medford branch

i'm interested in any info or pics of this line prior to abandonement.what did it serve?last run?engines?

the missing link wrote:i'm interested in any info or pics of this line prior to abandonement.what did it serve?last run?engines?

Do you mean the branch connecting Medford with Haddonfield?

http://www.nelliebly.com/westjersey/wjbooks.htm#medford

medford south from mt holly,i believe stopped running during p-c.i've seen old maps of the origional line from camden/haddonfield,when did that go out?

the missing link wrote:i'm interested in any info or pics of this line prior to abandonement.what did it serve?last run?engines?

Between my memory and my father photo collection I may be able to answer some of your questions.

Customers toward the end of service:
In Mount Holly they served the concrete company on Rt. 38.
In Medford:
Joseph Haines & Son – John Deer dealer.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
Received large tractor and combines on flat cars. They also received coal on their coal trestle
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
at one time, but that was over grown by time I was chasing trains in the mid 70’s.

Peter Lumber and Christies Lumber – Received a lot of lumber. By time the line was abandon they were getting up to 6 or 8 cars a week which was lot for the area they had to unload in.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25

Kirby Feed on Main St. – received a bout a car a week of grain in a box car or covered hopper.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25

Misc. – Other occasional or special shipments: Lime or fertilizer in covered hoppers, the beams for St. Mary’s Church on Jackon Road were delivered in a gondola with a flat car on either end.

Last Run: dates are from back of 8x10 photos.

Last car in Medford, N&W covered hopper at Kirby’s number 176088, March 26, 1976.
Second to last train in Medford, PC gp30 number 2233, SP box car and PC caboose number 22913. Dated March 1976

Last Passenger Train (West Jersey rail fan trip) around 1950. Self propelled PRR , can’t read number.

Last Steam, December 1954, H10? number 5180. This brute broke a 5 foot section out of a the 90 lb rail.

Branch Street station
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
was used until 1881 when the station on Main street
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
was opened.

Engines, in addition to the ones I listed above:
PRR 5592, Feb. 1966.

I’m sure I could get more info. if I looked at my father slides but I don’t have them organized.


Now you may ask if business was so good why was the line abandon? The answer is PENN CENTRAL. They ran the line down into the sewer. I’m sure the line wasn’t that good of shape when they got it from PRR but they did zero improvements. The speed limit was 5 mph so it took a long time to get here plus the crews would take a 2 hour lunch at the Indian Chief.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
They would walk back to the train with beer and bags of chips hanging out of their pockets. What’s the difference, you don’t have to steer the train. LOL The crew hated coming to Medford. They would have rather sat in Mount Holly or get back to Camden sooner. One time (’74 or ’75) they were in a hurry squealing around the curve
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25
behind the Indian Chief. I thought they were going to derail. Finally in ’75 they did derail and tore up about a ¼ mile of track. The line would have been abandoned right then and there except that the crew was heading into town and they had to fix the track to get the loco out. By time Conrail was forming (or maybe it was just PC) they looked at the books and figured the line wasn’t worth it. Of course PC did do track repairs right before the abandonment which got the track speed up to a blistering speed of 10 mph. All those new tie made it more difficult to rip up the line which took place in ‘77. Conrail never ran into Medford. Conrail fixed up the unloading area in Mount Holly hoping some of the customers from Medford and other axed lines would still use trains but the former customers in Medford would have to buy bigger trucks to make it worth while. All of them just had their product delivered by truck from where ever and avoided local rail service to save aggravation.

I’m not sure when the line to Haddonfield was last used but my father said he remembered a long train (I think he said about a hundred) of empty cars being pushed through town towards Marlton for storage. That track was torn up in the early 1930’s to make room for route 70. (east bound lane is were the track was).

I hope this helps.
Roy

thanks so much.i used to see a girl down there 15 years ago,so i naturally got curios about the rails around there.i'd love to see those pics someday.thanks again

the missing link wrote:thanks so much.i used to see a girl down there 15 years ago,so i naturally got curios about the rails around there.i'd love to see those pics someday.thanks again

Your welcome. I'll try to post them some time. It's a shame that I can't include photos in the post.

Roy

Interestingly enough, those who designed the final system plan for Conrail didn't completely eliminate this line as a possibility of one to be carried over into the Conrail era, unlike they did many others that DO remain today. Look at these pages from the final system plan for more information:

http://www.sjrail.com/DailyPhotos/Medford.pdf

You'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader for that...

In any case, I just find it ironic that they chose to simply say "It is NOT recommended that this line be included in the Conrail system" to so many other branchlines like the Grenloch and a portion of the Bordentown Secondary which still remain today, while they gave in to the possibility of leaving the Medford Branch intact, and that was the one that ended up beign eliminated. I'll never understand exactly how they thought back then...

Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!

I recently found the abutments where the philly, marlton and medford crossed tindale run in cherry hill. the south side is in pretty good shape considering it is over 75 (possibly up to 125) years old. the row is also pretty obvious which is suprising since its been gone since '31

Hello All,

I've uploaded a few photos mentioned above.

http://community.webshots.com/album/548396337JPMoUu

Roy