Abandoned PRSL? ROW in Petersburg

[glennk419]

I posted this on the NJ Railfan forum but thought I might have a better shot at a response here.

While driving south along Rt.50 southeast of Tuckahoe between Petersburg and Seaville, I noticed what distinctly looked like an abandoned ROW south of where the Beesley Secondary and ex-Ocean City branch swings into the woods after crossing Petersburg swamp. This ROW parallels the north side of Rt. 50 for about 1/2 a mile between the swamp and a campground and there was one stretch where several yards of ties had also been recently pulled up. Is this the remains of the Sea Isle branch or was it some other stretch of RR? In all the years that I've driven down that way, this was the first time I had noticed it.

[Steam man]

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[Steam man]

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[glennk419]

Thanks for the quick reply. I know that the ROW can be easily observed through the marshes when coming out of SIC but it disappears very quickly once it hits the mainland. Amazingly some of the concrete bridges even still survive.

[JJMDiMunno]

And that track has been gone for some time too...I have an abandonment date in 1934 in my records for that line. Can anyone confirm that? I can't recall where I pulled that date from and would like to make sure it's accurate.

Thanks,
Mike DiMunno

[CarterB]

There was a line of the P&R that went from Cedar Springs Stn through Seaville and over to Corson's Inlet (Strathmere)
Not sure when it went OOS.

[JimBoylan]

The above posts combine the PRR and RDG routes to Sea Isle City.
According to the Atlantic City RR Book, the line along N.J. Rte. 50 was the Reading's Atlantic City RR's branch to Sea Isle City from the junction with the Ocean City branch at a tower at the Cedar Creek Bridge via Greenfield, Seaville, Ben Hand Thorofare Drawbridge, (Strathmere Bay?) Drawbridge, Strathmere (the Town of Corson's Inlet had voted to go out of existence in 1905, about the time this branch was built), and Whale Beach. It didn't cross Rte. 50. Reading stopped running to the barrier Island about 1925, but continued to serve a lumber yard on the mainland much later. PRR built a connection in Sea Isle City so the West Jersey & Seashore could serve the ex-Reading/ACRR customer there, another lumber yard.
The PRR's West Jersey & Seashore is what had an older branch from Sea Isle Jct. (South East of Woodbine Jct.on their Cape May branch) via South Seaview and Ocean View then just North of Sea Isle Blvd. to the City. There it split to go to Townsend's Inlet, Avalon and Stone Harbor, or Prospect St, Whale Beach, Conson's Inlet and Ocean City. Service across the marshes stopped when P-RSL started. A wye was then built at 55th St., Ocean City on the old Reading/ACRR to connect to the old PRR/WJ&S so that lumber yard in Sea Isle City could still be served for about 10 more years

[Lattice180]

I made a number of sales that dismembered the right-of-way of the line that ran parallel to Route 50 and began where it branched off the line to Ocean City and Beesley's Point and ran southeast between the campground and Route 50. One of the transactions was a sale to the campground. I believe it was know as Frontier Campground at the time. I made a number of other transactions to owners that were between Route 50 and their property. As the line continued southeast, it split away from Route 50 and bisected a number of properties. Sales were made to the owners of Tuckahoe Turf Farm and other owners whose names I do not remember.

The railroad owned good title to the line and it amazed me at the time that none of my predecessors in the real estate department of The PRR or Penn Central ever knew they had ownership of this property. Shows how connected the tax department was to real estate. They had been paying taxes for all those years from abandonment to the final sale date and real estate never knew the ownership was there.

Go figure.

[JimBoylan]

Since the right of way along N.J. Rte. 50 was an old Reading line that may have been abandoned before P-RSL was formed, could it have stayed in Reading Co. ownership until ConRail Day? If so, would PRR and PennCentral have had anything to do with it?
While the Reading's Atlantic City RR is what became P-RSL and acquired the PRR's West Jersey & Seashore RR, did the ACRR keep ownership of abandoned lines in 1933, or were they transferred to Reading Co. before P-RSL was formed? This question also applies to some of the line between Winslow Jct. and Pleasantville, and between Atco and Tansboro.

[CarterB]

1912 map of Cape May County showing the WJ&S and P&R routes to the shore isles.
http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/CAPE_MAY_CO ... o_1912.jpg

Also if you go to http://www.historicaerials.com/ and search for Strathmere, and go to the 1920 view you can see the route/s and bridges over the barrier waterways.