CAMDEN AREA CAR FLOATS

Quick question about car floating from Philly to Jersey.......Were there any car float facilities at Bulson St, or was this just the ferry terminal? I know of Linden St Frt. yard, but I'm sure this was not the only float bridge in Camden.

Thanks in advance,

CF

I am pretty sure that there was a Port Richmond to Bulson St. freight service which was different from the older Atlantic City Railroad (Reading owned) ferry slip which I believe was at the end of Kaighn Ave about a mile north of Bulson St. I think Reading got the right to use the Delair Bridge circa 1960 which allowed them to go by rail directly to Camden and abandon all the Camden float service operations to Linden St and Bulson St. There's a Richard Gladulich book out there on South Jersey's pre Conrail rail activities. I'll bet the book has your answers and pictures of the facility. By the way if you stop on the bridge crossing the throat entrance to Bulson St today, Camden's Broadway , still used by Conrail's Shared Assets, you can see what appears to be the remnants of the old float operation still there.

Thank you for the info, I thought the ferry terminal was elsewhere, but I couldn't remember where exactly. I appreciate the answer and the book lead.

CF

There was two float bridges at Bulson St. yard for car float operations. They remained in operation until the early '60's as Kevikens indicated,when all Reading Company interchange switched to the bridge trains. As far as ferry terminals there was a couple of them. There was a ferry that ran from Walnut Street in Philadelphia to Bulson Street to connect to the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway terminal , and there was a ferry that went to Kiaghn's Point that connected to the Camden,Gloucester and Mt. Ephriam Railway.

Both these railroads were aquiered by the P&R in 1883 and rebuilt to standard gauge,when the Kaighn's Point Terminal at the foot of Kaighn Ave. became the main passenger terminal. The P&R also bought controlling interest in the ferry companys that service both the above terminals. then in 1923 the Reading built a new terminal at the foot of Atlantic Ave for ACRR operations and yet another set of ferry slips was built. The new terminal was just south of the old Kaighn's Point terminal. There was of course also the PRR's ferry service to their Federal Street terminal farther up the river.

Frieght traffic for the ACRR from the north (such as NYC area) was interchanged at Winslow Jct as was heavier loaded out cars. Most interchange traffic that was handled by the car floats was from the stuff that was routed by the B&O ,WM and from the more southern reaches of the Reading Company. All locomotives except for the occasional A-5a size engines were brought over via the same CNJ connection. But it wasn't unusual for the Reading to float passenger cars over to Camden during the summer shore train season to meet the demand for rolling stock. Hope this helps you some.

Here's a Photo -Shopped Google Earth image I cobbled up to help you locate the float bridges and ferry terminals