Railroad Forums 

  • Raritan River RR / Milltown news

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #969534  by carajul
 
The freight sta that was suppose to be renovated is still sitting there rotting.

Rails look used but only slightly. Well ballasted, heavy, welded rail thru Millstown. But the train comes thru seldom. I guess Silverline is the only customer left past Milltown. Rails are gone past Rt 1.

Would have been nice of CR had built the intended transload facility in New Bruns we'd have trains running all day long!
 #969642  by TAMR213
 
Are there any customers left on the west end (past South River) besides Silverline? If not that would be very sad. Always been somewhat confused how train crews now work Silverline with the reconstruction of Route 1, theres not much leg room between Silverline and Route 1...
 #969696  by carajul
 
Nothing past Milltown except Silverline. The industrial park on Ryders Ln was packed with cars in the late 90s and now nothing. If you look at the '78 arial the old New Bruns pax sta yard was jammed with covered hoppers. It was a transload facility of sorts. But CR wasn't interested in maintaining service and told the company to piss off. They sold the land and now its condos. The walkways inside the condo complex follow the row of the rail lines and wye exactly. Why would CR be interested in operating a RR when they can just sell the land, right?

As for serving silverline... I was under the impression they were tearing down the Rt 1 bridge. But that's not the case. I drove over it yesterday. They must be keeping it and just repairing it. The construction by-pass road went around the old bridge while they were working on it. The RRRR track just stub ended at the by-pass road. No barricade or bumper. Track just ended right there!
 #970301  by transit383
 
Does Highview Industrial Park in East Brunswick get much traffic? Haven't seen a train there for some time, but the tracks crossing over Harts Lane aren't rusted over.
 #974479  by TAMR213
 
Found an article on NJ.com today, that I would assume must also be in today's Star-Ledger. The article about the Milltown station just re-hashes many things that a local railfan would know about the line, but included with it is a small but very interesting photo that I've never seen before. It shows the hood of a RRRR locomotive (unknown what number) pulling a brand-new Metroliner MU past the Milltown station.

For those interested:
http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/ ... n_riv.html
 #974621  by BillD53A
 
The photo was taken at 'Milltown Railroad Days' in June 1969. The depot and a display of railroad equipment were open for viewing at Milltown. 40 passengers rode Metroliners 821 & 822 to South Amboy with RRRR #4 pushing. Tom Reynolds has more info and lots of photos on his RariitanRiver-RR.com website.
 #974732  by painterman
 
SA2 runs to Silverline and Mauser. SA3 works the old Budweiser plant and the other customer down the line in Spottswood.
Mauser gets cars 2x a week. Silverline is getting them 1/week or less. They run Tues and Thurs. They're the only 2 customers on this side of the South River draw. SA2 also serves the brick company on the east side of the draw - and Hercules on the other side of the Gillespie wye. There's some sort of steel company between the two that had a recent siding put in - but I don't think they take much rail traffic. I haven't been back there in a few years. Maybe soon.

The photograph in the article was taken in 1969 - during Milltown Day. (Not in the mid-late 50s as the author erroneously wrote) Penn Central lent the Raritan River RR 2 Metroliner cars to be put on display at the station for Milltown Day. It was a PR move by the Penn Central - to show people the luxury and comfort of the MetroLiner cars. An attempt to lure people back to travelling/commuting via rail.

I don't believe the Raritan River moved dirt and sand THROUGH Milltown during the creation of the NJ TPK. I know the Raritan River did get a contract and moved over 4000 cars of dirt from Crossman's in Parlin "For the Turnpike Extension" (direct quote from Rails Up the Raritan). I've never seen mention of where that dirt went to be unloaded. It could have been brought down to the CNJ interchanged elsewhere. Isn't the extension exits 14a/b/c?

It was a profitable shortline - in the black - hardly floundering. Business seemed to be falling off - but they weren't in the red. Conrail had a lot of shares via their absorption of CNJ back in 1975 - but not enough to take over. Then in 1980 CR bought outstanding shares from the Filskov family - enough to become the controlling shareholder - and thus purchased the Raritan River Rail Road. Not absorbed.

I could be wrong about the Turnpike dirt - I'd like to know where the author of that article got that information.

There is a great effort to save this station. A NRHS chapter - the Raritan River Chapter - was formed this year - and their primary focus is to save the Milltown Station - and have teamed up with the Milltown Historical Society to save the station.

The Raritan River Chapter of the NRHS will be at Milltown Day - this Sunday - October 2nd - 10am-4pm. Stop by - say hello - drop some cash in a jar - or fill out an application and join.
We'll have lots of photographs - including more of the Metroliners from Milltown Day '69 - on display. There will be memorabilia and photos from the Steam Era to Conrail.



Hope to see you there.

