything could run on it the track was crooked, on the ground, and joints not bolted together. I think it's been fixed since. NS owns it but NJT uses it. NS refuses to sell it to NJT but they don't really want it either.

The spurs that went into those 1950-ish looking army bunker industrial builders are all gone. Switches cut out and ties and rails completely removed. Even the ballast is gone. It's a shame because there are potential customers there but I think a lot of those warehouses are now used as offices and not manufacturing. I recall one building had cars parked all over the truck shipping bay.

I don't know if the quarry was ever a customer (other than NJT service). But if you look at the pre-1960 arials there is NOTHING on the branch at all, just the quarry (and a seldom travelled 2 lane Rt 22). So I'm guessing the branch was built just for the quarry???

Carajul, you clearly weren't around in CNJ days, by their branch line standards, what you saw was almost immaculate. I remember the tail track in Somerville at the wye, having about 8 feet of rail bridging a 6 foot deep gutter, and no ties under it. missing bolts, broken rails? no problem.

All those small factory buildings on the Middlebrook/Chimney Rock branch were probably good boxcar candidate customers in the 60s but today I would speculate that truck economics would prevail for most of them. Moreover, don't assume that they aren't rail customers today. They could be transloading plastics in Bound Brook or Bridgewater, and shipping intermodal.

By the way, I wonder how much stone is left to mine out of Chimney Rock? It looks like they'll have to start buying up houses to expand any further.

ccutler wrote:By the way, I wonder how much stone is left to mine out of Chimney Rock? It looks like they'll have to start buying up houses to expand any further.

They expect to operate for the next 50 years. 120 million tons of rock remaining, and they extract 2.0-2.5 million a year.
http://bridgewater.patch.com/articles/m ... other-year

Yep... the 1979 arials (which are clearer than the most modern ones!) show all the sidings intact and packed with boxcars and chemical tank cars. The quarry had long strings of cars parked on the spur.

Wasn't this suppose to be the major down period of railroading???

It looks like the lumber yard was there and was getting rail service since the 1950s.

Nice to hear the quarry has 50 more years of life. When it runs dry I guess the spur will be abandoned. Of course who cares we'll all be dead by then.

Thanks to all for your responses - glad to hear the line has a future!! Whether it will be bright or not remains to be seen.

Having run back and forth on the Middlebrook many times, yes, the track is in HORRIBLE condition. The only time there usually is any work done to it is when there is a derail. There was a good one a few years ago on the last driveway (I think its a UPS driveway) just south of the 287 bridge. I was told the NJT engine was stopped and the rails just spread and PLOP right down it went. There were a few other derailments in that area so NS came in and left a bundle of ties I guess for future use the next time there is a derail near there....

The area down by the Main St. Xing and that little bridge is also a roller coaster.

If anyone could provide pictures of the project so far, that would be great. I don't cross over the middlebrook by Rt 22 often, and it's been about 2 months. Last I remember, crossing signals and tracks were still in tact, but that may have changed over time since.

On Sunday Sept 30, while riding on the Raritan Valley Line, I saw a cut of about 20 NJT ballast cars on the chimney rock branch right near the main line, going around the curve in the track all the way down to the the railroad crossing. Is this a temporary freight car loading area while the US 22 work is being performed?

ccutler wrote:On Sunday Sept 30, while riding on the Raritan Valley Line, I saw a cut of about 20 NJT ballast cars on the chimney rock branch right near the main line, going around the curve in the track all the way down to the the railroad crossing. Is this a temporary freight car loading area while the US 22 work is being performed?

Or more likely, a build up of inventory to be used during the duration of the project.

ccutler wrote:On Sunday Sept 30, while riding on the Raritan Valley Line, I saw a cut of about 20 NJT ballast cars on the chimney rock branch right near the main line, going around the curve in the track all the way down to the the railroad crossing. Is this a temporary freight car loading area while the US 22 work is being performed?

Yes. That's the site they're using for ballast storage + loading onto the cars while the project is ongoing, they're trucking it over to there from the quarry.