by michaelk
CNJ4104 wrote:OK
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In all my correspondance with former CNJ employees the crossing of Mohingson Run between the Maxum and Mohingson Jct. was alway referred to as a fill. There WAS a trestle there at one time, as the remnants can still be seen can still be seen sticking out of Mohingsun Run for those who are interested. But I do believe that when it washed out in August of 1955 it was a fill. This gentlemen who talked about the trestle behind Matawan HS, how old was he? I don't know what timeframe he was referring to but he might have been talking about before it was filled in. I don't know when that occurred but railroads were notorius about filling in trestles needing repair.
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My friend who told me about the trestle is probably about 70-75 or so now. So I'd guess he "was a kid" who would have played on the trestle in the later 40's or 50's. MAYBE it was a trestle until 1955? If not it must have gotten converted not too much before then. He was really specific that they played on a trestle when he was a kid. The story was about something else and used the "trestle" as a way to explain the location, basically he was telling how boys will be boys and how they used to go back there because it was deserted and start fires. (I hope the old trestle wasn't replaced with fill because it burnt down- DOH!)
It's kind of funny because in his mind everyone knew about the trestle. He grumbled something about how i was a dumbass of something that i didn't know about it when he was using it to explain his location. But now I know it didn't exist from at least 1955 or so. Well before I was born. (Hec I dont even know if the yard existed in my lifetime- laughing!)
on the crossings- I guess those just the major ones- or maybe ones with protection that wasn't just passive? I know that, for example, in Freneau area (Matawan/Aberdeen) there were also crossings at Texas Rd and Wilson Ave (near the JCPL substation). I think they were just plain crossbucks- Dont recall anything mechanical there really. Was relatively rural there still in the 70's. I think there were more in Marlboro too off the top of my head. And there is another in Matawan now that i think about it- between the trestle and church street. Again that would likely be passive back there.
it's been years since i was down there- was the Rt 520 crossing the one by YMCA Camp Arrowhead? I always wondered what that was about- why there was a crossing there with Flashers that looked so new when I knew the line "stopped" all the way back in Morganville by Tenant Road.
Also Texas and Wilson were HUGE HUMPS in the road- the roads were terribly graded- the tracks were probably 5 feet above the roadway and whoever paid just made huge humps- no grading to speak off- there were always accidents and scrape marks there. You can imagine a country dirt road crossing with elevated roadbed and they just paved it without ever fixing the grade. The crossing at Rt 79 Freneau survived for some time- even after the trains had stopped for years- when the country/state rebuilt 79 and added curbs and the like they left that crossing and didn't even pave over the rails- but the two at Texas and Wilson were removed much sooner because they were such a hazard. I can barely recall the crossing at Tenant Road ever existing- Imperial Oil was before that so they must have pulled that one out pretty quick after they stopped service to Freehold.
Talking about it made me check out google maps. WOW- imperial oil really must have been a superfund mess- you can see the giant excavation where it used to be with the truck scale and all- they must be shipping tons of dirt away. Also speaking of 520 looks like the Henry Hudson trial doesn't follow the ROW on either side of 520 for a bit- I wonder why that is?- is there a bridge or culvert of something around there that was unsafe for the trail?