-Rob
Visit http://www.raritanriver-rr.com for more info on the Raritan River Rail Road.
 #974796  by ChrisU
 
painterman wrote:SA2 runs to Silverline and Mauser. SA3 works the old Budweiser plant and the other customer down the line in Spottswood.
Mauser gets cars 2x a week. Silverline is getting them 1/week or less. They run Tues and Thurs. They're the only 2 customers on this side of the South River draw. SA2 also serves the brick company on the east side of the draw - and Hercules on the other side of the Gillespie wye. There's some sort of steel company between the two that had a recent siding put in - but I don't think they take much rail traffic. I haven't been back there in a few years. Maybe soon.

The photograph in the article was taken in 1969 - during Milltown Day. (Not in the mid-late 50s as the author erroneously wrote) Penn Central lent the Raritan River RR 2 Metroliner cars to be put on display at the station for Milltown Day. It was a PR move by the Penn Central - to show people the luxury and comfort of the MetroLiner cars. An attempt to lure people back to travelling/commuting via rail.

I don't believe the Raritan River moved dirt and sand THROUGH Milltown during the creation of the NJ TPK. I know the Raritan River did get a contract and moved over 4000 cars of dirt from Crossman's in Parlin "For the Turnpike Extension" (direct quote from Rails Up the Raritan). I've never seen mention of where that dirt went to be unloaded. It could have been brought down to the CNJ interchanged elsewhere. Isn't the extension exits 14a/b/c?

It was a profitable shortline - in the black - hardly floundering. Business seemed to be falling off - but they weren't in the red. Conrail had a lot of shares via their absorption of CNJ back in 1975 - but not enough to take over. Then in 1980 CR bought outstanding shares from the Filskov family - enough to become the controlling shareholder - and thus purchased the Raritan River Rail Road. Not absorbed.

I could be wrong about the Turnpike dirt - I'd like to know where the author of that article got that information.

There is a great effort to save this station. A NRHS chapter - the Raritan River Chapter - was formed this year - and their primary focus is to save the Milltown Station - and have teamed up with the Milltown Historical Society to save the station.

The Raritan River Chapter of the NRHS will be at Milltown Day - this Sunday - October 2nd - 10am-4pm. Stop by - say hello - drop some cash in a jar - or fill out an application and join.
We'll have lots of photographs - including more of the Metroliners from Milltown Day '69 - on display. There will be memorabilia and photos from the Steam Era to Conrail.



Hope to see you there.

-Rob
Visit http://www.raritanriver-rr.com for more info on the Raritan River Rail Road.
Thanks what time does SA2 usually get to Silverline Tuesday?
 #975096  by painterman
 
When it does go to Silverline - it's probably somewhere between 11am and 1pm. Lately service has not been regular.

SA2 usually serves Mauser in the Highview industrial park in East Brunswick 2x a week.

Best bet is to get in your car w/ a scanner and follow/chase it. There's only 2 customers on this side of the South River draw - it's easy to find.
 #975250  by carajul
 
You have to wonder why CR went thru all the lawsuits and mess to acquire the RRRR in the first place. It doesn't appear as they give a rat's ass about it. In the 70s they told the transload co to piss off and sold the former station site/yard to a condo developer. The in the 80s they torn down the engine house and office and removed the track to S Amboy. In the early 90s they torn out the switch to the Milltown spur. In the 2000s they tore the track out to New Brunswick under the Rt1 bridge. Now they've let all the customers go and the line is nothing more than an industrial track sporatically serving 6 customers at best.

Heck in the mid-late 70s when it was still independent the RRRR was booming.

It's kinda like they acquired it to destroy it!
 #975333  by painterman
 
carajul wrote:You have to wonder why CR went thru all the lawsuits and mess to acquire the RRRR in the first place. It doesn't appear as they give a rat's ass about it. In the 70s they told the transload co to piss off and sold the former station site/yard to a condo developer. The in the 80s they torn down the engine house and office and removed the track to S Amboy. In the early 90s they torn out the switch to the Milltown spur. In the 2000s they tore the track out to New Brunswick under the Rt1 bridge. Now they've let all the customers go and the line is nothing more than an industrial track sporatically serving 6 customers at best.

Heck in the mid-late 70s when it was still independent the RRRR was booming.

It's kinda like they acquired it to destroy it!

It sure seems that way.

With 2 customers west of the draw - some of us are speculating that Conrail is just waiting for the bridge to fail an inspection so they can stop serving Silverline and Mauser - and cut off the Sayreville Runner before the river. That reduces maintaining a bridge, keeping a tender - and eliminates 3 miles of mainline track - plus the highview industrial spur and the Silverline siding.

It's a shame CR shared assets looks at local customers as a liability. It'd be great if CR shared assets sold off it's local service yards to short lines. Maybe they could entice more rail customers at highview. There has to be close to a dozen warehouse/factory buildings in Highview with sidings that haven't seen use since the RRRR.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 9