4 wheelin on the Hibernia Mine branch.

Today we took a ride out in Rockaway. We tried to get on top of the mountain above the old Beach Glenn mine and take the trails all the way to the Hibernia mine but a blown tire got the best of us. In the same area but at a much lower level is part of the Hibernia Mine branch. I'm not sure if the CNJ owned this part of the branch or if the Hibernia Underground RR owned it. This was part of the line the MnE runs on through Rockaway boro.

You can get to the Beach Glenn mine off Meriden Rd right across from the truck entrance to the former HP plant. The branch crossed this road right near the corner with Green Pond Rd. It then runs parallel to GPR at the foot of the mountain up to Hibernia.

Beach Glenn closed for the final time in 56 I believe so, There is a lot of neat remains left behind.

First is an abandoned mine dump car minus the frame\wheels. There is supposed to be an entire mine train on the second level of the mine too.



There is an ore tipper or head frame left too. It has partially collapsed in the last few years. Mine cars would be hoisted up to the top and dumped, The ore would collect in the tipper and would come out a shoot into trucks. The mine didn't use the RR toward the end. Note the rails for the mine cars hanging off on the right:



The shoot:



A better shot of the rails. These went down into the mine about 40 feet away:



This cable:



Was once was wound around this winch drum:





Which was set into this piece:



Which was mounted on this pad. Note the brake still attached and, The still shiny stainless steel pin:



The mine cars were pulled up out of the mine over this concrete ramp, and then up the head frame behind:



The mine, ramp, head frame, and winch are all in line. The winch is what pulled the cars up.

Pretty neat eh? I hope this stuff is saved someday. There are a few small buildings left here too.

The RR branch is between the head frame and a brook. It is pretty clear the entire way up to Hibernia. You do have to leave the ROW a few times though.

The ROW:



A huge tailing pile along the ROW. That is the ROW down to the right. There is a concrete pad with tie bars across the ROW from the pile. There might have been some kind of hoisting machine mounted on it to dump the tailings. The piles are about 2- 3 stories high:



Some ties remain:



These last two are from atop the mountain above the mines and really don't have anything to do with the branch but Their cool so......


It took about 6 tries to make this hill. Fun stuff!!!!



This is where we got the blow out. We had to change the rear tire right where the truck is in this pic. That is Rockaway\Boonton Twp in back. Beach Glenn is to the right. Meriden mine straight ahead, and Hibernia to the left.

Excellent photos Mike. Thanks so much for sharing with those of us who don't have the opportunity to make it out and view the history.

Keep it up!

Nice photos and details!! Great job, thanks.

cool stuff!

you (and a bunch of your friends) should put all that stuff back together before it gets lost to the forest!

can you send a google maps link to where this area is?

thanks.

You folks have too much fun- it's gotta be a crime.

As always, great and intersting photos of days gone by...

yeah real cool stuff. I used to go four-wheelin' to check out abandoned railroad things too. Great photos!

WOW..great pics on a great subject. Back in the '50s and '60s we couldn't get in to see a lot of that stuff. I did, however, in the '70s get to the face of the shaft for the underground rr and even put my flash camera into a hole in the wood and got a slide. But you proved what I always have told fellow fans, fall is the best time to go railfanning when you can actually "see" roadbeds, and surroundings; a good time to scout out locations for pictures and get the lay of the land. Even time to ride trains

Tom -

Here you go -

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hibernia+ ... &t=h&hl=en

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hibernia+ ... &t=h&hl=en

CF

It always amazes me where four wheel drive can get you!

The property the Beach Glenn Mine is on is owned by the State of NJ. The parcel near the corner of Meriden and Green Pond Road and just to the west of the old head frame is privately owned. I know that some remediation took place there probably 15 years ago which obliterated the shaft entrance and a good portion of the land above it. May have been trying to prevent further cave ins.

http://www.ironminers.com/ironmines/bea ... mine-1.htm

Chris,
Your right, They blasted and filled the entrances to Beach Glenn and Hibernia about 90-91 or so. There was a plan at the time to build houses and golf courses up there. One of the big name golfers was involved in the plan. They caped the mines in preparation for this plan.

I first started going to the mines about then, Just after they started, you could see into Beach Glenn where the rails came up out of the ground. It was filled almost to the top with water. There was another entrance west of the head frame. It was concrete with steps going down. After a few feet it was blocked with cinder block. A third entrance was on top of the hill about 500 yards east of the first one. This may have been a hoisting shaft that went straight down but, I'm not sure. They blasted this one and just pored some concrete over the rocks. You can still see down into the shaft though. I threw a rock into one of the holes this week but it steppes a few feet down. I'm sure there were\are other openings but I have never seen them.

At this same time, They un blocked Hibernia mine. There was a steel wall with a door in it when I first saw it. They then did some blasting and built the concrete wall that's there today. The mine was totally open for a while though. I never went more than 40-50 feet in though. I never brought a light with me. The rails for the under ground RR were still in place and probably are still to this day. On top of both mines were large deep trenches cut into the hill. I don't know what they for but they were filled in with rock and dirt. They were maybe 50 feet deep??

On top of Hibernia near the end of Upper Hibernia Rd. There were 5-6 vertical shafts. The openings were lined with rock\cement walls with thick steel plates over the top. If you through a rock down between the steel and the walls, It would take 20-30 seconds before you heard it hit water. These were covered with big concrete pads and then buried. I remember at least 1 of them had a man hole cover in the cap. In the opening below the man hole cover. Rebar was welded across in grids to keep things from getting in if the cover was off. I thought that was kinda weird.

There was also quite a few foundations left. You can also see the Oreland branch ROW in this same area. This is a very cool area for sure!!

I see your a member of the Iron Mines Forum. I will be posting some Rockaway mine questions over there soon.