Raritan Arsenal "North"

I have a 1963 Geo Survey map that shows Raritan Arsenal to the west of the Jersey Turnpike up near Carteret. I checked it on Historic Aerials and noticed a very large facility consisting mostly of vehicles and a few buildings. The site is not on the 1940 map but shows on the 1947, 1957 and 1963 aerials. Does anyone have any info on this site? Was it an overflow site from the Edison site and was there movement between the two? Also, was any of this equipment loaded on ships/barges possibly from the Carteret area?

Could you provide a more distinct description of the area you are referencing? Immediately west of Carteret there was the PRR track called "The Reformatory Branch". You can read our thread discussion regarding this track and the industries served here http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... =+turnpike
This area has always been industrialized as best as I can tell. No munitions storage. And this area is bounded by Rt 1&9 on the west side as well as the "Glass House" of Rahway/Avenel (Maximum Security Penitentiary).

North of that and you get into the marsh area of the Rahway River around the Tremeley area. There are numerous Storage Tanks leading up to the Bayway facility. Bayway has been there a good long time. I do not think there would have been munitions storage so close to mass fuel storage tanks (too big a security threat from sabotage). West of that is Linden Airport and the old GM auto plant they just tore down. GM used to produce F3F Wildcat fighter planes during the WWII and move the planes across Rt 1 to the airport to test them and fly them off to their intended destinations. Again, more aviation fuel storage so not an ideal location for munitions.

I grew up west of there in Cranford in the '60's & '70's and never heard my father mention any such facility near Carteret (maybe I asked the wrong questions - I will try to get back to him to ask further). The only munitions storage I have been familiar with was Picatinny Arsenal, Raritan Arsenal, in Edison and the Caven Point dock areas where they loaded out (to include the Black Tom facility/LVRR that was blown up due to sabotage).

Other than that, you had munitions manufacturing at the various Hercules plants in Parlin, Kenvil. I thought they had a facility in Perth Amboy too (??)

I checked in with my father. He is 88 yrs old and spent most of his life (until 1986) in Union County as a carpenter. Travelled the whole state extensively. I could ask him about anywhere and he had an answer.

But to the best of his recollection, there was never any munitions storage in the vicinity of Carteret.

I would love to see a copy of the map you are referencing. Any chance of providing a link?

Go to Historic Aerials. Put in Port Reading, NJ on the left. Pan the map so you are over the yard. On the right, click on 1963, 1957 or 1947. Travel up the Chemical Coast and the facility is on the left side. It appears to be a storage site for trucks..... no tanks. Click on the icon for 1940 and it disappears.

The planes produced would have been the F4F Wildcat. I think the GM designation was FM-2.............. There were about 8 or more F8F Grumman Bearcats that were stored at the airport around the Cuban Missle Crisis time. I mentioned the site appears to store vehicles and NOT munitions. I worked with someone when at Resources that told me that there are buried oil tanks in the Carteret/Bayway area, possibly buried there during WWII. The Geological Survey Map distinctly labels the area in question as RARITAN ARSENAL.

David, You're Quite right on the F4F. Thanks for the correction. I was confusing that designation with the F4U (Corsair) which is why I thought F3F.

I found the facility on HistoricAerials.com as you suggested. I make the following observations (that should match up with your own):
1. Facility appears to be served off of the Chemical Coast. The PRR "Reformatory Branch" immediately bounds the site to the north, but does not appear to have any siding connection to the site. I see that the maps of the time list it as the Chemical Coast as NY&LB. I always thought that stretch of track was always CNJ.
2. As you noted, the facility first shows up in the 1947 Aerial (nothing but woods in the 1940 Aerial. In 1947, they are just conducting the grading operations for the NJ turnpike (still dirt at that time). Although the resolution hinders it a bit, I agree the facility appears to be a large vehicle staging area. Very neatly organized with blocks and blocks of vehicles (relatively same size and color per group) parked close together which suggest a possible military nature. Multiple rail sidings leading to several central platforms and to the "outlying" areas.
3. By 1954, the NJT is paved and in open. This severs the connection to the Chemical coast. The PRR has a bridge across the NJT connecting the line to the Chemical Coast and the eastern run of the PRR looks to be abandoned. The siding connection now seems to come off the PRR. As i searched on-line for other maps, I found a road map from 1953 that refers to the PRR branch as "The NJ Terminal Railroad" (as called out in the "Mystery Line" thread The facility still seems to be fully operating.
4. The next Aerial is 1957, and although the facility and few structures are still there, the facility appears empty/unused.
5. 1963 the facility still appears unused.
6. In 1966, about 1/3 of the facility is appears to be used for storage again although this time the vehicles are not as neatly parked and appear to be of various colors. Perhaps this has become a "civilian" area for parking new import cars. A tank farm has appeared to the south. Most of the original structures appear to be gone.
7. Basically the last pieces of the site continue to be used for auto storage. The Railroad siding connection to the Reformatory branch disappeared by 1972 but other sidings at the west end of the property sprung up to service the commercial customers like Tulnoy Lumber.

