David Hutchinson wrote:I remember, around 1960, seeing many Army tanks on the base. I do not ever remember seeing this type of equipment moving on the Amboy Branch. I also remember seeing locos off to the east of where South Main Street meets Woodbridge Avenue. They looked like they were in front of an engine house of some type. I did not follow the PRR as much as the LV and the Reading, so I have always thought that the PRR brought in the tanks and other heavy equipment. The tanks were kept on a large cement parking area, opposite the New York Times (old Fedder's) plant on Woodbridge Avenue.
The WWII Sherman tanks came from all around the midwest (Hammond, IN; Lima, OH; Detroit and elsewhere) - made by Ford, GM, Pullman, Chrysler and more - via the PRR to Raritan Arsenal. Some were moved on the NYC to upper NY state and later traveled to Kilmer via the LV, but no further due to the limited clearances and tight curves in Metuchen.
What you did see moving east on the Perth Amboy branch into the arsenal were halftracks, artillery pieces, logistics equipment and many ammunition carriers. The LV even dropped off the Nike antiaircraft missile components at Kilmer for the battery at Hadley Field.
The Korean war and later M48's and M60's (seen at the arsenal in the late '50's thru late '60's) were Chrysler-made in and around Detroit and were shipped via the PRR. The Jersey Central brought some of them "home" from Europe via Bayonne and the Chem Coast to Perth Amboy where they were interchanged with the LV and moved west to the arsenal.
http://www.chars-francais.net/kithobbyist/m4fac1.htm
