Railroad Forums 

  • Toms River Industrial Track!

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

Moderator: David

 #1570699  by David
 
Nice pictures! I like pictures on here.
 #1570701  by Bracdude181
 
@David Thanks. Very strange to do such a good repair job for a line with no trains on it. I’m now wondering if re-activation is on the table...
 #1570759  by JohnFromJersey
 
Bracdude181 wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 1:31 pm @David Thanks. Very strange to do such a good repair job for a line with no trains on it. I’m now wondering if re-activation is on the table...
It's been discussed in the grant and SOUS threads that there are one or two potential customers on the TRIT, with the (highly speculative) possibility that the Ceiba-Geigy site could become some sort of transloading/yard facility.

I don't know if the TRIT would fall under the agreement with D&D for them to take over.
 #1570792  by Bracdude181
 
@JohnFromJersey Technically there’s four if you can get ABC Supply Co and L&W Supply Co on board, the latter of which needs a siding built while the former already has one.
 #1570795  by CJPat
 
@ Bracdude181,
if you are referring to ABC Supply that was at 1221 Highway 37 , Toms River; I believe it was torn down several years ago. Nothing but a flat concrete slab left.
 #1570808  by Bracdude181
 
@CJPat That’s okay. Isn’t that the property with the old loading platform out there? There’s a for sale sign up at the entrance and it says “Commercially Zoned” so maybe something needing rail service can go up there. Decent plot of land there...
 #1570862  by CJPat
 
I think I remember seeing a sign that just said "SHEETROCK" on the front wall before they tore it down. I gather all those building supply places popped up during the development of the entire area (like Pine Lake Park as it was being developed around Toms River Chemical (before Ceiba-Geigy bought it) to make it easier to go to work and then later for building of all those retirement villages in the Manchester/Toms River areas.

Originally, Toms River Chemical was relatively off by itself and posed no threat to anyone. It was the developers and people who built up against it who were eventually endangered by the contaminant plume from all the buried drums (which was a perfectly legal method of disposal) before the environmental laws were changed in the 1970's.

A lot of rail traffic back then.
 #1570873  by Bracdude181
 
Back in the 70s they still ran trains to Lacey! Wish they still did, then I wouldn’t need to drive anywhere to see a train lol.

The drums weren’t the only problem. They dumped their hazardous waste in the nearby river and they are still cleaning the groundwater to this day. They came in and took all the drums out of the ground in the early 2000s and did topsoil cleaning. This helped, but they will be cleaning the water there for at least two more decades.

Really hoping that someone can do transloading out there. The Toms River Zoning Board shows the entire Toms River Chemical Property as an industrial zone. With proper rail access there could be a major industrial zone put in there if it’s done right.
 #1577261  by R&DB
 
JohnFromJersey wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:59 am Does anyone know how many trains would come down on the TRIT during the Ciba-Geigy Days? And how frequent/many cars would come by?
The chemical plant was in operation from the mid 1950s to about 1990. I have no knowledge of how much rail traffic there was. It appears from Historic Aerials that there were two sidings of 8 or 10 cars each. I believe there were two trains a week up until the early 2000s,but no idea how many went to the plant.
The highway traffic on Rte-37 then was probably 1/5 of what it is now. I personally have observed it has at least doubled since 1990. I lived on the west side of Howell (1992-2020) and used 547 to 37 to Parkway to go South. I now live 1 block from 37 and traffic is awful. Any (daytime) rail traffic across 37 would be disastrous today.
 #1577280  by GSC
 
I read an article by Bob Hoeft some time ago about his working out of Red Bank in the 1950s. He mentioned that the switch off the TRIT was called "Ciba" back then. Working the chemical plant, you had to "remember how you left it last time" and on many occasions, you had to shove the cars in from Lakehurst to be able to move and spot cars in the plant. He didn't mention how many times a week the plant was serviced, but it seemed like it was a regular customer.
 #1577283  by R&DB
 
GSC wrote: Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:48 pm I read an article by Bob Hoeft some time ago about his working out of Red Bank in the 1950s. He mentioned that the switch off the TRIT was called "Ciba" back then. Working the chemical plant, you had to "remember how you left it last time" and on many occasions, you had to shove the cars in from Lakehurst to be able to move and spot cars in the plant. He didn't mention how many times a week the plant was serviced, but it seemed like it was a regular customer.
Gary;
There were at least two runs a week up until around 2005, SA31 and SA35. The shoves from Lakehurst were done with a shoving platform, essentially a flat car with railings which one crew member rode.They used to keep it in the Oceangro siding.
Last edited by R&DB on Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:04 am, edited 2 times in total.
  • 1
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 28