I will probably keep digging around because you have gotten my curiosity up. I would almost think that the facility first opened at the end of WWII. Possibly it was receiving/staging/storing military vehicles coming home from Europe although my father thought the US tended not to bring home the equipment, but left most of it over there. This collection and dispersal point was probably a CNJ customer (maybe even after the NJT severed the tracks and connection was gained thru the PRR??). The facility was closed after1954 and the property was probably sold off in lots for commercial use. Some kind of automobile storage has continued on the site for close to 50 yrs.

I re-read the "Mystery Line" thread and noted tha on 29 Jan 08, umtrr-author posted an old map that they interpreted as possibly from the 1930's that shows that area as "US Army Ordinance". So I now see your original reference.

This is shown here http://www.irwinsjournal.com/carteret.jpg,

Based on the HistoricAerials.com, it would look like that this map may originate from after 1940. I never noticed that other rail line "NJ Shortline RR" that runs across the front of the property along what later becomes Federal Boulevard and connects southwest to the Port Reading Secondary previously called the "Philadelphia & Reading". I see it parallelled the NY&LB/Chemical Coast and must have been that old piece of unused (abandoned?) track that winds off to the industries on the immediate west side of the NJT that connects to the BayWay refinery. You can see a real old and rickety low level timber bridge that still exists that crosses that swampish area of the Rahway River, south of Bayway. Anyone know when that stretch of track south of Bayway was last used?

I think the NJ Shortline was the old Public Service Fast Line trolley.......

I know about Raritan Arsenal "North". I was the last Army Officer in Charge there.

Bill Coffin, Chittenango, NY

I would greatly enjoy reading your description of the facility, it's history, and it's mission as well as to how it was served.

"Raritan Arsenal North" was built in 1942 to supply army trucks to the NY Harbor. It's original name was Carteret Army Ordnance Motor Reception Park and the railroads brought in new trucks by the thousands. Most trucks were still knocked down in boxes to be assembled in temporary motor parks overseas. About a 25% of them came in assembled then tested, sealed up and driven to the docks by night.

My estimate is 130,000 trucks went through Cartret durng the war while nearby Camp Kilmer sent 3,000,000 troops. Carteret was 146 acres that stored 10,000 trucks at a time. When I was there from December 1954 to March 1956 we had 3,000 trucks many of them WW2 3/4 ton Dodge weapons carriers being re-built as gifts for Saudi Arabia under the Mutual Defense Armament Pact. The labor force was all civilians except for one Army Officer-in-Charge. The original force was nearly 1000 with a colonel and a captain and when we closed permanently in March 1956 I was a lieutenant O-I-C with 150. The last name it had was Carteret Storage Activity of Raritan Arsenal but people still called it a sub-depot. The front gate was on Blair Road and I have a map of all major buildings.

Carteret was always a part of the Army Service Forces, the logistical half of the Army. In Sept 1942 trucks were switched from the Quartermaster Corps to Army Ordnance. Belle Meade QM Depot at Hillsborough was completed in Oct 1942 so I doubt it had any trucks stored there but the inactive Miller Air Field on Staten Island did. I believe that activity was temporary until Carteret opened up. There were never any munitions stored at Carteret.

Unfortunately I never took photos because there were FBI agents everywhere that makes another story. I do have a few civilian names, and a written memo with a photo ID badge that belonged to the first woman there, Marian Mullen Eddy. The only record I can find are indirect convoy data out of NY in 1943 and a few news clips. I keep searching for more people with history and I have
more details if anyone is interested.

You RAILROAD.NET guys are good researchers and have found some good clues about Carteret. Hopefully you will find some more.

Bill Coffin

Mr. Coffin,

I thank you for your service and your very interesting information. I did my Active Duty hitch (326th EN/101ABN) in the late '80's and transfered to active Reserves (469th EN/411th EN Bde) in the early '90s and had my Company Command down outside of Atlantic City (until we demobilized in '94-I can't believe it's been 20 years this year). With our Battalion out of Caven Point and the Brigade out of Floyd Bennet Field, it made admin and logistics very interesting.

As the lone military personnel on-site in Cateret, who did you report to? Raritan Arsenal or Kilmer? It must have been odd operating so isloated? What did you do for housing?

I would gather, by the the time you took control of Carteret, they were clearing everything out of there. Were they still using rail to support you? If so, I assume it was the PRR?

-Chuck Paterson

Gentlemen I have nothing of import to lend to this discussion except to thank you both for your service to our country and to thank for your discussion which allows this civilian an insight into some of the compelling history largely overlooked in our great state and for defining the use of a portion of that great expanse south of Woodbridge Avenue I have seen and wondered about many times that now I know for a very worthy national defense reason, did not see the development just north of it, that most identify as the landscape here.

For Mr. Coffin and all others,
If you had difficulty finding the Carteret site on HistoricAerials.com, hopefully this link will take you to it:
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... &year=1947

This is the site under discussion taken in 1947 just west of the Garden State Turnpike and Carteret. If you zoom out to 1ft=257ft or 1ft = 514 ft, you will get a better feel for how extensive the facility was along with all of it's rail sidings.

Impressive.

Also, as I was looking for more information on the facility in West Carteret, we had additional discussions under the following thread (if you are interested):
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 11&t=56675

You have to read down a bit before you find where I was interrupting the subject at hand to discuss Carteret.

My apology still stands for the interruptions.